1860.60

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Atlantics vs. Excelsiors: The Thorny Idea of Onfield Supremacy

Salience Prominent
Location NYC, Brooklyn, NY
Game Base Ball
Age of Players Adult
Text

[A] "This match will create unusual interest, as it will decide which Club is entitled to the distinction of being perhaps the 'first nine in America."

[B] "The Atlantics now wear the 'belt,' and this contest will be a regular battle for he championship."

The naming of a championship base ball club was apparently not much considered when match games were first played frequently in the mid-1850s.  But as the 1860 season progressed, press accounts regularly speculated about what nine was the best, and in late July the Excelsior club took on the undefeated Atlantic club and won, 23-4.  The stage was set for a final showdown, and a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000 assembled to see if they could gain glory by toppling the storied Atlantic nine again. They led, 6-4 in the sixth inning, but Atlantic partisans in the crown became so rowdy that Excelior captain Joe Leggett removed his club from the field for their safety, leaving the matter unresolved.

 

Sources

[A] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 13, 1860.

[B] Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 16, 1860.

See also Craign B. Waff, "Atlantics and Excelsiors Compete for the 'Championship,'" Base Ball Journal, volume 5, number 1 (Special Issue on Origins), pages 139-142.

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