1850 – 1885
"It is Expected Base Ball Players will be Gentlemen."
W.R. Winchell, Saratoga Baseball Club, and one-time umpire, June 1863.
Organized
baseball existed in Saratoga County as early as the mid-1850s. Teams
were formed in Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs, and followed shortly
by Schuylerville and Greenfield. Tannery and factory workers made up
the Ballston team, while members of Saratoga Springs’ baseball
club included business owners, clerks, merchants, a school teacher,
a lawyer, a banker, and a future Confederate soldier. These early teams
relied on copies of Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, a book
of rules first published in 1860. Equipment was purchased from the Spalding
Company in New York City.
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| Base Ball
Game, ca.1880 Historical Society of Saratoga Springs, George S. Bolster Collection, 74-169 |
The rivalry between Ballston and Saratoga began at once. In 1860, the Ballston San Soucis (named after the famous hotel there) claimed the championship of Saratoga County, and defeated the Saratoga Stars. Matches and rematches brought the two teams together often. Teams from Troy (the Haymakers), Glens Falls, Ft. Edward, and Sandy Hill (Hudson Falls), Albany (Knickerbockers), Hudson and Kingston made appearances in Saratoga County as well. Teams also proliferated within the larger towns: Saratoga had the Star, Hope, and Hickory Clubs in 1867.
On occasion, outside teams played on baseball grounds at Saratoga, in part to take advantage of the summer crowds there. Despite controversies in scorekeeping and umpiring, the emphasis in the early years of baseball was on gentlemanly behavior while on the playing field.
© Copyright 2002, Saratoga County Historical Society