The Atlantic Base Ball Club of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

in 1865 at the invitation of President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...

Era before league

Established on August 14,

1855 Events January–March * January 1 – Ottawa, Ontario, is incorporated as a city.' * January 5 – Ramón Castilla begins his third term as President of Peru. * January 23 ** The first bridge over the Mississippi River o ...

, Atlantic became a founding member of the

National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball (spelled as two words in the 19th century). The first convention of 16 New York City area clubs was held at Smith's Hotel, 462 Broome ...

, the amateur sport's first governing body, in

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, '' Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Ja ...

. (There were no professional clubs at the time.) In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of baseball. Atlantic held the championship through the 1861 season, albeit in controversial fashion. In a third and deciding game with Excelsior of Brooklyn, Excelsior was leading 8–6 and had men on base, but was forced to withdraw by a rowdy crowd of Atlantic partisans and gamblers. The game was declared a draw, and the championship retained by Atlantic. Atlantic held the championship again through the 1861 season, which was shortened due to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, before finally surrendering it to archrival Eckford of Brooklyn in 1862. Atlantic recaptured the pennant in 1866 with a season record of twenty wins, no defeats, and a single tie as the only blemish on its record. Atlantic went undefeated in 1865 with an 18–0 record, sweeping series against chief rivals Mutual of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and Athletic of Philadelphia. Great players of this era included

Joe Start Joseph Start (October 14, 1842 – March 27, 1927), nicknamed "Old Reliable", was one of the most durable regulars of baseball's earliest era, and one of the top first baseman, first basemen of his time. He began his playing career in 1859, ...

Dickey Pearce Richard J. Pearce (February 29, 1836 – September 18, 1908) known as Dickey Pearce was an American professional baseball playerCharlie Smith, Fred Crane, and Tom Pratt. Atlantic's 36-game winning streak was finally broken in June,

1866 Events January * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman troops clash ...

by Irvington, NJ. Atlantic retained the pennant that year by splitting a two-game series with Athletic of Philadelphia and declining to schedule a series with Union of Morrisania. Atlantic did surrender the title to Union in

1867 There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 1 ...

. When Atlantic defeated Eckford to regain the pennant in

1869 Events January * January 3 – Abdur Rahman Khan is defeated at Tinah Khan, and exiled from Afghanistan. * January 5 – Scotland's second oldest professional football team, Kilmarnock F.C., is founded. * January 20 – Elizabe ...

, Atlantic had already lost to the

Cincinnati Red Stockings The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) 1867� ...

. This allowed Atlantic to claim the championship over the undefeated

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

club under the "challenge" format of the

, which resembled modern boxing championship rules rather than a league or tournament format. This outcome undoubtedly contributed to the tremendous anticipation when

came to

with an 89-game winning streak to meet the Atlantics on June 14, 1870 at Atlantic's home Capitoline Grounds. An estimated crowd of 15,000 paid 50 cents a piece to see Atlantic win 8–7 in extra innings in one of the most significant games in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

history. Atlantic surrendered the title later in the year, though, to Mutual.

White House visit

After the 1865 season, the Atlantics became the first baseball team to visit the White House. Arthur Gorman, one of the founders of the Washington Nationals Base Ball Club and an acquaintance of President Andrew Johnson, organized a tournament featuring his team, the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia and the Atlantics. Philadelphia refused to play in the final game as they would not receive any of the gate revenue and left. Having known President Johnson since his days as a page in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

, Gorman offered to take the visiting team to the White House to meet the President. Brooklyn accepted and visited on August 30, 1865. A

daguerreotype Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...

of the Atlantics presenting an official team jersey to the President bearing the number “65” is on display at the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

in Cooperstown,

League era

Atlantic had been among the first clubs to declare themselves

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

when allowed to do so in

. However, when the major professional clubs formed the

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully- professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 se ...

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

, Atlantic declined to field a team. As a result, their best players, including George Zettlein, Bob Ferguson,

and Lip Pike, jumped to other clubs. When Atlantic did join the professional circuit in

1872 Events January * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. *January 20 – The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort S ...

, it was unable to reestablish itself as a leading club, suffering losing records in each of its four seasons in the league. Atlantic was not invited to join the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

when that circuit was formed in

1876 Events January * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. *January 27 – The Northampton Bank robbery occurs in Massachusetts. February * Febr ...

, but continued to play an independent schedule until at least

1882 Events January * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in New York at the ...

. A remnant Atlantic was invited to join the upstart American Association in

but failed to satisfy the requirements for doing so. For many years afterwards, the term ''Atlantic batting'' referred to a big inning, especially late in the game.

Record

Source for season records: Wright (2000) has published records for dozens of NABBP teams each season, relying on a mix of game and season records in contemporary newspapers and guides. Dozens of leading clubs by number of matches are included, as are many others. The records do not consistently cover either all games played or all championship matches between NABBP members.

Baseball card

The 1865 Atlantics are said to have been on the first ever

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s, they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, s ...

. The only known card was archived at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

since the 1880s, when the photographer Charles Williamson submitted the photo for copyright. It remained the only copy of this "card" known to exist until 2013, when another card was found in an old photo album at a yard sale. The 148-year-old team photo was sold to an unnamed bidder for $92,000.00 when it went up for auction on February 6, 2013 in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Bibliography

*Baseball-Reference
"Brooklyn Atlantics Team Index" (1872–1875)
Retrieved 2006-09-17. *Retrosheet

Retrieved 2006-09-17. *Wright, Marshall (2000). ''The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.

References

External links

Brooklyn Atlantics
– a vintage base ball club
Brooklyn Atlantics
at Baseball Reference {{Authority control National Association of Professional Base Ball Players teams National Association of Base Ball Players teams Defunct baseball teams in New York City Baseball teams established in 1855 1875 disestablishments in New York (state) Baseball in Brooklyn 1855 establishments in New York (state) Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1875 Defunct baseball teams in New York (state) Baseball teams disestablished in 1875