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KEYSTONES OF
PHILADELPHIA
CLUB HISTORY
It was the fate of the Keystone Club of Philadelphia to become the city’s
second-best club and yet to lag well behind the Athletics. This status had its
advantages, as it assured the club of regular opportunities to play against
top-flight rivals that came to town to challenge the Athletics. But it also
meant that the Keystones often found themselves overshadowed and had a difficult
time retaining players.
The Keystone Base Ball Club of
Philadelphia was organized on November 30, 1859, amid a flurry of activity that
saw many town ball clubs switch to baseball along with the formation of many new
clubs. The Keystones played three known games in 1860, losing two of them. The
1861 season got off to an early start, with the club’s first and second nines
playing each other in late March at the club’s grounds at the lower terminus of
the Second and Third street railroads. (Philadelphia Inquirer, March 21,
1861) But then came the outbreak of the Civil War, bringing an abrupt end to
many of the new clubs.
The Keystones
survived, although they played only three recorded games during the next two and
a half years. Things picked up again in September of 1863 as the club began
playing at Eleventh and Wharton and took advantage to host the Eurekas of Newark
and to play two games against the Athletics. All three contests ended in defeat
for the Keystones, but that was no surprise considering the high quality of the
opposition. More important were the signs of improvement that were evident in
the second game against the Athletics – after a 25-5 loss in the opener, the
Keystones were nosed out 14-13 in the rematch. The encouraging season ended
with a match in late November.
In 1864, the
Keystones again played a reasonably busy schedule for the war, facing the Camden
Club and the Athletics twice apiece and playing host to two Brooklyn clubs – the
Resolutes and the Atlantics. The visits of the Brooklyn clubs were big events
in Philadelphia. The Atlantics arrived in Philadelphia on August 7, 1864, and
“registered at the American Hotel. On the ninth, the club and friends were
invited to a supper given by the Keystone Club, at the St. James’s Hotel. On
the tenth, the Club and friends were taken in charge by the Olympic Club, and by
stages proceeded to the Schuylkill Falls, and there partook of a supper. On the
twelfth, they were invited to a fruit supper provided by Mrs. Col. Moore.” (Peverelly)
But 1864 was less
successful on the field for the Keystones, as the club lost five of the six
games played. Though this was not discreditable given the quality of the
opposition, it didn’t show the hoped-for improvement. As a result, when the
Civil War finally ended in the spring of 1865, the club’s roster was revamped.
In the 1864 contest against the Resolutes, the Keystones had fielded this
lineup: Dick, c; Mulholland, 1b; Coady, ss; E. Cope, p; Deal, lf; Frazier, 2b;
H. Cope, cf; Duffy, rf; McIntyre, 3b. (Philadelphia North American, July
30, 1864) In 1865, only Dick, Elias Cope, Mulholland and Deal were still in the
first nine. Frazier now filled a reserve role, while the others had been
replaced by promising young players such as William Wallace, Eddie Woods, Ned
Cuthbert and Fergy Malone.
This younger
incarnation of the Keystones played at least twenty games in 1865, highlighted
by an ambitious tour that saw the Keystones leave Philadelphia on the Camden and
Amboy Railroad on the morning of July 24 and play six games in seven days in
Newark, Hoboken and Brooklyn. (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 24, 1865) The
trip gave the ballplayers of Brooklyn a chance to repay the hospitality they had
previously received in Philadelphia and they took full advantage. The Keystones
were given a series of banquets, escorted to Coney Island, and on their final
night in Brooklyn, the songs, toasts and merriment at the Oceanic House went on
so late that only half of the party made the midnight train on which they were
scheduled to return home. (Ryczek, When Johnny Came Sliding Home, 60-61)
The 1866 season got off to a slow start
for the Keystones, and the club had played only a few games when the summer came
to an end. Things finally perked up in September when the Excelsiors of
Brooklyn came to town and the Keystones again outdid themselves in entertaining
their guests. According to an account in Charles Peverelly’s Book of
American Pastimes, the Excelsiors were met in Philadelphia “by a delegation
of the Keystone Club. After a dinner at the Continental, the party left for the
scene of action.” At the conclusion of the game, which ended in a draw, “the
Keystones took the Excelsiors to Carncross & Dixie’s Minstrel Hall, and paid
them courteous attention.” (Freyer and Rucker, 60)
Visits from a number of other strong
out-of-town clubs followed that fall, and the Keystones upheld their reputation
as Philadelphia’s second strongest club. In a season-ending series for local
supremacy, however, the Keystones were once again beaten by the Athletics.
Another blow followed a few days later with the death of twenty-seven-year-old
Francis A. Frazer, the club’s secretary since its inception and a former
starter.
At the outset of the
1867 season, there was reason to be optimistic that better days were ahead.
Frazer’s replacement as secretary informed Charles Peverelly that the club
boasted eighty-two active members (seventy contributing and twelve honorary),
practiced on Mondays and Thursdays at the parade ground at Eleventh and Wharton
streets, and had a uniform consisting of a white shirt trimmed with blue, blue
pantaloons, an elastic belt, and a white cap bearing the word “Keystone.”
Philadelphia was now
challenging New York for the title of the country’s baseball capital. One
sportswriter observed that baseball was now “strictly” the “national pastime,”
explaining: “As late as the year 1860, base ball was confined to one or two of
the middle states – New York being the centre. Now it is played in every state
in the union, from Maine to Oregon. New York has in a measure lost its
ascendancy in the game, Philadelphia now being the base ball centre of the
country. There are ten clubs in the Quaker City to one in the metropolis, and
last year the best record made by any club in the United States was made by the
champion club of Pennsylvania – the gallant Athletics of Philadelphia.” (Chicago
Times, April 7, 1867, apparently reprinted from the New York Tribune)
Befitting the sterling quality of play in
Philadelphia, the 1867 season saw the Keystones post impressive wins over the
Mutuals of New York and the Atlantics, Eckfords and Excelsiors of Brooklyn. Yet
at the same time, the club was finding it harder to maintain its status in
Philadelphia. In addition to losing to the Athletics once again, the Keystones
also lost to two other local rivals – the Arctics and the West Philadelphia
Club. The latter defeat prompted a sportswriter to warn, “The Keystones must
look out for their laurels, originally the champions of the State, they yielded
the palm to the Athletics, but since then have had the reputation of being
second best in the State.” (Philadelphia Patriot, July 4, 1867)
In addition to the threat posed by the
improvement of other Philadelphia clubs, the Keystones were also facing the
danger of losing star players to other clubs. Fergy Malone had moved on after
the 1865 season and Cuthbert had followed suit one year later, joining the
cross-town Athletics. More defections occurred after the 1867 campaign, with
Billy Dick, Eddie Woods and Elias Cope all joining Malone on the Olympic Club of
Washington. During the Keystone Club’s second game of the 1868 season, “the
staging gave way, precipitating a number of people to the ground.” (Philadelphia
North American, May 13, 1868) Fortunately, there were no serious injuries,
but no doubt the Keystones were able to relate to the feeling of having the
ground fall out from beneath them.
With a largely new roster, the Keystones
won only five of the sixteen recorded games they played in 1868. Despite the
poor record, the club did manage signal victories over the Unions of Morrisania
and the Cincinnati Base Ball Club – the club that was to go undefeated in 1869
and become universally known as the Red Stockings.
Billy Dick and Eddie Woods returned to
the Keystones in 1869 and the club decided to turn professional. It proved a
mistake as the Keystones won only three of twenty contests against professionals
in 1869. On that dismal note, the club’s history came to an apparent end.
The Keystones were one of at least
eighteen baseball clubs represented at a meeting in November of 1869 and then
the club fades out of view. (Philadelphia North American, November 18,
1869) Over the next few years, many former Keystone players show up in the
lineup of another Philadelphia club called the Experts, offering apparent
confirmation that the Keystone Club was defunct.
But then in 1877, this note appeared in
the New York Sunday Mercury: “The Keystones, of Philadelphia, have been
reorganized, and propose placing the following team in the field: Morris,
pitcher; Ritterson, catcher; Samson, Fisher, and Firth on the bases; Shaw, short
stop; with Bartlett, McBride and McCartney in the out-field, the last named
acting as change catcher. The Keystones in 1875 were prominent contestants for
the amateur championship.” (New York Sunday Mercury, April 7, 1877) But
were the 1875 and 1877 incarnations of the Keystone Club in fact a continuation
of the original club or just a new one recycling an old name?
Seven years later,
the Keystone Club of Philadelphia was admitted into the Union Association,
prompting the Philadelphia Inquirer to write, “The Keystone Club held a
prominent place in the base ball fraternity years ago, but dropped out of sight
at the time the national game fell off in the patronage bestowed by the public.”
(Philadelphia Inquirer, March 22, 1884) The wording certainly suggests
that this club was seen as a continuation of the original Keystone Club.
Whether the 1884
club was in fact directly connected to the original Keystones is debatable, and
cannot be determined with certainty based on the evidence now available. But
there are at least two suggestive facts that point to a connection. The
chairman of the 1884 club was Tom Pratt, who had been a star pitcher for the
Athletics in the 1860s. In addition, Fergy Malone, eight years after his last
major league appearance, came out of retirement to catch for the Keystones in
the first game of the 1884 campaign.
MEMBERS
George M. D. Albertson: George Albertson
was born in Philadelphia in November of 1847 and played first base for the
Keystones in 1869. He worked as the foreman of a car shop and tube works. He
died in Philadelphia on July 1, 1905.
Samuel L. Barnes: Samuel L. Barnes was
club president in 1860 and 1861.
George W. Bechtel: George Bechtel was
born in Philadelphia on September 2, 1848. He began playing baseball with clubs
in West Philadelphia, then joined the Keystones for the 1868 and 1869 seasons.
He moved on to the Athletics in 1870 and then played for several years in the
major leagues. He later worked as a blacksmith and then as a base ball
manufacturer. While there is some doubt, he probably died on April 3, 1921, in
Philadelphia.
Edward (Ned) Connor: Ned Connor was born
in New York State around 1850. He played for the Keystones in 1867 and 1868,
and again in 1870, then had a brief major league career. He later worked as a
plasterer and became very active in Fourth Ward Republican politics, running
unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1882. He died in Philadelphia on
January 28, 1898.
Elias P. Cope: Elias Cope was born in
Philadelphia around 1845. He enlisted in the 104th Pennsylvania
Infantry, Company D, in February of 1862 and received a disability discharge
seven months later. He played for the Keystones from 1864-1867, being the
primary pitcher for most of that time. In 1868, he followed batterymate Fergy
Malone to the Olympics of Washington in 1868 and then he joined the Marylands of
Baltimore in 1869. Already married and with two young children, Cope retired
from baseball in 1870 and returned to Philadelphia where he became a butcher
like his father and raised six children. On the 1900 census, Cope’s wife is
listed as married but Elias was not living with her.
Philip Clark Culp: Philip Culp, whose
real name was Kulp, was born in 1849 in Trenton. He played third base for the
Keystones in 1868 and 1869 and then played the same position for the Olympics of
Washington in 1870. He later worked as a brickmaker and served on the Trenton
City Council from 1885-1892. He was also a member of the National Guard. He
died in Philadelphia on January 29, 1902.
Edgar Edward Cuthbert: Eddie Cuthbert was
born in Philadelphia on June 20 1845, and served in the 196th
Pennsylvania Infantry 1864, a 100-day regiment. He then had a long baseball
career as an outfielder, playing for the Keystones in 1865 and 1866, the
Athletics from 1867 to 1869, the White Stockings of Chicago in 1870, and then
for a variety of major league teams between 1871 and 1884. When his playing
days finally ended, he worked as a butcher, a saloonkeeper and as an ambulance
driver, as well as umpiring in the National League and managing a minor league
team. He died in St. Louis on February 6, 1905.
William Deal: William Deal was the center
fielder of the Keystones in 1865 and 1866 and a pall bearer at the 1886 funeral
of Eddie Woods.
William (Billy) Dick: Second baseman
Billy Dick was one of the mainstays of the Keystones, playing for the club from
1865-1867 and again in 1869. He also had stints with the Olympics of Washington
in 1868 and the Haymakers of Troy in 1870, before retiring. His identity is not
well established, but he may be a man who was born in New York in 1839 and died
in Manhattan on July 22, 1903.
James Duffy: James Duffy served as club
president from 1862-64 and then as vice president in 1866. He was also part of
a delegation that welcoming Brooklyn clubs to the city in July of 1862. (Philadelphia
North American, July 3, 1862)
Francis A. Frazer:
Francis Frazer was born in Ireland around 1839 and worked as a bookkeeper. He
was the club’s secretary every year from 1860 to 1866 and also played second
base in 1864 and 1865. He died in Philadelphia on November 9, 1866.
George W. “Shorty”
Ewell: George “Shorty” Ewell was born in Philadelphia on October 29, 1850. He
caught for the Keystones and then for the Olympics of Washington and was listed
as a “base ballist” on the 1870 census. But his career pretty much ended at
that point and he later worked as a sailor and an oysterman. He died in
Philadelphia on October 20, 1910.
Charles Richard (Dickie) Flowers: Dickie
Flowers was born in Philadelphia around 1849 and played shortstop for the
Keystones in 1868 and 1869. He joined the Haymakers of Troy in 1870 and then
had a brief major league career, before becoming a Philadelphia fireman. He
died in Philadelphia on October 5, 1892.
Charles John (Chick) Fulmer: Chick Fulmer
was born in Philadelphia on February 12, 1851. He would later claim to have
been a drummer boy during the Civil War (a claim that may well be true but is
impossible to verify from Civil War records). He began playing for a
Philadelphia club called the Logans and then spent the 1869 and 1870 seasons
with the Keystones, pitching in 1869 and playing shortstop in 1870. He then had
a long major league career that included being one of the founders of the
American Association in 1881. By the 1930s, he was recognized as one of the
oldest living former major leaguers. He died in Philadelphia on February 15,
1940.
Harris N. Graffen: Harris Graffen was
born around 1842 and served in the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry (70th Volunteers)
during the Civil War. Pension records indicate that he also served in the 15th
Pennsylvania Cavalry under the alias Harry Walters. After the war he became the
recording secretary of the Keystone Club (with Frazer remaining as corresponding
secretary) and also played on the club’s muffin nine. His brother Mase also
became involved in baseball, later moving to St. Louis and managing that city’s
National League club. Harris Graffen made a name for himself in Camden real
estate circles and served as secretary of the Camden Board of Trade. But he
struggled with an addiction to laudanum and took his own life in Camden on June
6, 1901. After his death, an erroneous desertion charge on his Civil War record
was expunged by an act of Congress.
Joseph Gwynn: Joseph Gwynn was born in
Philadelphia in February of 1892. He pitched for the Keystones in 1867 and
played the outfield the following year. He became a lawyer and died in
Philadelphia on December 4, 1892.
Alfred C. N. Halbach: Al Halbach was born
around 1842 in Upper Saucon, Pennsylvania, and served in the 5th
Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil War from July of 1861 to July of 1864.
After the war, he played center field for the Keystones in 1869 and umpired
several National Association games. He had been a jeweler before the war but
after the war was hired as a post office clerk. He retained an interest in the
military and attended the 26th National Encampment of the Grand Army of the
Republic in 1892. He died in Philadelphia on December 27, 1895.
Harry Lex: See Excelsiors of Chicago,
postwar.
Leonard Walker (Len) Lovett: Len Lovett
was born in Little Britain, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on July 17, 1852,
and pitched for the Keystones in 1870. He played baseball for several more
years, including very brief stints with two major league teams. He was a
dentist at one point, but eventually settled in Newark, Delaware, where he sold
furniture and was elected to four terms as a magistrate. He died on November
18, 1922, in Newark.
J. H. Mahony: J. H. Mahony was the club’s
president in 1866.
Fergus G. “Fergy” Malone: Fergy Malone
was born in August of 1842 in County Tyrone, Ireland. After serving in a
hundred-day regiment during the Civil War, he became the catcher of the
Keystones in 1865. He went on to a long career that saw him catch in the major
leagues from 1871 to 1876. In 1902, he gave this summary of his career: “I
started out as a cricketer with the Oxford Club. In 1863 I joined the Athletics
as pitcher. After two years’ service in the Army I returned and played with the
Keystone Club. From there I went to the Diamond State Club of Wilmington,
Delaware. This was a gentleman’s organization and included such afterwards
famous men as Ambassador and Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard, United States
Senator Anthony Higgins, the great Bancroft, W. J. Pussey and the Rev. Mr.
Thomas. 1867 found me back in Philadelphia. After playing a time with the
noted Olympics, of Washington, I returned to the Athletics and helped defeat the
champion Atlantics, of Brooklyn, in what was destined to be a memorable series
of games. It was the first club that bore the name ‘Philadelphia.’ This was in
1873 and we trimmed the Athletics eight times out of nine. I was captain of the
team and trained it until 1886. I continued as a player, then I quit the game
and sought other means of livelihood.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, May 18,
1902) Fittingly, before retiring for good, Malone played one final major league
game in 1884 – for the Keystone Club, the Philadelphia entry in the new Union
Association. After retiring, Malone worked in Philadelphia as a baker, a grocer
and a policeman before receiving a United States Custom Service appointment and
moving to Seattle. That is where he died on January 18, 1905.
D. F. McCarthy: D. F. McCarthy was club
treasurer in 1862-63 and its president in 1865.
Hugh McLarnan: Hugh McLarnan was born in
Ireland in May of 1848 and played right field for the Keystones in 1869. He
became a laborer and his last job was with the Board of Water. He died in
Philadelphia on June 27, 1919.
John F. McMullin: John McMullin was born
in Philadelphia on April 1, 1849, and played the outfield for the Keystones in
1867. That was the first season of a career that saw him become one of the
first well-known left-handed pitchers and participated in the Athletics’ 1874
trip to England. He died in Philadelphia on April 11, 1881.
Mulholland: A man named Mulholland was
the Keystone Club’s first baseman from 1864 to 1866. Two men with that surname
were officers in the club – F. P. Mulholland was vice president in 1860, while
H. D. Mulholland was vice president in 1863 and treasurer in 1864 and 1865.
Most likely they were brothers named Hugh and Felix.
Robert Reach: Bob Reach was born in
Brooklyn on August 28, 1843, and was the younger brother of A. J. Reach, famed
ballplayer and sporting goods manufacturer. Bob Reach apparently served in the
Civil War before playing baseball for several clubs, including being the second
baseman of the 1868 Keystones. He later ran one of his brother’s stores. He
died in Springfield, Massachusetts, on May 19, 1922.
William Wallace: William Wallace was the
second baseman of the Keystones in 1865 and its catcher in 1866 before joining
the Quaker Citys in 1867.
Charles Weaver: Charley Weaver was born
in Philadelphia around 1845. He first played for the Keystones in 1866 and then
spent the 1867 season with the West Philadelphia club, before rejoining the
Keystones for 1868 and 1869. He later worked as a painter and died in
Philadelphia on May 27, 1909.
Edward P. (Eddie) Woods: Eddie Woods was
born in Philadelphia around 1838. According to his obituary, “‘Neddy’ Woods
took part as catcher in the initial game of baseball in the Quaker City, which
was played on Thanksgiving-day, Nov. 18, 1858, and from 1859 to 1870, inclusive,
with the exception of one season, he was one of the nine of the famous Keystone
Club.” During the war, he served in the 196th Pennsylvania Infantry,
a 100-day regiment. Then “On Aug. 21, 1864, at the formal inauguration of the
grounds – a portion of which is now used by the Athletic Club – Woods
represented the Keystones, and played second-base for the Pennsylvania nine that
contended unsuccessfully with a nine selected from New Jersey clubs.” He
remained the shortstop of the Keystones until joining the Olympics in 1868. He
returned to the Keystones in 1869 and then retired to help raise his young
family. He worked as a police officer, then a watchman at the Philadelphia Navy
Yard and finally a painter. His wife died in 1881, leaving him to raise eight
children. On November 15, 1886, Woods was painting one of the city’s public
buildings when he slipped and fell to his death. His funeral drew a large crowd
that included several Keystone teammates, with William Deal serving as one of
the pallbearers. Many politicians also attended, with Congressman Samuel J.
Randall and Councilman William McMullen sending flowers. (New York Clipper,
November 20, 1886 (34:36), p. 571)
Others: Allen, Hugh Barr (vice president
in 1861), Bratton, Brown, Burleigh, George W. Butler (vice president in 1862),
Clinton, Coady, H. Cope (1864 player, probably Elias’s brother Henry), James
Duffy, Gibboney, Grattan, Hatfield, Henry, Dan Kleinfelder (see Athletics),
Mackie, Thomas J. Martin (officer in 1860), John McGinnis (vice president in
1865), McIntyre, McKenna, Myers, Outerbridge, John Radcliff, Robinson, W. Shane,
Mike Smith (see Athletics), Strang, Job T. Williams (treasurer, 1860-1861)
Sources: This piece
is based primarily on contemporaneous newspaper accounts, which are listed in
the notes, and on the account in Peverelly’s Book of American Pastimes.
Also helpful were William Ryzcek’s When Johnny Came Sliding Home, John
Shiffert’s Base Ball in Philadelphia: A History of the Early Game, 1831-1900
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006) and Francis Richter’s Richter’s History
and Records of Baseball. |
