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DETROIT BASE BALL CLUB
CLUB HISTORY
The Detroit Base Ball Club was the most prominent ball club in Michigan
throughout the 1860s and the club’s history is told in considerable detail in my
Baseball Fever. As a result, this entry will provide an overview of the
club’s history along with profiles of key club members.
The Detroit Base
Ball Club was formed in the fall of 1858, after the city’s first club, the
Franklins, had either disbanded or becoming inactive enough to amount to the
same thing. The newly formed club did not take the field that fall, but they
did begin practices when the spring of 1859 arrived. Those practices were
scheduled for 4 p.m., a choice that proved fateful because it conflicted with
the work schedules of many prospective members. The result was the organization
of another new club, which called itself the Early Riser Club of Detroit in
honor of its break-of-dawn practices. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever,
33-34)
The rivalry between
the two clubs was a friendly one but it was a rivalry nonetheless. Not
surprisingly, the members of the Detroit Base Ball Club tended to be older,
wealthier and better established than the Early Risers, although several men
belonged to both clubs. Two contests were played in 1859, with the Detroit Club
winning both times by convincing margins. But the competition proved much
closer in 1860, with the two rivals splitting their first two matches before the
Detroit Base Ball Club pulled out the rubber game to retain their distinction as
local champions. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 36-43, 54-61)
The 1860 season also
saw the start of intercity competition in Michigan, with the Detroit Base Ball
Club defeating the Daybreak Club of Jackson. Baseball clubs were formed in
several other Michigan cities that year and the new game seemed poised to sweep
the state. But then the outbreak of the Civil War in the spring of 1861 put
that possibility on hold.
While relatively few
members of the Detroit Base Ball Club enlisted, many became involved in the war
effort in some way or other and the club’s activities came to a virtual halt.
The club played only one match per season in 1861 and 1862, losing both times.
In 1863, the club elected officers but never took the field and in 1864 all
baseball activity in Detroit seems to have ceased. (Michigan Gazetteer 1863;
Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 80)
The war finally
ended in the spring of 1865 and the revival of the Detroit Base Ball Club soon
followed. But while this club carried on the name and many of the traditions of
its prewar counterpart, in many crucial ways it represented a break with the
past. To begin with, most of the antebellum first nine members lost their
places to younger men. In addition, two of those younger men – pitcher/captain
Henry Burroughs and first baseman John Clark – were recent arrivals from the
East (Newark and Brooklyn respectively). The extent to which these men were
professionals is debatable, but there was no question that a new era of baseball
in Michigan had begun. Symbolic of that new era was the club’s decision to
establish permanent enclosed grounds – a move that created the possibility of
charging admission to games. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 90-93)
But while the
Detroit Base Ball Club was now prepared for a new era of baseball, it was less
clear whether the rest of the state would follow suit. The Early Riser Club did
not re-form after the war, leaving the Detroit Club without a local rival. Ball
clubs sprung up in a few other Michigan towns that year, but the players were
mostly novices who were still learning the basics of the game. As a result, the
Detroit Base Ball Club played few outside clubs in the first five months after
its postwar reorganization.
That changed
dramatically when the news broke that the 1865 Michigan State Fair, which was to
be staged in Adrian on September 20-21, would feature a baseball tournament.
There was excitement about the event as far away as New York, where the New
York Clipper noted, “We have had almost every other kind of tournament but
base ball, but this exception, it appears, is not to be for long.” (New York
Clipper, August 8, 1865) The anticipation increased when word came that the
winner would not only be recognized as state champions but would also be awarded
a goblet consisting of “a silver cup, mounted on three miniature bats. The lid
of the cup is of oval shape, and in a depression carries a silver ball, the
emblem of success. Between the bats, constituting the standard, are also placed
fac similes of the square and circular bases. The prize is thus very
appropriate, in addition to being of a novel model.” (Detroit Advertiser and
Tribune, September 13, 1865)
When the State Fair
opened, it showed the predicament that the Detroit Base Ball Club faced.
Despite the interest generated by the tournament, several small-town clubs
realized that they stood no chance of winning and elected not to play. In the
end, there were only three other entrants – from Adrian, Jackson and Lansing –
and the Detroit Base Ball Club won both its matches handily to take home the
championship trophy. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever,96-99)
A challenge system
for defending the trophy had been adopted at the State Fair and two championship
matches were staged at the enclosed grounds of the Detroit Base Ball Club that
fall. The first one was billed as featuring an admission charge, but if one was
charged the spectators must have been disappointed as the day was very cold and
the visiting club from the small town of Salem was badly overmatched. The
second one proved more competitive, with the hosts staving off a late rally by
the Anchora Club of Adrian to retain the title. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever,
99-101)
The eventful season
of 1865 thus finished with an unresolved question. Would Michigan produce
strong enough rivals for the Detroit Base Ball Club to sustain the enthusiasm
over the state championship and, in the process, pay for the club’s enclosed
ballpark? Or would Detroit’s status as far and away the state’s biggest city
prevent any meaningful rivalry from developing?
Unfortunately, the 1866 season would show that the latter situation still
prevailed. Few challenges from in-state rivals were forthcoming, and even a
match against an all-star club of players from around the state proved
one-sided. Forced to look beyond the state boundaries for competition, the
Detroit Base Ball Club traveled to Rockford, Illinois, in late June, to compete
in a tournament billed as being for the championship of the region. But this
trip too proved disappointing when the club lost a tightly contested match
against the Excelsiors of Chicago. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 110-115
The defeat was a
bitter pill to swallow. Nearly four decades later, Detroit Club third baseman
David Barry was still angry that umpire H. G. Teed had “robbed us of that game …
That old grudge rankles deeply in our hearts yet. He was supposed to be from
Laporte, Ind., but in reality was a member of the Chicago club.” (Detroit
News-Tribune, March 15, 1903) The animosity between the Excelsiors and the
Detroit Base Ball Club grew when efforts to stage a rematch at the enclosed
field in Detroit were unsuccessful. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever,
116-117)
After the
disappointments of 1866, captain Henry Burroughs left town and the other
Easterner, John Clark, temporarily stopped playing. The efforts of the club in
1867 were instead focused on hosting an August tournament in Detroit that was
billed as being for the “World’s Championship.” In many respects, the
tournament proved a success, but it was marred by ill will between the host club
and the eventual winners, a club representing Jackson. (Peter Morris,
Baseball Fever, 161-170)
The Detroit Base
Ball Club did not compete in its own tournament and when it did play the results
suggested that the leadership of Burroughs was sorely missed. The tournament
was supposed to conclude with a match between the hosts and the champions, but
the Jackson Club refused, so the Detroit Club instead faced the runners-up and
lost. More shocking was a match in which a club from the University of Michigan
routed the state champions 70-18. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 146-148)
And at times the Detroit Base Ball Club seemed just to be going through the
motions, as when only five of the first nine were on hand for a loss to the
Quickstep Club of Toledo. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 171)
In spite of these
setbacks, the 1867 season had many highlights. The Detroit Base Ball Club
showed flashes of brilliance in wins against such clubs as the Niagaras of
Buffalo and the Forest Citys of Cleveland. The tournament it hosted contributed
to explosive growth of baseball all across southern Michigan – the number of
cities with clubs doubled and number of clubs in the state enjoyed a
corresponding increase. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, Appendix B)
With the Detroit
Base Ball Club no longer invincible and the game’s appeal on the upswing, it
would seem that the competitive imbalance that had plagued the state’s baseball
scene in 1866 and 1867 would end. But that didn’t prove to be the case. Since
most University of Michigan students went home for the summer, that club could
not compete for the championship trophy or provide an ongoing rivalry.
Meanwhile the hard feelings between the ballplayers of Detroit and Jackson
prevented that rivalry from being contested on the field, while the newly formed
clubs in other towns were not ready to challenge the Detroit Base Ball Club.
The result was that
the club once again faced few challenges for the trophy that was emblematic of
the state championship. By the rules established in 1865, the Detroit Club’s
retention of the goblet against all challengers for two years meant that it
became their permanent possession in September. This was a significant
accomplishment, yet it was less satisfactory than would have been the case if
the trophy had inspired the number of championship matches that had been
intended.
Also unsatisfying
was the series that concluded the Detroit Base Ball Club’s 1867 campaign. Two
matches against the Excelsior Club of Chicago had finally been arranged for that
October, giving Detroit its long-awaited chance for revenge. But the first
contest, played in Chicago on October 5, resulted in a one-sided victory for the
Excelsiors. The rematch was played in Detroit two weeks later and was much
closer, with the Michigan club clinging to a narrow lead as darkness
approached. Then the Excelsiors rallied, however, and surged back in front. In
desperation, the Detroit players resorted to allowing the visiting players to
score at will in hopes that the inning would not be completed and the score
would revert to that of the previous inning. But eventually the inning came to
an end and so too did another tumultuous season for the Detroit Base Ball Club.
(Peter Morris, Baseball Fever, 175-176)
In the spring of
1868, Detroit’s marquee ball club announced plans to take a new direction. “We
lost sight of the best interests and legitimate objects of base ball when we
began to have an itching for foreign aid,” declared club president Jonathan Van
Norman at the outset of the new season. “What we haven’t the brain and muscle
to accomplish ourselves, by education and practice, we had better leave
unaccomplished. So soon as our club becomes possessed with a hankering after
professionals, that moment there is danger of its becoming prostituted from its
beneficial and noble aims, and thus can no longer either claim or expect
countenance from the public.” (Detroit Post, April 7, 1868)
Yet instead of
staying true to this resolution to revert to amateurism, the club vacillated.
The Detroit Advertiser and Tribune refuted allegations that the Detroit
Base Ball Club was employing professionals and maintained that the nine was
“composed of only home talent; notwithstanding the ungenerous assertion of our
wise neighbors to the contrary.” (Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, June
13, 1868) But in fact the club employed several imported players in 1868 and
the evidence suggests that most if not all of these men were paid for their
services.
George Dawson, the
catcher of the University of Michigan club, was hired for the summer and his
obituary revealed that he was paid $75 per month to do so. (Chicago Tribune,
August 20, 1935) The club’s pitcher was another new arrival named S. C. Lane
and he too was probably a paid professional. Henry Burroughs returned to town,
now playing shortstop, and it seems likely that he was compensated in some way.
In addition, a Jackson paper claimed that yet another new player, a Detroiter
named T. Collins, received $15 a week for his services. (Jackson Daily
Citizen, June 5, 1868)
With these
reinforcements, the Detroit Base Ball Club pluckily agreed to play matches
against the top Eastern clubs that had chosen to make their first western tours
in 1868. These matches finally provided the club with an opportunity to take
advantage of their enclosed home field by collecting admission. Unfortunately,
while matches against clubs like the Atlantics of Brooklyn and the Athletics of
Philadelphia drew large crowds and swelled the coffers of the Detroit Base Ball
Club, they resulted in lopsided defeats that showed that the club was still not
able to compete on a national scene. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever,
218-219)
Worse, because the
members of the Detroit Base Ball Club were not amateurs who played for civic
pride, they could no longer count on the support of the press. While the
Advertiser and Tribune remained sympathetic, the Detroit Post
lambasted the club for its use of imported players at every opportunity. “They
have good material within the Club, but fail to develop it,” complained the
Post’s baseball writer after one loss. He predicted that “just so long as
they blindly overlook this fact and strain for players from a distance, even so
long will the public not sympathise with them when they are defeated. A few
years ago, when home talent alone was called into play, victory almost
unceasingly perched on the banner of the Detroit club.” (Detroit Post,
June 5, 1868) As the losses mounted, the rhetoric escalated and before long the
Post had characterized professional ballplayers as “drones on the community.
They have no noble aim in life, and ought not to be tolerated in a thrifty
community.” (Detroit Post, June 22, 1868)
The Detroit Base
Ball Club had one last hurrah that October when it finally defeated its bitter
rivals, the Excelsiors of Chicago, for the first time on September 12. But by
this time the Excelsiors were also on the decline and the win was not as
meaningful as it would once have been. As a result, the 1868 season ended with
the Detroit Club facing the same dilemma that confronted clubs all over the
country. Would they take advantage of the National Association of Base Ball
Players’ decision to permit open professionalism and hire a professional nine or
would they revert to amateurism?
In light of the disappointing results of 1868 and the harsh criticism that had
ensued, it came as no great surprise when the Detroit Base Ball Club decided to
use only amateurs in 1869. A first nine of locals was assembled, almost of whom
were new players twenty years of age or under. Symbolizing the new direction,
David Peirce of the prewar days was elected club president.
The club pinned its
hopes for a return to glory on a talented young pitcher named Charley Ward, the
son of Michigan’s wealthiest industrialist. But Ward was as unreliable as he
was gifted and his inconsistency was reflected in the club’s performances,
prompting speculation that the “Detroit Club may retire.” (Detroit Free Press,
July 24, 1869) In August, the Detroit Base Ball Club made one last effort to
revive its fortunes by announcing that it would again accept challenges for the
championship trophy. (Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, August 23, 1869)
The anticipated flurry of activity did indeed result and in October the goblet
was captured by a club from Ann Arbor. (Peter Morris, Baseball Fever,
232-233)
That match proved to
be the last one ever played by the Detroit Base Ball Club. An effort was made
to reorganize the club in April of 1870 but it came to nothing. (Peter Morris,
Baseball Fever, 244) In May came word that the club owed $115.71 in
taxes on its enclosed ballpark. (Detroit Free Press, May 21, 1870) It
was a final sad reminder that the Detroit Base Ball Club, for all its triumphs,
had never quite succeeded in establishing baseball as a spectator sport in
Michigan.
CLUB MEMBERS
Robert Henry
Anderson: Robert H. Anderson was born in Patchogue, New York, on February 22,
1827. He followed the gold rush to California in 1848 during gold rush but
headed back east in 1855 and settled in Detroit. He went back to New York for a
couple years, but soon returned to Detroit to stay. He became a successful
commission merchant and a member of the Board of Trade and the Light Guard. He
was also one of the mainstays of the Detroit Base Ball Club, being involved in
its founding in 1859 and, unlike many early members, remaining involved after
the war. Even after losing his spot on the first nine, he continued to play for
the second nine and serve as a director. He died in Detroit on January 26,
1898.
Lyman Hayden
Baldwin: Lyman H. Baldwin was secretary of the Detroit Base Ball Club and one of
the sixteen club members who attended the 1866 Rockford tournament. He was born
in Michigan on April 18, 1844, and became the secretary and treasurer of the
Hargreaves Manufacturing Company, one of the biggest frame manufacturers in the
world. He was still living in Detroit in 1910.
David E. Barry:
David Barry was born in Michigan in October of 1845 and played for the first
nine 1865 and 1866. As a young man, he worked in the railroad business but he
later became associated with the Hoffman Coal Co. By 1910, he was still living
in Detroit but had retired and he seems to have died soon afterward.
William H. Baxter:
see Franklin Base Ball Club.
Bergen: Like so many
of the Eastern imports, mentions of this player were brief. On August 4, 1868,
the Advertiser and Tribune described him as a new arrival from the East
and then on April 22, 1869, the Detroit Post stated that he had left
town. It’s possible that he was Lem Bergen, a well-known Brooklyn player, but
there’s no way to be certain.
William Shepard
Biddle: William S. Biddle, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was club vice president
when the Detroit Club was founded in 1859. When the war broke out, he became
involved in drilling troops and his connection with the ball club ended. After
the war he moved to Grosse Ile. Biddle was born in Detroit in 1830 and died in
Grosse Ile on November 14, 1901.
John A. Brown: John
Brown starting playing for the Detroit Base Ball Club in late 1867 and remained
a mainstay until the club disbanded. His common name makes him difficult to
identify with certainty, but his middle initial and the fact that he was married
point to a strong candidate: a barber who was born in Florida around 1843 and
arrived in Detroit with his young family shortly after the end of the war. He
left Detroit and moved to Chicago during the 1870s.
Henry S. Burroughs:
Henry S. Burroughs was born in New Jersey in February of 1845 and grew up in
Newark, where he played baseball for the Eureka Club. After the war he moved to
Detroit and became a “professor” of gymnastics at the Detroit Gymnasium and the
captain and pitcher of the Detroit Base Ball Club. While he did offer courses
in gymnastics, rival cities viewed him as the state’s first professional
import. An Ann Arbor paper explicitly described Burroughs as a “professional
player,” while the University of Michigan student newspaper wrote of Burroughs:
“We don’t blame Detroit for thus holding out inducements to good players: she
must do it to keep pace with her sister cities. But it is somewhat difficult
for us to distinguish between these men and ‘professional players,’ or those who
play for ‘place or emolument.’” (Ann Arbor Peninsular Courier and Family
Visitant, June 20, 1866; University Chronicle, June 22, 1867) His
play and captaining skills earned praise over the next two years, but
professionalism gradually fell into disfavor and he resigned from club in the
spring of 1867. He did return to play for the Detroit Club in 1868 and then
played professional ball for several seasons, including playing in the National
Association in 1871 and 1872. He then returned to his native Newark, where he
died of tuberculosis on March 31, 1878. An obituary in the local paper noted
that Burroughs had “gained celebrity as a base ball player, travelling over the
United States” and was mourned by “hosts of friends, throughout the West and
South as well as Newark being known as a genial and whole souled gentleman.”
John Clark: John
Clark was a second Easterner who joined the Detroit Base Ball Club after the war
and went on to a remarkable career as an opera singer. Clark was born in Cork
County, Ireland, on September 26, 1841, but moved to Brooklyn at a child. After
the war, he moved to Brooklyn to work as a proofreader for the Advertiser and
Tribune, also becoming the first baseman of the Detroit Base Ball Club. He
held down both positions for the next three years, and was likely also
responsible for many of the unsigned articles about baseball that appeared in
the paper during these years. After returning to Brooklyn, he continued his
career as a journalist for several years and also began singing. He proved to
have such an exceptional bass voice that a subscription was raised in Brooklyn
to send him to Europe for voice training. As a tribute to his hometown, Clark
adopted the stage name of Signor Brocolini. After four years as an opera singer
in Europe, he returned to New York in 1879 to create the role of the Pirate King
in the original New York City production of The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert
and Sullivan. The evidence suggests that Clark also played a key role in the
creation of the Pirate King’s signature song. Clark continued to tour in comic
operas for the next decade, mostly in the United States but also making a tour
of Australia. Rheumatism forced him to give up the stage at last and he became
the music critic of the Brooklyn Eagle. He died in Brooklyn on June 7, 1906.
(For a much more detailed account, see Peter Morris, “From First Baseman to
Primo Basso: The Odd Saga of the Original Pirate King (Tra La!),” Nine: A
Journal of Baseball History and Culture, Spring 2007, 15: 2, pp. 46-65, 169)
James Craig: James
Craig served as club vice president in 1863 and played for the first nine before
the war. He was born on December 2, 1823, in Ticonderoga, New York, and moved
to Detroit in 1847, where he and his brother were in the fish and grocery
business. In 1875, he served in the state legislature. He died on November 11,
1895.
J. S. Davies: Davies
represented the club at the 1860 national convention.
George Ellis Dawson:
George Dawson was a University of Michigan student who caught for the Detroit
Base Ball Club in the summer of 1868. According to his obituary, he was paid
$75 a month to do so, and while his professional status was not explicitly
mentioned in the press it seems to have been well enough known to cause
resentment. That is ironic because Dawson embodied the gentlemanly era of
baseball. He was born on June 23, 1847, in Loami, Illinois, and sang in
Lincoln’s funeral choir while a student at Springfield High School. Only weeks
before joining the Detroit Base Ball Club, Dawson gave a speech at his sophomore
class commencement on The Desire for Knowledge. His career after graduation
would exemplify that theme, as he became principal of Flint High School in 1870,
then taught in Buffalo before passing the bar in 1881 and becoming a successful
attorney. Dawson died in Ludington, Michigan, on August 19, 1935.
William DeGraff:
William DeGraff, who was born around 1846 in Michigan, was a club member from
1866 to 1868. He mostly played with the second nine, but was one of the sixteen
members who attended the 1866 Rockford tournament. DeGraff was a cashier at the
Detroit National Bank.
Dr. Justin J. Dumon:
J. J. Dumon was a dentist who was born in New York State around 1832. He was
the club’s regular catcher before the war and played a couple of games in 1865,
also serving as a club director. In 1868, he was accused of larceny and
acquitted, then disappeared.
Charles Dupont:
Charles Dupont was born in Detroit on February 12, 1842, and enlisted in the 4th
Michigan Infantry at the start of the war. At the battle of Gaines’ Mill, he
was shot in the face and reported dead. He was captured by the Confederates and
held in Libby Prison for four months before being exchanged. Although the
shooting cost him his right eye, he reenlisted and was eventually placed in
command of over 1400 men. Among his regiment’s many accomplishments was helping
to capture accused Lincoln conspirators Samuel Mudd and George Atzerodt. After
the war, Dupont served as a director of the Detroit Base Ball Club and, in spite
of his war injuries, even played in a few games for the club’s second nine. He
was later elected Detroit’s Register of Deeds. He never married and was still
living in Detroit in 1900, but appears to have died soon afterward.
Morgan S. Fellers:
Morgan Fellers was born around 1836 and played for the first nine of the Detroit
Base Ball Club in 1859. He enlisted in the 1st Michigan Infantry on April 18,
1861, and served until that August. He then ran a grocery in Detroit until
moving to Kansas City around 1877. By 1910, he was living in a home for
disabled veterans in Leavenworth, Kansas. He died on October 13, 1922, and is
buried in Leavenworth National Cemetery.
Dexter Mason Ferry:
Dexter M. Ferry, Sr., was born in Lonville, New York, on August 8, 1833, and
moved to Detroit in 1852. He became a partner in a seed company in 1856, and
then in 1867 founded D. M. Ferry Seeds, which became one of the world’s largest
seed companies and is still in existence. Ferry’s involvement with the Detroit
Base Ball Club was limited, as he played one game for the club’s second nine in
1866 and then served as a club vice president in 1867. That was the year that
Ferry started his seed company and got married, and his involvement with the
Detroit Base Ball Club appears to have ended there. Nonetheless, he was often
mentioned in later reminiscences about the club. In 1903, David Peirce
recalled, “D. M. Ferry played with us and he was a great hitter. He had an
ankle sprained in one game and it laid him up for a long time. We had some new
bases, fastened to stakes in the ground. Mr. Ferry made a long hit that proved
to be a home run, but on the way around the bases he stepped on one of the
posts, and turned his ankle severely. He kept on, and made the run, but it was
his last for a long time.” (“When D.M. Ferry Played Ball,” Detroit Free Press,
June 14, 1903) After becoming a very successful businessman, Ferry continued to
take an interest in baseball. In 1876, he made a $50 loan to the Aetna Club of
Detroit. During the 1880s he sponsored a company baseball team known as the
“Seeds” and one of his employees, pitcher Frank McIntyre, briefly reached the
major leagues. Ferry died in Detroit on November 10, 1907.
Frank Folsom: Frank
Folsom was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, on June 25, 1839, moving to
Detroit with his father, a wool dealer. Frank Folsom helped his father in the
business. Like several others, he belonged to both the Detroit Base Ball Club
and the Early Riser Club and was a director of the latter club. He also
belonged to the Franklin Club, making him the only man who is known to have
belonged to the city’s first three prominent clubs. But he seems to have
restricted his appearances in match games to the Detroit Base Ball Club, earning
a reputation as “one of the fastest runners of bases in the country.” His
interest in baseball continued after his playing days ended, as he served as
vice president of Aetnas in 1876. He eventually moved back to Southbridge,
where he died on April 27, 1895.
Charles Harvey
Force: Charles Force was born in Manchester, Michigan, on October 10, 1838.
After the war, he moved to Detroit, where he got married in 1866 and joined to
the Detroit Base Ball Club. He won the best base-runner competition at that
year’s Rockford tournament. He died in Manchester on September 15, 1870.
Ford de Camp
Hinchman: Ford Hinchman was born at the house of his grandfather, former Detroit
Mayor Marshall Chapin, on September 3, 1847. The Chapin House was directly
across from Lewis Cass’s home, symbolizing the prominence of his family. He
played for the first nine of the Detroit Base Ball Club after the war and won
the prize for the best throw at the 1866 Rockford tournament – indeed all three
of his throws were better than the best one of the runner-up. In 1869, he gave
up baseball and became a partner in his father’s business, which became known as
T. H. Hinchman and Sons. He did, however, continue to play cricket as the
wicket-keeper for the Peninsular Cricket Club. He also served as the city’s
park commissioner under Mayor William Thompson. He died in Detroit on March 26,
1929.
John Marshall
Hinchman: John M. Hinchman, Ford’s older brother, was born in Detroit on August
14, 1845. He attended the University of Michigan from 1862 to 1865 and helped
found the school’s first baseball club. After the war, he became the shortstop
of the Detroit Base Ball Club. He gave up baseball in 1868 and became a partner
in his father’s business, which became known as T. H. Hinchman and Son. He died
on May 3, 1912, in Detroit.
John Horn Jr.: John
Horn Jr., was born in Sidmouth, Devonshire, England, on September 7, 1843. The
family moved to Detroit in 1852, where the elder John Horn operated a saloon
known as Gorman’s or the Shakespeare that was a popular hangout of printers, aka
Gorman’s saloon. John Horn Sr. played cricket but his son took up baseball and
was a regular in the outfield of the Detroit Base Ball Club from 1865 to 1868.
John Horn Jr. became renowned for saving more than 100 people from drowning in
the Detroit River. An 1875 book described how Horn “saved the life of a poor
little newsboy, who fell into the water in the presence of two boat-loads of
people, not one of whom was willing to jump into the river.” But Horn “ran
immediately to the place, and without an instant’s hesitation, sprang into the
water and rescued the child just as he was sinking, which made the number of one
hundred and twenty people, whom he has saved from drowning. He is a good
swimmer and his method is to hold the person at arm’s length, aiming to keep
only the head of the drowning person out of the water; this requires very little
strength, only of a few pounds.” (William Whitty Hall, How to Live Long
(London: Hurd and Houghton, 1875)) For his heroism, Horn received the
Congressional Gold Medal in 1874. Horn served as a Detroit alderman during the
1870s and was spoken of as candidate for governor. (Detroit Evening News,
August 22, 1874) Following in his father’s footsteps, he also became a
member of the Peninsular Cricket Club. In 1901, his Congressional Gold Medal
was stolen and the U. S. Congress voted to create a replacement medal. Horn was
still living in Detroit in 1915 but his exact date of death is not known.
Butler Ives: Butler
Ives had one of the longest tenures with the Detroit Base Ball Club, being a
regular before the war and resuming that role in 1865 and 1866. He was
especially noted for sliding into bases during an era when that was a very
unusual tactic. Ives was born in Michigan in June of 1843 and joined his father
in the banking business. The Ives Bank was successful for many years but it
fell victim to the difficult economic climate of the 1890s and folded on May 24,
1896. Butler Ives died on April 11, 1916.
S. C. Lane: S. C.
Lane, who was described by the Detroit Post as a mechanic who had
recently moved to town, became the club’s pitcher in 1868. The circumstances
and other references to him in the local papers suggest that he was a
professional player, while another note implied that he had formerly played for
the Lincolns of Pittsbugh. Based on these facts, he was almost certainly a man
named Samuel C. Lane, who was born in Allegheny around 1847. On the 1860
census, the Lane household included Ambrose Lynch, who was the catcher of the
Allegheny Base Ball Club and was voted best catcher at the 1867 Detroit
tournament. Also of note is that Samuel Lane’s younger brother George played in
the major leagues in the 1880s. Samuel Lane later worked as a painter and was
living in Pittsburgh in 1910.
Heber LeFavour: see
Early Risers
George Howard
Lothrop: George Lothrop was another University of Michigan who joined George
Dawson in playing for the Detroit Base Ball Club in the summer of 1868. The
indications, however, are that Lothrop was not paid for his services as he was
not even a regular. Lothrop was born in Detroit on April 18, 1850. He left the
University of Michigan after his sophomore year and completed his degree at
Cornell University. He passed the bar and became such a respected patent lawyer
that President Grover Cleveland offered him the position of Commissioner of
Patents in 1885. But he declined the appointment, although he did later serve
on Detroit’s first Public Lighting Commission. He died in Detroit on November
21, 1896.
John F. McMillan:
John McMillan, the club’s secretary in 1863, was a civil engineer.
E. F. Myrick: E.F.
Myrick was the club president in 1863.
John Stoughton
Newberry, Sr.: John S. Newberry was born on November 18, 1926, in Waterville,
New York. The family moved to Michigan when he was young and he graduated from
the University of Michigan in 1845 with honors, then was admitted to the bar in
1853, specialized in maritime law. He was married in 1855 but soon widowed, and
after his wife’s death he moved to a downtown hotel and began to play with both
the Detroit Base Ball Club and the Early Risers. When the Civil War broke out,
Newberry was appointed Provost Marshal of Michigan in 1862, as well as serving
as the associate secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. During the war, he
also established a firm called the Michigan Car Company and received many
wartime contracts to make railway cars. The business remained very successful
after the war, making Newberry and his partner James McMillan very wealthy men.
Newberry later started several other businesses, including the Baugh Stearn
Forge, Griffin Car Wheel Works, Fulton Engine Works, several foundries and grain
elevators. He was elected to Congress in 1879 but did not run for reelection.
He died in Detroit on January 2, 1887.
Samuel S. Newberry:
Samuel Newberry does not appear to have been related to John Newberry. He was
born in Indiana and graduated from Union College before moving to Detroit and
playing for the Detroit Base Ball Club in 1860. He enlisted in the Civil War
and rose to the rank of Captain before being shot and killed near Petersburg in
August of 1864.
George Niles: George
Niles was born in Painted Post, New York, on May 27, 1920, but his father moved
the family to a farm in Oakland County. The site later became the city of Troy,
but at the time it was so unsettled that Niles’s childhood playmates were
Indians and he did not own a hat or a pair of shoes until he was twelve. Niles
was widowed twice before the age of thirty. Around 1850, he moved to Detroit
with his third wife and the children from all three marriages. For the next two
decades, he worked as a traveling salesman for a Detroit dry good merchant. He
also served as a 2nd Ward alderman from 1856-58. During these years,
although quite a bit older than most of the players, he became involved in the
Detroit Base Ball Club. As a result, he was later remembered as “a well-known
character, somewhat older than the rest.” Around 1870, George Niles returned to
Oakland County to help his father run the farm and he remained there after his
father’s death two years later. The 1891 book “History of Oakland County”
stated that he was still farming ninety acres on the original homestead plus
fifty-five additional acres. But an online transcription of the cemetery in
which he and most of his family are buried, Crooks Road Cemetery in Troy, gives
his date of death as January 31, 1889. Another transcription, however, gives
the date as January 31, 1899.
O’Brien: Several men
named O’Brien were involved with the club in the postwar years and it’s
difficult to keep them straight. The one who was mentioned most often was Noel
C. O’Brien. In 1866, W. C. O’Brien was listed as a club director, although it’s
possible that this was a typographical error and was actually Noel. Other
O’Briens in these years were H. L. and T. J. When these men played, it was
almost always with the second nine.
Edward S. Orr:
Edward S. Orr was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, on February 26, 1826, and ran
a dry goods store after moving to Detroit. He was active in the Detroit Cricket
Club, but also became interested in the newer sport of baseball, serving as an
officer of the Detroit Base Ball Club and hosting its first organizational
meeting in the fall of 1858. After many years as a Detroit merchant, he moved
to a farm in Macomb County during the 1870s. He died on March 8, 1884.
William K. Parcher:
William K. Parcher, who was born in Maine around 1835, was a starter for the
club in 1860 and during the lone games the club played in 1861 and 1862. He
later became the vice president of the Globe Tobacco Company.
David R. Peirce:
David R. Peirce was born in Ogdensburg, New York, in 1827. In 1849, he started
for California to join the gold rush, but when he passed through Detroit he
“decided it was good enough for him” and he remained there for the rest of his
life. He worked as a bookkeeper and a daguerrotypist (daguerreotypes were a
predecessor of the photograph). Peirce was very fond of athletics and according
to a 1903 article about his early years in the city, “The young men of the city
were enthusiastic over athletics, and every noon and every night they met at
Merritt’s gymnasium, on Jefferson avenue, between Bates and Randolph streets.
Mr. [David] Peirce says the boys used to do all the tricks that the athletes do
in circuses today. Mr. Peirce did not have time during the days to take boxing
lessons, so he got up early in the mornings and walked four miles to Canniff’s
farm on the Pontiac road, to take his lessons. He was very quick on his feet,
and in those days he would rather box than eat. At night when the boys
assembled at the gymnasium, the first event on the program usually was a foot
race from Jefferson avenue to the foot of Woodward avenue and back. Then the
boys adjourned to the gymnasium and boxed, wrestled and took part in other
sports.” (“When D.M. Ferry Played Ball,” Detroit Free Press, June 14,
1903) He was also involved in the formation of the Detroit Base Ball Club and
was a starter in 1859 and 1860. His election as club president in 1869 was a
sign of the club’s intention to return to its amateur roots. He remained an
enthusiastic baseball fan right up to his death in Detroit on January 21, 1905.
Frank J. Phelps:
Frank J. Phelps first played for the Detroit Base Ball Club in 1862 and he
became a mainstay after the war, mostly playing the demanding position of
catcher. Phelps was born around 1838 in Michigan and ran a store at 256
Jefferson in downtown Detroit. He served as club vice president in 1866 and
meetings were sometimes held at his store. In addition, by 1867, his store was
advertising baseballs made by three different manufacturers, bats, caps, belts,
spikes, and other baseball implements. A 1903 article stated that Phelps had
died around 1889.
Eugene Robinson:
Eugene Robinson was born in Binghamton, New York, on May 15, 1837, but the
family moved to Detroit in 1839 and he lost his father a year later. He joined
the Detroit Light Guard in 1857 and then enlisted in First Michigan Infantry at
the start of the war. He fought at Bull Run and was promoted to
sergeant-major. Upon his return to Detroit, he alternated between serving in
the Michigan Guard and working as a civil engineer. In the former capacity, he
was elected lieutenant colonel of the Michigan Guard, then promoted to colonel
on July 23, 1885, and to brigadier general on October 1, 1890. He also became
the city surveyor and received the contract to pave Jefferson Avenue. The
latter job, however, caused him great trouble and he repaved it several times at
his own expense. Robinson also found time for baseball, playing for the first
nine before the war and serving as treasurer in 1863. After the war, he was
relegated to the second nine but remained one of the club’s directors. He also
served in that capacity for the Cass Base Ball Club in 1876. Robinson died in
Detroit on October 28, 1897.
W. Rogerson: W.
Rogerson played only one game for the Detroit Base Ball Club in 1867, but he is
noteworthy because the Detroit Post described him as having previously played
for the Union Cricket Club, apparently of Cincinnati. He soon left for Buffalo.
Henry Simoneau:
Henry Simoneau was born around 1833 in Canada and he and his brother Leander ran
a Detroit drug store in the 1850s. Henry moved to Peoria and continued to work
there as a pharmacist until after the turn of the century.
Leander Simoneau:
Leandre or Leander Simoneau was born in St. Nicolas, Quebec, on February 5,
1834, but moved to Detroit while young. He and his brother Henry were partners
in a Detroit drug business, before Leander moved to East Saginaw in 1864 to run
his own business. Leander Simoneau served two terms as mayor of East Saginaw,
in 1871-72 and again in 1882-83. He sold his business in 1883, subsequently
serving as register of deeds and as a justice of the peace. On the morning of
January 21, 1894, he fell in the frozen Saginaw River and drowned. It was
nearly two months before his body was recovered.
W. C. B. Teller: W.
C. B. Teller was born around 1843 and served as treasurer of club in 1866 and
1867. He worked as the paying teller of the American National Bank but in 1878
he absconded with $5300. He was captured in Montreal the following year and
sentenced to five years in the House of Correction. But he received a
presidential pardon because of failing health and he died on April 15, 1883.
J. W. Tomes: Tomes
was one of the two men who traveled to New York in 1860 to represent the Detroit
Base Ball Club at the convention of the National Association of Base Ball
Players.
Arthur Van Norman:
Arthur Van Norman was Jonathan’s young brother and he played a variety of
positions for the club between 1865 and 1867. Like his brother, he was born in
Canada. He worked as a bookkeeper while living in Detroit but by 1873 had moved
to Jackson to work as superintendent of the Central car shops. He was
subsequently promoted to secretary and manager and also served as an alderman.
In 1878, he returned to Detroit as proprietor of Biddle House but was dogged by
financial troubles. Notes in 1879 placed him in both Colorado and Ohio, but his
whereabouts after that are difficult to trace. A 1903 article stated that he
had been dead for several years and according to an online genealogy he died on
June 17, 1895.
Dr. Jonathan Mack
Van Norman: Jonathan Van Norman was born in 1824 in Canada and attended McGill
Medical School in Montreal. He graduated in 1850 and established a medical
school in Bronte, Ontario, with Dr. Anson Buck. He later moved to Detroit and
served as club president in 1867 and 1868. In the latter year, he gave a speech
announcing the club’s intention to revert to amateurism. On April 18, 1873, the
Detroit Advertiser and Tribune reported that Van Norman had been convicted of
smuggling. He subsequently moved to Cleveland and apparently died there in
1894.
Charles H. Vernor:
Charles H. Vernor was born in Albany, New York, in 1839 and moved with his
family to Detroit in 1849. During the Civil War, he served in the Detroit
district quartermaster’s office. He played for the first nine of the Detroit in
their first two games in 1865. Thereafter, he played only occasionally and
usually did so for the second nine, but remained involved in the club’s
activities as secretary in 1866 and as treasurer in 1869. When the Detroit Base
Ball Club hosted the major 1867 tournament, Vernor’s brother James was one of
the vendors. At the time, James Vernor was in the process of perfecting a new
soft drink, so it seems likely that tournament attendees were among the first to
try the beverage became famous as Vernor’s Ginger Ale. Charles Vernor worked as
a bookkeeper for the Second National Bank. After a long life, he died in
Detroit on March 4, 1928.
Charles Harrison
Ward: Charley Ward was born on September 19, 1850, and he and fellow club member
Milt Ward were the sons of Eber Ward, a ship magnate and Michigan’s richest
man. Charley attended the state agricultural college (now Michigan State
University) from 1864-1866, then took courses at Bryant and Stratton and worked
in bank from 1867-69. As described in Baseball Fever, he became the
pitcher of the Detroit Base Ball Club in 1869 but he was better known for being
a spendthrift who wasted every cent his father let him have. In 1893 a relative
described him as “a kind of roving renegade” and a 1900 Michigan State alumni
directory listed him as a banker in Cape Town, South Africa.
Milton Duane Ward:
Charley Ward’s older brother Milt was born in May of 1848. Like his brother, he
attended the state agricultural college but never settled down. He died of
tuberculosis in Bermuda on May 26, 1877.
Other Members:
Altman (1860), Andrews (1869 club), George A. Baker (nonplaying officer), John
H. Bissell (1867), W. Bissell (1867), Bowler (1869), John M. L. Campbell (1869
secretary), Carrier (1866 and 1868), Collins, William J. Crittenden (1860),
Davis (1869), Elliott (1867), Fisher (1860), J.W. Hooker (director in 1867),
Hull (1869), William Hull (prewar scorer), Irving (1868), Albert Ives, Jr.
(prewar), M.M. Kelly (1867), A.R. Linn (1866), Mahon (1869), E.R. Mathews (1863
director), E.R. McDonald (1859), McLaughlin (1867), Andrew McPherson (1869
director), Pasco (1869), Pickering (1866), S. Pittman (1859-60), Pressley
(1869), John J. Regan (1869 vice president), J. Seaman (1860), Sheehan or
Sheeran (1869), (James?) Sines (1860-62), James Slocum (1866-67), Snediker
(1867), Snow (1860), Sprague (1869), George Starring (1867-68), D. Swarts (one
game in 1868 -- import from Buckeye of Cincinnati?), Thompson (1859), Trempe
(1869), Webster (1860 and 1869, presumably different people), West (1859), Wood
(1869), H. B. Wormer (1866-67).
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