It’s been more than a century since Connecticut had big league baseball, but in the 1870s, Middletown, Hartford, and New Haven fielded professional teams that competed at the highest level. By the end of the decade, when the state’s final big league team, Mark Twain’s beloved Hartford Dark Blues, left the National League, baseball’s transition from amateur pastime to major league sport had been accomplished. And Connecticut had played a significant role in its development. The history of the Nutmeg State’s three major league teams is described here in full, and the author thoughtfully examines their influence within the regional baseball scene.

David Arcidiacono is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, publishing articles specializing in 19th–century baseball. He has been a featured speaker at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

David Arcidiacono
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 268
Bibliographic Info: 28 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3677-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2660-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Foreword by William J. Ryczek      1
Introduction      3

1. Center of the Base Ball Universe      7
2. The National Pastime      9
3. The Nutmeg State      14
4. Base Ball on the Brain      22
5. The Professional Mutation      31
6. The National Association      41
7. Tricks of the Trade      46
8. We Paid—We’re In      55
9. Welcome to the Big Leagues      61
10. God Bless the Eckfords      69
11. Three’s a Crowd      79
12. One Long Vacation      85
13. The Charter Oak City      94
14. Definitely Not Last      100
15. Captain Bob      107
16. The Elm City      114
17. A Hard Rub      119
18. Opposite Directions      124
19. An Infernal Set of Asses      131
20. First of Idiots      136
21. Locked Up      143
22. The National League      147
23. Playing Baby      153
24. Crooked Play?      164
25. Bulkeley’s Deal      173
26. A New Home      179
27. Connecticut Revival?      187

Appendix A: The Players, by Team      195
Appendix B: The Curious Case of Tommy Barlow      213
Appendix C: Game Logs: 1874–1877      220
Notes      233
Bibliography      251
Index      255

“an excellent addition to the growing catalog of regional baseball history from McFarland”—Sporting News; “an excellent addition”—At Home Plate.