The Charter Oak Base Ball Club, founded in the summer of 1862, was the first baseball team to be formed in Hartford.  Their stated mission was to “establish on a scientific basis the health-giving and scientific game of Base Ball, and to promote good fellowship among its players.”  In the age of before national professional sports associations, the Charter Oak club stated it would play by “New York” rules, even though most of the teams it faced hailed from southern New England.  Games were frequently played in Bushnell Park; as baseball continued to gain popularity through the latter half of the 19th century, Colt Park became a popular venue as well.

On this day in 1865, Hartford’s Charter Oak Base Ball Club celebrated a victorious season after their playing their final game of the year in Worcester, Massachusetts the night before.  In honor of their winning record, the team was presented with an miniature bat with silver embellishments by J. G. Belden of Hartford.  The bat came with a certificate certifying that it was made with wood from the Connecticut’s famous Charter Oak tree, which had been knocked down in a storm nine years before, and was presented in a rosewood box labeled “Emblem of the Championship of Connecticut.” On that day, a new tradition was born: the championship bat would remain in the possession of the most successful Connecticut baseball team until they lost to another.

By the turn of the century, the Charter Oak Base Ball Club had dissolved, but baseball was as popular as ever in Hartford, home to the state’s first professional baseball team in the 1870s, the Hartford Dark Blues.  Today, minor league professional baseball teams are thriving across the state of Connecticut, thanks in part to the precedent established by amateur teams like the Charter Oak club over 150 years ago.

Further Reading

Rebecca Furer, “Baseball’s Back in Hartford,” Connecticut Historical Society

Gary O’Maxfield, “The Charter Oak Base Ball Club,” Hartford, Connecticut: A Photographic Survey blog