made its way West as far back as 1857. Chicago had
a crack team called the Excelsiors, which went to Rockford, Illinois, in
1864, and won glory by defeating the Forest Citys of that place. The
Atlantics was another Chicago club that played on the North Side, but did
not have the prestige of the Excelsiors. Baseball got a great boom in that
region from the tournaments held there. The Excelsiors were victorious in
those held in Bloomington, Illinois, in 1866, and in Rockford, in 1867.

To return to the East. In 1862 the Eckfords, of Brooklyn, won the
supremacy from the Atlantics, and held it through the season of 1863,
during which they did not lose a single game--a feat since duplicated only
by Harry Wright's Cincinnati Reds in 1869. The Atlantics regained their
lost honors, however, in 1864, and held them for three years. Their chief
competitors were the Athletics, of Philadelphia, and the Mutuals, of New
York. The Atlantics did not lose a game in 1864 and 1865--a feat that has
never been equaled.

The Athletics, of Philadelphia, gained renown by going through the season
of 1866 with only two defeats--those at the hands of the Atlantics, of
Brooklyn, and the Unions, of Morrisania, then a suburb of New York City.

The feeling between the Brooklyn and the Philadelphia boys ran so high
that when they met in Philadelphia, October 1, 1866, it was estimated that
the contest was witnessed by more than forty thousand persons, the largest
crowd ever known to have gathered to see a ball contest. The crush was so
great that after one inning had been played it was found impossible to
continue, and the game was postponed until October 22.

To prevent a repetition of the crowding, an admission of one dollar was
charged, the largest up to that time asked for a ball game, yet more than
two thousand persons passed through the gates, while several thousand
remained outside. The Athletics rolled up 31 runs to 12 of their opponents
in seven innings, when the umpire called the game on account of darkness.
A dispute about the gate money prevented the clubs from playing any more
that season.

Baltimore became a great center of baseball in the very early days of the
game. The Excelsiors were in the field in 1857, the Waverlys in 1858, and
the Baltimores in 1859. Another club disputed the latter's right to the
title, and in a game played for the name the first formed club won. As
early as 1861 the Pastimes, of Baltimore, defeated the Nation