1862.9

First Admission Fees for Baseball?

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags	Baseball Professionalism, Business of Baseball, MusicBaseball Professionalism, Business of Baseball, Music
Location
City/State/Country:	Brooklyn, NY, United States
Modern Address
Game	Base BallBase Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	May 15, 1862: "The Union Baseball Grounds at March Avenue and Rutledge Street in Brooklyn is opened, the first enclosed ball field to charge an admission fee."
Sources	James Charlton, The Baseball Chronology (Macmillan, 1991), page 15. Regarding the opening of the Union Grounds, see: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb. 12 and May 16, 1862; New York Clipper, Feb. 22, 1862; New York Sunday Mercury May 11 and May 18, 1862,
Warning	Caveats: Admission was charged in 1858 for the Brooklyn-New York games at the Fashion Race Course, Queens, which was enclosed but not a 'ball field'. Before the Union Grounds, there were no ball field enclosed for the purpose of charging admission.
Comment	Admission had occasionally also been charged for "benefit" games for charities or to honor prominent players. Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
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Submission Note	"Comment" added 10/7/2014 Bob Tholkes
Has Supplemental Text

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