Click2Flicks - THE KNICKERBOCKER CLUB - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>BASEBALL</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - THE KNICKERBOCKER CLUB</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">As the nineteenth century moved into its fourth decade, <a href="images/alexanderCartwright.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Alexander Cartwright</b></a> wrote rules for the Knickerbockers, an amateur New York City baseball club. Those <a href="images/early_rules.jpg" target="_blank"><b>early rules</b></a> (which were adopted on the 23rd of September, 1845) provide a bit of history (perhaps accurate, perhaps not) for the “Recently Invented Game of Base Ball.”</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>For many years the games of <a href="images/town_townball_massachusetts.rules.jpg" target="_blank">Town</a> <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3195645716458153202" target="_blank">ball</a>,</i></b> [don’t miss this video clip] <b><i><a href="http://www.letsplayrounders.com/history.htm" target="_blank">Rounders</a> and <a href="images/old_cat_three.old.cat_game.jpg" target="_blank">old Cat</a>  have been the sport of young boys. Recently, they have, in one form or another, been much enjoyed by gentlemen seeking wholesome American exercise. In 1845 Alexander Cartwright and other members of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York codified the unwritten rules of these boys games into one, and so made the game of Base Ball a sport worthy of attention by adults. We have little doubt but that this gentlemanly pastime will capture the interest and imagination of sportsman and spectator alike throughout this country.</i></b></font></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Within two weeks of adopting their rules, members of the Knickerbocker Club played an intra-squad game at the <a href="images/elysian-fields-baseball-game.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Elysian Fields</b></a> (in <a href="images/Hoboken.gif" target="_blank"><b>Hoboken</b></a>, New Jersey). The October 6th game appears to be the first recorded by an American newspaper.</p> <p>Those early games (<a href="images/announced_brooklyn.daily.eagle_announcement_oct.21.1845_brooklyn.lib" target="_blank"><b>announced</b></a> in local papers) were often high-scoring, as a Knickerbocker <a href="images/tally-sheet.jpg" target="_blank"><b>tally sheet</b></a> (from a record book maintained at the New York Public Library) demonstrates. On this particular day, the Knickerbockers lost the 41-34 game.</p> <p>Players whose conduct did not conform to the rules were fined - as <a href="http://www.baseballhistorian.com/html/american_heroes.cfm?page=52" target="_blank"><b>evidenced</b></a> by Article V of the Knickerbockers’ 1848 Constitution - and they had to pay <i> before</i> they left the field. A few examples of non-tolerated infractions:</p> <div align="center"> <table border="1" cellspacing="10" width="88%"> <tr> <td width="50%">Swearing:</td> <td width="50%">12½ cents for <i> each</i> offense</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%">Arguing with the umpire:</td> <td width="50%">12½ cents</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%">Disobeying the team captain:</td> <td width="50%">50 cents</td> </tr> </table> </div> <p>One dollar, in 1848, was roughly equivalent to $21 today.</p> <p><a target="_blank" href="images/docAdams.jpg"><b>Daniel “Doc” Adams</b></a>, considered by some historians to be the true “Father of Baseball,” became president of the Knickerbocker Club in 1847. Balls, in those early days, were light-weight and <a target="_blank" href="images/dark_colored.jpg"><b>dark-colored</b></a>, so the game was not dominated by home-run hitters. Under Adams’ leadership, the Knickerbockers became a preeminent baseball club, and their Hoboken playing field was - at least for a time - the most well-known baseball field in the country.</p> <p>It is believed the <a target="_blank" href="images/first_published_porters.spirit.of.the.times_sept.12.1857.gif"><b>first published picture</b></a> of a baseball game was printed in a weekly newspaper called <i>Porter’s Spirit of the Times</i>. That September 12, 1857 woodcut depicts two New York clubs, the Eagles and the <a target="_blank" href="images/gothams.jpg"><b>Gothams</b></a>, playing at Elysian Fields. The following year, a scene in <a target="_blank" href="images/viewofmason1858.jpg"><b>Mason Village</b></a>, New Hampshire clearly depicts a baseball game <a href="http://www.nhhistory.org/baseballquiz/baseball1.html" target="_blank"><b>in progress</b></a>.</p> <p>Even though teams were playing ball in the northern United States, there is no evidence it was popular throughout the south before the Civil War. That conflict, however, introduced the sport to <i>many</i> new players.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="baseball_cards_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="baseball_cards_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="baseball_cards_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td>  <td align="center" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.awesomestories.com/includes/ad_format.js"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td>  </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>