Autumn Years Summer 2024

T here is a popular fable that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York. How ever, nothing could be further from the truth. The game was actually played for the first time in Hoboken, New Jersey. On June 19, 1846, at Hoboken’s Elysian Fields, the first recorded baseball match was played using recognizably mod ern rules. The New York Nine defeated Alexander Cartwright’s Knickerbockers in a game reported in New York news papers. Just six years prior, Hoboken was part of Bergen County . . . but, alas, we cannot lay claim to the game starting in our county. At first, the game of “base ball” was known only to enthusiasts. In 1856, a newspaper read by people in Bergen County had this to say about the game: “A game at ball is very nice play. The boys have a bat, and they hit the ball with it, and knock it away. Sometimes the boys miss the ball, and then the catcher catch es it, and they have to be out. Sometimes they knock it over the fence, and then the boy that knocked it over has to be out. There are two kinds of ball playing: the base ball and the cat and dog ball.”

Pioneer Baseball Club of Englewood.

The New York Herald reported on June 26, 1867, that New York’s “Knicker bocker Club, the parent organization of the national game,” played against the Palisade Club of Englewood at Elysian Fields in Hoboken. The veteran Knick erbockers beat the Englewood team 44 to 20. The Palisade Club then hosted the Knickerbockers at Englewood twice, and on their second visit, the New York team was beat 42 to 27. In the 1860s, 20 other teams are known to have been organized in Bergen County: • Four clubs used the name “Star,” and they hailed from Englewood, Fort Lee, Cresskill and Hackensack. • As the largest town in the county, Hackensack was home to five more teams; they were the Mechanics, Everett, Stars, Iconic and Pacific clubs. • In Englewood, a team called the Alpine Club started. • In the Ridgefield area, there was the Alert Club of English Neighborhood. • In southern Edgewater, there was the Independent Club of Shady Side. • In the Fort Lee area, there were six teams with the names Riverside, Fort Lee, Light Foot, Alpha, Mystic and Eagle clubs. On July 4, 1867, the Alpha Club of

The game of “cat and dog ball” was more like cricket, but “base ball” was very different from what we now know. The 1860s The first known baseball team in Bergen County was organized on August 22, 1860, in Englewood. Originally referred to as the Englewood Base Ball Club, they played Wednesdays and Saturdays at a field on Palisade Avenue. This team stood out because, according to the New York Clipper newspaper, they were the second organized team to play the “fly game.” Initially in baseball, you could catch a ball on a bounce—and make an out. The “fly game,” however, was more like modern baseball: A ball must be caught in the air to make an out. It was not until 1864 that the rule became stan dardized. The second Bergen County team was organized in Rutherford in 1864 and was called the Keystone Club of Boiling Springs. The first-known game was held in Englewood on June 13, 1866, between the Englewood team (known as the Palisade Club) and the Excelsior Club of Ridgewood. The young men from Ridgewood beat Englewood 24 to 17.

Rutherford Athletic Club.

SUMMER 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS 37