Brooklyn Grays

Brooklyn Grays: (1883, 1885-1887)

Ballparks: Parade Ground (May 9, 1883), Washington Park I (May 12, 1883-May 4, 1889) (2,000), Ridgewood Park (May 2, 1886-October 6, 1889 Sun.),

The origins of the Los Angeles Dodgers date back to the winter of 1882/83. Though the Brooklyn Dodgers would play baseball in the city and later the borough of Brooklyn, the team itself was established in the Manhattan borough. At the time George Taylor, who was the night city editor of the New York Herald, and at the suggestion of his doctor decided to find a less stressful line of work. Taylor, who was a baseball fan, decided that he wanted to try his hand at running a baseball club, and decided to put one together.

Initially Taylor had approached a Wall Street financier to back the project with plans being made to build a ballpark near the Gowanus Canal which was in Brooklyn. The lessor was Edwin Litchfield, who was an influential force behind Park Slope’s development. When the cost estimates became too much, Taylor’s backer decided to give deal the lease in exchange of opting out of the deal. Taylor then spoke to an attorney, John Brice, about getting some financial help. Brice then referred Taylor’s plans to a real-estate agent named Charles H. Byrne, who happened to be sharing Brice’s office. Byrne liked Taylor’s plans but realized that they were going to need more help, and contacted his brother-in-law, Joseph J. Doyle, both of whom ran a gambling house on Ann Street in Manhattan. Early on the pair invested $12,000 in equipping the team as well as construction on the ballpark. After seeing that the team was going to need more money, Doyle told Byrne to go ahead with worrying about how to spend the money, while he would raise it.

It was soon after that another investor joined the organization. His name was Ferdinand A. Abell who was from one of the older and more established families in the United States. Abell had an uncle, Arunah S. Abell, who founded the Baltimore Sun. Abell himself ran a casino in Newport, Rhode Island. When the team’s articles of incorporation were created in March of 1883, Abell was listed first amongst the partners, but Byrne was listed as team president. While the ownership of the Brooklyn club during this time is a bit fuzzy due to conflicting information, what is known, is that both Abell and Doyle provided the financial backing of the club, team president Byrne invested as small amount while Taylor held the lease and was team manager.

Because of their positions in the team, Byrne and Taylor were seen as the public faces of the team, while Abell and Doyle who provided the finances were not, mostly because of their connections to gambling. The team applied for membership in the Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs on January 16, 1883, and were admitted on March 31st. The IA was a minor league which operated in four states: Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The season opened on May 1st with the team on the road against Wilmington where the club donned gray uniforms. The team would lose its first game to the Wilmington Quicksteps by a score of 9-6. They would follow this up with an 8-2 over the Quicksteps.

As the team’s home ballpark not quite ready, the team had arranged to play their May 9th home opener in Newark, New Jersey. But at the last minute, Byrne was notified that the Newark Park had booked a circus that day, forcing Byrne to find a new location. He found it at the Parade Ground, Brooklyn’s version of Central Park. While it is not known how many showed up to the game, it is believed that about 2,000 fans showed up to watch the Brooklyns defeat Harrisburg 7-1.

The team’s official home opener came on May 12th against Trenton. 6,000 fans showed up that day to witness the Brooklyns blow out the Trentons 13-6. Also in attendance was a young employee named Charles Ebbets who just started working for the team that day. On July 20th the Camden Merritts club disbands. Byrne would then go and sign many of the available players. This helped Brooklyn win the pennant with a 44-28 record. Ironically at the time of the Merritts disbanding, the club had been averaging 2,381 fans per game while Brooklyn was averaging 1,653 fans per game. On November 24th the team was admitted into the American Association for the 1884 season.

While the club was only known as either Brooklyn or Brooklyns. It was not until 1887, when an article in the Brooklyn Eagle referred to the club as Byrne’s Men. The name did not stick. The following year press would refer to the team as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, but the team would not officially adopt a nickname until the 1932 season when the team officially became the Dodgers. Historically the team is popularly listed under the name Brooklyn Atlantics for the 1884 season.

The Brooklyn Grays were also in the 1884 Eastern League. They entered the league July 13th and were expelled July 16th. They had a record of 0-2. The manager was surnamed Endler.

The American Association team would be renamed the Grays starting in 1885. In addition to being known as the Grays, the press would refer to the team as the Church City Nines as Brooklyn was known as the "City of Churches". Other times, the team was called the Brooklyn Kings. No player from the 1885 and the 1886 teams have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Prior to the start of the 1888 season, the press renamed the team the "Brooklyn Bridegrooms" due to four of the team's star players getting married.

Sources and Further Reading

• Pamela A. Bakker: Eyes on the Sporting Scene, 1870-1930: Will and June Rankin, New York's Sportswriting Brothers, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7864-7314-4
• Ronald G. Shafer: When the Dodgers Were Bridegrooms: Gunner McGunnigle and Brooklyn's Back-to-Back Pennants of 1889 and 1890, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2011. ISBN 9780786485963
• James L. Terry: Long Before the Dodgers: Baseball in Brooklyn, McFarland, Jefferson, NC 2002, pp. 124-130. ISBN 978-0-7864-1229-7
• A history of Brooklyn teams
• Camden