1869.10

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In Reconstruction SC, Riot Follows a Ball Game

Salience Peripheral
Tags African Americans, Ball in the Culture
City/State/Country: Charleston, SC, United States
Game Base Ball
Immediacy of Report Contemporary
Age of Players Adult
Text

In July 1869, a party of over 100 people, including a base ball club and a colored brass band, traveled south from Savannah to Charleston SC to play the Carolina Base Ball Club.

Savannah triumphed, 35-17, before a large, mixed-race crowd, which spilled onto the playing field after the game and before a throwing contest was to be held.  Police and bayonet-wielding troops were summoned; a melee ensued, and in the process the Savannah band kept playing "Dixie."    

Three weeks later, the Savannah Club returned.  It won again, 57-36.  And again there was violence, but it was limited this time.

 

 

Sources

Richard Hershberger, The Baseball Riot of 1869, Ordinary Times, February 4 2016.  See http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/2016/02/04/the-baseball-race-riot-of-1869/.  Richard's own sources are listed at the end of his article.

Comment

Richard contemplates whether to call this a base ball riot.  "There clearly is an argument that baseball is incidental to the riot."  The story shows where sports history and cultural history overlap.  

For more on the Savannah club, see http://protoball.org/Savannah_Base_Ball_Club.  

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