Early Championships

Original Analytics

By Larry McCray Ballplaying in Civil War Camps Early Championships What Was Rounders, Anyway? What Was Town Ball, Anyway?

Original Writers

Bill Humber Bob Tholkes Bruce Allardice Corky Gaskell Debbie Shattuck Howard Burman Jeffrey Kittel Larry McCray John and Kay Price Mark Brunke Richard Hershberger Rob Loeffler Tom Gilbert

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by Larry McCray, October 2012

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It's About Winning, Stupid!

Until 1855, most modern base ball was apparently played intramurally, and the main objectives were healthful exercize and comaraderie, the latter often achieved at jolly post-game banquets.

But soon, match games began to dominate, and the main point was winning. Not eating lots, not breathing hard, but winning.

We noticed this trend when we weren't looking for it. In the newly collected data on the SABR "Spread of Base Ball" site, a surprising number and variety of claims of area championships turned up, often for ad hoc local territories. Below is our initial compilation of such championship claims.

Month	Crown	Crowned Club	Note	URL
Sept 1858	Champs of Rochester	Live Oak BBC	Unbeaten Against other County Clubs	link
1859	Champs of Buffalo	Niagara BBC	Beat the Erie BBC of Buffalo	link
July 1860	Champs of Rochester	Lone Star BBC	Beat the Live Oak bBC	link
Sep 1860	Central New York Champions	Syracuse BB Club	Had beaten champs of surrounding counties	link
Aug 1864	Champion, Union Prison Camp		Ohio's "earliest match game"	link
Apr 1866	Indiana State Championship	Laporte BB Club	Best of 3 Series	link
July 1866	Champs of No. Illinois (?)	not yet known	Multi-state tourney in Rockport (IL?)	link
Aug 1866	Champs of Tennessee and Kentucky	Louuisville BB Club	Beat a Nashville club, 39-23.	link
Aug 1866	Champs of Northern Missouri	Empire BB Club of Chillicothe MO		link
Sept 1866	Champs of New Hampshre	Dartmouth College BB Club	Beat a Concord NH Club, 38-7	link
Oct 1866	Champs of Oregon	Pioneer BB Club of Portland	"May wear their laurels until fairly won from them"	link
Oct 1866	IA State Tourney Champs	not yet known		link
Oct 1866	Champs of Greater Cincinnati	not yet known	5-club tourney: Cincy, Dayton KY, Covington KY clubs	link
Oct 1866	Champs of SE Iowa (?)	not yet known	7-club tourney: Burlington, Davenport, Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasanrt	link
Nov 1866	City Champs, Virginia, Nevada	not yet known	Virginia BBC vs. Northwestern BB Club	link
July 1867	Champs of Delaware	Diamond State BB Club of Wilmington	3-game series against Wawasser Club of Wilmington	link
July 1867	Champs of the West	not yet known	Omaha BBC vs. Occidental Club of Denver	link
Aug 1867	Champs of Kansas	Frontier BB Club of Leavenworth		link
Sept 1867	Champs of Tennessee	not yet known	Holston Club of Knoxville vs. Mountain Club of Chattanooga	link
Sept 1867	Champs of Central Vermont (?)	not yet known	5-club tourney, all central VT clubs	link
April 1868	Champs of Texas	Stonewall Club of Houston	Beat R. E. Lee Club of Galveston, 34-6	link
June 1868	Champs of the County	Eagles of Wabasha MN	(A newspaper's aspiration for this new club)	link
July 1868	Champs of West Tennessee	not yet known	Pride of the South Club, unnamed others in series of games	link
Sept 1868	Champs of Arkansas	not yet known	BB Tourney at the State Fair	link
Feb 1869	Champs of Mississippi	Osyka BB Club	Beat Summit Club 47-23.	link
July 1870	Champs of Utah Territory	Corinne BB Club	Beat Salt Lake Club, 42-31	link
Sept 1870	Champs of Vermont	not yet known	Round robin State Tourney Set	link
May 1871	Red River Championshi, Louisiana	not yet known	Rapides Club vs. Lone Star BB Club	link
Aug 1871	Champs of Colorado (?)	not yet known	Tourney played by Greeley CO club	link
June 1872	Championship of 1872	Blue Stockings of Shreveport LA	Beat Arlington BB Club 57-32	link
July 1875	Champs of Kane County IL	Bluff City BB Club		link
Aug 1875	Champs of Alabama and MS	A Mississippi Club	Beat Demopolis BB Club of Alabama	link
May 1876	Champs of Arizona Territory	Champion Club of Prescott	Beat Whipple BB Clob of Fort Whipple	link
July 1876	Champs of Colorado (?)	not yet known	Tourney in Central City, CO	link
July 1876	Champs of No. Mississippi	Corinth BB Club	Beat Iuka BB Club	link
Aug 1886	Champs of King County, WA	not yet known	Seattle BB Club vs Newcastles	link
undated	Champs of Canada	Maple Leaf Club of Hamilton ONT	see P. Morris et al, Base Ball Pioneers, page 88.