St. Louis Cardinals Indoor Baseball Game
The St. Louis Cardinals played an Indoor Baseball Game at the YMCA Gymnasium in Little Rock, AR on March 23rd, 1909.History
St. Louis Cardinals manager Roger Bresnahan was approached by Henry F. Alciatore and Lee Miles of the YMCA Business Men's gymnastics class on March 15th, 1909. The two proposed an indoor baseball game between their class and the Cardinals and Bresnahan accepted their challenge.
The game was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 18th. However, an over booking of the gymnasium forced the game to be postponed until Tuesday, March 23rd. Admission was charged for men spectators, but not for ladies. Seven innings were played and St. Louis easily won by a score of 23-2.
The game was played under regulation rules that featured a smaller diamond, underhanded pitching and a larger, softer baseball.
Location
It's not entirely clear where the game was played. The Little Rock YMCA had two gymnasiums at the time, one of the first floor of the YMCA building at Capitol and Scott streets, and one of the third floor of the YMCA building at 7th and Scott streets. The latter of the two was larger, seemingly providing a better place to play indoor baseball.
Teams
YMCA
Name | Pos. | |||||||||
Andrews | C | |||||||||
Lee Miles | P | |||||||||
Taylor | 1B | |||||||||
Marion | 2B | |||||||||
Wonder | 3B | |||||||||
Fred Jordan | SS | |||||||||
Alerton | OF | |||||||||
Zaton | CF | |||||||||
Harris | OF |
St. Louis
Name | Pos. | |||||||||
Ed Phelps | C | |||||||||
Ed Konetchy | P | |||||||||
Steve Evans | 1B | |||||||||
Billy Gilbert | 2B | |||||||||
Tom Reilly | 3B | |||||||||
Bobby Byrne | SS | |||||||||
Eddie Higgins | LF | |||||||||
Morse | CF | |||||||||
Chappy Charles | RF |
Results
Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R |
St. Louis | 23 | |||||||||
YMCA | 2 |
Sources
1) "Cardinals will try Indoor Baseball Game", Arkansas Gazette, 3/16/1909
2) "Indoor Game Postponed", Arkansas Gazette 3/18/1909
2) "Stevie is the Cut-Up", Arkansas Gazette, 3/24/1909