1858 Brooklyn–New York all-star game

July 20, 1858August 17, 1858September 10, 1858 Fashion Course Queens, New York The Great Base Ball Match of 1858 New York and Brooklyn amateur baseball players The 1858 Brooklyn–New York all-star game, sometimes known as the "Great Base Ball Match of 1858",Schaefer Robert H. The Changes Wrought by the Great Base Ball Match of 1858 https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-changes-wrought-by-the-great-base-ball-match-of-1858-8fedc0352932 Medium May 2, 2026 en October 29, 2016 was a series of baseball contests between select standout players of from various amateur clubs in Manhattan and Brooklyn during the summer of 1858. In inviting only select players from multiple clubs, these games are now considered precursors to modern professional all-star games.Zinn John G. Summer 1858: The Brooklyn-New York baseball rivalry begins https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/summer-1858-the-brooklyn-new-york-baseball-rivalry-begins/ Society for American Baseball Research May 2, 2026 Hosted at the Fashion Course in Queens, the series is also noticeable for being the first baseball events to charge admission for spectators. Brooklyn and New York faced off three times—on July 20, August 17, and September 10—with New York ultimately prevailing in the series, 2–1. Prelude thumb|The New York Knickerbockers in 1858 The New York metropolitan area was a hotbed of amateur baseball in the mid-19th century, with early pioneering clubs like the Knickerbockers proving influential in developing rules in the mid-1840s that evolved into the modern form of baseball played professionally in the United States since the 1870s. The number of amateur clubs in New York and Brooklyn grew from 6 in 1854 to about 24 the next year, with continued rapid expansion for the rest of the decade.Hershberger Richard 1857 Winter Meetings: The First Baseball Convention https://sabr.org/journal/article/1857-winter-meetings-the-first-baseball-convention/ Society for American Baseball Research May 2, 2026 Sixteen New York–area clubs convened in 1857 to refine the standard rules, making fundamental decisions like setting the bases 90 feet apart.NAABBP 1857 https://www.vbba.org/naabbp-1857/ Vintage Base Ball Association May 2, 2026 An outgrowth of this convention was the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), the first baseball governing organization. In 1858, the NABBP decided to organize a series of games pitting the top players from New York and Brooklyn member clubs. Venue Match organizers sought to find a neutral hosting ground easily accessible by public transit; they settled on the Fashion Course horse racing grounds in Flushing, Queens, which was reachable by omnibus, rail, and trolley. The course featured a grandstand, enabling spectators to sit in comfort. The organizers created an all-dirt infield on the course by stripping away grass turf; the costs associated with landscaping the field and renting the facility incurred unexpected costs for the clubs. To cover these costs—and taking advantage of the gated entrances to the facility—the clubs decided to charge an admission fee of 10 cents for the event.Thorn John The Fashion Race Course Ball https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-fashion-race-course-ball-e0cc31080131 Medium May 3, 2026 en May 9, 2022 The 1858 matches thus became (in addition to being the first all-star games), the first to be played in an enclosed ground and the first to require paid admission.Thorn John John Thorn (baseball historian) The All-Star Game You Don't Know https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/the-all-star-game-you-dont-know-cf8082747852 Medium May 3, 2026 en July 13, 2024 Matches First match The highly anticipated first match, on July 20, featured members of the Knickerbocker, Gotham, Eagle, Empire, Harlem, and Union clubs on the New York side, and members of the Atlantics, Excelsior, Putnam, and Eckford clubs from Brooklyn.Ceresi Frank McMains Carol Scorecard from Baseball's 1st All-Star Game https://www.baseball-almanac.com/treasure/autont2006b.shtml Baseball Almanac May 3, 2026 Among the New York players was Knickerbocker Harry Wright, who would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame nearly a century later. Attendance estimates for this game range from 4,000 to 10,000. thumb|Baseball pioneer Doc Adams umpired the third and final match. The New York squad prevailed in the debut match, 22–18. The game ball used in this match survives to this day and is in the possession of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Second match Both club managers made personnel changes after the first match. Eckford of Brooklyn cofounder Frank Pidgeon was moved from shortstop to pitcher for this game. Pidgeon's scorecard for the match survives today. The Brooklyn stars routed New York, 29–8, evening the series. Final match After its strong showing in the second match, Brooklyn left its lineup mostly intact for the rubber match. New York, however, made major lineup changes, including a change at pitcher. Longtime Knickerbocker and baseball pioneer Doc Adams served as umpire and was the first umpire to apply an NABBP rule that called batters out after non-swinging strikes. Frank Pidegon returned as pitcher for Brooklyn, logging 438 pitches during the match. New York won, 29–18, handing them the series victory. Aftermath SABR researcher Robert H. Schaefer concluded, "The Great Base Ball Match of 1858 set in motion a sequence of events that ultimately, after many incremental steps, produced the structure of major league baseball that we know today." The first match netted a profit of $71.10 after expenses, which the organizers donated to New York and Brooklyn charities. Although the clubs did not seek or retain the profits, they proved that baseball was popular enough to become a profitable venture. A number of 1858 all-stars, including Harry Wright and William H. Van Cott, participated in the "first-ever multi-club intercity tournament" in 1862, competing against Philadelphia clubs.Jensen Don Base Ball 12: New Research on the Early Game April 12, 2021 McFarland 978-1-4766-7473-5 https://www.google.com/books/edition/Base_Ball_12/R0ooEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22william+van+cott%22&pg=PA31&printsec=frontcover May 3, 2026 en Although New York won the series, Brooklyn clubs proved to dominate local competition in the 1860s. By 1862, Bill Cammeyer established the first enclosed ballpark designed solely for baseball use—Union Grounds in Williamsburg—and began charging regular admission fees. By the end of the 1860s, baseball was in the process of becoming a professional industry, and in 1871 the NABBP was replaced by the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players—the first professional baseball league. Major League Baseball played its first official all-star game in 1933. References 40 45 12 N 73 51 52 W type:landmark_region:US-NY title category:History of baseball in the United States category:1850s in New York City category:1858 in baseball