It is astonishing how indifferent a person can become to danger. The report of musketry is heard but a very little distance from us...yet over there on the other side of the road most of our company, playing bat ball and perhaps in less than half an hour, they may be called to play a Ball game of a more serious nature."
Ohio private, writing home from Virginia, 1862
Although baseball was popular in Northern and Southern communities prior to the war, the game was an ideal breeding ground for spreading baseball socially, economically and geographically. The high concentrations of young men in army camps and prisons converted the sport formerly reserved for "gentlemen" into a common pastime and an opportunity to forget the rigors and sorrows of war. Officers and enlisted men played side by side and soldiers earned their places on the team because of their athletic prowess, not their rank or social status. As such, it forever was linked with patriotism.
On July 2, 1861, the Washington Nationals baseball club was defeated by a team from the 71st New York Regiment in the "President's Backyard" (the Ellipse) by a score of 41 to 13. When the 71st New York returned to the Defenses of Washington in 1862, the teams played a rematch, which the Nationals won 28 to 13, mainly because some of the 71st's best athletes had been killed at Bull Run only weeks after their first game.
Suddenly there was a scattering of fire, which three outfielders caught the brunt; the centerfield was hit and was captured, left and right field managed to get back to our lines. The attack...was repelled without serious difficulty, but we had lost not only our centerfield, but...the only baseball in Alexandria, Texas.
George Putnam, Union soldier
One of the best attended sporting events of the nineteenth century occurred on Christmas Day, 1862 when the 165th New York Volunteer Regiment (Duryea Zouaves) played at Hilton Head, South Carolina with more than 40,000 troops watching. The Zouaves' opponent was a team composed of men selected from other Union regiments. A.G. Mills, who would later become the president of the National League, played in the game.
Baseball was not unknown in the South - before the war many newspaper subscribers followed the exploits of Northern teams. The game was popular in New Orleans, and had been played in the Mexican War. Northern prisoners of war playing baseball in captivity to ease boredom, also heightened interest in the game. Eventually Southern prison guards evolved from interested spectators to baseball opponents as they organized to compete against their captives.
PLAY BALL!
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"Well, it is our game; that the chief fact in connection with it; America's game; it has the snap, go fling of the American atmosphere; it belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly as our Constitution's laws; is just as important in the sum total of our historic life."
Baseball playing was endorsed by Union and Confederate officers as a diversion and morale builder, as were several other physical contests played among soldiers. It also improved physical conditioning. After long details at camp, it eased the boredom and created team spirit. Because a runner was only called out when hit by a thrown or batted ball, high scores often resulted - a Massachusetts regiment once beat a New York unit 62-20.
Sometimes, however, enthusiam for baseball went too far. The Texas Rangers played avidly for six months until other teams refused to compete with them any longer. Texas pitcher Frank Ezell was known for throwing hard at the batters, and for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Greater interest in winning fit into the competitive attitudes of the day, leading to keen rivalries and the rise of professionalism once the soldiers returned to civilian life.
Anyone like Little league? Ohio (Hamilton) Great Lakes Region beat Georgia, SouthEast Region last nite in the Little League World Series. Gots a relative playing on the Ohio Team.
Chase.