Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-02
WHEN THEY PLAYED
ON ASYLUM HILL
Game Between the AtIantiCS
and RosedaIes for the Cham
pionship of the City in
1870 Recalled.

One of the old-timerS dropped in at The
Star office the other afternoon with the
following: Say. if you are going To stir
up the old scores. you don't want to pass
up the year 1870. when the struggle for
supremacy between the amateur and junior
teams of the District was the most eXct-
ing that Washington has ever experienced.
You see" the visitor continued. after
being asked to seat himself. the teams
that season were divided into classes known
the amateurs and the juniors. the faster
youngsters earning the title of amateurs.
In the former class were such teams as the
Rosedales. Creightons. Atlantcs. Junior Ma
tionals and ACtiveS. while in the latter were
the Junior Creightons. PythianS. Eagles.
McClelland's and Chesapeakes. The strenu-
Gus contests that they played had the crowd
with them. not only on account of the high
class ball but also for the fact that at the
close of the games there were usually sev-
eral frst-class scraps. Broken heads ana
bloody noses were the frequent seQuels To
the closely contested and bitterly fought
ball games This latter was usually con-
fined to the followers of the junior organi-
cations but once twice It broke out
among the amateurs with disastrous re-
suits.
Asylum Hill. as II was Ciltu WAS the
resort for mines then. Located in the center
of the square bounded by 9th and 1tth. q
and H streets, it used the Old Ascension
Church for back-stop. The famous old
mausoleum of the Van Ness FANNY that
Is now pointed out to the visitors at OAK
Hill cemetery was then standing in the
church yard and the kids used this as a
grand stand. Soon afterward the laying
off of Grant place destroyed the field ana
the Atlantics were forced out of the game.
"In that year the championship narrowed
down to a contest between the Rosedaies.
the pride and pets of South Washington
and the AtlanticS The rivalry between the
two teams and their following bordered on
hatred. and it was a pretty good chance
of little riot when these two were billed
to do battle on the diamond.
1.-THE deciding game was played on Asylum
Hill late in September. and the RosedaleS
brought with them into the hostile terri
tory three or four regiments OF stanch
rooters to that their pets were given
fair show in the contest Their services
were not called out. the Indicator work
of Umpire Huff of he Olympcs was so i'm
partial as to ward off any trouble on that
score. while the game itself, from the very
outset gave the Island crowd such lead
that 1t was all over but the shouting.
1.-THE islanders had corraled a fine lot OF
hay-leaguers. who. while not real repre-
sentatives Of the classic organization, would
put their more renowned brothers to shame.
They had the fine points of the game down
to a nicely, and they knew every trick that
was then embodied in what inside base
ball there was in those days. Walsh was
their twirler and his years with the cham
pion Actives had Just about put him in line
shane for this contest. while big Bill Jen-
nings, the left-hand catcher. was well
touted for the slick way in which he used
to shoot them down to second. OK BE
laski, Billy Lake and Ellis were among the
other stars of this outfit. which graduated
three Of Its members into the professional
game.
During the game Ok Bielaski struck
ball over the high steeple Of the Presby-
terrain Church on 9th street and 1t rolled
over into the parking Of the Interior De-
partment and this. too. off the famous
Eckie Stearns perhaps the first person of
direct Indian descent to break into the
game.
at was a great game throughout. espe-
cially from the spectators viewpoint. as
many Of the plays were of the spectacular
order, the three double plays Of the Rose
dales being record breakers" The score: