Game on! (Re)creating history in Prescott

History repeated itself in Prescott May 9 when two teams of vintage baseball players posed in front of Gurley Street to recreate a photo from the first Territorial Championship played in 1876.

Much has changed in 150 years. The buildings along Gurley Street have been replaced. Nearby Fort Whipple, which fielded one of the Territorial Championship teams, is now Yavapai Community College and the VA hospital.

And the open grassland where that first game was played is now the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza.

But the spirit of those first games lived on May 9. After taking photos on the courthouse plaza in front of dozens of interested visitors, both teams traveled to Kuebler Field for a vintage game conducted under mid-1800 rules.

Although about seven miles from downtown, the game drew about 40 fans who came to learn more about Arizona’s early baseball history and to enjoy a colorful rematch of the Territorial Championship, which pitted the Fort Whipple nine against a Prescott team known as the Champions.

 In 1876, the two sides split a pair of games. On May 9, the team representing Fort Whipple eked out a back-and-forth 6-5 win.     

“Baseball and Prescott have certainly changed over 150 years,” said Mike Phillips, board president of the Arizona Baseball Legacy and Experience (ABLE). “But the camaraderie of baseball, the community it builds and the simple joy of playing and watching a good game transcend time.”        

The May 9 activities were a joint effort between ABLE, Prescott’s Sharlot Hall Museum and the Arizona Vintage Baseball League. Players traveled from as far away as California and southern Arizona to participate. Some fans drove up from the Valley.  

It was the perfect mix of entertainment, competition and a salute to early Arizona and history. All three organizations are talking about a larger event to mark next year’s 151^st anniversary.

“The event was a great time and from a player standpoint, exactly why we do this,” said Patrick Murphy of the Vintage Baseball League. “It was well put together, fun and beautiful all at once — education and sport mixed into one.”

The 1876 games continue to resonate because they came with a full count of drama and mystery.

This much is known. On May 9 the Fort Whipple and Prescott teams met, with the soldiers prevailing 47-21. The result did not sit well with the town. In fact, a local newspaper reported that Prescott demanded a second game and sent for professional ringers from Boston.

The two teams met again on May 21with the town team taking down Fort Whipple 49-22. A photo prior to the game shows many of the Prescott players wearing uniforms with a large “B” on the chest.

But were they really from Boston? Historians say almost certainly not. Travel was too difficult and the real Boston professional team, known as the Red Caps in those days, was already into its season with a full roster.

One theory is that the local theater troop replicated the Boston jerseys and pretended to be from Beantown. No written record, however, exists of the suspected rouse.

On this May 9 in Prescott, Jonathan Sukosky of the Globe Bears vintage team sported a jersey highlighting a large red “B.” It fueled a lot of questions from spectators.

Even after 150 years, the mystery lives on.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the 150^th anniversary of the Territorial Championship games a fun time and a nod to Arizona baseball’s incomparable past.

 For more information on ABLEAZ, visit www.ABLEAZ.org

For more information on the Sharlot Hall Museum, visit www.SharlotHallMuseum.org

For more information on the Arizona Vintage Baseball League, visit: www.ArizonaVintageBaseball.org