Baseball on Ice?
Some things just don’t go well together.
Jeff Kent and motorcycles, Curt Schilling and video games, Lenny Dykstra and options trading; there’s really a bunch of examples.
I’d probably put baseball and ice skating on that list too, but in the 1860s, both sports were getting immensely popular at the same time.
At some point, people got the bright idea to combine them.
Obviously, this is a terrible and extremely dangerous idea, but this was the 1860s - it was a wild time back then.
On New Year’s day, the Lone Stars and the Live Oak baseball clubs played each other in the first ever baseball game on ice.
About 2,500 people showed up and the fans absolutely loved it.
So much so, that the baseball teams in Brooklyn decided to give it a try.
On February 4, the Brooklyn Atlantics laced up their skates to play the Brooklyn Charter Oaks on Litchfield Pond.
The prize for the winner was a silver ball, the size of an ordinary baseball, donated by the Fifth Avenue Railroad Company.
Some sources estimate there was up to 30,000 people in attendance that day; most of whom were on skates.
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The umpires painted red squares on the ice instead of bases, and both teams had 10 players; a starting nine plus an extra catcher.
From what I can tell, the game was an absolute shitshow, but it was probably fun to watch.
The Atlantics took a massive lead early on.
After three innings, they were ahead 18-2.
They got careless during the middle innings of the game and let the Charter Oaks rally back.
The Oaks scored 20 runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth.
Ultimately, the Atlantics did come out on top, but look at this insane box score.
New York Times, 1861
The final score was 36-27; a combined total of 63 runs.
Just to put that into perspective, the highest-scoring game in MLB history was in 1922 when the Chicago Cubs beat the Phillies, 26-23.
Dickey Pearce, who is credited with pioneering the shortstop position and inventing bunting, was the star of the game.
Reporters said he was “as good on the ice as he was on a summer’s day.”
The game was considered a success and they played another one between the Atlantics and Pastimes two days later.
Baseball played on ice declined in popularity over the next few decades, but there were still a few examples of it being played in the early 20th century.
