In Mackinac Island in 1871
Date of Game | 1871 |
---|---|
Location | Mackinac Island, MI, United States |
Modern Address | |
Field | Add Field Page |
Home Team | Add Club Page |
Away Team | Add Club Page |
Score | |
Game Number | |
Innings | 9 |
Number of Players | |
Game Officials | |
NY Rules | Yes |
Tags | |
Description | "First popular on the East Coast, baseball spread west during the Civil War as Union ball players (“ballists”) shared their favorite game with other soldiers. The game first appeared on Mackinac Island in 1871 when soldiers from Captain Leslie Smith’s 1st Regiment of Infantry, many of whom were Civil War veterans, received permission to play the game (“match”) in their spare time. Over the next two decades baseball grew in popularity across the country and, with liberal amounts of free time and officers who encouraged physical fitness, Fort Mackinac soldiers enthusiastically joined in. Lieutenant Edward Pratt helped form the Fort Mackinac Base Ball Club in 1885. The thirty-two-year old lieutenant became the team captain and contributed the first four dollars to the club fund that paid for two new bats at forty-cents each and a “League” baseball which cost one-dollar and twenty-five cents. By mid summer the team had several bats and balls, three bases, a catcher’s mask and a carefully laid out diamond on the large parade ground behind the fort. With a copy of Spaulding’s Base Ball Guide in hand, Pratt and his men took the field." from www.mackinacparks.com Displays at the National Historic site, Fort Holmes, Mackinac Island, says the soldiers were playing baseball here in 1885, and soon organized a team that played other local towns, such as Mackinaw City and Cheyboygan. |
Sources | |
Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
Has Source On Hand | No |
Comment | Edit with form to add a comment |
Query | Edit with form to add a query |
Found by | Bruce Allardice |
Submission Note | |
Entered by | Bruce Allardice |
First in Location | Mackinac Island, MI |
Players Locality | |
Entry Origin | |
Entry Origin Url | |
Local-Origins Study Groups |
Comments
<comments voting="Plus" />