Henry C. Boschen (bottom row, second from left) and his semiprofessional team from Richmond pose with the National League’s Detroit team in 1881. (Photo courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)
Once upon a time, Richmond fielded a major league baseball team.
During the summer of ’84, late in the baseball season, the minor league Richmond Virginias received a startling promotion to the majors. Their opportunity came from the collapse of the upstart Washington Statesmen under a pile of losses and unpaid bills. The Virginias filled the opening.
This was 1884, when “the big leagues” were still fluid and fragile. At the time, there were two major leagues — the National League and the American Association — that by agreement called themselves Organized Baseball.
The National League was run by Albert Goodwill Spalding, then president of the Chicago White Stockings (later the Chicago Cubs) and co-founder of the Spalding sporting goods company. As baseball historian John Thorn describes, Spalding became “by turns … a force in league affairs, a sporting-goods magnate and a world-touring missionary for the game.” He was wealthy, influential — and strict. His league barred Sunday play and the sale of alcohol, when working people most wanted both.
Spalding also supported what was known as the “reserve clause,” which restricted players’ autonomy. Scott P. Mayer, who with W. Harrison Daniel authored “Baseball and Richmond: A History of the Professional Game, 1884-2000,” describes the clause as “a device created by baseball owners to limit individual player salaries and prevent competitive bidding.” The clause lasted until free agency was introduced in 1976.
In 1882, Spalding expelled Cincinnati from the National League for selling “spirituous and malt liquors” during Sunday games. Midwestern brewers and their patrons responded by forming the American Association. They cut ticket prices in half — from 50 cents to 25 cents — and made up the difference at the bar.
The rivalry ignited player raids and drove up salaries. In March 1883, the competing leagues called a truce and joined forces under the banner of Organized Baseball.
Minor leagues wanted in.
In June 1883, William C. Seddon, son of a Confederate secretary of war and head of the Virginia Club of Richmond, gathered 18 investors to create the Virginia Base-Ball Association. He lured away much of the successful Richmond Baseball Club owned by shoe manufacturer Henry C. Boschen.
Mayer relates how a three-man committee selected the site for a new ballpark on the land of “Mr. Otway Allen’s Farm near the west end of Franklin Street.” Later, the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue supplanted the original main gate.
A rendering of the Virginias team uniform (Illustration by Craig Brown)
Opening day came on July 4, 1883. While the field itself was rough and uneven, Mayer notes, the grounds were described as “ample” and the grandstand a “credit to the city and the Association.” The team’s players wore white uniforms with “Virginia” stitched across the chest, accompanied by red belts and red stockings. Admission cost a quarter.
Tucked beneath the stands, a brass rail bar dispensed bock and lager beers and whiskey. Ladies escorted by gentlemen were often admitted free of charge. When a well-known opponent came to town, the crowd swelled to 3,000. Confederate-themed fundraisers dotted the calendar.
“It’s like today with giveaways of T-shirts and hats and stuff,” Mayer says of the excitement.
African Americans were barred from the field of play, but not the grandstands. Mayer quotes the tut-tutting Daily Dispatch, which stated, “The colored spectators always hurrah for the visiting team. They yell with delight when the home club gets a set-back. That isn’t in good spirit.”
In their first season, the Virginias played 47 games and won 33.
Meanwhile, a third major circuit, the Union Association, formed in Washington and refused to honor the reserve clause. Richmond remained in the Eastern League, where Seddon rose to league president and adopted the American Association’s Sunday games and beer.
Competing against two other major leagues proved costly. Clubs began to fold. Among them were the Washington Statesmen of the American Association. The league needed a replacement and turned to Richmond.
On Aug. 5, 1884, after a morning rain, the Virginias played their first major league game at home against the Philadelphia Athletics. Before 2,000 hopeful fans, Richmond was thrashed 14-0. Similar crowds watched them face the powerful St. Louis Browns — dubbed “a baseball team with a bar attached.” The contest proved entertaining, but the Virginias were overmatched.
Richmond’s major league record settled at 12-30, still ahead of two other clubs in the standings. But when the American Association reviewed its four new franchises after the season, it chose to retain Brooklyn and cut the rest.
“So, that was that for the Virginias in the majors,” Mayer says. “Half a season, really — five and a half weeks.”
