The Saint Paul Daily Globe · Minneapolis, Minnesota · 1891

Indoor Base Ball. Another Game Tonight

December 1891, and Minneapolis has an indoor base ball fever going: Companies B and I cross bats at the armory tonight, the professionals think the game looks easy, and Chicago has gone wild with several leagues down there.

Base ball does not stop for a Minnesota December. It just moves indoors: “Another indoor base ball game is on the books for tonight. The teams from Companies B and I, both of Minneapolis, will cross bats at the armory.”

This is regiment ball, company against company, and the standings matter. The B boys “have been doing a good deal of practice work of late and are determined to win a game. They have not won yet.” The I men are “the leaders of the regiment league” and have not lost one, and success has gone to their heads in the best possible way: “The I boys are getting so they feel their oats on this game of indoor base ball. They are anxious for other worlds to conquer.”

The professionals wanted in too. “There are a good many professional ball players in the city, like Foster, Hengle and Dugdale, who have an idea that it is an easy thing to play indoor base ball when once one has played the outdoor game.” The Company I team offered to give them a game as soon as they were ready, and the Globe wished them luck with a straight face.

And the game was no local quirk: “The city of Chicago has gone wild on the game of indoor base ball. There are several leagues down there.” One Chicago team was already trying to arrange a game with Company I, with “the honor of the convention city” at stake when “the Minneapolis men go down to show the Windy City men how to play ball.” Indoor base ball is a thread this site will keep pulling. It runs further than you would think.