Gilpin observer., 1907-09-19
OLD-TIME BASEBALL
GREAT GAME PLAYED AT AN.
NAPoLIS IN 80.
When the Jeffersons Met the Monitors
and Had to Work to Win-Doinqs
Of Men Who Are Since
Famous.

In the early days OF baseball 1t was
a wonderful thing for our local teams
to make visits to other towns and
cities, and our embryo tourists regard
ed the trip down to Annapolis, where
they met the future rulers of the sea,
as top notcher," said old Musty Rec
ord as he scanned the copy at the
sporting EDITORS desk, according to
the Washington Star.
1T was pretty long trip in those
times. You had to get up with the
sun If you wanted to reach Annapolis
the same day, as the then fast going
Baltimore & Ohio only had one train
out that connected with that air line
that worked it's way from the juno
lions and stopped at every signal, like
our old-time horse cars.
The first team to visit Annapolis
from Washington, and, indeed, per-
haps the first from any place, was
that lively bunch of amateurs called
the Jeffersons, who were just coming
to the front in 1868 as the leading ex-
ponents of their class of ball tossers.
This visit took place on Thanksgiving
day, so you can see here also that "a
that national holiday baseball was the
real thing, though at this progressive
period 1t is football In honor of the
visit great preparations were made by
our gallant naval officers to make the
affair notable.
The naval academy chaps called
themselves the Monitors, in honor,
n~1,n <~f "a
navy had made historic, and their uni
form consisted of white flannel shirts
and knickerbockers trimmed with
blue, and blue stockings, quite sur
prise for the visitors, as the Jeffer-
sons at that time, as most of the clubs
elsewhere, except the famous Red
Stockings, were still wearing long
trousers as part of their uniform.
THE game was exceptionally bril-
liant for those days. Some of the
fielding catches of the midshipmen
would reflect credit on the best pro-
fessionals now before the public and
would warrant extra space in to-day's
writeups as phenomenal
Midshipman Calhoun, afterward Ad-
miral Calhoun, played his position like
a Lajoie. as he went after and cap
tured everything that came his way
with the ease and elegance of a sea-
soned player, while the backstop work
of Dillingham; was as good as Dug AL
lison showed with the famous Red
Legs of Cincinnati. Wainwright, at
left field, was the admiration of the
large crowd, his excellent work bring
ing out applause from the Jeffersons.
The Jeffersons won the game on
their merits, but it required the best
individual and collective work of the
team to surpass that of the middies.
Their clean-cut work made them best
of friends, even among the young
ladies present, and every one knows
how hard it is for civilians to make
an impression on the fair sex when
brass buttons are around.
This opening event in athletics at
the academy was soon followed by
visits from the other organizations of
Baltimore and Washington, in which
not only baseball played an important
part, but boat races and other sports
were included. These have been main
tanned these many years. and it is re-
markable that 80 per cent Of the mid
shipmen who have figured in the an
nails of athletics have also filled inches
in the history of our country and be-
come famous in war and the develop.
ment OF the service"