(NEW YORK) Jesse M Rice Diary of an avid young baseball fana

Sale 2633 - Lot 134

Price Realized: $ 2,250

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Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(NEW YORK.) Jesse M. Rice. Diary of an avid young baseball fanatic in post-Civil War Buffalo. [156] manuscript pages. 4to, original 1/4 calf, moderate wear; hinges split, a few non-diary leaves torn out, occasional minor foxing. Buffalo, NY, 1 July 1866 to 1 January 1868

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Jesse Marshall Rice (1853-1871) kept this diary as a teenaged boy in Buffalo; his father Victor was State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He records lively accounts of parades, Niagara Falls (13 July and 1 August 1866), Dan Rice's Circus (26 July 1866), the Buffalo stop of Andrew Johnson's "Swing Around the Circle" campaign tour (8 September 1866), and a Mohawk Indian concert (4 October 1866). On 7 January 1867 he provides a detailed floor plan for the city's proposed School No. 14 (illustrated). He also reports on current events gleaned from the newspaper.

Perhaps of most interest is his enthusiasm for baseball, during a period when the sport was growing rapidly but had not yet embraced open professionalism. During baseball season, he discusses the game almost every day. Young Rice and his brothers followed the games in the Buffalo area, starting with a trip to Batavia to see the Active Base Ball Club of Buffalo (25 August 1866): "The following are the reasons why the Actives were beated. 1st, the umpire cheated. 2d, the scorers did not put down all the runs that the Actives made . . . 6thly, Geo. Walker, captain of the club, let a brother of his play who had not played in a year." His older brothers Clark and Spencer were members of a local junior club called the Mutuals, formed on 27 September 1866. He played a bit himself: "I have been playing ball most of the day, and that is about all I have done, excepting a few minutes in long division" (11 April 1867). At a big regional tournament in nearby Auburn, "Atwater, P. of the Niagara Club, has got his anckle sprain, Wheeler C. his hand split, 3 players left this morning to reinforce" (4 October 1866). He later boasted that "The silver ball won by the Niagaras of this city is on exhibition at Thomas Dickenson's jewelry store" (8 October 1866). Rice also followed the top eastern teams by newspaper: "The Atlantics of Brooklyn have lost two games with the Unions of Morrisania, giving the championship of the world to the Unions" (1 November 1867).