Recent from talks
Fort Wayne Kekiongas
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Fort Wayne Kekiongas
The Fort Wayne Kekiongas were a professional baseball team, notable for winning the first professional league game on May 4, 1871. Though based in Fort Wayne, they were usually listed in game reports as simply "Kekionga" or "the Kekiongas", per the style of the day. "Fort Wayne Kekiongas" is modern nomenclature.
Kekionga - pronounced KEY-key-awn-guh - is the name of Chief Little Turtle's Miami Indian settlement where the St. Joseph River and the St. Marys River join to form the Maumee River. This was the largest settlement of the Miami tribe. General "Mad" Anthony Wayne erected Fort Wayne at that same confluence, and the modern city of Fort Wayne, Indiana grew up around the fort. In the language of the Miami tribe, kekionga means Blackberry Patch.
In April 1862, several young men gathered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to form the Summit City Club to play baseball. Banker Allen Hamilton donated land between major thoroughfares Calhoun and Clinton Street, south of Lewis Street, for a ball field.
Play was short-lived, as members enlisted in the Union army, some dying in the war. The club reorganized in 1866, and a second team, the Kekionga Base Ball Club of Fort Wayne, was formed that year as well.
The first game of the 1866 schedule saw the Kekiongas win against the Enterprise of Sydney by a score of 54–34. The game was played in Sydney on 24 August 1866 with a time of 3 hours and 40 minutes. Charles Taylor and John Evans each hit a home run for the Kekiongas. Diehl was captain for this game. The club sent a challenge to "the champion club of the state", who were based in La Porte, Indiana for a match on 18 Sep 1866, but no results were recorded.
The Kekiongas defeated a local rival by a score of 66–40. The game was played in Fort Wayne in Oct, 1866. The Kekiongas second baseman, Lumbard, hit two home runs while the shortstop Bell hit one home run. John Hoagland was captain for this game. On 9 Nov, 1866, the Kekiongas played the last game of their season against the same Summit City ballclub, winning 80–29. Kekiongas hit twelve home runs during the game, with Bell accounting for four and Hoagland, Hadden, F.A. Gorham, Lumbard, Aveline, Diehl, C. Gorham and Shoaff each contributing one. Aveline was awarded a "huge cigar" for making the fewest outs while scoring the most runs (0 outs, 11 runs).
The following year, they played several games during 1867, touring around the upper Midwest. Frank H. Wolke, who served as a non-player with the club, was the Vice President of the 1867 State Base Ball Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. George Mayers also attended the conference and was chosen captain of a team composed of other conference attendees. The team played another club named the Westerns and lost, 50–8. The "Picked Nine" cited unfamiliarity with their teammates for their defeat.
The first game of the schedule was an exhibition of the Kekiongas First Nine versus their Second Nine in July 1867. The First Nine topped the Second Nine by a score of 54–45. The Kekiongas were hosted by the Toledo, Ohio ballclub on 25 Jul 1867. Rather than treat other teams as opponents, clubs would often go to great lengths to extend graciousness and hospitality to their rivals. The two clubs dined together the night before the game and one of the members of the Toledo club arranged for a private train car for the Kekiongas' return trip. Players F.A. Gorham and Charles Gorham drafted an announcement for the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette publicly lauding the Toledo club.
Hub AI
Fort Wayne Kekiongas AI simulator
(@Fort Wayne Kekiongas_simulator)
Fort Wayne Kekiongas
The Fort Wayne Kekiongas were a professional baseball team, notable for winning the first professional league game on May 4, 1871. Though based in Fort Wayne, they were usually listed in game reports as simply "Kekionga" or "the Kekiongas", per the style of the day. "Fort Wayne Kekiongas" is modern nomenclature.
Kekionga - pronounced KEY-key-awn-guh - is the name of Chief Little Turtle's Miami Indian settlement where the St. Joseph River and the St. Marys River join to form the Maumee River. This was the largest settlement of the Miami tribe. General "Mad" Anthony Wayne erected Fort Wayne at that same confluence, and the modern city of Fort Wayne, Indiana grew up around the fort. In the language of the Miami tribe, kekionga means Blackberry Patch.
In April 1862, several young men gathered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to form the Summit City Club to play baseball. Banker Allen Hamilton donated land between major thoroughfares Calhoun and Clinton Street, south of Lewis Street, for a ball field.
Play was short-lived, as members enlisted in the Union army, some dying in the war. The club reorganized in 1866, and a second team, the Kekionga Base Ball Club of Fort Wayne, was formed that year as well.
The first game of the 1866 schedule saw the Kekiongas win against the Enterprise of Sydney by a score of 54–34. The game was played in Sydney on 24 August 1866 with a time of 3 hours and 40 minutes. Charles Taylor and John Evans each hit a home run for the Kekiongas. Diehl was captain for this game. The club sent a challenge to "the champion club of the state", who were based in La Porte, Indiana for a match on 18 Sep 1866, but no results were recorded.
The Kekiongas defeated a local rival by a score of 66–40. The game was played in Fort Wayne in Oct, 1866. The Kekiongas second baseman, Lumbard, hit two home runs while the shortstop Bell hit one home run. John Hoagland was captain for this game. On 9 Nov, 1866, the Kekiongas played the last game of their season against the same Summit City ballclub, winning 80–29. Kekiongas hit twelve home runs during the game, with Bell accounting for four and Hoagland, Hadden, F.A. Gorham, Lumbard, Aveline, Diehl, C. Gorham and Shoaff each contributing one. Aveline was awarded a "huge cigar" for making the fewest outs while scoring the most runs (0 outs, 11 runs).
The following year, they played several games during 1867, touring around the upper Midwest. Frank H. Wolke, who served as a non-player with the club, was the Vice President of the 1867 State Base Ball Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. George Mayers also attended the conference and was chosen captain of a team composed of other conference attendees. The team played another club named the Westerns and lost, 50–8. The "Picked Nine" cited unfamiliarity with their teammates for their defeat.
The first game of the schedule was an exhibition of the Kekiongas First Nine versus their Second Nine in July 1867. The First Nine topped the Second Nine by a score of 54–45. The Kekiongas were hosted by the Toledo, Ohio ballclub on 25 Jul 1867. Rather than treat other teams as opponents, clubs would often go to great lengths to extend graciousness and hospitality to their rivals. The two clubs dined together the night before the game and one of the members of the Toledo club arranged for a private train car for the Kekiongas' return trip. Players F.A. Gorham and Charles Gorham drafted an announcement for the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette publicly lauding the Toledo club.