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 the first game of Base Ball played in Baltimore took place on a field located on ground that was later excavated for the bottom of a park lake. As to the inception of the game in Baltimore, the writer says: "Mr. George Beam, of Orendorf, Beam & Co., wholesale grocers, was invited in 1858 by Joseph Leggett to see a game in New York, in which the old Excelsiors of that city contested. Mr. Beam at once became an enthusiast, and returned to this city and organized the Excelsiors of Baltimore, in the wholesale trade on the wharf. Nearly all the players were business men. The Excelsiors lasted until 1861, and its members twice a week went to the diamond in an omnibus, which started from Exchange Place and Commerce Street. Large numbers of young men living on Madison Avenue would follow the bus to see the new game. The club soon moved to a lot at the southwest corner of Madison and North Avenues."

In 1860, the great Excelsiors, of New York, were invited over to give instructions in the game, and the Waverley Club, organized in 1860, offered its grounds, afterwards known as "Pastime Grounds," and there the games were played.

Among the New York players were Leggett, Creighton, Pearsall, Whiting, Flannery, Brainard, Polhemus. The Baltimore nine were Beam, Woods, Schriver, A. Woods, Mitchell, Pitman, Williams, Hank and Hazlett. The Excelsiors, of Baltimore, that night tendered to the Excelsiors, of New York, a regal banquet.

In addition to the New York and Brooklyn clubs composing the double quartet of which mention has been made,