Tag: Hartford Dark Blues

This day in baseball: The National League is formed

February 2, 2022

The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs formed on February 2, 1876 with eight charter teams located in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. After playing the 1876 season in Hartford, Connecticut, the Hartford Dark Blues played the 1877 season in Brooklyn as the Brooklyn Hartfords before disbanding at the end of the season.

The National League’s formation meant the end of the old National Association, which lasted only five seasons. The remaining clubs in the NA shut down or reverted to amateur or minor league status. 

Hartford_Dark_Blues, 1875
1875 Hartford Dark Blues (Wikipedia)

This day in baseball: Mark Twain’s umbrella

May 18, 2016

On May 18, 1875, writer Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) attended a game between the Boston Red Stockings and the Hartford Dark Blues.  A record crowd of 10,000 fans attended the match-up between the two teams, both undefeated up to this point in the season.  The visiting Red Stockings defeated the Dark Blues, 10-5, led by captain and pitcher, Albert Goodwill “Al” Spalding.

During the game, a young boy snagged an umbrella belonging to Clemens when he stood up to root for the home team.  A couple days later, Clemens published the following notice in the Hartford Courant newspaper:

To the Public

TWO HUNDRED & FIVE DOLLARS REWARD–At the great baseball match on Tuesday, while I was engaged in hurrahing, a small boy walked off with an English-made brown silk UMBRELLA belonging to me, & forgot to bring it back. I will pay $5 for the return of that umbrella in good condition to my house on Farmington avenue. I do not want the boy (in an active state) but will pay two hundred dollars for his remains.
Samuel L. Clemens.

Mark_Twain
Mark Twain (Library of Congress)