Wilmington Chicks · Wilmington, Delaware · 1908

Chicks Won First Sunday Game

May 1908: the Chicks ride to Paterson for their first Sunday game, win 3 to 2 in overcoat weather before 3000 fans, Hoover robs a home run bare-handed, and Bussey works his spit ball to perfection. The same page carries the ad for Tuesday's home game, ladies grand stand free.

The Chicks opened their Sunday season on the road: “PATERSON, N. J., May 4.—Wilmington Union Leaguers played their first Sunday game of the season here yesterday and defeated the local team by a score of 3 to 2 before a crowd of 3000 spectators.” Three thousand people came out for it, in conditions the paper logs honestly: “The weather was far too cold for baseball and overcoats were a necessity on the ball grounds.”

The game earned the crowd. “Hoover, for Wilmington, played a great game in right field and robbed Childs of a home run by pulling down, with his left hand, one that was heading over the fence.” The visiting pitcher gets the era’s finest compliment: “Bussey worked his spit ball to perfection and kept the Paterson men guessing.” And in the second paragraph the club’s name simply molts, “Townsend held down first sack for the Chickens and let nothing get past him,” Chicks in the headline, Chickens by the box score, and nobody at the Evening Journal saw a problem.

The full accounting follows, both box scores and a summary that credits the double play to “McCormick to Childs” and clocks the game at 1:35. And stitched below, from the same page, the amusements column’s plans for Tuesday: “BASEBALL! South Side Park Tuesday Afternoon. Wilmington vs. Altoona. Game Called 3.30 o’clock. Admission, 25c. Grand Stand, 25c. Ladies, Grand Stand Free, except Saturdays and Holidays.” Sunday ball they had to ride to New Jersey for. Tuesday ball came with a ladies day, a tradition this site keeps finding everywhere.