Earliest Reference Yet to Organized Baseball Played in Pelham

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I long have researched the history of baseball in the Town of Pelham.  On Friday, December 11, 2009, I posted to the Historic Pelham Blog an item entitled "Earliest Reference Yet to Baseball Played in Pelham".  In it I quoted a reference to a recreational baseball game played during an outing of The Wm Cook Association from the Eleventh Ward, New York City on September 26, 1877. 

I now have located a reference to an organized baseball team named the Vail B.B. Club that played on City Island only a few months later in 1878.  I have quoted the entire news column in which the reference appeared immediately below.  The news column is also interesting because it notes that the Club scheduled its "first annual moonlight excursion and picnic" suggesting that the club was in its earliest years.  Additionally, at the end of this posting, I have collected references to my earlier postings regarding the history of the game of baseball in Pelham. 

"City Island.

Blue fishing has been good at City Island and vicinity during the past week.  At Pelham Bridge a large number were caught on Tuesday. 

The City Island Bridge Regatta will take place to-morrow (Saturday).  At present it looks as though the race will be a very interesting one.  New Rochelle will be represented by the Lulu and Centennial, and probably the Susie.  City Island will be represented by the Mary B. and A. F. Vail, and two or three boats are expected from Cow Bay, L. I.  Entries can be made as late as 10 o'clock.

The Vail B. B. Club of City Island played the Mamaronecks on Thursday of last week.  The latter were victorious; score 18 to 9.

The new schooner at Carll's ship yard is progressing rapidly.  Her dimensions are, 136 feet keel, 34 feet beam, 15 feet hold.

The schooner Itla Palmer has been hauled out at Carll's yard for cleaning and painting.  The steam yacht Active was hauled out on Wednesday for general repairs.  She is an English cutter, and owned by W. F. J. Hurst.  The sloop Clarissa arrived at Carll's dock on Tuesday evening with a load of yellow pine timber for the new schooner.  On Wednesday morning, when the tide went down, the sloop went over on her side, and as the tide rose again, the vessel being so heavily loaded she could not right herself, so she became submerged.

The derrick steamer, Ox, delivered the boiler and machinery, built for the new steam yacht now building at Carll's for the U.S. Government, on Monday last.  The machinery was built and is being put in by Delemater, of New York.  Mr. Carll expects to launch the yacht on the 29th inst.

Mr. John Baxter is at work cutting down the hill near Bartow Station, on the City Island road.  The road near Bartow has been much improved of late, but a good deal of work is necessary to put it in good order the whole distance.

The schooner A. J. Alcott left Hawkins's yard, for Florida, on Thursday.

The Vail B. B. Club will hold their first annual moonlight excursion and picnic, at Oriental Grove, on the evening of July 11th.  Tickets, 50 cents.  The officers of the club are James M. Liming, President; A. F. Vail, Vice-Pres.; Francis Vail, Treas.; C. P. Billar, Secy.

AEsor."

Source:  City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jun. 21, 1878, p. ?, col. 5 (no page number printed on the newspaper page).

Tuesday, February 16, 2010:  Photograph of Only Known 19th Century Women's Baseball Team in Pelham, New York.

Thursday, January 28, 2010:  News About Pelham Manor and Pelhamville in 1895 - Lighting Districts, Gas for the Village, Baseball and More.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009:  Baseball Games Played by the City Island Beldenites and the City Island Rivals in 1884. 

Monday, December 14, 2009:  Baseball Games Played by the City Island Shamrocks in 1889. 

Friday, December 11, 2009:  Earliest Reference Yet to Baseball Played in Pelham. 

Thursday, December 10, 2009:  More 19th Century Baseball and Firefighting References. 



Wednesday, December 9, 2009:  City Island Shamrocks Base Ball Club Changed its Name to the Minnefords in 1888.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009:  Even More Early References to Baseball Played in Pelham.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009:  Yet Another Reference to Early Baseball in Pelham.

Monday, November 23, 2009:  Additional Brief Accounts of Baseball Played in Pelham in the 19th Century.

Friday, November 20, 2009:  More Accounts of Early Baseball Played in Pelham.



Friday, November 13, 2009:  1894 Account of Developments in Pelham Including a Reference to a Baseball Game Played that Year.

Thursday, November 12, 2009:  More Early References to Baseball Played in Pelham.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009:  Score of June 1, 1887 Baseball Game Between the Country Club and The Knickerbocker Club.

Friday, March 20, 2009:  Another Reference to 19th Century Baseball in Pelham.


Tuesday, March 4, 2008:  Another Brief Reference to 19th Century Baseball in Pelham.

Monday, November 26, 2007: Box Score of a Baseball Game Played on Travers Island in Pelham Manor in July 1896.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007: Baseball on Travers Island During the Summer of 1897.

Friday, July 20, 2007: Account of Early Baseball in Pelham: Pelham vs. the New York Athletic Club on Travers Island in 1897

Friday, November 10, 2006: The Location of Another Early Baseball Field in Pelham

Monday, October 9, 2006: Reminiscences of Val Miller Shed Light on Late 19th Century Baseball in Pelham and the Early Development of the Village of North Pelham

Thursday, March 23, 2006: Baseball Fields Opened on the Grounds of the Westchester Country Club in Pelham on April 4, 1884

Tuesday, January 31, 2006: Another Account of Baseball Played in Pelham in the 1880s Is Uncovered

Thursday, October 6, 2005: Does This Photograph Show Members of the "Pelham Manor Junior Base Ball Team"?

Thursday, September 15, 2005: Newspaper Item Published in 1942 Sheds Light on Baseball in 19th Century Pelham

Thursday, February 10, 2005: New Discoveries Regarding Baseball in 19th Century Pelham

Bell, Blake A., Baseball in Late 19th Century Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 17, Apr. 23, 2004, p. 8, col. 2.