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Abby HildebrandHONR 175.10September 21, 2009

Brooklyn: Baseball and Community

When one mentions Brooklyn and baseball in the same sentence, most people

immediately think of the Brooklyn Dodgers. With their long history and important

contributions to the sport, the Dodgers clearly made an impact on the game as well as

their community. However, baseball and Brooklyn have a deeper relationship, one that

stretches even before “the Bums” came to town in the late 19 th century. From the early

days of the game, the many baseball clubs of Brooklyn have had loyal followings that

shaped and influenced their community.

Since baseball has its origins in New York, Brooklyn has had a strong baseball

presence from the beginning; and from the beginning Brooklyn natives have had a strong

sense of pride for their teams. This pride begins in the early days of the game, as is

evident from newspaper articles dating as early as 1845. In this case the reporter writes

that although the Brooklyn team had “beautiful” fielding, “they were evidently not so

well practiced in the game as their opponents” (Sullivan 12). The Brooklyn team lost to

the New York Base Ball Club both in their first game and then in the rematch the

following day but as the reporter says, “give them, however, a little more drill, and their

sure and agile fielding, even now, will eventually tell in their favor” (13). While this

newspaper is not from Brooklyn directly, one can see that even in the developing stages

of the game, the community gave support to it’s ball players—both winning and losing

teams.

As the game progresses and teams become more skilled, the game becomes more



popular and of more importance to the people. In 1858, an all-star match between

Brooklyn and New York teams marks an important point in the development of the game.

As Dean Sullivan writes, the all-star game tells us “that baseball’s popularity grew

tremendously during this era” and that there was “a general acceptance that baseball

teams represented their communities on the field” (27). This game drew “immense”

crowds of fans and “every imaginable kind of vehicle had been enlisted in the service,

milk-carts and wagons, beer wagons, express wagons, stages, and the most stylish private

and public carriages” (28). The use of personal, private, and commercial vehicles shows

the community involvement in the game; baseball had become an important part of the

neighborhood and many people allowed the use of their own personal wagon or that of

their employer in service to their community representatives on the baseball diamond.

Specifically, members of one Brooklyn team, the Excelsior Club, arrived in a coach

drawn by “fourteen handsomely caparisoned horses” (28). The detail put into the

presentation of the club’s horses shows how significant this team was to the community,

and how much they wanted to represent their community well by putting so much

consideration into their entrance. Even more telling is that after the game there was a

gathering of the teams and some outside guests from the community. This celebration

also supports the idea of communal involvement in the sport, both on and off the field.

The article ends by telling its readers that “everything passed off in the most good-

humored manner, and the Base Ball match between the Brooklyn and New York nines

will be long remembered with pleasure by all lovers of this noble and invigorating game”

(29). Pleasant and exciting, the all-star match between Brooklyn and New York shows

the community bonds beginning to develop between the game of baseball and the public



represented on the field.

In an 1862 article, Henry Chadwick gives an analysis of the upcoming season in

Brooklyn, and while the main purpose of the article is to give a preview for the next

season, it is also telling of some social implications of the game. First, just in publishing

an article that gives a look at an upcoming season shows the high level of interest the

public has in baseball. Chadwick repeatedly refers to the fact that baseball clubs are

increasing every year in Brooklyn, and that this expansion is “an every day evidence of

Brooklyn’s rivaling its neighbor over the water” (46). This statement shows that the

people in Brooklyn want to watch and participate in more baseball and to have more

teams to compete with their rivals, thereby providing themselves with not only more and

more community representatives for which to cheer loudly and proudly, but better and

more skilled ones as well.

By 1870, the pride of Brooklyn came to a peak when the Atlantic Club defeated

the formerly undefeated Red Stockings. In an article in the local Brooklyn Daily Eagle ,

the reporter tells us “Brooklyn led the world against the Red Stockings” (78). The game

was “won by the fairest, staunchest, skillfullest, pluckiest playing on the record” (79).

The reporter claims that this was “the greatest game ever played between the greatest

clubs that ever played, and as usual, when Brooklyn is pitted against the universe, the

universe is number two” (79). Although the commentary is somewhat exaggerated, it

clearly shows the overwhelming pride Brooklynites had for their teams and their

community. “The victory vibrated in the city’s heart, more than anything we know of,

demonstrated the depth and keenness of the sentiment of local pride, which is so

distinguishing a characteristic of this people” (79). The “victory won by Brooklyn boys”



over the Red Stockings is a shining example of the pride that the people of Brooklyn felt

for their own.

The pride for Brooklyn speaks to something larger. Their pride in their teams,

sometimes mistaken for arrogance, shows how interconnected the community and the

game were and are. The rivalries and big games became something with which people

could connect, bond, and share collectively. Fans united at the ballpark cheering for their

favorite clubs, joined in celebrating victories, and commiserating over tough losses. The

people of Brooklyn, like the people of St. Louis or Boston or Cincinnati, feel connected

with their teams; yet, the Brooklyn fans have a special breed of pride, one that is

unmistakably Brooklyn: sometimes excessive, sometimes over the top but always there.

As baseball became increasingly popular, it also became a vehicle for communal

connection that helped shape the neighborhood, unrivaled by any other form of

entertainment or sport from its inception to present day.

brooklyn baseball paper

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