National Association

Baltimore Marylands History

By Patrick Mondout

The Maryland Club of Baltimore, commonly known as the Baltimore Marylands, were a very short-lived franchise in the National Association.

At a glance... BALTIMORE MARYLANDS Franchise Facts Established 1873 Disbanded 1873 Located Baltimore Executives W.J. Smith Year by Year Results W L % 1873 0 6 .000 Affiliations National Association (1873) Postseason/Titles NA Titles (0) Nicknames Marylands of Baltimore (1873) Ballparks Madison Avenue Grounds (1873) Top Performances Single-Season Career

The team was founded in 1873 and played their home game (their one and only home game) at the Madison Avenue Grounds. They played six other league games between April 15 and July 11 losing each one, and were never heard from again.

Not a single player distinguished himself during the 1873 season, nor before, nor after. Lou Say managed to finish 10th in the American Association in RBIs in 1882, although the fact that RBIs were not an official statistic would have kept him (or anyone else) from noticing.

National Association 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.
Blackguards and Red Stockings by William J. Ryczek
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

David Nemec, the tireless 19th Century Baseball researcher, has also written a novel called Early Dreams, which takes place during this era and features real-life characters such as Cap Anson, George Wright, and Henry Lucas.

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.