LOT #47055 |
Starting Bid: $10,000
Archive of Early Baseball Club Secretary Homer E. Chapin....
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Description
An overview of early organized baseball
Archive of Early Baseball Club Secretary Homer E. Chapin. An
extensive archive of more than one hundred items, circa 1863
to 1875, assembled by Homer E. Chapin, longtime secretary of the
Atlantic Base Ball Club of Oneida. The archive includes 64 letters,
with 36 addressed to Chapin in his capacity as secretary, along
with additional personal correspondence. The letters document the
practices of early organized baseball in the years immediately
following the Civil War, when the sport was still dominated by
unpaid amateurs playing for local pride.Without formal leagues or schedules, baseball club secretaries like Chapin were responsible for arranging matches through handwritten correspondence. An early example dated May 27, 1866, shows how informally games could be set, with the Canastota club replying the same day: "Yours of the 27 inst is recd and everything is Satisfactory will call game at one oclock." Other exchanges show the need for longer planning. On June 10, 1867, the Utica club proposed a match a full month in advance, writing: "We the members of the Jr nine of the Utica Base Ball Club, do hereby challenge the members, of the Atlantic B. B. C. to play, a friendly game, of Base Ball...on Tuesday, July 10th...weather permitting."
These practical concerns were vital to the game's organization in the late nineteenth century. With increased popularity among working-class players came logistical difficulties in scheduling and travel. A club in Clifton Springs discussed lodging costs frankly, noting: "I have seen Cleveland he will charge $3.00 a day and Mr Moor will charge you $1.50 and make it less if any number of you come...the Boys are not verry [sic] rich this year but will help you all that we can in regard to expenses." On August 5, 1869, the Independent Club of New York Mills explained why they could not travel, writing: "We would come up there but we could not get out of the Factory at present but will come up there in two weeks when the mill will stop."
The new working-class association of the game also led to players being stereotyped as "rough" characters, an assumption certainly challenged by Chapin's archive. For example, on August 13, 1869, the Bridgeport club declined to play against the Atlantic club for $50, writing: "There is some of our club is opposed to playing for money, and therefore we can not except [sic] your challenge to play for $50." Another letter from the Utica baseball club, dated June 19, 1867, goes into great detail about their team, listing a roster of players and stating: "We are a Jr club and we are not very large not quite as large as some of you...but I think that wont make any difference. We will treat you as well as we know how. We are not in the habit of treating any club that has ever come to play us ungentlemanly."
Nonetheless, there's plenty of amusing "trash talk" in the letters sent to Chapin. On June 16, 1869, the Clifton Springs secretary bragged about recent victories and added: "If you want to win, bring your umpire with you." Another letter from the same club on July 3 teased: "Everything is prepared for your coming. Don't disappoint us...bring your ladies as we have prepared for them."
One of the most striking challenges came from the Oneida Base Ball Club on October 1, 1866, proposing that the loser of a match would surrender its identity entirely: "If you are the victors, the two clubs will immediately consolidate under the name of the Atlantic Club of Oneida; and if we are the victors, the consolidation to be named the Oneida Club of Oneida." Whether the game was ever played is unclear from the correspondence, but both clubs continued separately into the following season.
Beyond scheduling and matches, the correspondence also documents how the teams were supplied. On May 16, 1867, Chapin heard from J. D. Williams, a hat and cap dealer, who announced: "I have received the agency of one of the largest Base Ball Depots in New York. I am now prepared to fill orders for all kinds of Base Ball Materials..." A follow-up on June 21 shows the challenges of supply, as Williams wrote: "We did not receive your order untill last eavng and it will be impossible for me to get them done by the time you want them." Chapin's own administrative notes survive as well, including a draft of minutes from a May 1868 meeting written on the back of a jewelry circular, proposing fines for "any member of the club that is not on the ground during practice days" or "any member of the club disputing the umpire during a match game."
Two late letters from 1875 show how both baseball and its social world were already changing. On February 25, the New York State Temperance Society warned Chapin: "I have remained a silent and unhappy observer of the sad dissipation of your companions..." The group questioned the habits of his fellow players, and Chapin's signed temperance membership card is also present, showing the impact the letter had on him. A second note from Clifton Springs in March 1875 observes the dissolution of the earlier generation of players: "The boys who you knew hear [sic] have most all left, except myself..." The game was well on its way to being professionalized, and that fact, combined with the economic depression of the 1870s, led to the decline of many local clubs.
The archive also includes eight earlier letters, dated April 1863 to February 1864, documenting Chapin's close friendship with William H. Overacre, a Civil War soldier. Overacre enrolled at Western Union College in Illinois before enlisting in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery in July 1863 and training at Camp Washburn in Milwaukee. His letters to Chapin are deeply personal, describing camp life and asking after friends at home. Overacre died of illness on February 5, 1864, and his mother later wrote to Chapin: "As I was looking over my dear dead Son's Portfolio, I found several letters from you...I find you have been a worthy correspondent, I shall ever preserve them as treasures of my Dear Willie..."
Also present are personal letters to Chapin from family and friends; thirteen holiday postcards; and twenty-five receipts belonging to Chapin, documenting his purchase of goods like clothing, tobacco, boots, and paper. Together, the archive provides a rare and unusually complete view of early amateur baseball, its organization, its players, and its place in everyday American life during the decades following the Civil War.
Condition: Generally very good, with minor toning, mailing folds, and scattered staining throughout. Occasional wear, generally not affecting legibility; one club challenge letter, dated August 1869, with loss at the left edge affecting text.
Auction Info
2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction #6328 (go to Auction Home page)
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