Page:America's National Game (1911).djvu/132

 The tenth annual convention of the National Association of Base Ball Players, held in 1866, had a most sensational attendance, in the largest assemblage of representatives ever gathered in a similar convention up to that time. Delegates were present from clubs in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Ohio, Massachusetts, Iowa, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Maine.

It was at this convention that Arthur Pue Gorman, afterward United States Senator from Maryland, was elected President of the National Association.

The eleventh annual convention, held in 1867, was another surprise. It had representation from 237 clubs from the following States: Connecticut, 22; Illinois, 56; Indiana, 21; Maryland, 20; New York, 24; Ohio, 42; Pennsylvania, 27; Wisconsin, 25.

An analysis of these figures is of interest as showing that between the tenth and eleventh conventions of the National Association an epidemic of Base Ball fever had swept out into the West, and that, whereas in 1866 only a few Western States were represented by a mere handful of delegates, in 1867 the four States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin had 145 clubs represented, which was nearly double the representation of the entire country the year previous. There was also something to inspire conjecture in the fact that in this year, while the great State of New York, where Base Ball had its birth, was represented by only 24 clubs, Illinois alone had 56—more than double the number of the Empire State, and delegates