Exhibitions – Society for American Baseball Research

February 4, 1861: Brooklyn Atlantics win a baseball game on ice

May 12, 1866: Atlanta’s first recorded game of base ball

September 29, 1880: Metropolitan club opens new Polo Grounds with a win

August 10, 1883: Cap Anson vs. Fleet Walker

John Clarkson (Public Domain)

September 15, 1884: White Stockings outshine Eclipse at Louisville’s ‘lit’ Southern Exposition

February 9, 1889: A Wondrous Ball Park: The Pyramid Game in Giza, Egypt

April 18, 1890: Amateur John Lyston wins Atlantic League tuneup against Gorhams

June 21, 1891: A Sunday exhibition at Rocky Point, RI

Charlie Bennett (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)

August 27, 1894: Charlie Bennett Charity Game

Bud Fowler, Page Fence Giants (Trading Card Database)

April 11, 1895: Scrappy Page Fence Giants fall to Cincinnati Reds in preseason exhibition

Baseball game at the South Side Grounds, Missoula, Montana, circa 1900, by photographer John E. Dunn, from the archives of the University of Montana. The Clark Fork River is near the first-base line. Mount Jumbo is in the background on the right.

June 30, 1901: Missoula defeats Butte in baseball by the river in Montana

August 23, 1902: Banned from Pennsylvania, Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie returns home to Rhode Island for exhibition

September 1-3, 1904: Philadelphia Giants defeat Cuban X-Giants in championship series

Luis Bustamante (Courtesy of Stephen V. Rice)

June 14-17, 1907: Luis Bustamante and the Cuban Stars visit northern Ohio

George B. Dovey (PUBLIC DOMAIN)

August 7, 1907: Boston Doves delight fans in western Kentucky during owner’s homecoming

July 24, 1911: ‘Galaxy of Stars’ takes the field in Cleveland in honor of Addie Joss

April 5, 1913: Ebbets Field opens with inaugural exhibition game

WickwareFrank

October 5, 1913: Frank Wickware wins barnstorming battle between the Big Train and ‘Black Walter Johnson’

January 1, 1914: Giants beat White Sox as World Tour visits Australia

July 3, 1915: Barnstorming American women compete against male semipros in Saskatchewan

Play Ball! film publicity poster, 1916 (IMDB.com)

September 10, 1916: Giants, Yankees play exhibition for Hollywood, charity

Tris Speaker with the Cleveland Indians (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)

October 6, 1916: Tris Speaker, All-Star American Leaguers defeat International League in Canada’s capital

September 27, 1917: All-stars turn out for Tim Murnane benefit

The Chicago White Sox are pictured on April 12, 1918, before an exhibition game against a US Army team at Camp Funston, outside of Junction City, Kansas. Just weeks ear- lier, the first major outbreak of a global influenza pandemic killed 38 soldiers at the base. An estimated 50 million people around the world died from the flu by the time the pandemic subsided in 1920. (BlackBetsy.com)

April 12, 1918: Red Faber, White Sox win exhibition game in epicenter of influenza pandemic