History of Williamsport Baseball (1850-1900)

Baseball

When baseball started in Williamsport, it had strict regulations against betting and gambling of any kind and specifically did not allow the paying of players and recruitment of professionals. Women and children were often encouraged by the local press to attend the games which did not permit public drunkenness and fan hooliganism. After any game, the Williamsport Club at the local Herdic Hotel hosted an evening complimentary dinner. Baseball was really the only American sport that was strongly divorced from gambling and drinking (2).

The first recorded game of organized baseball in Williamsport took place on July 29, 1865, along a green expanse located below Academy Street on the north bank of the Susquehanna River (3). Between 1865 and 1866 only five games were recorded in the local newspapers and about five years later, baseball actually became a business (3). Club investors and local barons started building larger ballparks with grandstand seating to bring paying crowds to the seats (3). Williamsport's main rivalry was Lock Haven and that drew thousands of fans to the ballpark throughout the decade (3). The Cochran Elementary school, which used to be Athletic Park, was built in 1890 to be the site of various athletic contests (1). It was the home field for Williamsport's professional and amateur baseball teams (1).

Players and Coach

By the 1880's, R.H. Crum, the president and manager of the Williamsport Club decided that we needed another baseball field, so he enlisted city investors to contruct a new enclosed field along Packer Street, on the other side of the old city fair grounds. There were several exhibition games hosted at this field (3).

Rules for baseball were not as formal as they are today but they were very similar and they still exist. The set of playing rules were adopted by the "New York Rules" arranged by Alexander Cartwright. Match games usually lasted nine innings with no set run limit, and when tie games occurred, it was up to the team managers and captains to hold extra innings. The home team was responsible for having impartial umpires to interpret the rules and resolve disputes arising over judgement calls. They had the three-strike rule just as today, but the number of balls required for a walk varied from nine to seven. Surprisingly, it was not considered manly or honorable to reach a base on a walk. This set of rules also required a diamond-shaped field rather than having a square field (3).

World Series Stadium

Each side had a starting team on the field consisting of eight positioned players and one pitcher. Pitchers stood about 45-feet from home plate and catchers wore no equipment except for a rubber mouthpiece. That is very surprising considering all the equipment players are required to wear today (3).

When 1893 rolled around, the National League made some adjustments in the rules for players. Catchers now had to wear padded gloves and protective equipment and first-basemen had to wear fielding gloves to catch fly balls (2).

The Millionaires

The Williamsport Athletic Baseball Club was a very good team when they started. They defeated many teams and started to get a good reputation for their team. They played the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Club and tied 27-27, but later defeated them, 26-15. They finished the nine innings in two hours which was unusual and the Bulletin's box score recorded a total of 21 fly catches made by both teams. The Williamsport pitcher was Homer Martin and the catcher was Dr. Luther M. Otto. The pitchers pitched in a slow, underhanded arc, similar to slow-pitch softball. Statistics were not yet recognized by organized baseball (3).

Williamsport had many other defeats such as when they played the Keystones of Troy, New York. The score was 31-24, but the next morning Williamsport manhandled the Erie City Club, 45-3. The season included one-sided victories over the Erie Excelsiors (48-24 and 62-16) and a 13-inning win over the Swiftwood Club of Philadelphia (2).

Membership of Williamsport's amateur baseball clubs included a blend of young men in professional occupations, returning Civil War veterans, and a few college graduates who had acquired some proficiency in the sport. They devoted their time to a refinement of the game.