[200 years ago this week, “Father of Baseball” Henry Chadwick was born. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy Chadwick and other 19th century baseball histories, leading up to a special weekend post on my new podcast on 19th century baseball and much more!]
On two 19th
century baseball contexts for an inspiring 1870s team.
I first
developed the ideas that are at the heart of my new podcast in this
2020 Saturday Evening Post Considering History column. That column provides
a lot of contexts for the Celestials semi-pro baseball team, a team formed by
students at the 1870s Chinese Educational Mission in Hartford, so I’d ask you
to check it out and then come on back for a couple ways to link that inspiring
squad to 19th century baseball histories.
Welcome
back! In the 20th and 21st centuries, we’ve become used
to professional athletes being quite thoroughly distinct from amateur ones
(especially in the major sports leagues—obviously things get a little trickier
when it comes to the Olympics and the like). But in the 19th
century, there was far more overlap between the two categories, and that’s
succinctly illustrated by the fact that members of the Celestials were continuing
to play for both high school and college teams while they were also part of
this successful semi-pro squad. One of their founding members and best players,
Liang Pi Yuk
(also known as Liang Cheng), was still in high school at the Philips
Andover Academy when the Celestials began in 1878, and famously led that
team to a victory over its rival Philips Exeter Academy during the same period
when he was playing for the Celestials. Most of the other founding members were
playing baseball for Yale University in
that period, and likewise continued to impress on the collegiate diamond while
they were achieving their semi-pro victories. That’s an important and easily
forgotten layer to late 19th century baseball, professional and otherwise.
Playing
amateur baseball might have been sufficient on its own to inspire the students
to form their semi-pro team, but it just so happens that one of the most successful
early major
league teams was for a brief moment also located in their Connecticut hometown
of Hartford. Known officially as the Hartfords and generally called the Dark Blues,
this team was originally founded in 1874 and played for three very successful seasons
at the Hartford
Ball Club Grounds, widely considered one of the premiere stadiums in this
early era of professional baseball. Ahead of the 1877 season the team was
poached by Brooklyn and became the Brooklyn Hartfords, and was disbanded after
just season there; but the legacy in Hartford remained, exemplified by the team’s
most famous fan, Mark Twain. Twain also
befriended and supported the Chinese Educational Mission students, and it seems
undeniable to me that when they started their own semi-professional baseball
team in Hartford in 1878, it was likewise part of the legacy of this prominent
and popular ball club in the city.
Special
post this weekend,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Baseball or sports histories you’d highlight?
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