Reference to an 1884 Baseball Game Between the Country Club of Pelham and Calumet

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From the mid-1860's through the end of the 19th century, the Town of Pelham was a hotbed of baseball activity.  Citizens of the town embraced the national pastime with gusto.  There were baseball grounds at Pelham Bridge, Bartow, City Island, in today's Pelham Manor, and in Pelhamville.  In short, there were baseball grounds all over the Town of Pelham.  Ballplayers from all over the region from as far away as Staten Island  and Yonkers and as near as Mount Vernon and New Rochelle traveled to Pelham to play ball.  

One of the principle reasons that baseball grew in popularity as a spectator sport in Pelham during the latter half of the nineteenth century was the Country Club at Bartow and its baseball team known as the Country Club Giants and, informally, as the Country Club Nine.

For years I have collected even the tiniest references to nineteenth century baseball in Pelham.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog includes one such reference.  Transcribed at the end of today's posting is an article that recounted the news of the day in Pelham and City Island in early August, 1884.  At the close of that article, there is a reference to a baseball game during the summer of 1884 between the Country Club Nine and the "Calumet Nine."  According to the reference, the Country Club Nine lost the game, though no score is provided in the article.  The pertinent excerpt from the full article that is transcribed below is as follows:

"The Country Club, at Bartow, has been wonderfully successful and is constantly crowded with members and guests.  The membership of 250 is within four or five of being filled, and its future seems assured.  The bathing beach, the tennis courts and polo field connected with the club add greatly to its attractions and are well patronized.  Since its recent defeat by the Calumet Club nine, the baseball team of the club have been resting, but are looking forward to several matches in the autumn, in which they expect to be more victorious. . . ."

1887 Baseball Game Like Those Played in Pelham.

"THROWN OUT ON SECOND BASE - GILBERT GAUL -- [SEE PAGE 647.]"
Source:  Harper's Weekly, Sep. 10, 1887.

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

--Numerous complaints are being made against owners of dogs, who allow the same to run at large unmuzzeled.

--Justice Martin seems to be doing a thrifty business.  Promptness and dispatch are indispensible [sic] in furthering the ends of justice.

--City Island continues to attract many visitors.  It certainty possesses decided advantages over surrounding places along Long Island Sound.

--The old draw of the Harlem bridge is still doing service at City Island.  Time is beginning to play sad havoc with it and it will scarcely last another decade.

--On Monday next the Board of Excise of the town will meet at the Court house.

--Married--On Tuesday last, at the residence of the bride's parents, Mr. Cable Nash, of Philadelphia, to Miss Lina, daughter of Mr. Simon Baxter.--Chronicle.

--The steamer Joshua Leviness, to have been sold on Saturday, as mentioned in the last issue of the PIONEER, was not sold, but will again be offered for sale on Tuesday next.

--Von Liehn's Bay View Hotel is receiving due notice from lovers of fine Rhode Island clam roast.  He knows how to make it and serves it in style that is the envy of many hotel keepers.

--Some of the principal streets of the town of Pelham are sadly in need of repairs.  One would hardly expect this to be the case with such an efficient Board of Commissioners, as the town of Pelham has a right to feel proud of.

--The Grand Jury on Saturday found a presentment against G. W. Hazeltine for the murder of Mamie Thorpe on the 19th inst., at which time he shot and wounded Mamie White, both of whom reached Baltimore with him that day from Toronto.

--John Sawbridge formerly in the employ of banker Belden, on Saturday last became involved in an altercation with Robt. Brown.  He subsequently caused Brown's arrest, but failed to appear before Justice Martin on Monday, when the case was called for trial.

--The Merry Ten Social Club intend to have a grand excursion to Roton Point, on Wednesday, the 13th of August.  The steamer, C. Meyers, and the double deck barge, Geraldine, have been engaged for the occasion and everything will be done by the arrangement committee to make the affair an enjoyable one.

--The assessment roll of the town of Pelham will be open for public inspection until August 20th.  Let all desirous of examining the same, present their objections on the above date.  It will be seen by the roll that the Assessors in the discharging of their official duty, have almost entirely omitted assessing personal property.  No wonder real estate owners of the town of Pelham complain of the high rate of taxation.  If personal property of this town bore its portion, taxation on real property would doubtless be reduced to one-half of the present rate.

--The Country Club, at Bartow, has been wonderfully successful and is constantly crowded with members and guests.  The membership of 250 is within four or five of being filled, and its future seems assured.  The bathing beach, the tennis courts and polo field connected with the club add greatly to its attractions and are well patronized.  Since its recent defeat by the Calumet Club nine, the baseball team of the club have been resting, but are looking forward to several matches in the autumn, in which they expect to be more victorious.  The large cool reading room in the club house has been found an especially agreeable feature and the restaurant has greatly improved and is now in good running order.  The experiment of allowing ladies the privileges of the club has proved very successful, and many of the wives, sisters and cousins of the members have visited the club and enjoyed its hospitality."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, New Rochelle Pioneer, Aug. 2, 1884, Vol. XXV, No. 18, p. 3, cols. 5-6.

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Below is a listing, with links, of my previous postings and a published article on the topic of 19th century baseball in Pelham.

Thu., Jul. 31, 2014:  Fascinating Account of Baseball Game Played at Pelham Bridge in 1878.

Mon., Jul. 28, 2014:  Additional 19th Century References to Baseball Being Played in Pelham.

Tue., Apr. 08, 2014:  More 19th Century References to Baseball in the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Mar. 28, 2014:  Earliest Evidence Yet! Baseball Was Played in Pelham Only Months After the Civil War Ended.  

Thu., Mar. 20, 2014:  19th Century Baseball in Pelham - Newly-Discovered References.

Tue., Feb. 16, 2010:  Photograph of Only Known 19th Century Women's Baseball Team in Pelham, New York.Fri., Apr. 16, 2010:  Formation of the City Island Beldonites Baseball Club in June 1884 

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

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

Mon., Dec. 14, 2009:  Baseball Games Played by the City Island Shamrocks in 1889.  

Fri., Dec. 11, 2009:  Earliest Reference Yet to Baseball Played in Pelham.  

Thu., Dec. 10, 2009:  More 19th Century Baseball and Firefighting References. 

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

Wed., Nov. 25, 2009:  Even More Early References to Baseball Played in Pelham.

Tue., Nov. 24, 2009:  Yet Another Reference to Early Baseball in Pelham.

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

Fri., Nov. 20, 2009:  More Accounts of Early Baseball Played in Pelham.

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

Thur., Nov. 12, 2009:  More Early References to Baseball Played in Pelham.

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

Fri., Mar. 20, 2009:   Another Reference to 19th Century Baseball in Pelham.

Tue., Mar. 4, 2008:   Another Brief Reference to 19th Century Baseball in Pelham.

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

Wed., Nov. 21, 2007:  Baseball on Travers Island During the Summer of 1897.

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

Fri., Nov. 10, 2006: The Location of Another Early Baseball Field in Pelham.

Mon., Oct. 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.

Thu., Mar. 23, 2006:  Baseball Fields Opened on the Grounds of the Westchester Country Club in Pelham on April 4, 1884.  

Tue., Jan. 31, 2006:  Another Account of Baseball Played in Pelham in the 1880s Is Uncovered.  

Thu., Oct. 6, 2005:   Does This Photograph Show Members of the "Pelham Manor Junior Base Ball Team"?

Thu., Sep. 15, 2005:  Newspaper Item Published in 1942 Sheds Light on Baseball in 19th Century Pelham.  

Thu., Feb. 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.

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Yet Another Attempt in 1894 to Resurrect the Glory Days of Coaching to Pelham

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Yesterday I posted an item to the Historic Pelham Blog regarding the spectacle of "coaching to Pelham" in four-in-hand carriages during the 1870s and 1880s.  Col. Delancey Kane began the practice during the 1870s and many followed in his footsteps. Here is a link to yesterday's post:  Mon., Jul. 29, 2014:  Wonderful Description of Coaching to Pelham on the Tally-Ho's First Trip of the Season on May 1, 1882.  To read more about the curious fad, see the lengthy list of previous articles and postings at the end of this article.

In 1876 a horse-drawn road coach known as “The Pelham Coach” began running between New York City’s Hotel Brunswick and the “Pelham Manor” of yore.  This road coach was not a simple hired coach that ferried passengers from New York City in the days before Henry Ford mass produced his Model T.  Rather, this road coach was driven by Colonel Delancey Kane, one of the so-called “millionaire coachmen,” who engaged in a sport known as “public coaching” or “road coaching” as it sometimes was called.  The sport, conducted pursuant to the published rules of The New York Coaching Club, has been described as follows: 

“Public coaching, as it was called when it was a flourishing anachronism in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth, is . . . now quite forgotten. It was one of those curious but artificial customs that suddenly drop into oblivion. . . . [Records of the sport] furnish a droll and flickering insight into the lives of that very small group of Americans, born and bred to wealth and leisure, whose influence on the nation’s social and economic life was so disproportionate to their numbers.”

The Pelham Coach was not the only coach that ran to Pelham.  Over years, there were various efforts to extend the sport of public coaching.  After Delancey Kane stopped running the Pelham Coach and, later, the coach named "Tally Ho", others attempted to resurrect the sport in the New York metropolitan area.  As I previously have written (see below), other such coaches that ran after Delancey Kane ended his public coaching to Pelham career included the Tantivy and the Greyhound.   

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog provides information about efforts in 1894 to resurrect the sport of public coaching.  J. Clinch Smith began running a four-in-hand coach named "Tempest" from Hotel Brunswick to the Westchester Country Club.  The Tempest did not, however, run between the Hotel Brunswick and Pelham.  By 1894, after New York City created Pelham Bay Park, the Westchester Country Club had moved to nearby Throgg's Neck.  Still, the story of the Tempest provides a fascinating glimpse of the closing years of the 19th century when some tried to resurrect the spectacle of the sport of public coaching brought to the United States by Delancey Kane who began running his Pelham Coach between Hotel Brunswick and the Arcularius Hotel at Pelham Bridge in 1876.  

Below is an image and the text of an article about the first successful run of the Tempest on April 16, 1894.  The article recounts the glory of the original Pelham Coach that inspired the Tempest's journey.  

"RETURN OF THE COACH 'TEMPEST.'"

Showing the Tempest in front of the Hotel Brunswick.

Source:  ROAD COACHING IN EARNEST, N.Y. Herald,

Apr. 17, 1894, p. 9, cols. 1-2.

"ROAD COACHING IN EARNEST.
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The Tempest Makes Her First Regular Trip to the Country Club in Fine Shape.
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WEATHER GRAND AND ROADS GOOD
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A Full List of Passengers Was Taken Out and Back and All Were Enthusiastic.
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MANY WITNESSED THE START.
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IT is a pretty well established fact that history repeats itself -- sometimes pleasantly and at other times unpleasantly.  Under the former head should certainly be put any revival of the grand sport of coaching.  It is a sport nowadays, but let us not forget there was a time not so many years ago either, when it was, so to speak, quite as stern a reality as is a Pullman car to-day and as little tinged with romance.

We can't get away from coaching, however.  It may seem to lag for a while, but invariably 'bobs up serenly,' and well it is, particularly in our rushing New York, where most folks live far too much on a machine-made principle. 

As I stood in front of the Brunswick yesterday and watched the start of Mr. J. Clinch Smith's coach Tempest on the first of the regular daily trips -- Sundays excepted -- it is to make from now until June 1, between the hostelry named and the Country Club at Westchester, my mind drifted back to a fine spring morning -- May 1, 1876 -- when Colonel De Lancey Kane, the pioneer of road coaching in this country, pulled out from the same spot with his Pelham coach on its inaugural trip.

THE OLD PELHAM COACH.

Every one knows that the Pelham Coach ran successfully for several consecutive seasons.  It is doubtful if a country club at West Chester had even been dreamt of then, so the destination was the old Arcularius Hotel at Pelham Bridge, where lunch was served.  The time schedule was about the same as that now arranged by Mr. J. Clinch Smith for the Tempest.  

The Pelham coach was abandoned after a few seasons, but a few years later the Tantivy was put on the road by Mr. Frederic Bronson and Mr. J. Roosevelt Roosevelt.  This coach ran every spring until four years ago.  Since then there have been one or two rather lukewarm efforts to put on a public coach between New York and different adjacent points, but without much success.

The prospects are, however, that the Tempest will be liberally patronized.  Mr. J. Clinch Smith and Mr. Francis T. Underhill are to be the coachmen and the former has furnished an excellent road coach and several teams of the first quality.

The start yesterday was made promptly at eleven o'clock.  It was an ideal spring day, and by half-past ten there had gathered in front of the hotel many promising coaching men.  Among these were the Messrs. De Lancey A. Kane, Frederic Bronson, Perry Belmont, Frederick Gebbard, De Courcey Forbes, W. R. Travers, William Eldridge, Leonard Jacob, Hamilton Cary and Ashton Lemoine.

Mr. Francis T. Underhill was coachman out and Mr. J. Clinch Smith back, and the passengers were Mr. Francis Watson, who had the box seat; Merrs. George de Forest Grant, J. G. Follansbee, M. N. R. Davis, Robert W. Stuart, W. R. Hoyt, J. S. A. Davis, J. Hopkinson Smith, Charles Coster, Eben Wright and De Forest Manice.

ALONG THE ROUTE.

As told inSaturday, the route is through the Park and by Seventh avenue to 135th street, thence to and up St. Nicholas avenue, to Washington Bridge, across the bridge and past the Berkeley Oval to Jerome Park Corners, thence through Fordham and West Chester villages and past Morris Park to the Country Club.

A stop was made at the Plaza Hotel.  Teams were changed at 136th street and St. Nicholas avenue and at Jerome Park Corners.  

The Tempest arrived at the club at five minutes to one o'clock, schedule time.  Luncheon was immediately served.  The return journey was begun at twenty minutes to four o'clock and the Brunswick reached at half-past five.

Everything went as smoothly as could be desired, barring a slight mishap in front of the Brunswick.  One of the leaders was struck by an omnibus and lost his footing for a moment.  

All told, however, the first regular trip was pronounced if possible even more successful than the trial.  In the interval after luncheon and before starting home there was some informal pigeon shooting.  Three sweepstakes were contested for, the winners being the Messrs. Oliver Iselin, George de Forest Grant and Eben Wright.

The party to-day will include, among others, Messrs. George H. Mairs, Eben Wright, Roland W. Smith and Alexander M. Griswold.

Mr. F. M. Vermilye has the coach for Thursday.  Messrs. Center Hitchcock and Robert A. Osborn for April 20 and 21.  Mr. Stanford White has taken the whole coach for April 26 and Mr. J. W. A. Davis has booked as far ahead as May 30, when he will have the entire coach."

Source:  ROAD COACHING IN EARNEST, N.Y. Herald, Apr. 17, 1894, p. 9, cols. 1-2.  

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Below is a list of articles and blog postings that I previously have posted regarding the subject of "Coaching to Pelham."  

Bell, Blake A., Col. Delancey Kane and "The Pelham Coach" (Sep. 2003).

Mon., Jul. 29, 2014:  Wonderful Description of Coaching to Pelham on the Tally-Ho's First Trip of the Season on May 1, 1882.

Wed., Apr. 14, 2010:  Col. Delancey Kane Changes the Timing and Route of The Pelham Coach in 1876.

Tue., Sep. 08, 2009:  1877 Advertisement with Timetable for the Tally Ho Coach to Pelham.

Mon., Mar. 23, 2009:  The Greyhound and the Tantivy-- The Four-in-Hand Coaches that Succeeded Col. Delancey Kane's "Tally-Ho" to Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 16, 2009: The Final Trip of the First Season of Col. Delancey Kane's "New-Rochelle and Pelham Four-in-Hand Coach Line" in 1876.

Thu., Jan. 15, 2009:  The First Trip of Col. Delancey Kane's "New-Rochelle and Pelham Four-in-Hand Coach Line" on May 1, 1876.

Thu., Mar. 06, 2008:  Auctioning the Tantivy's Horses at the Close of the 1886 Coaching Season.

Wed., Mar. 05, 2008:  Coaching to Pelham: The Tantivy Has an Accident on its Way to Pelham in 1886.  

Thu., Jan. 24, 2008:  An Account of the First Trip of Colonel Delancey Kane's Tally-Ho to Open the 1880 Coaching Season.

Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008: Brief "History of Coaching" Published in 1891 Shows Ties of Sport to Pelham, New York

Thursday, August 3, 2006: Images of Colonel Delancey Kane and His "Pelham Coach" Published in 1878.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005: Taunting the Tantivy Coach on its Way to Pelham: 1886.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005: 1882 Engraving Shows Opening of Coaching Season From Hotel Brunswick to Pelham Bridge.

Thu., Jun. 09, 2005:  Coaching to Pelham: Colonel Delancey Astor Kane Did Not Operate the Only Coach to Pelham.

Fri., Feb. 11, 2005:  Col. Delancey Kane's "Pelham Coach", Also Known as The Tally-Ho, Is Located.

Bell, Blake A., Col. Delancey Kane and "The Pelham Coach", The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XII, No. 38, Sept. 26, 2003, p. 1, col. 1.

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