|
MOUNTAIN OF ALTOONA
The Mountain Base Ball Club of Altoona was formed in 1862
and within a few months the new club accepted a challenge to play their first
match game against the Keystone Club of Harrisburg. The match was played in
Harrisburg on August 20, and saw Altoona’s new club jump to a big early lead.
But then the Keystone switched to a pitcher who delivered “balls to which
Mountain Club was unaccustomed, and which they could not bat.” As a result, the
home team rallied with thirteen runs in the ninth inning to tie the game at
33-33, then added eight more runs in the tenth inning to win 41-38.
Under the circumstances, some discouragement might have
been expected but there was no sign of that emotion in an account of the game
that was published in the Harrisburg Telegraph and proudly reprinted in
the Altoona Tribune. The article noted that the umpire, Colonel DeWitt
C. Moore, a member of the Athletic Club of Philadelphia and the vice president
of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1861, had “complimented the
players of both clubs for their good playing, considering the short time they
have practiced.” It added generously, “Considering that Mountain Club was on a
new field, they did exceedingly well, and on their own ground would be likely to
lead the Keystone more than three runs in ten innings.” Indicative of just how
new the Knickerbocker rules were to the region, the Tribune felt obliged
to explain to its readers that “nine innings constitute a single game.” (Harrisburg
Telegraph, reprinted in the Altoona Tribune, August 28, 1862)
At the match’s conclusion, the captain of the Mountain Club
presented the customary “prize ball” to the victorious host club and that seems
to have ended the first season of Altoona’s first regulation baseball club. As
soon as the spring of 1863 had rolled around, however, the club reorganized for
another campaign. The meeting took place at the Military Office of the
Pennsylvania Railroad on March 26 and saw the Mountain Club elect a new slate of
officers and make plans for the upcoming season.
Once again the 1863 season saw the Mountain Club play only
one match game (although no doubt they held many practices as well). And that
lone match game was a very special one as the mighty Athletics of Philadelphia
had agreed to pay a visit to Altoona. Excitement built as the day of the game
approached, with the Tribune gushing, “The old victorious Athletic ‘nine’ have
kindly consented to show their country brethren how the game is played, and will
bring with them several of the most distinguished ball men of New York, Brooklyn
and Philadelphia, to participate in the excursion and crown the occasion. Very
brilliant plays will be exhibited on the part of the Athletics, being the picked
men of a large city, and the tried men of many well fought contests; while the
Mountaineers will endeavor to atone by their hospitality for deficiency in
science.” (Altoona Tribune, September 9, 1863)
The match was played on September 11, 1863, beginning at 10
a.m., and to nobody’s surprise the visitors won by the lopsided score of 73-22.
In addition to revealing the ball-playing deficiencies of the Mountain Club, the
match also showed that the club’s home field on Prospect Hill was far from
ideal. The field was quite literally on the side of the hill, which made
fielding an ordeal and caused a reporter for the New York Clipper to
remark that it was difficult to see the outfielders from the diamond, making it
necessary to hire “the tallest kind of umpire to watch the movements of the out
fielders as fully as should be done.” (New York Clipper, September 26,
1863)
Yet such matters caused little concern in Altoona, where
the mood after the match was again a sunny one. The club had gone to
considerable lengths to show hospitality to the visiting Athletics and their
party, meeting their guests at the train depot and escorting them to their
lodgings at the Mountain House. (Charles A. Peverelly, The Book of American
Pastimes) After the match, these efforts were acknowledged in the
Philadelphia City Item, which in turn prompted the Tribune to express
pride that the Mountain Club had succeeded in being gracious hosts, and had
thereby “made for themselves a good name among the fraternity.” (Altoona
Tribune, September 23, 1863)
The 1864 baseball season once again got off to an early
start in Altoona, with the club’s annual meeting taking place at the Military
Office on March 31st. (Altoona Tribune, March 23, 1864) The
election of officers and arrangement of other details was followed by an initial
practice session on April 23 that left many of the players feeling sore. (Altoona
Tribune, April 27, 1864)
The Mountain Club had scheduled a “special meeting” to be
held on April 29, 1864, at the office of club member B. F. Rose. (Altoona
Tribune, April 27, 1864) That announcement suggests that the club had big
plans for the upcoming season, and we do know that the club visited Philadelphia
on September 27, where the Mountains were beaten by the Athletics by the very
convincing margin of 63-2. Otherwise, however, little is known about the
Mountain Club of Altoona that season.
The end of the war caused a baseball boom in much of the
northeast and Midwest, with Altoona at first being no exception. The Mountain
Club played at least four match games in 1865, including one on September 20 in
which the club again hosted the Athletics of Philadelphia and lost by the more
respectable score of 41-16. The club was even more active in 1866, playing at
least six match games. By season’s end, the Mountain Club boasted seventy-seven
active members and Benjamin F. Rose of the club was elected president of the
Pennsylvania Base Ball Association. (Charles A. Peverelly, The Book of
American Pastimes; Pennsylvania Patriot, October 18, 1866)
Yet the known history of the Mountain Club ends at that
point. The club was at least nominally still in existence in 1867 and made have
mustered on in 1868 as well, but no records of match games in either year
survives. By 1869, a new club called the Mountain City had been formed,
suggesting that Altoona’s pioneer club had passed out of existence.
The demise of any pioneer baseball club is the result of a
combination of factors, some known but most of them unknowable at this point.
That makes it a dangerous topic to speculate about, but in the case of the
Mountain Base Ball Club of Altoona two likely reasons stand out. As is clear
from the player sketches below, many of the club members were well past thirty
by the end of the war. Thus, although club members remained optimistic after
losses in 1862 and 1863 against more experienced rivals, this outlook became
more difficult to maintain when the losses continued and the players aged. More
important, most of the club members who could be identified were railroad
employees who had few ties to Altoona. Several of them are known to have left
Altoona at about the time that the club’s activity began to decline, and many
more had left Altoona by 1870. Their departures no doubt hastened the demise of
the city’s first ball club.
CLUB MEMBERS
Joseph Wilkinson Askew: J. W. Askew was born in 1929 in
East Nottingham, Maryland and worked as a railroad office clerk railroad office
in Altoona. He was secretary of the Mountain Club from 1864-66 and was still in
Altoona in 1880 but his whereabouts after that are unknown.
David T. Caldwell: David Caldwell played center field for
the Mountain Club and served as treasurer in 1865-1866. He was born around 1836
in Pennsylvania and differed from most of his fellow club members in two
important regards – he did not work for the railroad and he remained in Blair
County for his entire life. After getting married in Altoona in 1859, Caldwell
worked as a banker and notary public, also serving as a director of the First
National Bank of Altoona. Eventually he moved his large family to nearby Snyder
and then to Tyrone, where he sold insurance. He was still living there in 1920.
Robert Brown Gemmell: R. B. Gemmell was born in Greensburg,
Pa., on April 27, 1839. He began working for the Pennsylvania Railway Company
in 1854, beginning in the telegraph department, working his way up to division
operator, and then becoming chief clerk to the superintendent of the state’s
middle division in 1861. In 1863, he was appointed trainmaster for the middle
division and spent the next three years in Altoona, serving as vice president of
the Mountain Club in 1865 and 1866. He resigned his position in 1866 to move to
Kansas and become chief clerk and superintendent of telegraphs on the Kansas
Pacific Rail Road. He eventually settled in Topeka and came to be in charge of
all telegraphs in a region that comprised over 6,000 square miles. A devout
Presbyterian, Gemmell was also president of the Y. M. C. A. of Topeka for ten
years. He died in Topeka on September 14, 1896.
Henry Wynkoop Gwinner: H. W. Gwinner, the president of the
Mountain Club in 1862, was born in Philadelphia on January 11, 1824. After a
brief stint at Lafayette College, he became a printer printing, then entered
railroad business in 1858. He became general passenger agent for Pennsylvania
Central Railway and became a very prominent and popular railway man. He
resigned from the railway in 1880 and moved to New York to become president of
the Hoole Manufacturing Company. Three years later, in October of 1883,
Gwinner’s many friends were stunned to learn that he had fatally shot himself.
Gwinner was a wealthy man by that time and to all appearances was happy as well,
and no plausible reason for his suicide other than overwork was advanced.
William C. Keller: Will Keller played shortstop for the
Mountain Club, also serving as club secretary in 1862 and 1863. He was born
around 1840 in Pennsylvania and was listed as a telegraph operator on the 1860
census. He had left Altoona by 1870, and may have moved to Harrisburg, but his
common name makes it difficult to be certain.
Enoch Lewis: Enoch Lewis pitched for the Mountain Club and
was its president in both 1863 and 1864. By that time, however, he was already
past 40, having been born around 1820 in Wilmington, Delaware. Lewis worked as
a superintendent for the Pennsylvania Railroad and, like so many of his fellow
club members, he left Altoona shortly after his association with the Mountain
Club. He moved to Philadelphia around 1866 and became the Pennsylvania
Railroad’s purchasing agent, a prestigious position in which he served until
retiring in 1893. He died in Philadelphia on November 15, 1902.
Robert Pitcairn: Robert Pitcairn was club treasurer in 1862
and 1863. He was born in May of 1836 in Scotland and immigrated to the States in
1840. He too was a railroad man who had a short stay in Altoona – by 1870 he
had moved to Pittsburgh where he was still living as late as 1900.
Benjamin Franklin Rose: Born in Pennsylvania around 1821,
B. F. Rose served as club president in 1865 and the special meeting of the club
on April 29, 1864, was held at his office. He was then elected president of the
Pennsylvania Base Ball Association after the 1866 season. Like many civic
leaders of the era, he was chief of the volunteer fire department. Rose became
a judge in 1865 and later served as a city alderman. He died in Altoona on
March 8, 1896.
Other members: C. L. Kitchel (club treasurer in 1864),
Darlington (second baseman), Downer (right fielder), Pettit (first baseman),
Miller (left fielder), John Reilly (third baseman and club vice president in
1863 and 1864), L. M. Stewart (club vice president in 1862), Watt (catcher) and
E. H. Williams (club president in 1866). None of these men could be identified
in Altoona on the censuses of either 1860 or 1870. Of course in a few cases,
most notably Miller, the problem was the man’s common surname and absence of a
given name. But in most cases, there was nobody by that name in Altoona on
either census, suggesting that many of these members were also railroad men who
lived in Altoona for only a brief time.
|
