Major League Baseball in Gilded Age Connecticut: The Rise and Fall of the Middletown, New Haven and Hartford Clubs » (New Edition)

David Arcidiacono is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, publishing articles specializing in 19th-century baseball. He has been a featured speaker at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

It's been more than a century since Connecticut had big league baseball, but in the 1870s, Middletown, Hartford, and New Haven fielded pioneering professional teams that competed at the highest level. By the end of the decade, when the state's final big league team, Mark Twain's beloved Hartford Dark Blues, left the National League, baseball's transition from amateur pastime to major league sport had been accomplished. And Connecticut had played a significant role in its development. The history of the Nutmeg State's three major league teams is described here in full, and the author thoughtfully examines their influence within the regional baseball scene.

Foreword William J. Ryczek Ryczek, William J. 1

Introduction 3

1 Center of the Base Ball Universe 7

2 The National Pastime 9

3 The Nutmeg State 14

4 Base Ball on the Brain 22

5 The Professional Mutation 31

6 The National Association 41

7 Tricks of the Trade 46

8 We Paid - We're In 55

9 Welcome to the Big Leagues 61

10 God Bless the Eckfords 69

11 Three's a Crowd 79

12 One Long Vacation 85

13 The Charter Oak City 94

14 Definitely Not Last 100

15 Captain Bob 107

16 The Elm City 114

17 A Hard Rub 119

18 Opposite Directions 124

19 An Infernal Set of Asses 131

20 First of Idiots 136

21 Locked Up 143

22 The National League 147

23 Playing Baby 153

24 Crooked Play? 164

25 Bulkeley's Deal 173

26 A New Home 179

27 Connecticut Revival? 187

Appendix A The Players, by Team 195

Appendix B The Curious Case of Tommy Barlow 213

Appendix C Game Logs: 1874-1877 220

Notes 233

Bibliography 251

Index 255