Brooklyn Enterprise
A junior club that rose to senior status in the NABBP.
The Enterprise Base Ball Club of Brooklyn, also called the Enterprise of Bedford, was an American baseball club active in the 1850s and 1860s. It was founded as an amateur club in the Bedford neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and later gained admission to the National Association of Base Ball Players.
Quick Facts
- League
- National Amateur Association (1861–1866)
- Location
- Brooklyn, New York
- Founded
- June 28, 1856
- Folded
- 1866
- Former ballparks
- various Brooklyn locales (1856–1863); Capitoline Grounds (1864–1866)
Facts from the source article.
Founding
The Enterprise was founded as an amateur club on June 28, 1856, in the neighborhood of Bedford, in Brooklyn, New York. At the time, baseball was strictly a non-professional sport, played for recreation and exercise, with no organized leagues and regionally varying rules. Shortly after the club was founded, the New York Clipper described the Enterprise Club and the Star Club of South Brooklyn as youths ranging from 15 to 18 years of age who had organized to perfect themselves in physical exercises necessary for mental development. In their first five seasons, the Enterprise were considered an elite Junior class squad, consisting of younger, less experienced but often highly competitive players, the best of whom might be recruited by Senior clubs. The Enterprise were competitive enough to challenge Senior clubs, but often the challenges were not accepted; the Brooklyn Daily Eagle urged leading clubs not to be afraid of the boys and to play them. In 1860, the National Association of Base Ball Players admitted 21 new teams, including the Enterprise, each required to pay a $5 admission fee and agree to pay annual dues of $5. Upon admission, the Enterprise began the 1861 season officially recognized as a Senior club.
Quality of play
A game between the Star Club of Brooklyn and the Enterprise Club of Brooklyn on May 28, 1858, was reported by Porter's Spirit of the Times as showing that among all Junior clubs, the Enterprise ranked highest, with play as fine and as many excellent points made as in almost any match of Senior players. The Enterprise was considered an excellent source of talented young players recruited by more high-profile clubs. According to the New York Clipper in 1860, the Enterprise and Star were the leading junior organizations until 1859, when both entered the NABBP; the Stars took a decided lead in 1859, but in 1860 the Enterprise was judged to have the palm. The two clubs had been rivals since their organization, with the Enterprise practicing on the same grounds as the Atlantics, and the Stars on those of the Excelsior Club, both Atlantics and Excelsiors being at times recruited from these junior clubs. After a close loss to the Senior class Brooklyn Atlantics in 1860, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle commended the Enterprise for learning the value of proper discipline in their nine, giving them an advantage over the Atlantics, who had been lacking in that matter.
Home field
In the early days of the sport, the concept of a one-team home field did not exist; amateur era clubs had home playing grounds such as parks, public recreation areas, or vacant lots, often shared with other teams and sports like cricket. According to the New York Clipper in May 1862, the Atlantic Club's grounds, newly laid out under the supervision of Mr. Wild, were occupied by the Atlantics on Mondays and Thursdays and by the Enterprise club on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with two days each week unoccupied and available on application. From 1864 to 1866, the Enterprise shared Brooklyn's multi-purpose Capitoline Grounds as their home field. In May 1865, the New York Times reported that the Capitoline grounds would host some of the most interesting games of the season, with three ball clubs—the Atlantic, Excelsior and Enterprise—and one cricket club occupying it that year, and a new clubhouse erected costing several thousand dollars. Not all playing fields were conducive to serious ball-playing; the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, covering a game between the Enterprise and the Star Club in June 1865, described the Star Grounds as a vacant lot with cobble-stone paved streets on three sides and a stony, sterile waste, noting that no man could be expected to make much headway with spikes on pavement.
Historical record
More than 85 games played by the Enterprise have been documented, though records were not kept for an unknown number of games, and for others records were lost or research has yet to turn up specific details. Some games were documented in Charles Peverelly's Book of American Pastimes, self-published in 1866, and other matches have been documented at Protoball.org. Enterprise game chronicles have been located in archives of New York-based newspapers such as The New York Clipper, The Brooklyn Eagle, Porter's Spirit of the Times, Wilkes Spirit of the Times, The New York Times, and The New York Daily Herald. After the 1861 season, key Enterprise regulars including first baseman Joe Start and outfielders Jack Chapman and Fred Crane left the team and joined the rival Brooklyn Atlantics, causing a rift; the Atlantics' raid of three Enterprise players permanently soured the relationship, and the two clubs would not play against each other again. Though the Enterprise played a busy schedule in 1861, many teams scaled back games through 1863 as young men were recruited to fight in the American Civil War; only one 1862 game played by the Enterprise has been documented, and none for 1863. Scoring totals in Enterprise matches were dramatically higher than in late 19th century through today, with baseball historian Bruce Allardice noting that early game scoring was reminiscent of softball scores, and MLB historian John Thorn noting that 1860s games typically featured 35 or more combined runs per game, with scores of 60–100 runs not unusual.
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