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EARLY RISER OF DETROIT
The Early Riser Base
Ball Club of Detroit was in existence for less than two years and disbanded for
good when the Civil War broke out. Yet the club created Michigan’s first major
rivalry and offered a striking testament to the sacrifices that the earliest
ballplayers were willing to make to play baseball.
The Early Riser Club
commenced play in 1859, when the city already boasted at least one other club,
the Detroit Base Ball Club. (Detroit’s first club, the Franklins, may still have
been in existence, but had no recorded activity in 1859.) Practical
considerations were behind the formation of the new club, as the Detroit Base
Ball Club held afternoon practices that conflicted with the work schedules of
many Detroit men who were interested in playing baseball. As a result, the
Early Riser club was comprised of “young men employed in stores and offices,
whose occupations prevent their taking any recreation during the day.” (Detroit
Free Press, May 20, 1860)
While this
description might seem to suggest that the Early Risers came from a lower social
class than the Detroit Base Ball Club, that was not generally the case. The
Early Risers represented a broad swathe of the social spectrum but by and large
the club’s membership was not that different from that of the Detroit Base Ball
Club. Both were made up of young men who were still striving to define their
status in a young, rapidly growing city. The common bonds between the two clubs
were underscored by the fact that several men belonged to both.
The most important
difference was the extraordinary time at which the Early Risers got out of bed
for their practices. One of the first articles about the club stated that its
practices began at four a.m. (Detroit Daily Advertiser, July 7, 1859)
That piece was written shortly after summer solstice, but even so it is
surprising that enough daylight was available for practice at such an early
hour. Subsequent articles would give somewhat later start times, which could
mean that the club rethought the question. But it is also possible that they
made adjustments as the seasons changed. In any case, the decision to name the
club in honor of Ben Franklin’s maxim about the benefits of early rising was
very apt.
There is conflicting
information about the exact date of origin of the Early Riser Club. An article
in the Free Press on July 12, 1859, announced that the club had been
formally organized at a meeting on the previous Friday – which was the 8th – and
boasted twenty-two members. But on Thursday the 7th, a piece in the
Daily Advertiser had reported, “A Base Ball Club has been organized by
some of our enterprising young men, which meets every morning at four o’clock in
front of the Russell House for practice. It is very fine exercise, and most
emphatically causes those who enter into the arrangement to comply with one of
the conditions given as requisite by Dr. Franklin to become healthy, wealthy and
wise, viz. ‘early to rise.’” In addition, the Free Press of June 14,
1859, noted that the city had two baseball clubs, which could mean that the
Early Risers were in existence by then.
In any case, by July
of 1859 the club was up and running and it soon began to attract attention. It
held its crack-of-dawn practices beside the Campus Martius, the large open space
set aside for public assemblies in the original design of Detroit. The location
was convenient, but also had its disadvantages as batted balls broke so many
windows in the nearby Russell House Hotel that the club began paying a flat
rate. (Richard Fyfe, letter to Clarence Burton, Burton Collection, Detroit
Public Library)
Nevertheless, the
club’s practices attracted good turnouts. To help the players shake off their
slumbers, a local marketwoman named Mrs. Martin “established her quarters on our
playing grounds every morning and furnished us coffee and light refreshments
which very often was our only breakfast.” The Early Risers also began storing
their bats and balls in a large box located behind a nearby grocery store.
(Richard Fyfe, letter to Clarence Burton, Burton Collection, Detroit Public
Library)
Before long, the
success of the early-morning practices prompted the Early Risers to challenge
the Detroit Base Ball Club to the first match game ever played in Michigan. The
historic event took place on August 8, 1859, and to nobody’s surprise the older
club won by the convincing margin of 59-21. Yet the Early Risers earned
plaudits because they “were offered odds in the match by the other club on
account of their inexperience and acknowledged inferiority, but with the true
Young America spirit they declined accepting the offer, and went in on equal
terms. They were of course beaten, but, as they expected this they took it in
good part, consoling themselves with the recollection that they had had an even
share of the sport, as well as the opportunity of practicing with superior
players.” (Detroit Free Press, August 9, 1859)
A rematch was held
eleven days later, on August 19, with the Detroit Base Ball Club winning again
by a count of 51-30. By this time, a couple of other baseball clubs had been
formed in Detroit and a new club of employees of the Michigan Central Rail Road
soon arranged a match against the Early Risers. The match took place on
September 30th and ended in a tie, bringing the Early Risers’ first
season to a conclusion.
The club reorganized
for the 1860 season in April and began practicing as early as it became light
enough. They played their first match on June 30, beating the younger Brother
Jonathans, and then prepared for another series with the Detroit Base Ball
Club. The Detroit Club won the first game on July 17th but by only a
slim 25-22 margin, prompting the Free Press to describe the contest as
“decidedly the best played game that has ever taken place in this city.” (Detroit
Free Press, July 18, 1860) Then on August 6, the Early Risers finally beat
their nemesis, downing the Detroit Base Ball Club 39 to 32 in front of a large
crowd. “This is the first defeat of the Detroit Club,” noted the Free Press,
“and is, in consequence, the more creditable to their more juvenile
competitors.” (Detroit Free Press, August 7, 1860)
The stage was set
for a third and deciding game to determine local supremacy, but first the Early
Risers played a home-and-home series against the Daybreak Club of Jackson. The
two clubs split two very close games, but despite the narrow margins of victory,
good will prevailed. After the first contest, there was praise for the
“gentlemanly manner in which the game was conducted.” (Detroit Free Press,
August 31, 1860)
The 1860 season
concluded with the deciding game between the Early Risers and the Detroit Base
Ball Club. The big showdown was scheduled for September 27 and was played at a
larger venue than usual because of the expected crowd. Unfortunately for the
Early Risers, one of their players failed to appear and the play was “not very
spirited.” When darkness ended play after seven innings, the Detroit Club had
won 34-19. (Detroit Free Press, September 29, 1860)
Befitting a match
between clubs with such close ties, the contest was played in the gentlemanly
fashion that usually characterized prewar baseball. Nonetheless, there was one
sign of increased competitiveness. After the match, the Detroit Tribune
reported that the Detroit Base Ball Club had never lost a match game. The error
prompted one of the Early Risers to write in with a correction and to grouse
that the concluding game “reflects doubtful credit upon the ‘Detroiter,’ as they
played the early part of the game against eight men, and through the whole game
against three of the ‘Early Risers’ second nine. The ‘Detroit’ club had two
practiced pitchers, while the ‘Risers’ had to fill that post by their first base
man, thus disarranging the whole field, their regular pitcher being unavoidably
absent.” (Detroit Daily Advertiser, October 1, 1860)
During the first few
months of 1861, it looked as though baseball enthusiasm in Detroit might
continue to increase. On February 21, the Early Risers and Detroit Base Ball
Club met for a match on ice skates. By early April, both clubs had held their
annual organizational meetings to prepare to renew their rivalry during the
upcoming season. But then came the onset of the Civil War, and the history of
the Early Riser Base Ball was brought to a dramatic end.
One later account
claimed that half of the club’s members enlisted in the Union Army. (Detroit
Advertiser and Tribune, May 2, 1867) While the exact proportion cannot be
verified, as the profiles show, many of the Early Risers served their country
with distinction.
MEMBERS
Edwin S. Barbour:
Edwin Barbour, the club president in 1861, was born on November 19, 1832, in
Canton, Connecticut. He moved to Detroit in 1856 and worked for Edward Orr’s
dry goods store until leaving Orr’s employ in 1861 to open his own dry goods
store. In 1870 he became secretary of the Detroit Stove Works. He later became
president of the firm and helped it become on the world’s largest stove
manufacturers. Barbour was in poor health after being injured in an 1892 train
wreck and he died in Detroit on April 3, 1897.
Dr. George Lindsey
Field: George L. Field was born in 1835 in England, but his father, a Swedenborg
minister, brought the family to Detroit when George was very young. Detroit had
only a handful of dentists in 1857 when Field began to practice. He served as a
club director for the Early Risers and played in at least one match game for the
club, then married the sister of fellow club member Frank Folsom in 1861. Field
remained a Detroit dentist until his retirement in 1907, fifty years after
opening his dental practice. He died on October 30, 1916, in Detroit.
Dr. Henry G. Field:
Henry G. Field was George’s younger brother. He was born in New York in 1838,
apparently as the family was en route to Michigan. He played several positions
for the Early Risers and also served as a director. During these years, he was
training to become a doctor and around 1861 he moved to the Paw Paw area on the
west side of the state to set up a practice. While there, he helped organize
and served as president of the Lafayette Base Ball Club of Paw Paw, the area’s
first such club. On September 20, 1870, Field made a long horse ride to
Lawrence to attend to a patient. Upon arrival, he collapsed of a heart attack
and died. He was only 32 and left a wife and two young children.
Frank Folsom: Folsom
was a playing member of the Detroit Base Ball Club and his life is described in
more detail there. But in a sign of the close links between the two clubs, it
was Folsom, then working at a local bookstore, who took initial applications for
membership in the Early Risers. Fyfe also recalled Folsom practicing with the
Early Risers. In addition, Folsom was a member of the Franklins, making him the
only man to belong to all three of Detroit’s most important prewar clubs.
Richard Henry Fyfe:
More than any other man, Richard Fyfe exemplified the spirit of the Early Riser
Club. He was born on January 5, 1939, in Old Orchard Creek, New York. When his
father lost all his money through bad business speculation, Fyfe was forced to
begin working at the age of 11. When he was seventeen, he moved to Detroit and
found work for a boot and shoe dealer, while sleeping in a room over the store
to save money. It was during these years that he served as catcher and the
original president of the Early Risers. By 1865, he had saved enough money to
buy the shop, but he continued to sleep over the store until he was sure of its
success. Before long, the store was prospering, and Fyfe continued to expand
the business until he was the owner of the largest retail shoe store in the
country. But even after becoming a millionaire, Richard Fyfe hewed to the work
ethic that had made him a success, always preaching the value of hard work and
giving the customer what he paid for. He enjoyed his business so much that he
continued to work until the age of ninety, while also remaining a big fan of
baseball. He died in Detroit on October 27, 1931.
Rufus William
Jacklin: Rufus Jacklin was born in England in 1842 but moved to the United
States at age 2. He was a club director but there is nor record of his playing
in match games for the Early Risers. In 1862, he enlisted in Brady’s
Sharpshooters, a company that was attached to the 16th Michigan for the balance
of the war. He was promoted to captain in June, 1864, and subsequently served as
"chief of sharpshooters" for the 5th Corps. After being mustered out
in July of 1865, he returned to Detroit, got married, and worked at city hall as
a tax collector. In 1898, he published a book about his war memoirs that
included a memorable account of the Battle of Gettysburg. He stood
unsuccessfully for Congress in 1900. He died in Detroit in September of 1906.
Heber LeFavour:
Early Riser vice president Heber LeFavour was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island,
on May 3, 1837. He moved to Michigan in the 1850s, where his uncle, Henry P.
Baldwin, would later serve as governor. Like several others, he belonged to
both the Detroit Base Ball Club and the Early Risers but he played match games
only for the latter club. He was appointed the state’s assistant adjutant
general on April 1, 1861, but when the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a
captain in the 5th Michigan Infantry. After being wounded at
Williamsburg, he was commissioned as a full lieutenant colonel in the 22nd
Michigan Infantry, which was commanded by former Governor Moses Wisner. Wisner
died at Lexington in January of 1863 and LeFavour was promoted to colonel.
LeFavour was captured at the Battle of Chickamauga in September of 1863, and was
held prisoner for the next nine months. After being exchanged, he joined
Sherman’s march on Atlanta. He was finally mustered out in June of 1865, but
was reportedly “wounded for life.” He returned to Pawtucket, and became
adjutant general of Rhode Island. He died on February 25, 1878, as the result
of being thrown from a carriage.
John Stoughton
Newberry, Sr.: Newberry’s life is described under the Detroit Base Ball Club
entry but according to Fyfe, he practiced with the Early Risers “every
morning.” Since the widowed Newberry was then living at the hotel that the
Early Risers practiced outside of, he may not have had much choice!
John C. Pierce: John
C. Pierce played for the Early Risers in both 1859 and 1860 and also served as a
club director, but his identity remains unclear. The only John Pierce in
Detroit on the 1860 census was a bookkeeper who had been born around 1830 in New
York State. But no middle initial was provided and this man has proved
difficult to trace. The Detroit city directory of 1861 did list a John C.
Pierce as a corporal in the Detroit Light Guard.
Simeon B. Smith:
Simeon B. Smith served as treasurer and then as club secretary. He died in
Detroit on March 18, 1865, as the result of a homicide. (Michigan History, 1928)
General Luther
Stephen Trowbridge: Luther S. Trowbridge, the club president in 1860, was born
on July 28, 1836, on a farm near Troy, Michigan, his father and uncle having
been among the earliest settlers of Oakland County. He graduated from Yale in
1857 and soon passed the bar, but as fate would have it he rarely practiced
law. Like Folsom and Newberry, he was a member of both the Early Risers and
Detroit Base Ball Club. In 1862, he enlisted in the Union Army and marched more
than 2000 miles during Civil War, also fighting alongside and becoming a comrade
of George Custer and fought alongside him. After the war, Trowbridge was named
inspector general of the state militia by Governor John Bagley, and then in 1875
President Grant appointed Trowbridge to the prestigious position of collector of
custom for Michigan’s eastern district. He later served as Detroit’s city
comptroller and as vice president of the Wayne County Savings Bank. He then
received another much-coveted appointment when President Theodore Roosevelt
appointed him appraiser of the port of Detroit. Through all these successes,
General Trowbridge remained attached to baseball and raised the pennant after
the Tigers won their first American League flag. When he died in Detroit on
February 2, 1912, one obituary described him as the “last member of the ‘Early
Risers,’” although in fact Richard Fyfe would outlive Trowbridge by nearly two
decades.
Joseph Winter:
Joseph Winter was born in Germany around 1838 but appears to have grown up in
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. By 1859, he had moved to Detroit, where he worked
as a saddler. By 1870 had gotten married and returned to the Upper Peninsula.
He first lived in Portage, then in Negaunee, working as a butcher in both
places. He was still living in Negaunee as of 1891, but his wife was listed
there as a widow on the 1900 census.
Charles S. Wright:
Along with Henry Field, Charles Wright was one of only two players to represent
the Early Risers in all of their known contests. The only Charles Wright in
Detroit on the 1860 census was a 22-year-old blacksmith who had been born in
England.
Benjamin Rush Young:
B. R. Young was born in New York State in June of 1839. He worked as a clerk
and salesman while living in Detroit, and was also one of the club’s regular
outfielders. After his wife’s death, he moved to Alpena, where he opened a
hardware store and remarried. By 1900, he had moved his near family to Montana,
where he owned a mine. But he appears to have returned to Alpena before his
death in 1915.
Others: H. Biglow,
Edwin B. Chope (a director who was born around 1815 so probably a nonplaying
member), Elisha B. Gorton, Morton H. Hawley, J.M. Moberly, Frank J. Phelps (of
Detroit Base Ball Club), Tyler, William W. Wright.
Sources: This piece
is based upon my Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan. Primary
sources were contemporary newspapers and a letter written by Richard Fyfe, now
housed at the Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library.
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