Join us May 9 in Prescott for the 150th anniversary of the Territorial Championship

History will transform into live action May 9 when two vintage baseball teams compete in Prescott to reenact one of the most famous and debated games in Arizona history.

The occasion is the 150^th anniversary of the first “Territorial Championship” between the Fort Whipple baseball nine and the Champions squad from Prescott.

Back in 1876, the game took place on a vacant field that would eventually become the landmark Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza. The matchup was caught on camera, making it the first baseball game photographed in Arizona.

Vintage teams of today will recreate that photograph this May 9 at 12:30 p.m. on the Yavapai County Courthouse steps and then travel to Kuebler Field, 1185 Commerce Drive, to recreate the first game. First pitch is 2 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

The game and festivities are a joint project of Prescott’s Sharlott Hall Museum, the Arizona Baseball Legacy and Experience and the Arizona Vintage Baseball League.

“The 1876 Prescott games helped set the foundation for baseball’s bright future in Arizona,” said Mike Phillips, board president of ABLE. “The games and participants are still shrouded in a little bit of mystery and mythology. Baseball, even on the frontier, was wildly entertaining and fodder for seemingly endless debate.”                 

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

Either way, expect some surprises again when the game is replicated in Prescott on May 9.

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