Lot # 45: 1870 Empire Base Ball Club First Soiree Program

Presented is an interesting memento dating to the early days of professional baseball: a 2.75 x 4.5-inch program relating to the "First Soiree" of the Empire Base Ball Club. This program is a fold-open style that reveals on the left page an itinerary of the evening's musical offerings and on the right side an engagements ledger with blank spaces for the program holder to utilize. Our research into this item has not identified the specific club for which this event was hosted; the name "Empire" was not uncommon during this era, and there are known teams from Cincinnati, Newark, and Buffalo, among others, who played during the 1870 season. One clue into the origin of this item is the Saengerbund Hall location listed on the front page. Again, while no concrete evidence points to a singular location, we have found period references to a Cincinnati concert hall constructed for a German festival held in 1870 as well as a similarly-named venue in New York City. This is a fascinating piece of ephemera documenting the intertwined nature of sport and culture even as early as the 1870s, when baseball was a new and emerging game.