Baseball played in Mankato as early as 1864 – Mankato Free Press

Baseball games were being played in Mankato by 1864, although the sport that would one day be called the national pastime did not become popular in Minnesota until after the Civil War.

After the Minnesota State Association of Baseball Players formed in 1867, the Frontier Club became the first organized team in town. Many of its players were local doctors and businessmen.

In the following years, most area communities formed baseball teams with names like the Medo Ripraps, Good Thunder Puzzlers, the Sterling Puddle Foot Ball Club and Mankato’s OK’s.

Soon, inter-county rivalries grew, including one with the Albert Lea Lemon Suckers. An August 1867 a game ended with Mankato winning 61-40 over St. Peter. Later that year, the North Stars from St. Paul — considered the state’s elite team — arrived by riverboat and brought along a new baseball to use. The Frontier Club lost that game 57-14.

Such large scores were common because of underhanded pitching, pitchers stood closer to home plate, and poor fielding by players who did not wear gloves. Overhand pitching did not come into use until about 1877.

Mankato’s best known team, The Baltics, formed in 1873. Its players often alternated between infield and outfield, but the same catcher and pitcher played every game. It wasn’t until 1891 that the catcher began to wear a padded glove.

Before then, an unpadded glove was used, as was a first baseman’s glove, which fit over the palm of the hand. All others played bare-handed.

The first year the Baltics used a catcher’s mask was 1889. New rules that year allowed for only four balls instead of five, for a player to walk, and foul tips were no longer considered outs. Players who “abused the umpire” could be fined or thrown out of the game. Neither could an umpire reverse his decision “on the testimony of any player or bystander.”

Designs used for baseballs have not varied much over the decades.

The first curve ball thrown by a Baltic, Billy Mead, was witnessed in 1889.

Game day was more than just the game. The players often were paraded to the field, with brass bands. Following the game, both teams would be feted with a post-game meal at a local hotel.

Most games in Mankato were played at the old fairgrounds in Sibley Park. Sunday baseball was discouraged because, critics claimed, people went to the park that day to find some quiet.

Travel to out-of-town games meant players spent hours in horse-drawn wagons. Often, they left Mankato at midnight for an away game the next afternoon.

Area residents’ interest in baseball waxed and waned. Games competed for fans with horse racing, bicycle racing and even foot racing. In 1896, after word got out about possible relocation of the Omaha Railroad tracks would cut through Sibley Park, a new ballfield was built across the river in North Mankato.

The stadium, which could hold 1,000 seated fans and 1,000 more standing, was southwest of the bridge off of Nicollet Street. People who chose to remain seated in their carriages could watch the game for a fee of 15 to 25 cents.

A dressing room was located under the bleachers and the site offered a place to park bicycles. There was some talk of adding a bicycle track for racing.

The Mankato Maroons played in the new stadium for one year. By that May, there already was concern about low attendance and poor receipts.

The following spring, a suit was filed against the Mankato Baseball Association for $329 — for fencing, boards used to build the grandstand, baseball suits, bats, masks and other equipment.

The association disbanded. A new association was formed — comprised of many of the same people.

By the summer of 1898, games were again being held in Sibley Park.

For more information about historical topic, call 507-345-5566, visit the History Center at 424 Warren St., Mankato, or www.BlueEarthCountyHistory.com.