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The Fort Wayne Kekiongas won the first major league baseball game ever played, on May 4, 1871.
The First Game
The honor of playing the first game of the newly-organized National Association of Professional Baseball Players was decided by coin flip. The National Association of Professional Baseball Players, or simply the National Association, was founded in 1871 and lasted through the 1875 season, after which its stronger teams created the National League. ...
Bobby Mathews, 5'5", 140 lbs, and 20 years old, hurled a 2-0 shutout for the Kekiongas. Deacon White, catcher for the Cleveland Forest Cities got 3 hits in 4 at-bats; the other Cleveland players only shared 2 hits among them. Deacon White scored the first hit, the first extra-base hit (a double) and was the first to hit into a double-play. Deacon White (December 7, 1847 - July 7, 1939), born James Laurie White, was an American professional baseball player in the National Association and Major League Baseball. ...
The game was rained out in the top of the 9th inning. Attendance was 200.
Origin of the Kekiongas In April 1862, several young men gathered in Fort Wayne, Indiana to form the Summit City Club to play baseball. Banker Allen Hamilton donated land between major thorofares Calhoun and Clinton Street, south of Lewis Street, for a ball field. Nickname: The Summit City Official website: City of Fort Wayne Location Location in the state of Indiana, USA Government County Allen Mayor Graham Richard (D) Geographical characteristics Area Total 204. ...
Play was short-lived, as members enlisted in the Grand Army of the Republic, some dying in the war. The club reorganized in 1866, and a second team, the Kekiongas, was formed that year as well. The following year, several other teams were formed: the Twightwees, the Mechanics, the Socials, the Concordia Empires and the Keystones.
The name Kekionga came from a Miami word meaning Blackberry Patch. It was the name of the largest village of the Miami tribe, at the confluence of the St. Joseph River and the St. Mary's River where General [[Mad Anthony Wayne]] built the fort that carried his name. The Miami are a Native American tribe originally found in Indiana and Ohio. ...
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In 1869, the Kekiongas twice played the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the predecessor of today's Red Sox. This was the first baseball team in the USA to have all paid players. They were good, and won the first game 86-8, but Fort Wayne improved over the summer, holding the Red Stockings to a 41-7 victory. The following summer, the Kekiongas had gotten even better, going on tour and generally winning everywhere they went.
A team from Baltimore, touring the midwest, broke up in mid-season, and the Kekiongas recruiting their best players, including pitcher Bobby Matthews, who is credited with having invented the spitball and being the first master of the curveball. When the team played the Chicago White Sox later that season, the Chicago fans were so humiliated that they threw rocks at Fort Wayne players, injuring several of them.
The National Association of Professional Base-Ball Players was formed in New York, New York in 1871. In addition to the Kekiongas, the other teams were based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Illinois, Boston, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Troy, New York, New York City, Cleveland, Ohio and Rockford, Illinois. Each team was to play a best-3-of-5 series with each other team, and the best team would be able to fly a pennant for a year. The franchise fee for each team was $10. Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ...
Nickname: City of Brotherly Love Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Official website: http://www. ...
Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ...
Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Solar System), Athens of America Motto: Official website: www. ...
Nickname: the District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Official website: http://www. ...
Looking west down Broadway at downtown Troy. ...
Nickname: The Forest City Motto: Progress and Prosperity Official website: www. ...
Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. Often referred to as The Forest City, Rockford has 150,115 residents, while the metro area has 320,204 residents (2000 Census). ...
Half a season The community raised funds and erected a grandstand at Hamilton Field, called "The Old Dutchess" because of its lavish construction.
Paid attendance was poor, and players were poorly paid, or not at all. A number of homesick players from Baltimore returned home. By mid-season, the team had fallen apart, and the last game was played on August 29. The franchise was purchased and moved to Brooklyn, New York where it was reorganized several times and played under a variety of names including the Bridegroooms before newspapermen dubbed the team the Trolley-dodgers. The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. Major league affiliations National League (1890-present) West Division (1969-present) American Association (1884-1889) Major league titles World Series titles (6) 1988 • 1981 • 1965 • 1963 1959 • 1955 NL Pennants (21) 1988 • 1981 • 1978 • 1977 1974 • 1966 • 1965 • 1963 1959 • 1956 • 1955 • 1953 1952 • 1949 • 1947 • 1941 1920 • 1916 • 1900...
This article is about the largest city in California. ...
The Old Dutchess burned down on November 5, 1871. By the time the fire department arrived, the fire had too great a start to salvage the grandstand.
Bobby Mathews won 6 and lost 11 games for the Kekiongas, but it probably wasn't his fault. He played five years in each of three different major leagues, and is the only player ever to win over 50 games in each of the major leagues. That's an even greater accomplishment considering that he played outfield on days he wasn't pitching. Bobby Mathews won 42 games in 1874 for the New York Mutuals (National League).
Early baseball was a little different - Pitchers weren't allowed to pitch overhand until 1884.
- Between 1879 and 1889, the number of balls required to walk a batter went from 9 to 8 to 6 to 7 to 5 and then to 4 balls.
- Batters were allowed to call for a high- or low-pitched ball between 1871 and 1887.
- Being hit by a batted ball was an out in 1880.
- It was four strikes to put out a batter in 1887, a rule that lasted only 1 year.
- Catching a foul ball is an out - but before 1883, it could bounce once.
- Spitballs were outlawed in 1920
1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ...
1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ...
1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...
See Also - "Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana" by Bert J. Griswold, published 1917 by Robert O. Law
Parker, Robert D., - "Batter Up: Fort Wayne's Baseball History" by Robert D. Parker in Old Fort News, Summer, 1967.
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