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Knickerbockers Lose Impromptu Match to Group of "Amateurs"

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags
Location
City/State/Country:	Hoboken, NJ, United States
Modern Address
Game	Base BallBase Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	RURAL SPORTS.--We can testify to a most superb game of old fashioned base-ball at the Champs d'Elysses, at Hoboken, on Friday of last week, and bear it in mind the more strongly from the remaining stiffness from three hours play. While on the ground, a party of the Knickerbocker Club arrived, and selected another portion of the field for themselves. When they had finished, the amateurs with whom we had taken a hand, challenged the regulars to a match, and both parties stripped and went at it till night drew the curtains and shut off the sport. At the closing of the game the amateurs stood eleven and the Knickerbocker four. On the glory of this result, the amateurs challenged the regulars to a meeting on the same day this week, for the cost of a chowder to be served up, upon the green between them. When it is known that the editors of the American Statesman and National Police Gazette played among the amateurs, and particularly that Dr. Walters, the Coroner of the city kept the game, the result will probably not produce surprise.
Sources	National Police Gazette, June 9, 1849
Warning
Comment	Finder Richard Hershberger lists the following followup comments and questions (his full email is shown below): "There is a lot to digest here. Just a couple of quick thoughts for now: The Knickerbockers couldn't catch a break! I'll have to look up when they first managed to win a game. I don't have ready access to the Knickerbocker score book. What appears there for this day? Is this the first appearance of George Wilkes in connection with baseball? Sadly, the genealogy bank run of the Gazette is missing the June 16 issue. Is there another run out there? You notice how early and how often baseball was characterized as "old fashioned"? I would not take the use here as relating to the rules used.  There was a baseball fad in New York in the mid-1840s. It had died out by 1849, with the Knickerbockers the only unambiguously recorded organized survivor. Here we have an informal late survival.       Edit with form to add a comment
Query	See above Comments. Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	Richard Hershberger
Submission Note	Email of 1/7/2017
Has Supplemental Text	Yes

1849.15 Knickerbockers Lose Impromptu Match to Group of "Amateurs""

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Comments

<comments voting="Plus" />

Supplemental Text

Today I revived my subscription to genealogybank.com,which I had
let lapse last summer. Before diving into the serious business
of sucking up data, I ran some casual searched to see what was
new. It is amazing what you find when you look:

RURAL SPORTS.--We can testify to a most superb game of old
fashioned base-ball at the Champs d'Elysses, at Hoboken, on
Friday of last week, and bear it in mind the more strongly from
the remaining stiffness from three hours play. While on the
ground, a party of the Knickerbocker Club arrived, and selected
another portion of the field for themselves. When they had
finished, the amateurs with whom we had taken a hand, challenged
the regulars to a match, and both parties stripped and went at it
till night drew the curtains and shut off the sport. At the
closing of the game the amateurs stood eleven and the
Knickerbocker four. On the glory of this result, the amateurs
challenged the regulars to a meeting on the same day this week,
for the cost of a chowder to be served up, upon the green between
them. When it is known that the editors of the American
Statesman and National Police Gazette played among the amateurs,
and particularly that Dr. Walters, the Coroner of the city kept
the game, the result will probably not produce surprise.
National Police Gazette June 9, 1849

There is a lot to digest here. Just a couple of quick thoughts
for now:
The Knickerbockers couldn't catch a break! I'll have to look up
when they first managed to win a game.
I don't have ready access to the Knickerbocker score book. What
appears there for this day?
Is this the first appearance of George Wilkes in connection with
baseball?
Sadly, the genealogybank run of the Gazette is missing the June
16 issue. Is there another run out there?
You notice how early and how often baseball was characterized as
"old fashioned"? I would not take the use here as relating to
the rules used.
There was a baseball fad in New York in the mid-1840s. It had
died out by 1849, with the Knickerbockers the only unambiguously
recorded organized survivor. Here we have an informal late
survival.

Richard Hershberger