Grant & Baseball

Grant was not the only notable personality at the Polo Grounds on that day in 1883. One of the Gothams’ owners was John B. Day, a factory owner who was to push enthusiastically later that year for the reserve clause, which eventually was passed by the National League and the American Association. The clause tilted the power balance in the sport toward owners and away from players, and was not overturned until the 1970s. Overturning the clause revolutionized the business dynamics of the sport and created free agents, a term that today’s fans know very well.

The other owner of the Gothams was Jim Mutrie, a former player and manager and a famed local sports figure who has been called the founding father of major league baseball in New York. According to baseball lore, Mutrie, who had already managed modest teams in various smaller cities, rode his bicycle from Massachusetts to New York City in 1880 in his touch-and-go, but eventually successful quest to find backers and start a major league team. Day and Mutrie also owned another New York team, the Metropolitans, who joined the American Association in 1883, and played on an adjacent site at the Polo Grounds.

Side Note:

Catcher Buck Ewing, a future Hall of Famer, took the field at the original Polo Grounds in New York City on May 1, 1883, when Grant and 15,000 other baseball spectators gathered for the first game of the team later known as the New York Giants

Taking the field for the Gothams on opening day in 1883 was the legendary catcher Buck Ewing, who went on to become one of the finest players of the 19th century and a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1883, Ewing became the first major leaguer to hit 10 home runs in one season.

Other stars that year included power-hitting first baseman Roger Connor (who would end up being the 19th century’s home run king, with 138 blasts, including the first grand slam ever hit in the major leagues), pitcher Mickey Welch, and centerfielder John Montgomery Ward.

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