Clipping:A match between two professional nines; the ideology of professionalism
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| Date | Sunday, April 26, 1868 |
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| Text | Nearly a thousand people paid the 25c. admission-fee to the Capitoline grounds, on April 23, to witness a game played between two professional nines of New York and Brooklyn... The game on Thursday last week was appointed to be played between nines–most, if not all, professional players–from the Mutual, Union, and Active Clubs, of New York, and the Atlantic, Eckford, and Star Clubs, of Brooklyn. The catcher and pitcher of the Active Club, however, failed to put in an appearance; and consequently it came to pass that the Mutual and Union Clubs had to face the Brooklyn music by themselves, while on the other hand the Brooklyn nine was strengthened by the addition of the finest player in the Excelsior Club–who, by-the-way, is an amateur player... By-the-way, these games are for the individual benefit of professional players; and none other should take part in them. If leading amateurs are desirous of playing, let them get up a picked nine of their own class and not keep those in need of the pecuniary assistance the games render from earning an honest penny by their skill as players. No admirer of the game begrudges a quarter to witness two hours of such interesting play as even this game afforded; and when a game of the kind is played in the friendly spirit this was, and marked by such excellent decorum throughout, the professionals may be sure of receiving the countenance and patronage of the best class of spectators, as such patronage is placing the professionals in a position likely to make them independent of rings and gambling influences, and this is the great temptation this class of players is subject to. Now is the time to get up these games; and if they are properly managed and marked by the good order and regulations this one was, they will soon become popular. The success of this experiment, by-the-way, and that is what it was, establishes the precedent of a charge of twenty-five cents as the admission-fee for first class games, whether contestants be club-nines or picked nines. New York Sunday Mercury April 26, 1868 This match was arranged for the pecuniary benefit of the two nines who took part in it. It was in this respect an experiment, and as such it was an undoubted success. It was publicly announced that a grand match would take place between the noted players of the principal clubs of Brooklyn and New York, and though among the last-named were several amateurs, it was well known that the majority had adopted base ball as a means of earning a livelihood, and had therefore become professional ball players. As this was plainly apparent, and in view of the fact that twenty-five cents admission was charged, it was equally plain that the object of the match was to earn money, the proposed contest became a test game whereby it was to be ascertained how far the public would go in patronizing an affair of this kind, and by patronizing it, of course, endorsing the system of professional ball playing; and, inasmuch as nearly a thousand spectators were congregated on the ground at the cost of a quarter of a dollar admission fee, that alone was proof of the approval of the system, and hence we may set it down as a fact that two classes of ball players have been practically created, viz., professionals and amateurs, the former being those who play for money or place, and the latter those only who play the game of the healthful exercise and the exciting recreation it affords. American Chronicle of Sports and Pastimes April 30, 1868 Seventeen of the players who took part in the contest New York vs. Brooklyn, on the Capitoline grounds, on the 23d of April, accepted the sum of $6.50 each as their share of the game money, thus stamping themselves as professional ball players. The odd man and the only one refusing to receive any compensation was Mr. Chauncey, of the Excelsior Club. We do not write this as condemning professional players, as a person who gives up his entire time to the interests of the game must of course be paid for it, but only to show who may and who may not be considered as professionals. New York Dispatch May 3, 1868 |
| Source | New York Sunday Mercury |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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