National Association

Yale

By Patrick Mondout

The Yale Base-Ball Club of New Haven played in the mid-19th Century in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), the first national baseball organization. The club still plays today, but its history beyond the 19th Century is beyond the scope of this website.

At a glance... YALE Club Facts Established 1865 Disbanded  No Located New Haven, CT Uniform Unknown Officials First Captain: Harry Reeve Year by Year Results   W L T 1865 3 0 0 1866 4 6 0 1867 9 1 0 1868 7 7 0 1869 1 4 0 1870 1 6 0 Affiliations NABBP (1865-1870) Pennants NABBP None Nicknames Yale Base Ball Club Ballparks Hamilton Park

Yale along with especially Harvard were among the few college teams of the late 1860s that were among the better teams in the country. While no college team ever seriously challenged for the NABBP championship, Yale battled the '67 NABBP champion Unions of Morrisania to ten innings before the latter prevailed in 1868.

See also: National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, Defunct Leagues, 'Early Baseball' Terminology.

The following is from the The Yale Literary Magazine, December 1868, and contains an early history of baseball at Yale. It is followed by a later, but much more detailed history from 1899.

Base Ball at Yale

Base Ball Clubs appear in the Banner as early as 1859, but the national game did not, we conjecture, occupy its present position as the leading sport of the University until the Fall of 1865, when the class of '69 entered College. A "University Nine" was then, we think, for the first time organized, and under the captaincy of Harry Reeve (S. S. S.) as catcher, and Tom Hooker ('69) as pitcher, soon took its proper place—in primis. While its rival, boating, has been obliged to adopt the class system to sustain life, base ball has steadily increased in popularity, and would doubtless continue to do so were it not for the great disadvantage under which it as well as boating must always labor at New Haven, viz: the great distance of the ball ground and the water from the College buildings. Yale's truest benefactor would be the donor of a ball ground something less than two miles away, as now. Enthusiasm which has to contend with such an inconvenience, must in future be spasmodic.

The misfortune of our Alma Mater is not damp rooms and an unhealthy climate nearly so much as that her friends ignore the ancient maxim that sana mens in corpore sano semper ubique. The gymnasium is but a poor substitute for a ball ground. Surely we are leaving the footsteps of the English Universities and becoming more like German Universities in this respect.

Worcester will continue to be an unpleasant name to the ears of Yale men, unless Yale imitates her elder sister in providing ample facilities for all athletic sports. We should like to give the Lit. readers a complete sketch of the early history of Base Ball at Yale, and we hope some one of the Alumni will supply us with the desired information; meanwhile the following schedule of games played during the past three years, may not be without value and interest. We regret its necessary incompleteness and inaccuracies.

*10 innings

History of Baseball at Yale

A history of baseball at Yale can be found in an 1899 book by Lewis Sheldon Welch and Walter Camp.¹ For your convenience, the chapter is reprinted below:

THE history of baseball at Yale extends back to the times when the aggregate scores made by two nines might be anywhere from fifty to a hundred. In fact, in 1859, it was pretty difficult to keep room on the scoring paper to mark down all the runs made. In 1865, when the first intercollegiate game was played, Yale defeated Wesleyan by a score of 39 to 13, and in that same year, in a game between Yale and Waterbury, Yale made fifty-two runs to Waterbury's thirty. In 1867, Yale played a game with Columbia, defeating that nine 46 to 12. In that same year, Yale played some outside nines and made a very creditable record, Hooker's pitching, at that time as well as the following year, being worthy of special comment.

In 1868, Yale for the first time met Harvard in baseball, and was beaten by a score of 25 to 17. McCutcheon, Yale's short stop, at that time did a great deal for baseball; and not long ago he sent the writer the original copy of the first constitution of the baseball association. It was hardly more than a subscription paper, but had some well known names upon it. In this year, also, Yale played Princeton for the first time, defeating them by a score of 30 to 23. From that date on, Yale's baseball history for several years was a record of attempts to defeat Harvard, resulting invariably in failure. Yale played some good outside games, and in many instances it seemed as though it were possible for Yale to win the Harvard series, but not until 1874 was she successful. In that year the baseball contests between these two old rivals were held at Saratoga during race week, and, thanks to the work of Charles Hammond Avery, Yale at last turned the tables against Harvard, winning both games, the first 4 to 0, and the second 7 to 4, A very 's pitching was phenomenal, and Harvard was unable to master it. In the following year, 1875, Avery was captain of the nine, and in spite of the fact that in the second game with Harvard he was unable to pitch or even play on account of a lame shoulder, he was still able to see his nine win two straight games from Harvard. He pitched in the first game, but in the second was incapacitated. The value of this man to Yale's baseball interests can hardly be overestimated.

But from 1875 up to 1880 the old story began again. Yale might win one game, or, if the series were best three out of five, Yale might win two games, but she seemed unable to last it out, and Harvard's succession of victories began to look overwhelming. In 1879, it was thought that Yale would surely avoid the overconfidence of the previous year, and make good her claims over Harvard. In the first game Yale won easily by a score of 11 to 5. Harvard won the second game 2 to 0. Yale won the third game 9 to 5, but five days later, in Providence, after securing what looked like a commanding lead in the first inning, was finally beaten 9 to 4. In 1880, however, the tables were finally turned, and Yale won the series.

Late in the year 1879, the first intercollegiate baseball association was formed. The colleges taking part in this convention were Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale. At the meeting of organization, however, the point was brought up as to whether anyone should be eligible for a nine who had previously played on a professional nine. One of the colleges represented had a battery which had thus forfeited its amateur standing. The refusal of the association to take certain definite action on this matter led to the withdrawal of Yale, but in the following year she applied for admission and was taken into the association. In spite of the fact that Yale was not a member of the association in the baseball season of 1880, it was in that year that she made her most remarkable baseball record, and at last turned the tide of defeat by Harvard to one of glorious victory. The first game of the series was played in New Haven, where the Yale nine, although without the services of Captain Hutchison, who was ill at his home in Norwich, overwhelmingly defeated the Harvard nine, making twenty-one base hits, with a total of thirty-three, and winning the game by a score of 21 to 4. The following game, played at Cambridge, was however a close one, Yale winning by a score of 2 to 1. The game at New Haven which followed was a victory for Harvard, neither nine doing any striking batting; score 3 to I. At this point the croakers began to predict the usual result — Yale winning the first two games and Harvard the next three; but this time they were mistaken, for in the final game of the season, played in Cambridge, Yale shut out her rivals, and won by a score of 3 to 0.

This entire year was remarkable in Yale baseball annals. As mentioned above, Yale's captain was taken ill with rheumatism previous to the first Harvard game, and in fact previous to the first Princeton game, which was scheduled for May I2th at Princeton. When the nine were leaving for Princeton a telegram was received, telling them not to come as the game would be postponed. No definite reason was given for this, and the Yale nine started. They were met in New York by the Princeton management with the statement that as their pitcher was laid up the game would have to be postponed. Yale felt that, being without the services of her captain, she perhaps might have asked a postponement, but had certainly not felt justified in doing this, and the result of the conference finally was the journeying of the Yale nine to Princeton, where the umpire, Princeton refusing to play, gave the game to Yale, 9 to 0. There was considerable hard feeling exhibited, and Princeton was accused of being afraid to play. Some went so far as to say that they did not believe the Princeton nine would come to New Haven for the return game on account of the fear of defeat. Princeton did come, however, and on the 9th of June Yale defeated them 8 to I.

Yale thus defeated the winners of the association championship, for Princeton won the first place in the association. There is little doubt that Yale's nine during this year of 1880 was stronger in proportion to the abilities of most of the nines of the country than at any other period in her history. In that year she beat the league champions, and, out of thirteen games played with professional nines, won eleven.

From this time on, for a number of years, Yale's success in baseball became phenomenal. In 1881, Yale won the association championship, winning seven out of ten games, losing to Harvard at Cambridge, but winning from Harvard at New Haven. This defeat at Cambridge was attributed to the fact that Yale was without a pitcher upon that occasion, Lamb being laid up. Yale was also defeated by Dartmouth at Springfield in a rather remarkable game. Lamb, who had not recovered the use of his arm, attempted to pitch, and in the first inning was hit by the heavy Dartmouth batters to the extent of some half a dozen runs. He was then replaced by Hutchison, whom Dartmouth proved unable to hit, and Yale crept up on her rivals, but not enough to tie the score, the final result being 6 to 3 in Dartmouth's favor. In 1882, Yale again won the championship of the association, although she lost her first game to Harvard in New Haven. In 1883, Yale once more won the championship, defeating Harvard this time three games in succession, then playing an unfinished game with Harvard in New York, where the score stood 2 to i in favor of Yale when the game was called, and finally playing a fifth game with Harvard in Philadelphia, and defeating them 23 to 9. This was the first time that Yale had had an opportunity to really even scores with Harvard for some of the old defeats, and the management evidently enjoyed taking Harvard to various places throughout the country, and demonstrating Yale's baseball supremacy. In 1884, Yale once more won the association championship, besides winning a final game with Harvard in Brooklyn by a score of 4 to 2. Harvard won the first game at Cambridge, and Yale the second game at New Haven. In the third game at Cambridge, Harvard, however, overwhelmingly defeated Yale 17 to 4. Yale evened up matters at New Haven three days later by winning a game 6 to 2, and the last game played at Brooklyn was therefore full of excitement. The Yale pitcher, Odell, finally, by his excellent work, enabled Yale to win by a score of 4 to 2.

The tables were turned against Yale, however, in 1885, when Harvard, with several of her players of the previous year, and under the captaincy of Winslow, who had gone through his experience of defeat, and had then persistently worked to secure a good nine, won all the games of the championship series, not only against Yale but the other colleges in the association. In 1886, Yale retrieved her fallen fortunes, and won the championship, losing but two of the games in that series. Yale was, however, defeated by Columbia in a single game at New Haven that year. In 1887, Yale once more demonstrated her superiority to the other colleges in the league, which by this time had been reduced to a membership of three, by winning seven out of eight games played. Dartmouth had dropped out the year before, owing to the attitude of Harvard and Princeton, and after the series of 1886 the dropping of Brown and Amherst was practically effected by the formation of a new association, consisting of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. In 1888, Yale took the championship for another year, Stagg and Dann carrying on the strong work that they had put up the previous year. Yale lost the second game to Harvard, and the first game to Princeton, but eventually won the championship, and also evened up matters with Columbia by winning two games from them. In 1889, the Yale nine, under Captain Noyes, won the championship once more, taking at the same time four victories from Harvard, two at New Haven and two at Cambridge. Princeton defeated Yale one game, but lost the other three. The following year, Harvard having withdrawn from the triangular league of 1890, Yale had two series, one with Princeton and one with Harvard.

There never was a year in which the baseball games between the colleges were so interesting and thrilling as this one of 1890, ten years from the time when Yale made her most remarkable record against professionals. This year Yale's first game was with Princeton at New Haven, and after a most thrilling contest Yale won by a score of 3 to 2. On the I7th of May, two weeks later, Yale played Harvard at New Haven, defeating them 8 to 0. On the 24th of the same month, however, Yale went to Princeton and was beaten in a close game, by a score of I to o. A week later Harvard defeated Yale by a single score, 9 to 8, at Cambridge. On the i6th of June Yale met Princeton for the deciding game at New York. After a most remarkable contest the game was stopped by the rain, each side having scored eight runs. The tie was played off two days later, at Brooklyn, in a game in which the varying fortunes of baseball were never more forcibly illustrated, and when Yale finally won by a score of 6 to 5 it was almost impossible for the spectators to rise from their seats, so exhausted were they by the excitement of the contest. Three days later Yale journeyed to Cambridge and lost another most remarkable game by a score of 4 to 3. Three days after Yale defeated Harvard at New Haven 7 to 1. This left a tie to be played off with Harvard, and the game took place at Springfield on the 28th, Yale winning by a single run. The outside games in this year were less interesting, Yale defeating the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Columbia, but losing games to Amherst and Brown.

The following year an attempt was made to arrange a satisfactory series of games between the three colleges, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. After a good deal of correspondence, the three captains met and arranged such a series; but the whole plan was upset later by the refusal of the Harvard Athletic Committee to permit the arrangement made by Captain Dean to stand. This finally gave rise to so much feeling that no game was played between Harvard and Yale that year. Princeton, however, defeated Yale two games out of three, Yale winning most of her outside games decisively. In 1892, separate series were arranged with Princeton and Harvard. Yale won the first two games against Princeton and lost the third. Harvard won one game and Yale one game in the Yale-Harvard series, each winning the home game, but no third game was played owing to their failure to agree. Yale played a series of three games with the University of Pennsylvania, losing one and winning two. Yale also played two games with Brown, winning the first and losing the second. In this year Yale was defeated by the University of Michigan 3 to 2, and also by Holy Cross. During the few years there had been a resurrection of some of the old hostility between Yale and Harvard; but matters soon reached a better adjustment, everybody feeling how foolish it was to have such quarrels as led to an unsettled series with Harvard because the two could not agree upon a third game.

After the dissolution of the Intercollegiate Baseball Association, and some desultory attempts made to form a permanent triangular league, Harvard's withdrawal from associations finally resulted in Yale arranging separate series with both Harvard and Princeton. As has already been shown, this was not brought about without some friction. It was considered unfair at New Haven to ask Yale to play separate series with each unless her two rivals met one another. However, the adjustment was finally reached, although, as above mentioned, at the expense of a series with Harvard in 1891. In 1892, the first game was played at Cambridge, Harvard shutting Yale out, but Yale winning the next game 4 to 3, as stated elsewhere. In 1894, Yale won the game at Cambridge 5 to 1, and the game at New Haven 2 to 0. In 1895, Yale also won at Cambridge 7 to 4, and at New Haven 5 to 0. The following year, owing to the rupture of relations with Harvard, no series was played. In 1897, Harvard won both games, the first 7 to 5, and the second 10 to 8. In 1894, Yale defeated Princeton at New Haven 5 to 3, and in New York 9 to 5, but was defeated by Princeton at Princeton 4 to 2. In 1895, Yale won both her Princeton games, but by extremely close margins, the first 1 to 0, and the second 9 to 8. In 1896, however, Princeton took revenge, shutting out Yale in two games in Princeton, the first 13 to 0, the second 5 to 0; while Yale managed to get one game in New Haven 7 to 5, and eventually the game in New York 8 to 4. In 1897, Yale won the first game in New Haven 10 to 9, but lost the second at Princeton, as well as the final one at New Haven. In 1898, Yale's baseball fortunes seemed to be rejuvenated, for, in spite of a most decided slump in playing at mid-season, the New Haven nine finally won both the series. The games were especially interesting, requiring three with each to settle the series, Yale defeating Harvard at New Haven and New York, but losing at Cambridge; while with Princeton, Yale lost the home game, winning the one at Princeton and the final at New York. Captain Greenway's pitching was most instrumental in Yale's success, for although suffering with a lame arm he went in and pitched his way to victory.

NOTES:
1. Yale: Her Campus, Class-Rooms, and Athletics by Lewis Sheldon Welch and Walter Camp. Published in Boston in 1899 by L.C. Page and Company.

Most of the statistical information and rosters come from Marshall Wright's groundbreaking book, The National Association of Base Ball Players 1857-1870 (see bibliography below) and Charles Peverelly's American Pastimes. Any "rosters" are compiled from surviving boxscores and/or Wright's book and may not be complete and players may have played at more positions than indicated. Accounts and boxscores come from many sources including the New York Times, the Brooklyn Eagle, the New York Clipper, and Spirit of the Times: A Chronicle of the Turf, Agriculture, and Field Sports. Information on years of NABBP membership are from Henry Chadwick's Base-ball Manual for 1871. Read more about our NABBP sources.

National Association of Base Ball Players sources/bibliography:
Baseball: The Early Years by Harold Seymour.
Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search For The Roots Of The Game by David Block.
Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime during the Civil War by George B. Kirsch.
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan
The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 by Marshall D. Wright.
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball by Warren Goldstein.
When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870 by William J. Ryczek

General Baseball History sources/bibliography:
Baseball: A History of America's Game by Benjamin G. Rader.
Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns (PBS DVD)
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, 2nd Edition by David Nemec.
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1945-1972 by Dean A. Sullivan
Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel
America's National Game: Historic Facts Concerning the Beginning, Evolution, Development and Popularity of Baseball by Albert Spalding
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.