The Picked Nines That Played for New York and Brooklyn in 1858

The 1858 New York–Brooklyn contests were a summer series between representative teams assembled from leading clubs, not a meeting of two intact clubs. New York won at Fashion Race Course on Long Island, where multi-club rosters, an enclosed neutral venue and paying spectators produced a persuasive early model for all-star baseball. The format was historically important, but calling it indisputably the first all-star event would go beyond the settled record.

Related: Retrosheet 1908 Data: Proof and Limits.

The 1858 series at a glance

Date	Result	Series standing
July 20, 1858	New York 22, Brooklyn 18	New York led, 1–0
August 17, 1858	Brooklyn 29, New York 8	Tied, 1–1
September 10, 1858	New York 29, Brooklyn 18	New York won, 2–1

The opener was originally scheduled for July 13 but was postponed for one week because of rain. All three games were played at Fashion Race Course near Flushing, on Long Island in present-day Queens. The dates, scores and final series result are documented in SABR’s history of the New York–Brooklyn series.

“New York versus Brooklyn” can be misleading when read through the structure of modern professional baseball. Neither city sent one established club. Instead, each side selected a nine from several clubs based in or associated with that city. Players normally separated by club loyalties joined together under a city designation.

That representative format is the foundation of the series’ later all-star reputation. It also marks the limit of the comparison. These were city nines selected from amateur-era clubs, not league teams assembled through modern voting, roster rules or institutional procedures.

Why the teams were called “picked nines”

A “picked nine” was a selected team. Rather than arranging an ordinary match between two clubs—such as the Knickerbockers and Atlantics—organizers combined players from several clubs to represent New York or Brooklyn.

Representative side	Clubs supplying players
New York	Knickerbocker, Gotham, Eagle, Empire, Harlem and Union
Brooklyn	Atlantic, Excelsior, Putnam and Eckford

The surviving opening-game lineup shows how the system worked. New York’s starters included players from the Gotham, Knickerbocker, Eagle, Empire and Union clubs. Harry Wright, then with the Knickerbockers, played right field. Brooklyn’s opening nine drew from the Atlantic, Excelsior, Putnam and Eckford clubs. An archived baseball-history account reproduces the opening lineup and identifies the teams as “picked” nines.

Why a Queens racetrack became the ballpark

Fashion Race Course answered several practical needs at once. It was neutral ground, accessible by public transportation and equipped with a grandstand. Most importantly for the financial plan, it was enclosed. Organizers could control entry and collect admission instead of playing on an open field where spectators might watch without passing through a gate.

The venue was a horse-racing facility rather than a purpose-built baseball park. Organizers installed a temporary diamond on the racetrack infield, removing and leveling turf to make the surface usable for baseball. The seating and perimeter belonged to the racing grounds; baseball was fitted into infrastructure built for another spectator sport. Robert H. Schaefer’s historical account details the choice of the accessible neutral venue and the conversion of its infield.

That arrangement also helps explain why the series could be staged as a public attraction. The site offered more than an available patch of ground. It combined transportation access, spectator accommodation and a controlled perimeter—the basic requirements for charging a gate and managing a substantial crowd.

How New York won the three-game series

New York took the opener on July 20, 22–18. Brooklyn answered on August 17 with a 29–8 victory, helped by numerous New York defensive errors and a changed Brooklyn alignment: Matty O’Brien moved away from pitcher, Frank Pidgeon pitched and Dickey Pearce played shortstop. New York then won the September 10 decider, 29–18, to claim the series two games to one. John Thorn’s account follows the three games and Brooklyn’s lineup changes.

The first game appears to have attracted several thousand people, but the surviving estimates vary too widely to support an exact attendance total. The defensible conclusion is that the opener drew a large crowd by the standards of the event, not that any one estimate can be treated as a turnstile count.

The deciding game produced another high score and a notable umpiring episode. Doc Adams of the Knickerbocker club reportedly called batters out after they declined good pitches. A later account describes the episode narrowly as the first reported instance of a strike being called on a good pitch. That qualification is essential. It does not establish that Adams invented called strikes, that no umpire had enforced the rule before, or that his practice immediately became standard. The Doc Adams historical page reproduces the qualified account of the September 10 umpiring.

The gate, the crowd, and the charitable surplus

The best-supported admission price is 10 cents. The charge was intended to cover the cost of renting Fashion Race Course and preparing the temporary field. Published estimates place the opening crowd between roughly 4,000 and 10,000, a range broad enough to rule out any exact attendance claim. The compiled historical overview records both the 10-cent gate and the disputed attendance range.

After expenses, the matches were reported to have produced a surplus of $71.10. The money was divided equally between funds for the widows and orphans of the New York and Brooklyn fire departments. Schaefer’s account reports the surplus and its charitable distribution.

Proceeds summary	Amount
Reported surplus after expenses	$71.10
New York fund’s half	$35.55
Brooklyn fund’s half	$35.55

The arithmetic is straightforward: dividing $71.10 equally produced $35.55 for each city’s fund. More revealing is the order in which the money was used. Receipts first paid the costs of staging the event; the remainder served a civic and charitable purpose. Ticket sales and amateur-era charitable aims could coexist.

Were these really baseball’s first all-star games?

The earlier series does not need every disputed “first” to remain important. It combined representative multi-club teams, a neutral enclosed venue, paid spectators, newspaper attention, charitable proceeds and surviving game records in one documented event.

The firm record is substantial: three games, three unusually high scores and a 2–1 New York victory at a converted Queens racetrack. SABR’s reconstruction confirms that result while preserving the uncertainty around attendance and broader priority claims. The strongest historical judgment is therefore the cautious one: the picked nines anticipated the all-star idea and demonstrated the possibilities of ticketed spectator baseball, even if absolute priority and a direct line to professional baseball remain matters of interpretation.