[SPORTS - EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY]. Albumen photograph display of the Cheyenne Base Ball Club; Champions of Wyoming Territory. 1874.

Stiff buff cardstock, approx. 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (sight), with 9 mounted carte de visite-sized albumen photographs with letterpress identifications of each subject, entitled in lower margin of mount, “Cheyenne Base Ball Club. Champions of Wyoming Territory 1874.” Framed, 17 x 12 in. overall (toning, some soiling to margins, light scattered spotting to mount).

Baseball first came to the Wyoming Territory after the Civil War, moving west via soldiers stationed at Army installations. Two short notices published in April 1868 editions of the Cheyenne Leader provide the earliest notices of the sport in the Territory and provide names for three different teams: The “Magic Base Ball Club” of Cheyenne, the “Accommodation Club “ of Fort Fetterman and an unnamed club at Laramie. As far as can be ascertained by a review of Territorial newspapers, these are the sole references for the sport until the following year when coverage of local teams and games dramatically increased.

The "Wyomings" – thought to be the club depicted in this montage – are first mentioned in an April 30, 1869, edition of the Leader which reported a challenge issued to the Bolivar Base Ball club (unfortunately, no location given). Games were apparently played throughout the summer but went unnoticed in the press until September 1869 when no less than eight articles covered games between the Wyomings, the Eclipse and the Star club from Fort David A. Russell – all of Cheyenne.

This late summer coverage coincides with the national attention given to the Cincinnati Red Stockings America’s first professional baseball team. The Reds were undefeated during the 1869 season and were the first to play rivals on both coasts. En route to matches in San Francisco, they passed through Cheyenne, though they apparently did not stop; nonetheless, the Cheyenne Leader reported that the citizens were preparing a celebration.

Throughout the early 1870s, baseball games were routinely reported by various Wyoming Territorial newspapers. In addition to Cheyenne, games were routinely played in Laramie, Rawlins, and Fort Sanders in Wyoming, and between teams as far afield as Greeley, Evans, Fort Collins and Denver, Colorado. In August, 1875, the Cheyenne received a challenge from the club in North Platte, Nebraska. The sport was particularly popular in Cheyenne, where multiple teams were fielded. The “Eclipse Base Ball Club”, “Cheyennes,” "Wyomings,” “Modocs” and “Actives” are names that appear in the papers, though the “Actives” were considered a “youth” team.

The history of the “Cheyennes” is a bit murky – though we suspect they were the same team as the “Wyomings”. The “Cheyennes” moniker does not appear in Territorial newspapers prior to 1873, when they were noted only once in a June 23 issue of the Cheyenne Daily Leader: “The Cheyenne base ball club will go to Greeley to-night to play the “Calamity” club of that place tomorrow and will return by evening train. Half fare rates have been given by the D.P.R.R. …. a good game is anticipated.”

The Territorial newspapers of 1874 are only slightly more enlightening, with four brief notices between April and July reporting games played between the Cheyenne and Fort Sanders teams, and the Greeley “Calamities.” Oddly enough, there is no announcement of the Cheyenne club’s achievement as “the champions of Wyoming Territory” leading one to suspect that this was a self-proclaimed title.

By 1875, baseball in the Territory finally caught on in a big way. Between May and August, no less than 16 articles appeared in the Cheyenne Daily Leader touting the local boys. For the first time, the names of the key players appeared in some of the articles. Many – but not all – of the starting nine pictured in the 1874 montage are heralded, including Sawyer, Bent, Hurlbutt, Parshall, Ruthven and Howard.

A rare, Territorial image. We could find no other copies save for one held by the Wyoming Historical Society.

Biographical Information of the Team Members:

Team members depicted in the picture include E.C. Bent (Team captain, and first base); W.R. Havenner, R(ight(F(ield); W.W. Sawyer, P(itcher); F.O. Beaucaire, C(enter)F(ield); E.R. Ruthven, 3rd B(ase); J. Howard, 2nd B(ase); A. Bray S(hort)S(top); A.J. Parshall, L(eft)F(ield) and E.W. Hurlbut, C(atcher).

Biographical information was gleaned from the 1875 Wyoming Territorial Census, various Federal Census’s, and Wyoming newspapers accessible online (https://wyomingnewspapers.org).

E.C. Bent was born in 1852, in New Hampshire and emigrated west. The 1875 Cheyenne census lists his occupation as a druggist. Sometime after August, 1875 Bent moved to Deadwood, Dakota Territory where he established a drug store and became that town’s first postmaster.

W. R. Havenner. No one with the spelling of this name was found in the census suggesting Havenner moved west after the census was taken.

W.W. Sawyer, the team pitcher was born in New York about 1847; the 1875 Territorial census lists his occupation as “artist,” a common name for a photographer in the 19th century. The December 9, 1974 edition of the Cheyenne Daily News describes in some detail Sawyer’s gallery on Ferguson Street, noting that it was one of the “grandest and most capacious and best fitted up establishments…west of Chicago.” The same article notes that this was his “new” gallery, but it was decorated with many specimens of his “former work” indicating he operated an earlier gallery. Sawyer, or his assistant probably took the team photographs illustrated here.

F(rank). O. Beaucaire was born in New York about 1850. In 1868 he enlisted in the United States Army at Keeseville, New York and was discharged from service June 30, 1871, at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming Territory. The 1875 Territorial census lists him living in Cheyenne, plying his trade as a barber. The Cheyenne Daily News for 1875 carried several ads for “Frank Beaucaire’s Bon Ton” touting “Children’s Hair Cutting a Specialty.” He died in Rochester, New York in 1913.

E(dwin) R. Ruthven, the 3rd baseman was born in Pennsylvania in 1849. Neither the 1875 or 1878 Territorial Census’ list his occupation, but by 1880 he was residing in Empire Gulch, Colorado and working as a teamster. He died in 1906 and is buried in Denver.

J.W. Howard, the Cheyenne’s 2nd baseman was born in Indiana about 1848. In March 1875, he was the proprietor of the newly reopened Metropolitan Billiard Hall along with a partner, Charles Plummer

Al Bray, the team short stop was born in Wisconsin, and worked as a bartender for at the Metropolitan Billiard Hall. Bray was apparently well-known and well-liked. Bray was lauded in three different announcements about the reopening of the Metropolitan, summarized by the following statement from the April 9, 1875 edition of the Cheyenne Daily News. “They did a good thing in securing the services of Al Bray….Al has lots of friends and they are bound to go where he goes.” By 1880 Bray was working as a stock tender at nearby Fort Laramie.

A (drian) J. Parshall, Left field, was born about 1849 in Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan and graduated with a degree in civil engineering, arriving in Cheyenne in 1872. He had a long, a varied career in Cheyenne, serving as city treasurer, chief clerk of the Wyoming land commission, and deputy state engineer, and finally, state engineer. He died in Cheyenne in 1919.

H(enry) Hurlbut, the team catcher was born in Missouri and was listed as a “clerk in drugstore” in 1870 and by 1865 operated Hurlbut Brothers, Dealers in Drugs, Medicines and other sundries on Eddy Street in Cheyenne.