A sign on Main Street points to Camp Allen Park where a monument was erected May 4, 2017 but not shown in the 2015 Street View photo from Google map. The monument was placed at the old Kekionga Ball Grounds, which is now Camp Allen Park along the St. Marys River on the northwest side of downtown Fort Wayne. It marks the location of the first professional baseball league game played between the Fort Wayne Kekiongas and the Cleveland Forest Citys on May 4, 1871. Fort Wayne defeated Cleveland 2-0 in the game. City Councilman Geoff Paddock, baseball historian Bill Griggs and the local Society of American Baseball Research worked with the Fort Wayne Parks Department to place the monument.
140th anniversary of first professional baseball game May 4, 2011 WANE 15 News on YouTube. On May 4, 1871, the first professional baseball game was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ross Kinsey talks with baseball historian Don Graham about where the game was played and the impact it still has on the community.
Baseball’s first professional league game, 150 years ago posted Jul 6, 2022 This story originally aired: May. 4, 2021 FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - by Daniel Beals on YouTube. Interview with Blake Sebring. May 4 is a special day in baseball, especially here in 21Country. A monument marks a historic site at Camp Allen Park, alongside the St. Marys River.
“You could argue that Fort Wayne was part of the first professional sports league in America, which is kind of cool,” sports historian Blake Sebring told us.
Sebring has literally written the book on sports history in Fort Wayne. “The Kekiongas were a club team in Fort Wayne,” he said, “they had a little bit of a reputation in the midwest as being a good team.” In 1871, they were invited to join the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. A city in Ohio was slated to make history that day. But Mother Nature had other plans.
It’s baseball season! In 1885, George Rawlings created the first patent of a baseball glove, made of felt and rubber padding to prevent the players’ hands from bruising. Take a look at the patent behind America’s favorite pastime. America’s Favorite Pastime
Spalding's base ball guide, and official league book for ... : a complete hand book of the national game of base ball .. 1877 on Archive.org.
Record of the Old Professional Association, from 1871 to 1875, Inclusive. The championship campaign of 1871 began with the entry of ten representative clubs for the championship of the association, viz., the Boston Red Stockings — a newly organized club — the Athletics of Philadelphia, the Chicago White Stockings, the Forest City club of Cleveland, the Haymakers of Troy, the Mutuals of New York, the Olympics of Washington and the Forest City club of Rockford, 111. The Kekiongas of Fort Wayne were also among the entries, but their games were thrown out, as they played no legal game after the middle of July. The Eckfords of Brooklyn also entered the lists, but not until August, and consequently these games were not counted. The legal record made up at the close of the season left the eight legitimate contestants occupying the following relative positions in the pennant race of 1871:
Posted February 3, 2024 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook with comments by local baseball expert Chad Grambling.
Did you know, starting in 1909 the number one source of baseball team and player information was produced by Fort Wayne’s Heilbroner Baseball Bureau?
Founded by former Cardinals manager Louis Heilbroner, the annual Baseball Blue Book listed information from team contact information to stadium addresses to visiting team hotels as well as a tear out player registration card that was sent back to register all active players. Production moved from the Fort Wayne based company in the mid-20th century.
Louis Heilbroner (1861-1933) was a unique figure in the world of organized baseball. In 1909, he founded and operated here Heilbroner's Baseball Bureau Service and published the annual baseball Blue Book. He was recognized by the late Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, baseball commissioner, as the greatest authority in the world on major and minor league baseball players and their records.
He supplied records and statistics on all professional, semi-professional and college players. The bureau kept an accurate daily record and history of every player, and gave clubs reports on sales, trades, and lists of eligible players.
His baseball career began as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900.
1910 through 1951 as Heilbroner’s Official Blue Book and, after 1952, as the Baseball Blue Book. More recently, it is titled as the Baseball Bluebook under Who's Who? on Researching the Business of Baseball at SABR Society for American Baseball Research.
On May 20, 2017, with the help of City Councilman Geoff Paddock and the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department, Griggs and the Northeast Indiana Baseball Association unveiled a permanent monument on the spot of the game in Camp Allen Park where the first major league baseball game was played. After the Civil War, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas baseball team formed in 1866, and in 1869 the team played the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who were the first team in the country with paid professional players. The Red Stockings won easily 86-8 then won the rematch later that season 41-7. That may not sound like a very important beginning, but the Kekiongas and Fort Wayne were hugely important to the start of professional baseball and later became hosts of the first professional league game ever played. Copied from Fort Wayne Sports History First pitch of pro baseball thrown in city by Blake Sebring published March 25, 2020 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
From late spring until early fall, the families of Allen County look forward to the local baseball season, whether that is Little League, Wildcat or the Tincaps. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. In the late 1800s, employers began to sponsor industrial baseball teams. These were used to attract quality workers and provide recreation for their employees. During World War I, industrial teams were a way for men to work and support the war effort and still be able to play baseball. In Allen County, teams came from the Allen Dairy, Wayne Knitting Mills, Bass Foundry and First and Hamilton National Bank, along with numerous others. Today we celebrate America’s favorite pastime with some of our industrial baseball heritage. Let’s play ball! #sociallyhistory
Baseball season is upon us! Did you know that we have a digital collection from the NE Indiana Baseball Association? ⚾️
The Northeast Indiana Baseball Association (formerly Fort Wayne Oldtimers' Baseball Association) Collection consists of their quarterly publications: “Newsletter” (1999-2001) and “Line drives” (2002-present), as well as their “Hall of Fame awards banquet” annual brochure.
Celebrate the 1950 NBC World Series Champions, the Fort Wayne Capeharts. Named for their sponsorship from Capehart Television (formerly known as the GE Voltmen)
