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NIAGARA BASE BALL CLUB OF BUFFALO
POST-WAR HISTORY
(Click here for the prewar
history)
As was the case with
many clubs, the post-war version of the Niagaras of Buffalo was made up of an
entirely new group of players and they faced challenges that the pre-war players
could never have anticipated. One of the prominent post-war members suggested
that he viewed the two incarnations as separate entities by commenting, “I began
playing ball in 1859 with the Olympics, a Buffalo high school team, and after
serving through the Civil war became a member of the Niagaras, a team organized
to take the place of the Niagaras of former days.” (Stanley B. Cowing, quoted in
the Kalamazoo Evening Telegraph, March 26, 1906)
Yet the Niagaras
differed from most similarly placed clubs in that they stayed true to their
amateur roots and nonetheless were able to manage a signal victory against one
of the country’s top clubs. As one later summary put it, “The famed Niagaras of
the sixties were for the most part young men in the social strata, and in their
natty uniforms looked like dudes. But they played ball like fiends.” (Buffalo
Times, May 17, 1928)
The Niagaras played
only two matches in 1865, both of which took place in October when the Niagaras
took a brief tour to face two small-town opponents – the Ellicott Club of
Jamestown and the Excelsiors of Dunkirk. To no-one’s surprise, the Niagaras won
both matches handily.
Although the year in
which the war ended saw the Niagaras face no serious rivals or play any matches
in Buffalo, the club made important steps toward laying the foundation for the
success of the ensuing seasons. The club established a new practice field at
the Arsenal grounds, located on Broadway between Milnor and Potter streets.
There is no way to be certain how often the Niagaras practiced, and the game in
Jamestown prompted a local reporter to remark that the players had had “little
practice.” (Buffalo Express; quoted in Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in
Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring
1965, 3)
Nevertheless, the
club members did play at least one intrasquad game (with the squads divided into
light and heavy members) and may well have staged others that were not
recorded. They also established a new first nine that consisted of catcher Al
Wheeler, pitcher J. Sprague Sawin, first baseman John Van Velsor, second baseman
John Dobbins, shortstop Ed Hawley, third baseman Charles Pickering, left fielder
Stanley Cowing, right fielder John Bartow, and center fielder Townsend Davis. (Buffalo
Express, November 21, 1897, letter from Sawin) Some of these players were
soon replaced on the first nine, but Cowing, Van Velsor and Hawley remained
fixtures, and several of the others had lengthy tenures.
Just as important,
the Niagaras maintained the traditions of the prewar amateur club. The club’s
headquarters were at the Taylor Hose Company, where several of the players were
volunteer firefighters. While even some amateur clubs charged admission to
cover their expenses, it was not until 1867 that the Niagaras did so. (Kate
Burr, “Handsome Captain Hawley Still Live Wire,” Buffalo Times, July 10,
1927; Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the
Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 4) For now, members continued
to bear the burden – Stanley Cowing later recalled, “We had 350 members who each
paid five dollars annually toward the support of the club.” (Kalamazoo
Evening Telegraph, March 26, 1906)
The club also
retained the gentlemanly customs of their predecessors. After their trip to
Jamestown, that town’s newspaper wrote, “The manly appearance and easy manner of
the Niagaras won for them the respect of all. The Buffalonians showed
themselves to be polite, courteous and polished gentlemen by every action.” (Jamestown
Journal; quoted in Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870,
Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 3) While the
next four years would see many challenges and periodic breaches of decorum, the
Niagaras always strove to live up to those words.
One of the most
dramatic changes occurred at the start of the 1866 season when the Niagaras
received permission from the Buffalo Common Council to create permanent grounds
on Market Square, at the corner of Sixth and York Streets. The Council turned
down a request to contribute to building a ball field at the site, so the
Niagaras went about creating one. By summer, the club had a fine home field
that could accommodate the significant crowds that were beginning to flock to
the club’s games. Eventually the field would be enclosed and a grandstand
erected for the comfort of spectators. (Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in
Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring
1965, 3-4; “When Baseball Was a Fledgling,” Illustrated Buffalo Express,
October 7, 1897)
The Niagara Club
continued to try to maintain the pre-war customs of hospitality. When the
Ellicotts of Jamestown visited Buffalo in August, they were met at the train
station and escorted to the Tifft House. After the match, both clubs joined in
a ten-course meal that featured mutton, beef, soft-shelled crabs and broiled
prairie chicken, with the food accompanied by plenty of speeches and
socializing. (Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday
of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 5; Buffalo Express,
August 9, 1866)
But some of the
club’s other matches showed that the delicate fabric of baseball’s gentlemanly
era was beginning to fray. The Hudson River Base Ball Club of Newburgh, New
York, visited a couple weeks later and their members were treated with similar
hospitality. The Buffalo Courier and Republic reported afterward, “The
spirit of betting, at present so rife on account of the Horse Fair, caused
considerable investment in the game, at odds of about three to one on the Hudson
River. The result shows either that the Niagara’s are better, or their visitors
poorer, players than was thought.” (Buffalo Courier and Republic, undated
clipping)
The upset win over the highly regarded Hudson River Club also showed that the
Niagaras were becoming a force to be reckoned with. The first nine of the
Niagaras in 1866 included only two new players, Tom Emerson and Ed Atwater, both
local young men. But their additions, coupled with the players who had joined
the club in 1865 created the strong nucleus that would several significant
victories over the next few years.
Atwater in
particular would become crucial to the club’s success. The son of a prominent
Buffalo businessman, Atwater became the club’s pitcher and his work against the
Hudson Rivers prompted the New York World to rave, “Atwater of the
Niagaras is one of the best pitchers in the country, there being no one on any
of the New York or Buffalo clubs who can approach him in throwing a difficult
ball.” (quoted in Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870,
Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 5)
While the match
against the Hudson Rivers demonstrated the promise of the Niagara Club’s young
players and their commitment to maintaining the prewar gentlemanly customs,
other matches were less satisfactory. One such match occurred when the Niagaras
made a late July trip to play the Excelsiors of Rochester. The match was tied
after nine innings, but then an injury forced Niagara catcher Al Wheeler to
leave the game and the Excelsiors won in the tenth inning. Worse, the hotly
contested match prompted the Buffalo Express to make wild accusations
that the Buffalo players “were browbeat by the mob and assailed with boorish and
ungentlemanly epithets and howls by their opponents.” (quoted in Joseph M.
Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 4) While other newspapers tried to downplay
the controversy, ill will between the ballplayers of Buffalo and Rochester would
continue to fester. (Overfield notes that the response of the Rochester Union
to these charges was much more temperate. The Buffalo Courier and Republic
also implied that the claims of the Express were unfounded.)
Particularly
disturbing was a season-ending tournament in Auburn that was intended to
determine regional supremacy. After winning their first match, the Niagaras
again faced the Excelsiors of Rochester and were again tied when darkness fell.
It was agreed to decide the outcome with a rematch on the following day and this
time the Excelsiors squeaked out a narrow win.
The Excelsiors now
had only to beat the Pacifics of Rochester to take home the gold ball that
symbolized the championship of the region. Instead, controversy erupted over
who was to receive the second-place trophy and after a lengthy dispute, the
championship game was cancelled. The Niagaras were offered the trophy, but they
declined. (Tony Kissel, “The Pumpkin and Cabbage Tournament of 1866,”
Baseball Research Journal 24 (1995), 30-33; Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball
in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier,
Spring 1965, 5-6; Syracuse Journal, October 6, 1866)
The Auburn
tournament was a troubling sign of things to come, as was the outcome of an
October challenge from the Detroit Base Ball Club. The Niagaras declined the
challenge, explaining that the club intended to play no more games that year but
would be glad to schedule a match for 1867. (Detroit Advertiser and Tribune,
October 15, 1866) The club’s position was entirely understandable, considering
the likelihood of bad weather at that time of year and that the members of the
Niagaras were amateurs with business to keep them busy. Yet there was no way
for a challenging club to know whether such a response was genuine or just an
excuse, so bad feelings could ensue.
When the season
ended, the Niagaras officially joined the National Association of Base Ball
Players and the club’s certificate of membership, dated December 12, 1866, was
carefully preserved and was eventually donated to the Buffalo Historical
Society. (“When Baseball Was a Fledgling,” Illustrated Buffalo Express,
October 7, 1897) After getting off to a late start, the 1867 season saw several
indications of new ambition on the part of the club.
In July, the
Niagaras beat the Auburn club and were awarded the gold ball that had caused so
much controversy the previous fall. Possession of the trophy created great
excitement in Buffalo, and the gold ball was put on display at the Main Street
music store of club member J. Randolph Blodgett. But in other cities the match
renewed the old controversy and many wondered what right the Niagaras and
Auburns had to play for the championship.
Challenges were
quickly made to the Niagaras to defend the trophy, and more ill will was created
when the club was slow to defend its title. In an attempt to clarify matters,
the Niagaras even went to the extent of placing an advertisement in the Ball
Players’ Chronicle spelling out challenge rules for the gold ball. (Ball
Players’ Chronicle, August 29, 1867, 2) But this backfired, as others found
it presumptuous for the holders to create such rules, and the Syracuse Herald
published a parody of the rules. Included were such gems as that the Niagaras
reserved the right “not to play after the acceptance of a challenge if there is
any prospect of their being beaten,” that the championship would consist of a
single game “except it be that the Niagaras should be beaten in that game; in
such case best two in three to decide the matter” and that “the season shall
commence May 1st and end when the Niagaras will.” (Syracuse Herald,
August 27, 1867)
The humor masked a
serious issue that plagued the challenge system: the club possessing the
championship might very well have legitimate reasons for declining a challenge,
yet the challenging club understandably felt frustrated when this happened.
Whether or not the
reasons were legitimate, it was not until October that the Niagaras defended the
gold ball. In the interim, the club went on a brief tour that included matches
in Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland and Erie (the latter against a club from
Williamsport). The Niagaras and their guests took a boat across to Detroit, and
many members of the party spent the voyage singing along to tunes made by a
guitar, flute and banjo. Unfortunately, rough seas spoiled the idyllic scene
and many of the players were seasick upon arrival in Detroit. The Niagaras lost
their match their to the Detroit Base Ball Club, but recovered quickly and
concluded the tour with convincing victories over the Toledo Base Ball Club, the
Forest Citys of Cleveland, and the nine from Williamsport. (Joseph M. Overfield,
“Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara
Frontier, Spring 1965, 7)
Upon their return to
Buffalo, the Niagaras commenced a series against an up-and-coming Buffalo club
called the Cliftons. The Cliftons were still considered a junior club but the
matches proved competitive and the Cliftons even won one when the Niagaras
played two men short. (Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870,
Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 8) The emergence
of the Cliftons was an important development because it gave the hope of a
spirited in-city rivalry, but as we shall see that prospect was nipped in the
bud.
The Niagaras also
began making arrangements to defend the gold ball. The first such match took
place on October 3rd at the Sixth Street grounds and the challengers
were the Central Citys of Syracuse. For the first time ever, admission was
charged for the match and a huge crowd estimated by the local press at 4,000
turned out to watch. (Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870,
Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 8) They went
home somewhat disappointed, however, when the visitors won by the score of 38-27
and took the coveted championship trophy back to Syracuse.
Next up was a
home-and-home series between the Niagaras and their arch-rivals, the Excelsiors
of Rochester. The two matches had none of the acrimony that had plagued earlier
contests between the two clubs. The first match was played in Rochester and
prompted the Ball Players’ Chronicle to conclude, “it seems as if the
hostility so long existing between the two clubs will be turned into a generous
rivalry.” After the return match in Buffalo, “The Rochesters were entertained
lavishly after the game.” (Ball Players’ Chronicle, both quoted in Joseph
M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 8)
While the
restoration of harmony between the two clubs was welcome, the Niagaras were
defeated in both matches and this spelled trouble. Twenty-five-cent admission
had again been charged for the match in Buffalo, and advertisement beforehand
had produced another enormous crowd that was once more estimated at 4,000. The
concept of paying to watch baseball did not by itself seem to trouble
Buffalonians, with an Express reporter even writing after the gold ball
match that, “The idea of charging admission was an excellent one. It excluded
the offensive rabble of urchins who heretofore had monopolized the portion of
the ground reserved for spectators.” (quoted in Joseph M. Overfield,
“Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara
Frontier, Spring 1965, 8)
But what the matches
did reveal was that charging admission created heightened expectations. The
Express was so dismayed by the losses at the hands of the visitors from
Syracuse and Rochester that it published an editorial entitled “Base Ball, a
Buffalo Invention” that observed sarcastically, “The Niagaras were playing a
game of their own invention, a version of one-old-cat, while the Rochesters were
actually playing the national game as it is recognized the country over.”
(quoted in Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of
the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 8)
Thus the 1867 season
ended with the Niagara Club facing a challenge. Buffalo’s excitement about
baseball had reached new levels during the exciting campaign, but in order to
maintain that interest, the Niagaras were going to have to start winning matches
against the strong foes.
The Niagaras did
just that in their first major match of 1868. After a warmup win over the
Cliftons, the club hosted the mighty Atlantics of Brooklyn on June 16th.
The city of Buffalo was in a state of frenzy on the day of the game – newspaper
accounts suggested that some 2,500 spectators paid to watch while three times as
many did their best to observe the match from outside the fences. (Joseph M.
Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 8-9)
But few of the
Buffalonians really believed that the home side had a chance to win, as five to
one odds were offered on the Atlantics. The visitors felt even more certain of
victory, and they made no effort to disguise their confidence. According to
John Van Velsor of the Niagaras, “The Atlantics had brought along with them a
large number of photographs of the team which they purposed selling to the
baseball enthusiasts in the various cities included in their tour. Printed
across the cards on which the photographs were mounted were the words,
‘Champions of the World. Never Beaten and Never Will Be Beaten.’” (“When
Baseball Was a Fledgling,” Illustrated Buffalo Express, October 7, 1897)
Yet that boast was
soon proven wrong as behind the sterling pitching of Ed Atwater, the Niagaras
did the unthinkable. As one later article put it, “These stars in the baseball
firmament arrived in Buffalo with much flourish of trumpets. The Niagaras had
new suits of black and white material with caps to match, the visor being of
white. They wore baseball shoes, but their long trousers buttoned over the top
of the shoe. Captain [Ed] Hawley, just at the age when a mustache seemed
important, wore a red necktie. The nines met at the Front. All Buffalo was
there. Society turned out in tandem, coach, four-in-hands, drags, carriages,
barouches, phaetons, dog carts and every conveyance known to the sixties.
Buffalo’s belles were there in their stiffly starched piques and brilliant
sashes. And everybody else was there to see ours take their trimming, hoping
against hope that the stars would score low enough to save the face of the
Niagaras. When the game was over that bright June day the score stood 19 to 14
in favor of the Niagaras. … You couldn’t hold that Buffalo crowd. It yelled
itself hoarse. The ladies fluttered their handkerchiefs and smiled on the
conquerors. Staid business men threw their hats in the air, dignified bankers
uncorked their throats to hurrah for the Niagaras.” (Kate Burr, “Handsome
Captain Hawley Still Live Wire,” Buffalo Times, July 10, 1927)
Legendary
sportswriter Henry Chadwick had come down from New York to report on the match
and had the same expectation about the result as everyone else. At the
conclusion of the remarkable game, a dumbfounded Chadwick turned to John B.
Sage, the former president of the Niagara Club, and asked, “Who are these
players?” “Young gentlemen of the town,” was Sage’s entirely honest reply.
Perhaps the most satisfying upshot of the game came later when the Atlantic
players glumly packed up the photographs with the taunting inscriptions and sent
them back to Brooklyn.” (“When Baseball Was a Fledgling,” Illustrated Buffalo
Express, October 7, 1897)
While these accounts
undoubtedly include some measure of exaggeration, it was impossible to overstate
the magnitude of the upset. Back in New York City, some assumed that the
Niagaras’ win must have been the result of a fix, so it was fortunate that
Chadwick was on hand to defend the legitimacy of the contest. (Joseph M.
Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 9) But even in Syracuse, news of the outcome
“created great interest and much astonishment among the ball players of this
city. The general impression seemed to be that the Atlantics could not have
tried to win the game.” (Syracuse Journal, June 17, 1868)
The victory over the
legendary Atlantics was one of the highlights of the Niagara Club’s existence
and one of the biggest upsets of the era. Even so, it was a mixed blessing for
the surprise winners and in some ways was a pyrrhic victory.
To begin with, the
club’s only serious rivals in Buffalo, the Cliftons, almost immediately
disbanded because the members of the younger club were so anxious to join the
more established club. This development provided the Niagaras with a few new
players, but in the long run it left Buffalo with no in-city rivalry, while also
meaning that there would be less new talent available in the future. (“Baseball
in ’67,” Illustrated Buffalo Express, November 7, 1897) The club tried
to address the situation by organizing a second nine, but such clubs were more
difficult to sustain than ones that flew under their own masthead. (Buffalo
Courier and Republic, September 2, 1868)
An even more serious problem was that the upset of the Atlantics put the
Niagaras in an impossible situation. In big cities, recognition had begun to
dawn that a single baseball game sometimes produced an anomalous result. Henry
Chadwick referred to the Niagaras as a “country club” in describing the match
against the Atlantics, prompting one Buffalonian to ask, “has a man got to live
in New York of Philadelphia to be a first-class ball player?” (quoted in Joseph
M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 9) One New York paper went much further,
describing the result as an “accidental victory.” (New York Sunday Mercury,
reprinted in the Buffalo Courier and Republic, August 5, 1868. The
Niagaras’ win over the Atlantics led to a great deal of talk that the club would
go on a tour of New York City and Philadelphia, and matters go to the point that
club president Edward B. Smith went to New York to arrange the details. (Buffalo
Courier and Republic, September 2, 1868) But the tour never occurred.)
By contrast, in
regions where baseball was new, there continued to be an assumption that the
winner of a game could endlessly repeat that triumph. The result was that
expectations of the Niagaras in Buffalo were raised to such a height that
disappointment became inevitable. Enormous throngs started turning out at the
Sixth Street diamond and the home club rewarded them with some impressive
victories, including wins over strong clubs like the Excelsiors of Rochester and
the Detroit Base Ball Club. There was also a triumph at a tournament in Niagara
Falls, which earned the club another gold ball that was proudly exhibited at
exhibition at S. N. Lawrence & Son’s furnishing goods store. (Buffalo Courier
and Republic, July 2, 1868)
Yet victories such
as these paled by comparison with the one against the great club from Brooklyn,
while every defeat created disappointment. The first loss came against another
national power, the Athletics of Philadelphia, in front of another huge throng
of Buffalonians reported as numbering 10,000. Defeat at the hands of such a
club was understandable, especially since Atwater was struggling with an injury,
but the mood changed and the crowds began to thin when the Niagaras began losing
to clubs from nearby cities. (Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865
to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 9)
The next loss came
when the Niagaras challenged the Central Citys for the gold ball, and the
Buffalo public found it hard to understand why a club capable of beating the
mighty Atlantics couldn’t defeat one from Syracuse. The puzzlement grew when
the Niagaras were beaten by the Alerts – a junior club from Rochester
(though in fact a very strong one). Even when the Niagaras rebounded with two
convincing wins to capture the series with the Alerts, this just provided
another reason to be perplexed about the earlier loss.
The kneejerk
reaction would have been to jump to the conclusion that the game had been
fixed. Indeed, the “betting feature” at the second game of the series “was
quite prominent, several sporting characters having come down from the Flour
City [Rochester], with their greenbacks carefully folded in wrapping paper,
which they appeared greedy to invest upon the result of the game. The betting
generally ruled at evens, though in some cases odds were laid on the Alerts. As
far as our observation extended, offers did not go begging on either side. We
should judge that two thousand dollars, or thereabouts, was invested on the
game.” (Buffalo Courier and Republic, August 27, 1868) On the basis of
such circumstantial evidence, accusations of game-fixing by imported
professionals frequently flew in other cities. But the Niagara Club was still
made up of local young men from good Buffalo families, and there was no reason
to believe that there was anything fishy about the result, so other explanations
had to be sought.
“Base-ball is very
uncertain,” wrote one sportswriter. “Last Saturday the Niagara club went to
Rochester, and were beaten by the Alerts by the decisive score of thirty to
thirteen. All who witnessed the game united in the opinion that the
Rochesterians out-batted and out-fielded the Buffalonians, and such was the
fact. Judging from that fact alone, the fair inference would be that the Alerts
were much the superior club. Yesterday the return game was played here, and the
boot was on the other leg. The Niagaras won, by a score of twenty-three to
eleven, nearly equivalent to that by which they were defeated at Rochester, and
no one will gainsay that yesterday they out-batted and out-fielded the Alerts.
Judging from that game alone, the inference would be equally fair that the
Niagaras can ‘lay out’ the Alerts any day in the week. From which premises,
‘without fear of successful contradiction,’ as the man says in the play, we can
reiterate our original proposition that base-ball is very uncertain, and we may
add, speaking from a local stand-point, peculiarly uncertain when the Niagara
club is concerned.” (Buffalo Courier and Republic, August 27, 1868)
The puzzlement grew
after a lopsided September loss at the hands of the Excelsiors of Chicago. As
one sportswriter explained, previous results made the result difficult to
understand: “The Excelsiors, of Chicago, beat the Niagaras, of Buffalo, at
Detroit yesterday, by a score of thirty-one to twelve. Last Saturday the
Detroit club beat the Excelsiors, on their own grounds, the score standing
fifteen to twelve, and yesterday the Niagaras ‘warmed’ the Detroit club to the
tune of thirty-eight to seventeen. The ways of base ball are mysterious. A
logical mind would have concluded from the above premises that Chicago would
have been wax in the paws of Buffalo, but the very peculiar rules which govern
base ball ruled otherwise. We understand that some twenty or thirty of the
Buffalo nine were afflicted with ‘Grecian colic’ or some other complaint, and
that the decisive defeat they experienced is to be attributed to that
circumstance. But we have little sympathy with excuses after the game is
played. Chicago has a right to crow, it knows how to crow, and let it crow.” (Buffalo
Courier and Republic, September 18, 1868)
By
the time the Niagaras concluded their tumultuous 1868 campaign with a match
against the Red Stockings of Cincinnati, the Buffalo public was starting to
accept the fact that the club was not on a par with the national powers. As a
result, the 1500 spectators who turned out expected that the visitors would
defeat the “somewhat rusty” Niagaras and indeed the Red Stockings won by the
score of 28-11. Although coverage of the game included high praise of the play
of the visitors, there were still signs that expectations of the Niagaras
remained very high. The local players were criticized for having failed to
“play up to their ordinary standard. Bettinger was unusually ineffective behind
the bat; Van Velsor muffed one ball squarely and missed another; Byron was not
himself at second, and was powerless on the inside; Smith was very strong on the
inside, but made several wild throws; Emerson muffed a ball and Holley misjudged
one. This is a record not wont to be written of the Niagaras when they have
serious work to do.” (Buffalo Courier and Republic, October 10, 1868)
Thus the 1868 season
ended with the Niagara Club at a turning point. Baseball’s governing body
elected to allow open professionalism, with the result that the already large
gap between the top clubs and the rest of the country became a gaping chasm.
The Niagaras opted to remain an amateur club made up entirely of locals, with
the result that expectations for 1869 needed to be tamped down. “The intense
base ball enthusiasm of last year has not worn off,” warned the Buffalo
Express, “but if base ball continues at the high degree of interest it did
last year, we fear its days are numbered, for the public, fickle as it is, will
have had too much of it, and seek entertainment elsewhere.” (quoted in Joseph M.
Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 11)
Adding to the
troubles of the Niagaras, they were facing the loss of the Sixth Street grounds,
which the city was planning to turn into a park. Since it was unclear that
baseball would be allowed there, the Niagaras began playing at a harness racing
park on East Ferry Street. Unfortunately, the ground at the new field left much
to be desired, while spectators understandably “did not fancy the long
walk from the street railroad in a hot day.” (Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in
Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring
1965, 11; Buffalo Courier and Republic, May 2, 1870)
A far more serious
result of the move was that it became “impossible to get the nine together there
sufficiently often for practice.” (Buffalo Courier and Republic, May 2,
1870) In consequence, the Niagaras did not play their first match of 1869 until
June when the mighty Red Stockings again passed through town. The rust of the
Buffalo players was obvious in the game, and their “fatal nervousness” resulted
in a 42-6 trouncing at the hands of the visitors. (Joseph M. Overfield,
“Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara
Frontier, Spring 1965, 11)
The next match
played by the Niagaras was to become the most celebrated one, coming to
overshadow even the historic upset of the Atlantics. The game was played on
June 9, 1869, against another Buffalo club called the Columbias, and saw the
Niagaras win by the extraordinary score of 209-10, with every member of the nine
crossing the plate at least twenty times. Perhaps even more amazing was the
fact that the carnage was completed in a mere three hours.
News of the result
spread throughout the country and for many years later the game would be cited
as a record for runs scored in a match. Yet more than anything else, what the
match revealed was that the demise of the Cliftons had left the Niagaras without
the strong local competition that would keep the players sharp.
This reality was
underscored in the club’s next game, which took place nearly a month later and
saw the Niagaras cross the border to take on a club from Dundas, Ontario. But
the game proved another mismatch, as the batters of the Niagaras walloped the
speediest offerings of the Canadian pitcher with ease. In desperation, he began
tossing slow pitches, but his played right into the hands of slugging Buffalo
first baseman John Van Velsor. He picked out the heaviest bat he could find,
asked for a high pitch and “drove it away into the woods adjoining the ball
grounds.” Years later, the drive was a fond memory for Van Velsor, who
recalled, “I never saw anything like it. I think it’s going yet.” (“When
Baseball Was a Fledgling,” Illustrated Buffalo Express, October 7, 1897)
While matches
against clubs like these created fond memories, they did nothing to enable the
players to improve. Over the remainder of the 1869 season, the Niagaras played
several matches against professional clubs and they kept them close, but lost
every time. The most impressive win came when the Niagaras finally beat their
old nemeses, the Central City Club of Syracuse, but the Central Citys were also
struggling. Still more luster was removed from the win when the Syracuse club
won a rematch.
By the end of the
1869 season, it was painfully obvious that the Niagaras were never going to
become a national power. In addition, the club’s nucleus was breaking up.
After using a fairly set lineup in previous seasons, the combination of players
having to attend to business responsibilities and the inaccessible practice
grounds took a toll. No fewer than eighteen different players represented the
Niagaras in 1869, with three positions becoming revolving doors. (Buffalo
Courier and Republic, undated clipping from the spring of 1870, showing
these games played in 1869: Bettinger 7, M. Holley 8, Cowing 9, Hawley 14,
Emerson 13, A. Holley 14, Tanner 13, Van Velsor 13, Bostwick 5, Dobbins 7, G.
Smith 7, Atwater 13, John Green 2, H. Sprague 2, Burt 2, H. Green 2, Laverack 1,
Rogers 1)
These disheartening
trends continued in 1870, with pitcher Ed Atwater turning professional and
joining the Red Stockings and Myron Holley doing the same with the Olympics of
Washington, while longtime captain and shortstop Ed Hawley retired from
competitive play to pursue business. The club did regain the use of the Sixth
Street grounds and pluckily scheduled many top clubs that year. But the results
were predictable – a string of losses, most of them lopsided, to clubs like the
Forest Citys of Rockford, the White Stockings of Chicago, the Harvard University
nine, the Athletics of Philadelphia, the Forest Citys of Cleveland, the Olympics
of Washington, the Atlantics of Brooklyn and the Pastimes of Baltimore. The
only wins the Niagaras could boast in 1870 came across a nine from Cortland
Normal School and one called the Gobblers of Nunda. (Joseph M. Overfield,
“Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara
Frontier, Spring 1965, 13; Syracuse Daily Standard, April 20,
1870)
Despite the dismal
results, there was serious talk of keeping the Niagara Club going in 1871. But
by June, it was clear that things were winding down. “There was a time,” wrote
the Express mournfully, “when the mere mention of the name Niagaras would
excite a thrill of pride in the heart of every Buffalonian. Yesterday was
practice day and only a few men showed up to play, knock up a few, and catch.
The national game is not thriving in Buffalo. Good men are impossible to get.
Some have left the city; others are in business. The Queen City will have to go
without a nine, or form a stock company and hire one. Meanwhile, the lawns are
being rolled for croquet.” (Buffalo Express, June 2, 1871; reprinted in
Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to 1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,”
Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 13)
Even as late as
August, there were reports that the Niagaras, who had been “thought dead,” were
“only sleeping.” (Buffalo Express, August 19, 1871) The spring of 1873
saw another effort to revive the Niagara, with a meeting being held at the
Liberty firehouse at which a motion to reorganize the Niagara Club was adopted.
But while such Niagara as Thomas Emerson, John Van Velsor, and Edward S. Hawley
were involved in this effort, nothing seems to have come of it. (Buffalo
Courier and Republic, March 8, 1873)
A few years later,
professional baseball finally arrived in Buffalo, and men such as Emerson, Van
Velsor, and Hawley would play a prominent role in running those clubs. But by
then the days when a club made up of “the young gentlemen of the town” could
compete on a national basis were gone forever.
Perhaps the best
epitaph for the Niagaras was provided in 1927 by a Buffalo Times
reporter. After interviewing Ed Hawley, who by then was one of the few
surviving members of the club, she wrote, “The Niagara, from its organization,
was really a men’s social club with sixty or seventy members. The nine were
merely the athletic features. But, as on those memorable occasions when the
tail wags the dog the nines swallowed the Niagara.” (Kate Burr, “Handsome
Captain Hawley Still Live Wire,” Buffalo Times, July 10, 1927)
POST-WAR MEMBERS
Edward Pease
Atwater: Ed Atwater was the star pitcher of the Niagaras and the only club
member to go on to play professional baseball. His speedy pitching was one of
the keys to the historic win over the Atlantics and his deliveries overwhelmed
many of the local clubs the Niagaras faced. His pitching in a match against a
nine from Lockport prompted a spectator to marvel, “why don’t they shoot the
balls from a cannon, certainly they could not go swifter.” In another match,
the Lockport club tried using light pine bats instead of bats made of ash, but
“the first one to come in contact with one of Atwater’s redhot liners was
splintered in matchwood, and it is stated that everyone of the lot shared the
same fate.” Atwater, who was born in 1845, was described in one article as
being the son of Edward M. Atwater, a successful Buffalo oil refiner. But if so
he was not raised by his father. It appears instead that his mother died when
he was young and Ed and his two sisters were raised by an aunt, while Edward M.
Atwater remarried and started a new family. On the 1860 census, the Atwater
children are even listed with the surname of their aunt, suggesting that they
may have been formally adopted, though this could also be a census-taking error.
Edward P. Atwater turned professional in 1870 and spent the year playing for the
legendary Cincinnati Red Stockings, although he saw limited playing time. In
1871, he signed to play with the White Stockings of Chicago, but was released
before the season started. He remained in Chicago, found work as a bookkeeper
and he and his wife raised a daughter. He died in Chicago on November 11, 1903.
James H. Barker:
James H. Barker, the club’s scorer, was born around 1844 and later worked as a
bookkeeper.
John H. Bartow: John
Bartow was born in April of 1846 in Michigan. He was on the first nine of the
Niagaras in 1865, but soon was replaced. He later moved to Cleveland where he
worked as a broker. He died in Cleveland on July 11, 1912.
Stephen Bettinger:
Niagaras catcher Stephen Bettinger was born in December of 1847 and grew up in
Buffalo, where his French-born father was a successful dry goods merchant. The
younger Bettinger became a bookkeeper and was still living in Buffalo as late as
1930.
Henry Bull: Henry
Bull, the corresponding secretary of the Niagara of Buffalo, was born on
February 6, 1844. He became a member of the Taylor Hose Company, and nearly
died in the 1865 fire that claimed the life of prewar Niagaras member James
Sidway and two other prominent Buffalonians. Bull was buried under debris after
the collapse of a wall on that freezing cold night and was only rescued taken to
hospital after a search of several hours. But he made a full recovery and lived
for another seventy years.
Stanley Bagge
Cowing: Stanley Cowing was born in Buffalo in 1844, the son of a wholesale
grocer. While in high school he played baseball for a junior club called the
Olympics. When war broke out, he enlisted as a Private in Company K of the 2nd
N. Y. Mounted Rifle Regiment. After the war, he joined the Niagaras, usually
playing third base or the outfield. He eventually moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan,
where he worked for the Puritan Corset Company. He died in Kalamazoo on
February 11, 1921.
Townsend Davis:
Townsend Davis was a member of the first nine of the Niagaras in 1865, but he
was already sooner and soon lost his place to younger players. Davis had a good
position as assistant secretary of the Western Insurance Company while playing
for the Niagaras, but the company failed as a result of claims from the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871. Davis, however, regrouped and formed his own company,
which he ran until his death in Buffalo on September 14, 1898.
John R. Dobbins:
John Dobbins was born in October of 1843 in Pennsylvania. He served in the 116th
New York Infantry during Civil War, earning promotion to First Lieutenant by the
time he was mustered out. He was a member of the first nine of the Niagaras in
1865, and worked in the insurance business while living in Buffalo. Around
1870, he moved to California and started a fruit ranch. He made a brief return
to Buffalo, but then went back to California, where he died on April 21, 1905.
Thomas E. Emerson:
Tom Emerson, an outfielder for the Niagaras, was born around 1845. His
enthusiasm for baseball never dimmed, as he was part of an attempt to revive the
Niagaras in 1873 and then headed the committee on grounds in an unsuccessful
1875 attempt to form Buffalo’s first professional club. Emerson was associated
with the M. & T. Bank and later worked as a clerk in the office of the city
comptroller. Like many club members, he was also a volunteer fireman. He died
in Buffalo on May 2, 1890.
John B. Greene: John
B. Greene, who sometimes pitched for the Niagaras when Atwater was not
available, was born in 1849. He graduated from Princeton, then passed the bar
and returned to Buffalo to become a city attorney. He died in Buffalo on
October 16, 1893.
Edward Selden
Hawley: Edward S. Hawley was born on October 13, 1846, in Buffalo, where his
father was a businessman who also served as an Alderman and Assemblyman. Hawley
became the shortstop and captain of the Niagaras, but retired from baseball in
1870 because of the constraints of his job with Sidney Shepard & Co. But he
retained his interest in the game, supporting an 1873 attempt to revive the
Niagaras and then being one of the backers of the professional club that
represented Buffalo in 1877. Hawley later became a partner in the
Woodworth-Hawley Company. He was still living in Buffalo when he died on
December 12, 1937.
Alfred A. Holley:
Myron Holley’s younger brother Alfred was born in 1851 in New York. He left
Buffalo after playing the outfield for the Niagaras and his whereabouts after
that have been hard to trace. He was reportedly still alive in 1906, and may
have moved to Oswego.
Myron Holley: Myron
Holley played the infield for the Niagaras and later became the club’s catcher.
He was born in 1842 in Buffalo, where his father was in the flour business. In
1870, Holley was one of the two players who turned professional, joining the
Olympics of Washington. He was reported to be dead by 1897.
Jay Sprague Sawin:
Jay Sprague Sawin, the pitcher of the Niagaras in 1865, was born in New York
State in July of 1847. By 1870, he had left Buffalo and moved to Illinois to go
into the dry goods business. He eventually settled in Chicago, where he ran a
restaurant. He died there on January 2, 1927.
Edward B. Smith:
Edward B. Smith, the club president in 1868, was born in December of 1937 and
became a prominent Buffalo builder. He later was president of Buffalo’s
National League club in 1879 and 1880. Smith then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota,
and owned the city’s minor league park.
Henry S. Sprague:
Born around 1844, Henry S. Sprague was the secretary of the 1869 team and played
in a couple of games. He worked as the receiving teller of the Manufacturers’
and Traders’ bank. He retained his interest in baseball and served as secretary
and treasurer of Buffalo’s National League franchise. He also took a great
interest in science and helped found the Buffalo Natural History Society.
Sprague became a teller of the new Merchants Bank in 1880 but by then his health
had begin to fail. He died in Buffalo on April 5, 1889.
William E. Tanner:
see Cliftons of Buffalo.
John W. Van Velsor:
Slugging Niagaras first baseman John Van Velsor was born in New York State in
August of 1839. After baseball, he opened a bakery on Main Street in Buffalo
that he eventually passed down to his son. He also became the custodian of the
trophies of the Niagaras, as well as a backer of the city’s first professional
club. He was alive when the 1910 census was taken on April 23 but appears to
have died later that year.
Algar Monroe
Wheeler: Al Wheeler was born in Buffalo on May 23, 1841, the son of a soap and
candle maker. He served for four years in the Civil War, earning the rank of
Captain. He later became deputy postmaster, before moving to Virginia and then
to North Carolina. When he died in North Carolina on the last day of 1932, the
death and connection with the Niagaras of the ninety-one-year-old Wheeler were
noted in Sporting News even though he had only played on the first nine
in 1865.
Others: Bostwick,
Samuel Holly (umpire), George Laverack (of the Cliftons), Lewis, John McDonald
(umpire), Pickering, Rogers, G. Smith.
Sources: The primary
source for this profile is Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo – 1865 to
1870, Heyday of the Niagaras,” Niagara Frontier, Spring 1965, 1-14. Two
other articles by Overfield were also of great value: Joseph M. Overfield,
“Professional Baseball in Buffalo – How It Began,” Niagara Frontier,
Spring 1954 (Vol. 1, #2), 29-35, and Joseph M. Overfield, “Baseball in Buffalo
Before the Civil War,” Niagara Frontier, Summer 1964. Game accounts in
various newspapers filled in key details, as did these later reminiscences: Kate
Burr, “Handsome Captain Hawley Still Live Wire,” Buffalo Times, July 10,
1927; “Ah, Those Were the Days When Local Volunteers Ran with the Machine,”
Buffalo Express, 1924 article, exact date unavailable; “When Baseball Was a
Fledgling,” Illustrated Buffalo Express, October 7, 1897; untitled
articles in the Kalamazoo Evening Telegraph on March 26, 1906, and the
Buffalo Times on May 17, 1928.
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