“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day; the score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play….” Most of us have experienced the angst, as the poem continues, either as players or fans of “the game,” clinging to hope that the roster would hold, with players on base, until our star hitter can get to the plate and bring in the winning run.
Its origins shrouded in myth, baseball had been around for at least a decade before the New York Base Ball Club met the Brooklyn Base Ball Club in October 1845 on the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey in one of the earliest organized games; New York won, 24-4. Indiana baseball clubs formed by the late 1850s, and while the Civil War interrupted organized play for a time, the Western Base Ball Club in Indianapolis resumed play in July 1865 at its grounds on Vermont St. west of Blackford St.
By the beginning of the 1870s, baseball was well on its way to becoming “the great American pastime.” Cigar stores carried Base Ball Bulletins, giving fans “a correct account of all games,” and locally the Northwestern Christian University (Butler University) and the High School baseball clubs played on the old Western grounds to the delight of the public. Several other amateur clubs formed in the city and a semi-pro team, the Indianapolis Base Ball Club, was organized. It played local clubs and other Indiana nines including the Ft. Wayne Kekiongas and teams from Lafayette, Franklin, and Shelbyville. The Indianapolis club also had games with the New Orleans Lone Stars and the Harvard College Club. Unfortunately, the Indianapolis Base Ball Club collapsed because no suitable grounds could be obtained for its use.
“Play Ball!” continued to be heard around Indianapolis in the mid-seventies as amateur baseball clubs, including the Capital City Base Ball Club, entertained crowds of spectators. In October 1875, four hundred fans witnessed a game between the Capital City nine and the professional Cincinnati Red Stockings. While the visitors carried the day 15 to 5, the game was “decidedly the best ever played in Indianapolis.” The next season, the Capital City club reorganized as the Indianapolis Base Ball Club, a professional team.
The newly reconstituted Indianapolis nine took to the field in 1876 playing the St. Louis Brown Stockings, the Louisville Grays, the Columbus Buckeyes, the Covington Stars, the St. Louis Red Stockings, the London, Ontario Tecumsehs, the New York Mutuals, and other municipal clubs. In July, the Indianapolis club leased the South Street grounds at the southwest corner of South St. between Delaware and Alabama streets, for its home field. Grandstands were erected and the ballpark was enclosed with a fence. One of the first games held at the South Street Ballpark was a meeting of the hometown nine and the Chicago White Stockings. A huge crowd filled the stands and grounds; spectators lined house tops in every direction and hundreds got a “splendid view” from the Indianapolis Cincinnati and Lafayette (I.C. & L.) freight depot; small boys clung to telegraph poles on either side of the grounds. Twelve innings were played, with the White Stockings winning 8-7.
The close of the club’s inaugural season saw the Indianapolis nine winning 30 of the 54 games played. With the members of the ’76 team signing for the next season, plus a couple of strategic additions, the Indianapolis Base Ball Club was well positioned for its second season. Shortly after the first of the year, a limited number of season tickets went on sale for $10 (2019: $243).
Sporting new uniforms, white shirts and pants, white cap with navy blue trimming, blue stockings, and leather shoes, the Indianapolis nine traveled to Dallas, Texas as the Indianapolis Blue Stockings, or simply the Indianapolis Blues, for their ’77 season opener. On a quite cold March afternoon with a raw wind sweeping across the field, the visitors prevailed over the Dallas club, 50 to 0. The Indianapolis club continued its southern swing with games in Galveston, New Orleans, and Memphis before triumphantly returning to its home field for a match-up with the St. Louis Browns, a game the Blues won 5 to 3. The season continued into October, and when the Indianapolis club disbanded it had “made a record which cannot be approached by any other in the country,” winning 73 out of 121 games played. The Blues only allowed a total average of 2.79 runs against them. The club’s success was “largely due to the wonderful pitching of Edward ‘The Only’ Nolan…acknowledged to be the finest pitcher in the country.”
The Indianapolis Blues opened the ’78 season as a member of the National League before a home crowd of 1,500 spectators at the South Street Ballpark. The match-up was with the Chicago White Stockings, and while the hometown club was favored, Chicago won the contest 4 to 5. The ensuing games, however, proved the strength of the Indianapolis club, and before long there was talk in the sports columns of a League Pennant flying above the South Street Ballpark until unforeseen events intervened.
Two months into the season, allegations were made that “The Only” Nolan had accepted bribes and had engaged in “crookedness” in the game against Providence. He was suspended briefly and then reinstated when William Pettit, president of the Indianapolis club, failed “to find proof of any irregularities.” The incident was demoralizing to the Blues, however Nolan’s problems weren’t over. In mid-August when he took leave of the team to attend the funeral of his brother, it was discovered that he didn’t have a brother and that he had spent the time drinking and engaged in debauchery. “The Only” Nolan was expelled from the Indianapolis club for “refusing duty on false pretenses.”
While the team struggled on the field, financial problems hit the Blues organization as gate receipts at home games declined drastically with only 200 or 300 fans in attendance. By October it was discovered that $2,500 (2019: $67,118) had mysteriously disappeared from the club treasury, most of it owed in player salaries. In debt and with no funds, the directors of the Indianapolis Blue Stockings voted to disband the club. The South Street ballpark fence, seats, and grandstand were offered for sale; Indianapolis fans of professional baseball would have to wait six years for another local team to appear.
