Research Article

Local Teams Keep Baseball History Alive

By Kerry Brinkerhoff

“Thanks to Base Ball we have been transformed into quite another people.”,Henry Chadwick, baseball pioneer.

 Baseball, most historians believe, was a game that evolved in America. The British game of rounders, with bases, fielders, pitcher, ins and outs, and a need for open spaces was played long before America was settled. In fact Alice Bertha Gomme, in her book Volume II of Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in speaking of the game of rounders writes, “an elaborate form of this game has become the national game of the United States.”

In America there was Colonial versions of rounders. However, it is said while the Colonial versions were casual and for fun, the town versions brought on rivalries that often ended up in brawls and arguments over how the game should be played. By the early 1800s small towns were putting together teams to play out town rivalries and betting on the games.

In 1845 Alexander Cartwright of New York put rules to the game. His rules tightened up the game and made it look more like our modern game. For example, instead of bases in a U pattern, he put four bases in a perfect square, each base 90 feet from the next. Instead of using post, stakes or rocks, he used flat bases. He placed the batter at home base and insisted that the batters bat in a regular rotation to be announced before the match began. He limited the number of players on the field to nine, with three in the outfield. The teams were to change after every three outs instead of after the whole team had been retired. The game would end with the first team to make 21 runs.

With this, baseball took on a new look and teams were formed. Baseball turned into a spectator sport, and was on the road to becoming a national pastime. With Americans love of betting, the sport also became much more competitive than the British code of gentlemanly sport. Wanting to win the game meant finding the best players.

The Civil War is what made baseball the most popular sport in the land. The Civil War troops played baseball and taught it to soldiers from all over the country. The war also took the game away from the rich and made it a game for all.

Then in 1869, the same year rails were joined across our nation, the first professional team was formed. They were the Cincinnati Red Stockings. From March to November of 1869 they traveled almost 12,000 miles by rail and boat, played before thousands of spectators on both coasts, and even showed a profit of $1.39. This led to the forming of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players in 1871.

With the coming of the railroad and the Cincinnati Red Stockings (who would travel the rails through Utah) baseball came to Utah. According to Larry R. Gerlach, the first recorded organized baseball games in Utah territory were played in October 1869 in Salt Lake City. It was an exhibition game between team members of the Salt Lake City Eureka’s and soldiers from Camp Douglas. According to Brigham Madsen, the railroad town of Corinne, Utah took on baseball with passion and flair. A baseball club was formed in Corinne in March of 1870. As the Corinne team felt ready, they called on other teams for competition. They sent out invitations to the Eureka Club of Salt Lake City, Carlin team of Nevada, and the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The Red Stockings told Corinne they would be glad to play them next time they traveled across the rails through their town. Corinne wanted to play baseball. Their first game was against the local Box Elder Club, with Corinne Club winning 90 to 50. When the U.S. Thirteenth

Infantry came to town after a 400-mile march, Corinne took them on during a terrible dust storm, beating the Infantry 62 to 41. They took on a better club from Ogden called the Junctionites, who also lost to Corinne 46 to 44.

Salt Lake was quick to let Corinne know that they did not consider Corinne as Champions. On June 21 this was posted in the Desert News: “We, the Ennea Base Ball players of this city [Salt Lake], considering ourselves champions of the Territory, are willing to meet any other club within the limits of the Territory who wish to dispute the claim and contest for the same.” Corinne was quick to accept with a plan for three games. The first was on July 4th (Independence Day) in Corinne, with Corinne winning 42 to 31. The second game was played on July 24th (Pioneer Day) in Salt Lake City. However, the winning streak for the Corinne Club would end when the Salt Lake Ennea Club would win the game 74 to 23. The Corinne Club took this very hard. A tombstone in the middle of town read: “Base Ball Club No. 24 of Corinne, U.T., died July 24, 1870, at Great Salt Lake City, for want of breath. The members of this deceased club are requested to wear a badge of mourning for thirty days.”

The last game was played on middle ground between Corinne and Salt Lake in Ogden. The Corinne Club came out the victors with a score of 12 to 8. The Ennea Club refused to shake the victor’s hands or come to the banquet they were invited to join after the game.

In the spring of 1871, Corinne went on to challenge the teams of California. Ophir Club and Stockton Club in California played to see which team would be sent to Corinne. Then they challenged the Silver Stars of Carson City, Nevada for a game to decide the champions of the Great Basin. Then the hope was to take on California for the championship of the Pacific Coast. A team from Savannah, Georgia also challenged the Corinne team.

But their high hopes came down to the reality of playing their Mormon neighbors. They played the club at Willard, Utah and won both games. On July 4th they played a Salt Lake Club with Corinne winning 28 to 21. The serious game of the year was against Ogden for the territorial championship. In the first game in Ogden,Corinne beat the Echoes 81 to 9. In the second game in Corinne the Corinne Club lost 38 to 54.In the final game in Ogden, the Corinne team won 61 to 31.

There are many explanations as to why the Corinne Club disappeared after just two seasons: a shortage in labor, people moving, fad, the nature of a hell on wheels town. However we do know that after two years of big talk and glory, the Corinne Club hung up their gloves and disappeared.