The Beginnings of University of Arkansas Baseball 1893-1896

Excerpts follow from an unpublished and untitled book on early University of Arkansas Athletic History. Copyright Sharp Williams 2021. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this work may be republished or broadcast without permission in writing.


[This is only a draft which is copied and pasted. I may edit punctuation, grammar, formatting etc., but the basics are here. The precise citations are at the end and should be in order. Since this was not complete, I have not paired each fact and citation with a number. That would be last.]

In early 1893, a baseball dormitory team called "The College Whites" played a group of nine from the city and won by a score of 22 to 3 on March 13, 1893.

Because the structure of the school year at the university was significantly different than today, a few details about it may make what follows more understandable. In 1893 the school year nestled within the calendar year. Beginning in 1887 at the preference of university President Edward H. Murfee, the school year began in the first week of March and ended in the first week of December, and in between terms were structured as trimesters. Although a Catalogue of the University of Arkansas for 1893 was not available for this writing, all indications from the ones in 1892 and 1894 as well as the 1910 Reynolds and Thomas History of the University of Arkansas are that the first term ran from the first of March to the last of May with the second from the beginning of June through the end of August, and the last from the beginning of September through the end of November.

The first reported indication that athletics became provably formally organized in May 1893.

June 1893 brought an announcement that a second baseball team had been formed by Mr. James Vanderventer, and they called themselves the “College Cardinals” and that was the beginning of the use of “Cardinals” in association with University of Arkansas athletics. The name began with a baseball club pre-dating the creation of the athletic department. Meanwhile the “College Whites” were making plans to play a Fort Smith team on July 1, 1893.

Following a second report that an athletic association would be created, a few reasons were given for the interest in athletics in the first half of 1893 in June:

The passage above is telling in another way. “Under it will be Athletic Clubs, Boxing Clubs, Tennis Clubs, and Base Ball teams.” “Mr. Naismith’s game” as it was known would not be exhibited in Arkansas until the next year and did not appear on the University of Arkansas campus until formed as a women’s game just after the turn of the century. However, the glaring problem from today’s perspective is the omission of football. To them, it was not an issue. In June 1893, there was no organized football at A.I.U.

Professor Goldsborough pushed to create an athletic association consisting of the boxing clubs, tennis clubs, and baseball clubs. In July 1893 it was announced that a foot-ball team was organized and the same month the Athletic Association organized and consisted of “an athletic club, a tennis club, two base ball teams and the foot-ball team.” At the top of column 2 is found, “From the fact that this year is the birth of the Athletic Association, much cannot be expected of us, but we hope it will game such a foot-hold in the University that it will never be thrown out. We think in a few years the State will build us an Athletic Hall, such as they have at other Universities.”    

 

It was a watershed moment for the University of Arkansas as the Athletic Association created then would grow and remain through today.

Despite only the recent formation of two baseball teams, July also brought word that some of the baseball players were considering leaving the team for unstated reasons. The teams known as the “Whites” and the “Cardinals” would be no more by the Fall of 1893.

The first recorded contest of any kind under the new athletic association was a baseball game at the Rogers Fair. The story used the same way of referring to this baseball team as the Constitution of the Athletic Association did, i.e. “The A.I.U. Base Ball team,” with capital first letters as a formal name. Nothing more is known about the Bentonville team other than that they were beaten 24-14.  

 

The Fayetteville Weekly Democrat published substantially the same account on Thursday, October 19, 1893 and indicated that the game was played on the previous Friday, October 13, 1893. 

Remarkably, record of another A. I. U. baseball game from 1893 exists. No score is reported other than that the team from Drake's Creek beat the University team on November 9, 1893.

....The next year, the “A.I.U. Base Ball Club” began play and by the June 1894 issue of the University Magazine, the team had beaten a Bentonville team twice and lost to a Springdale team once. 

With the exception of what appears to be a rain-out game based upon the University Magazine account above, the 1894 season schedule is completed below. The only story of any detail comes from the Bentonville Sun newspaper as picked up and published by the Fayetteville Weekly Democrat. The account from the final game in June 1894 sounds like it could have been played by the late-inning, soul-stealing 2021 Razorback baseball squad. All player references are unfortunately to the Bentonville nine.

  

 

 .... Logically the extension of the first school term of 1895 would have benefited spring baseball and even have allowed the team to schedule additional games if the manager chose to do so. As of this writing only one game on campus is known. The A.I.U. team played the “Fort Smith Maroons” on July 14, 1895. 

 

The Maroons were a known minor league professional baseball team only previously documented to have played in 1892. (A nod here goes to Caleb Hardwick @baseballyakker who has meticulously detailed Arkansans and professional baseball.)

However, history holds surprise from 1896, but first, fast forward to the 2017-2018 school year. Prior to the 2018 Arkansas Razorbacks’ baseball season and historic run to the College World Series National Championship Game, the University announced that the team was entering its 96th season of baseball. Approaching the history as is done here, 2018 minus 1893 is 125 years. Excluded from those years is an era where the University of Arkansas did not field a baseball team from 1930 through 1946, seventeen seasons inclusive. However, nine seasons became question marks.

The 2018 baseball media guide begins with the 1897 season and ends count in 1929 before resuming count in 1947. Even if Arkansas baseball began in 1897, the math would suggest 33 seasons were played through 1929 (1929 minus 1897 inclusive) and then 72 more after 1947 (2018 minus 1947 inclusive) for 105 seasons altogether. For reasons which are only partially clear, Arkansas’ baseball media guide currently excludes nine early seasons between 1897 and 1929, namely 1898, 1899, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1917, 1918 and 1921. Moreover, the time before 1897 is not considered at all. The Arkansas Industrial University Athletic Association began in 1893 with two baseball clubs which quickly became one by 1894. Without question the baseball team played a game on October 13, 1893 at the Rogers Fair. By comparison, the 1895 football team is counted with a “season” despite only playing a single game. The 1894 school year saw a three-game schedule, while the 1895 season is among “the lost.” The surprise from 1896 all but dooms the University of Arkansas’ contemporary march to the centennial anniversary of baseball. The story does not end well. 1896 is not counted as a season while the entry for 1897 lists the overall record as 2-4 without any further details. The conflict has a resolution, albeit one that the compiler(s) apparently did not appreciate.

Yearbooks provide a wealth of historical information. At the University of Arkansas “The Cardinal” yearbooks began publication for the 1896-1897 school year. “Base Ball” in the first Cardinal yearbook follows with the season results at the bottom right of the page:

 

Could it be that two different seasons had two games in each season against the same opponents ending with the same scores in the same sequence of games? Conceivably so, but an oddity of that order is not what happened here.

What follows reveals two things. The first is that original compilers of Arkansas’ baseball results appear to have used the University of Arkansas yearbooks almost exclusively for information about early athletics. The second is that the compilers appear to have failed to understand that the yearbook had to be to the printer for publication some time during the month of April, 1897, in the middle of the baseball season. Hence over the years, The Cardinal editors would choose to report on the baseball season occurring in the calendar year prior to publication, although from junior class to junior class the practice was not entirely consistent. The story of the 1896 baseball season was told in the 1896-1897 yearbook since the 1897 baseball season was supposedly ongoing. The “1897” season recorded in the baseball media guide is actually the 1896 baseball season!

In June of 1896, the school year ended with a report in The Ozark that the A.I.U. baseball team played two games against a Rogers team, losing the first on May 9, 1896 by a score of 5-1 and losing the second 8-7. Later the team lost for the last time to Fort Smith on May 30, 1896 on what was reported to be a beautiful Spring Decoration Day.  

 

 

End of Excerpt... Go Hogs!  

 

1893 University of Arkansas Baseball Season, Record 1-1

October 13, 1893  A.I.U.        Bentonville                24-14

                        November 9, 1893 A.I.U.        Drake's Creek           Loss

1893 University of Arkansas Baseball Roster

C. F. Armistead            Manager                           Fayetteville, Arkansas               Senior

Dan B. Lipsey              Pitcher & Outfield            Lonoke, Arkansas                    Sophomore

Frolick Bradley             Pitcher & Outfield         Ozark, Arkansas                      "B Class"

Harry N. Pharr             Catcher                            La Grange, Arkansas                Senior

Thomas M. Kelly        Catcher                            Brinkley, Arkansas                    Preparatory School

Charles H. Chastain      First base                     Bentonville, Arkansas               Preparatory School

Will Hines                     Second base                 Van Buren, Arkansas                Not located

Will P. Mason              Short stop                        Forrest City, Arkansas              Freshman                    

Jack M. Kelso              Third base                    Magnolia, Arkansas                  Freshman

Henry Grother              Left field                       Fayetteville, Arkansas               Preparatory School

Ben F. Wood                                                            Fayetteville, Arkansas        Engineering

 

 

1894 University of Arkansas Baseball Season, Record 2-1

Baseball Roster

Chastain - 1st base

Remainder unknown

   

    May 19, 1894  A.I.U.        Bentonville        21-8

                May 26, 1894    A.I.U.    @  Springdale        19-20

                June 16, 1894    A.I.U.        Bentonville        15-9

 

1895 University of Arkansas Baseball Season - Not Compiled

Roster - Not Compiled 

 

 

1896 University of Arkansas Baseball Season, Record 2 -4

 

                                        05/05/1896      U. of A. vs. Rogers             1 - 5  L  

                                                                U. of A. vs. Fort Smith        4 - 9  L  

                                                                U. of A. vs. Rogers            7 - 8 

                                        05/30/1896    U. of A. vs. Fort Smith        1 - 5  L

                                                                U. of A. vs. Fort Smith        7 - 6  

                                                                U. of A. vs. Fort Smith        11 - 9  W

 

(remaining dates are currently unknown)

1896 Baseball Roster 

H.O. Walker          Manager

H.Y. Fishback       Captain

The Nine                    The Substitutes

Lee Derrick                F. Buchanan               Dan Pittman

L.F. Owens                J. Randolph                G.K. Stephens

P.D. Burton                M. D. Clark                 R.F. Baldwin

D. B. Lipsey               R. P. Rutherford        Ashton Vincenheller

L. Schindell                C. Sellers

 

Citations

“The dormitory boys have organized...” Arkansas University Magazine, Fayetteville, Arkansas, April 1893, Vol. 1, Issue 1, p. 14. The account says that the game was played “on the 13th.” Typically The University Magazine and its monthly successor, The Ozark, were published sometime during the month following the month of the issue. On occasion the magazines would cover two months.

“Military and Athletic, A second ball team…” Arkansas University Magazine, Fayetteville, Arkansas, June 1893, Vol. 1, Issue 3, p. 49.

“Military and Athletic.” Arkansas University Magazine, Fayetteville, Arkansas, July 1893, Vol. 1, Issue 4, p. 66.

“Quite a number of the A.I.U. boys...” Arkansas University Magazine, Fayetteville, Arkansas, September 1893, Vol. 1, Issue 6, p. 102.

“Bentonville ‘went under’ in a base ball game…” Fayetteville Weekly Democrat, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 19 Oct 1893, p. 3 Baseball AIU v Bentonville at Rogers Fair.

“Athletic Base Ball” The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Jun. 1897, Vol. IV, No. 9, p. 442, Bentonville v. A.I.U., May 21. The reference to first baseman Chastain comes from an account of an 1896 baseball game between Bentonville and A.I.U. “Chastain looked perfectly natural on first base, as he was one of our students in ‘94 and he held the same place for the University team while here.”

“The Bentonville base ball club”, Fayetteville Weekly Democrat, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 24 May 1894, p. 3, AIU v Bentonville, 21-8, Date May 19, 1894.

“The Springdale base ball club”, Fayetteville Weekly Democrat, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 31 May 1894, p. 3, Baseball Springdale 20, A.I.U. 19

“The Ozark is published...” The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Oct. 1895, Vol. III, No. 1, p. 1. Note: The Ozark was seen as a continuation of The Arkansas University Magazine which are numbered volumes 1 and 2.

Athletics., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Jan. 1896, Vol. III, No. 4, p. 200.

Athletics., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Feb. 1896, Vol. III, No. 5, p. 249-250.

Athletics., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Mar. 1896, Vol. III, No. 6, p. 298-299.

Athletics., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Apr. 1896, Vol. III, No. 7, p. 368.

Athletics., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, May-June. 1896, Vol. III, No. 8, p. 424-425.

Athletics. We Want More., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, May-June. 1896, Vol. III, No. 8, p. 425.

Memorabilia., The Ozark, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, May-June. 1896, Vol. III, No. 8, p. 42