Cartwright and his pals regularly played ‘town ball’, an
early version of baseball, on a vacant lot in Manhattan. Forced off their makeshift playground, the
loosely formed group had to get creative so in 1845, they traveled to Elysian
Fields in Hoboken—a picturesque park in what was then the New Jersey
countryside. It was also conveniently
located near several well-known watering holes where, after a spirited game,
the men could gather to commiserate or celebrate, whichever the case may
be. For an annual fee of $75, they
rented the place. Cartwright formally
organized the team he called ‘The Knickerbockers’ so he could charge dues and
cover the cost.
The official boys of summer now needed official rules to
play by. Cartwright, and his committee
of four, came up with twenty. Among
them, members had to be punctual; bases were to be 42 paces apart; balls
knocked outside of first and third base were considered foul and out of play;
umpires made the final decisions—no appeals allowed. He also thought that the game should be
played until one team earned 21 aces, or runs, with both sides always having an
equal number of batters. These new rules
also put a stop to ‘soaking’—making an out by hitting a runner with the
ball. Ouch!
Not all of the Knickerbockers were happy campers,
however. Some of them didn’t like the
idea of traveling all the way to New Jersey for practice so these homebodies
stayed behind and called themselves ‘The New York Club’ or ‘The New York
Nine’. It was just as well because you
need two official teams to play an official game of baseball anyway.
The first formal baseball game played at Elysian Fields was
scheduled for June 19, 1846. The
Knickerbockers even wore uniforms—white flannel shirts, blue woolen pants and straw
hats. Players that day included Wall
Street clerk Henry Anthony and commercial merchant Daniel Tryon, but Cartwright
himself didn’t play. He took on the role
of umpire instead. With Cartwright
calling the shots, the New York Nine soundly trounced his Knickerbockers, 23-1,
in just four innings. In all fairness,
the Knickerbockers kept their best hitters on the bench. They thought it would better balance the game.
The afternoon wasn’t without incident, however. Cartwright fined one player, six cents for
swearing. Luckily, no one argued with
the ump (25 cent fine) or disobeyed the team captain (50 cent fine). There were obviously no hard feelings because
afterward both sides shared a gala dinner and the New York Nine all eventually
returned to the Knickerbockers team.
Over the next ten years, as other cities formed their own
baseball teams and competition increased, the Knickerbockers ruled the
roost. By the 1870s, however, when the
National League took shape, those first boys of summer had since faded into
baseball history.
