The Empire of Freeport: Base Ball in Northern Illinois and Iowa in 1865

The Empire Base Ball Club of Freeport, Illinois, began its 1865 season by lamenting “the melancholy and terrible blow which has fallen upon this country by the untimely death of President Lincoln.”1 The assassination of “Father Abraham” only days after the surrender of the rebel Army of Northern Virginia especially distressed the residents of Freeport, site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858. Within hours of the president’s passing on April 15, the town’s ballplayers resolved to drape their club rooms in black and wear badges of mourning for thirty days.

Formed three years earlier, the Empire club never had enjoyed a peacetime season. As noted in the Freeport press, when the club was founded, “it was the only Base Ball Club in the State, with the exception, perhaps, of a club in Chicago.”2 (The big city, in fact, had fielded at least 18 clubs by 1861, but the sport there had “rather fallen into the background since the commencement of the war.”) With many area men away fighting in the Union Army, the Empire club did little during 1862 except practice the game and learn its rules. The following year, it searched in vain for contests in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, before finally arranging three games with the Garden City club of Chicago. Two wins at home after an opening loss in Chicago prompted the prairie upstarts to declare themselves state champions.

“In 1864 the club continued its organization and its practice,” as reported in the Freeport Journal, “but the war thinned out its ranks, and, although holding itself ready to play any aspiring club, it sought no contest, and the year passed without any match game of importance.”4 (The unimportant contests, however, included a “most exciting and entertaining game” in August with the fledgling Grant Base Ball Club, also of Freeport.5 Empire lost by a score typical for the era, 31-19.)

The townsfolk saw their next baseball six weeks following Lincoln’s assassination. Empire and Grant had since merged, but briefly separated again to play an intrasquad game June 1. “The lovers of Base Ball play, will have a rare treat on Thursday,” reported the Freeport Weekly Journal, “as the Empire have divided into equal sides…for a complete game of nine innings, ‘Home and Home Game,’ on Thursday at 2 o’clock.”6 Empire beat Grant, 46-33, in four hours on its field near the fairgrounds. Both sides exhibited “great energy and skill…although the heat was intense and labor hard.”7

The next week Empire issued a general challenge to all baseball clubs in the West (what is considered the Midwest today) for a series of games. An established club in St. Louis—also named Empire—earlier had challenged its Freeport counterpart to a game in Chicago; the smaller club had declined, claiming a challenged team’s right to select the ground. The two Empires now agreed to play at Freeport on the Fourth of July. “We understand there will be quite a number of the friends of the game,” a St. Louis newspaper noted, “who will take advantage of the opportunity and will accompany the club on their excursion.”8

The contest seemed a mismatch. St. Louis boasted a population of 160,000, while Freeport had fewer than 5,400. But talent is where you find it, and the underdogs were optimistic. The challengers arrived in town following a grueling twenty-five hour, 320-mile journey north on the St. Louis Alton and Terre Haute Railroad. They were “warmly received by the Freeport club at the depot and thence escorted to their hotel…. After supper [the St. Louis visitors] strolled through the town, and were agreeably surprised to find it not only a brisk business city but also an exceedingly beautiful one.”9

The national holiday dawned under a scorching sun and grew progressively hotter. “I was awakened of an early hour this morning, not by the ringing of bells or the booming of cannon, but by the excessive oppressiveness of the atmosphere,” a Chicago Tribune correspondent wrote. “It was as if red hot stoves had been suspended in the air, and placed by a lavish hand upon every available spot of ground in the town and the adjoining country.”10 Six thousand spectators turned out from as far away as Iowa to see the game at the local ballfield.

The Sporting News decades later called Empire- versus-Empire the “first fly ball match west of the Alleghenies.” In the past, both fair and foul balls caught on one bounce had been outs. A rule change in December 1864 meant fair balls were now outs only if caught on the fly. The switch took time to take hold, however, and the teams meeting at Freeport hadn’t decided whether to play under bounder or fly rules. “Just as you please,” the St. Louis skipper said when asked which it should be. Freeport’s captain then promptly chose the latter, since “the ‘fly’ game was still quite a novelty, and though some of the St. Louis boys felt a little weak over the chances of winning.”11

Play again lasted four hours, “and though the heat was intense, nearly all who were present were so deeply interested in the contest they remained until the close,” said the Freeport Weekly Journal.12 The St. Louis club’s experience was evident during most of the game. At the bottom of the ninth inning the Mound City men led, 27-13, but “really fine batting done by Freeport, and the poor fielding of St. Louis,” let the home team score seven runs before the visitors snuffed the rally.13 A New York newspaper said the 27-20 victory gave St. Louis the “Championship of the West.”14

“The St. Louis Club is unquestionably one of the best in the whole country, and the boys of the [Freeport] ‘Empire’ lost no laurels in being defeated by so close a margin by them,” the Weekly Journal said proudly. “Had they done as well throughout the game as they did near its close, St. Louis would have gone home vanquished. Both parties did nobly. Both gained in reputation.”15 The visiting team caught an evening train home and had to decline the hospitality offered by Col. John W. Shaffer, a political supporter and friend of the late president’s. Shaffer had gotten involved in Freeport baseball since his return from the war and his presence would be felt later in the season.

By midsummer, Freeport was fielding four baseball teams: “one old men’s—one young men’s—and two boys’ clubs.”16 Empire, Empire Jr., Union, and Atlantic played each other until the senior Empires traveled a couple of dozen miles east for a July 30 game at Rockford, Illinois. Empire easily beat the local Forest City club, 55-21, at the slightly larger town in Winnebago County. That game concluded baseball on the prairie for a while. “During the hot month of August the club took a breathing spell, and gathered strength for the fall contests.”17

Despite the summer’s heat, the Winnebago County Agricultural Society glimpsed possibilities in the new sport. It organized a state championship tournament to be played September 19 and 20 at its county fairgrounds. “We trust this favorable opportunity will be taken advantage [of] by the Base Ball Clubs of this city to measure batting, &c., with their Rockford friends, and mark the improvement each has made since last they met to contest for superiority in this manly game,” the Freeport North-West said.18

Empire entered the tournament, as did Freeport’s latest team, the Shaffer Base Ball Club, also known as Shaffer’s Nine. Filling out the slate were Forest City plus two clubs from Chicago, old rivals Atlantic and Excelsior. The championship trophy was a silver ball and rosewood bat. “All lovers of this truly exciting and beautiful game are invited to be on hand to witness some spirited contests,” the North-West said.19

 

 

Atlantic beat Forest City, 26-20, in the opening game on Tuesday morning. That afternoon Excelsior easily topped Shaffer, 37-8. The winner of the Atlantic- Empire game Wednesday morning was then supposed to play Excelsior for the title. “A large crowd assembled at the appointed time, eager to witness the sport,” the Freeport Weekly Journal said, “but, a dispute arising as to whether the Atlantic should be allowed to substitute two men in place of two of the players of the previous day, and add one man to make up their full nine, a long controversy ensued, which terminated in the withdrawal of the Atlantic from the contest.”20 The championship game thus became Empire’s only appearance in the tournament.

Empire and Excelsior met at two o’clock before a sea of spectators. Crowd estimates were as large as ten thousand. “Excelsior played beautifully; they showed that they had an easy job, and were in great glee,” the North-West reported.21 But betting was heavy as Empire rallied to trail by one run, 16-15, during the seventh inning. With one out and runners at the corners, the game then descended into chaos as St. Louis attempted a pickoff at third base. The umpire—a Mr. Marshal from the Capital City Club of Madison, Wisconsin— initially called an out, but reversed his ruling after outcries from the runner and fans nearest the base.

A Chicago newspaper later charged that Marshal had been “afraid to decide against several thousand for fear of a coup d’etat from unlucky countrymen who had bet and lost; therefore, from the first to the last, he decided against the Excelsiors.”22 Their outraged opponents, however, suspected the Chicagoans of trying to delay play until the game was called for darkness, securing victory. “The Excelsiors refused to play further unless that man [at third] was held to be out, whereupon Captain [R.M.] Buckman of the Empire told the Umpire to ‘declare the man out for the sake of going on with the game.’ He did so but still the Excelsiors refused to play.”23

Marshal declared Empire the winner. Threats flew both ways over possession of the championship silver ball and rosewood bat. Only the host Winnebago County Agricultural Society emerged with its reputation intact. A Chicago newspaper later called Empire- Excelsior “an unwise rivalry, and it is to be hoped that in their future matches they will study to cultivate a more gentlemanly bearing towards each other.”24

Empire’s final tournament of 1865 came September 29 at Dubuque, Iowa, for what was billed as the championship of the Northwest. Dubuque lay sixty- five miles to the west on the opposite bank of the Mississippi River. Empire’s morning opponent was again Empire of St. Louis. The second Empire-versus- Empire matchup was a gem. The Freeport Journal later called it “the best match game played that year in the United States.”25

 

 

The big city again bested the prairie town in a low- scoring, 12-5 affair that took three and a half hours to play. Unlike at Rockford, everyone at Dubuque exhibited good behavior. “The game was conducted in a most friendly and gentlemanly manner from beginning to end, no controversies of any kind arising.”26 Empire of Freeport then played the Julian club of Dubuque for second place during the afternoon, pulling out a 27-26 win despite its players’ weariness from the morning’s game.

The northwestern Illinois baseball clubs continued playing into the autumn. Shaffer’s Nine fell to Forest City, 31-23, October 20 at Freeport. “Some fine playing was exhibited on both sides. In the evening the members of the Forest City, Shaffer and Empire Clubs and a few of their friends met at Col. Shaffer’s, where a bountiful repast was served up and an hour or two passed in friendly intercourse, singing and having a good time generally.”27

The senior Empire club expected to end its season six days later, at home versus Excelsior of Chicago. “This game will be for the championship of the State, and will be well worth the attention of all who can attend upon the match,” the Weekly Journal proclaimed.28 But wet grounds and foul conditions thwarted the eagerly awaited finale, which “failed to come off on account of the weather. The Chicago men were on hand, but were compelled to return home with the question of State championship undecided.”29

Empire hadn’t quite concluded its first peacetime season. “The club rested from base ball during the winter, of course, excepting one game which was played among themselves on Skates in Stephenson Park,” the Freeport Journal said of a January 31 event. Despite the late October rainout, the newspaper added that the squad was “still the champion club of the State, and must be prepared every year to earn the honor of that position.”30 Empire’s players reemerged in the early spring of 1866, resembling Union artillery officers in their club uniforms of blue pantaloons with red stripes. “The sunny days have come,” said the North-West, “and with them we will have a renewal of this healthful out door sport. Freeport stumps the world on Base Ball playing.”31 

JIM LEEKE is a former journalist, creative director, and copywriter in Columbus, Ohio. He has contributed to various SABR publications, and also writes about other areas of American history. His numerous books include “From the Dugouts to the Trenches: Baseball During the Great War,” winner of the 2018 Larry Ritter Book Award.

 

Notes

1. “The Empire Club on the Death of the President,” Freeport (Illinois) Weekly Journal, April 19, 1865, 5. (The paper later switch to daily publication as the Freeport Journal.)

2. “Empire Base Ball Club,” Freeport Journal, June 6, 1866, 5.

3. Chicago, IL at Protoball.org: https://protoball.org/Chicago,_IL; “The City: Amusements,” Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1865, 4.

4. “Empire Base Ball Club.”

5. “That Base Ball Match,” Freeport Weekly Journal, August 10, 1864, 3.

6. “Base Ball Sport,” Freeport Weekly Journal, May 31, 1865, 3.

7. “Base Ball,” Freeport Weekly Journal, June 7, 1865, 3.

8. “Base Ball Match Game,” St Louis Missouri Republican, June 26, 1865, 3.

9. “Base Ball Match at Freeport, Ill., July 4,” St. Louis Missouri Democrat, July 8, 1865, 4.

10. “Freeport,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1865, 2.

11. “Back in 1865,” The Sporting News, November 9, 1895: 5.

12. “The Champion Base Ball Match,” Freeport Weekly Journal, July 12, 1865, 3.

13. “Base Ball Match at Freeport.”

14. “Ball Championship of the West,” New York Clipper, July 22, 1865, 116.

15. “The Champion Base Ball Match.”

16. “Base Ball,” Freeport Weekly Journal, August 2, 1865, 3.

17. “Empire Base Ball Club.”

18. “Base Ball Championship,” Freeport (Illinois) North-West, August 31, 1865, 5.

19. “Local Matters,” Freeport North-West, September 7, 1865, 5.

20. “Base Ball Tournament at Rockford,” Freeport Weekly Journal, September 27, 1865, 2.

21. “Base Ball Tournament at Rockford; Second Day,” Freeport North-West, September 28, 1865, 1. Published a day later, the North-West occasionally ran a headline that was similar or identical to one in the earlier Weekly Journal.

22. Chicago Times, reprinted in “Truth Versus the Chicago Times,” Freeport Weekly Journal, September 27, 1865, 3.

23. “Base Ball Tournament at Rockford; Second Day.”

24. Chicago Journal, reprinted in “The Base Ball Tournament at Rockford,” Freeport Weekly Journal, October 4, 1865, 3.

25. “Empire Base Ball Club.”

26. “Base Ball Match at Dubuque,” Freeport Weekly Journal, October 4, 1865, 3.

27. “Local Items of Interest,” Freeport Weekly Journal, October 25, 1865, 3.

28. “Base Ball Match,” Freeport Weekly Journal, October 25, 1865, 3.

29. “Base Ball Match,” Freeport Weekly Journal, November 1, 1865, 3.

30. “Empire Base Ball Club.”

31. “Local Matters,” Freeport North-West, April 19, 1866, 5.