In 1871, the Kekiongas play the Cleveland Forest Citys in what is believed to be the first professional baseball game.
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of excepts from the book ``Fort Wayne Sports History.
May 4, 1871
In 1871, the Kekiongas play the Cleveland Forest Citys in what is believed to be the first professional baseball game.
After the Civil War, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas baseball team was formed in 1866. In 1869 the team played the Cincinnati Red Stockings who were believed to be the first team in the country of paid professional players. The Red Stockings won easily 86-8, and then won the rematch later that season 41-7.
The Kekiongas were actually a very good team, and won the state championship in 1870, and in 1871 the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was started at a meeting in New York. The teams tossed coins to see which squads would pay the first game, and Fort Wayne and Cleveland won.
The game was played in Fort Wayne, and the Kekiongas won 2-0.
During the Civil War, in April 1962, some young men formed the Summit City Club to play baseball on that land that is today covered by the Fort Wayne Community Schools' Grile Administration Center. After the war, the club disbanded and another team was formed, the Kekiongas.
In 1870, a team from Baltimore, called the Marylands, had disbanded right in the middle of a tour of the Midwest, and several of the best players ended up on the Kekiongas. One of them was the pitcher, Bobby Mathews, who some say invented the curveball.
The National Association of Professional Baseball Players was started during a meeting in New York. Representatives from Philadelphia Athletics, Brooklyn Eckfords, Chicago White Stockings, Boston Red Stockings, Washington, D.C. Olympians, Troy, N.Y. Haymakers, New York City Mutuals, Cleveland Forest Cities, Rockford, Ill., Forest Cities, and Fort Wayne were present. The entry fee was $10 per team.
Each team was to play the others in a best-of-five series. The team with the best record at the end of the season was entitled to fly the championship streamer, or pennant, at its ballpark for a year. The teams tossed coins to see who would play the first game.
The National League was founded Feb. 2, 1876.
It's something of an urban legend that the Kekiongas evolved into the Brooklyn Dodgers, but actually the Fort Wayne team folded in July after a 7-21 start and was replaced in the league by the Brooklyn Eckfords team which chose not to pay the initial $10 entry fee. That team eventually became the Dodgers.
For more information on the book "Fort Wayne Sports History'' written by News-Sentinel sports reporter Blake Sebring visit www.amauth.com or www.blakesebring.com.
