National Association

Troy Haymaker History

By Patrick Mondout

The Haymaker Base Ball Club of Troy (or "Troy Haymakers") were a team that played during the first two seasons of the old National Association (NA). 

At a glance... TROY HAYMAKER Franchise Facts Established (Amateur) 1860 Established 1871 Disbanded  1872 Located Troy Executives J.W. Scofield (1871) C.C. Clark (1872)  Year by Year Results W L % 1871  13 15 .464 1872  15 10 .600 Affiliations NABBP (1860-1870) National Association (1871-1872) Postseason/Titles NA Titles (0) Nicknames Haymaker of Troy (1871-1872) Ballparks Haymaker Grounds (1871-1872) Top Performances Single-Season Career

The team was founded as the Union Club of Lansingburgh as an amateur club in the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1860. While the team never won a whip pennant, they were seen as among the better clubs in the country.

The team was commonly called the Haymakers, though many called them the Trojans. The same contemporary New York Times articles refers to the team as the Haymakers of Troy and later as the Trojans. 

The team joined the professional National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in 1869 and was competitive in its tenure. In fact, they were 15-10 when they dropped out of the NA halfway through the 1872 season. A short notice dated July 26 appeared in newspapers the following day which read "The Haymaker Base Ball Club of Troy has disbanded on account of an empty treasury."

National Association sources/bibliography:
Baseball: The Early Years by Harold Seymour.
Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search For The Roots Of The Game by David Block.
Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime during the Civil War by George B. Kirsch.
Blackguards and Red Stockings by William J. Ryczek
The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 by Marshall D. Wright.
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball by Warren Goldstein.
When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870 by William J. Ryczek

David Nemec, the tireless 19th Century Baseball researcher, has also written a novel called Early Dreams, which takes place during this era and features real-life characters such as Cap Anson, George Wright, and Henry Lucas.

General Baseball History sources/bibliography:
Baseball: A History of America's Game by Benjamin G. Rader.
Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns (PBS DVD)
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, 2nd Edition by David Nemec.
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1945-1972 by Dean A. Sullivan
Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel
America's National Game: Historic Facts Concerning the Beginning, Evolution, Development and Popularity of Baseball by Albert Spalding
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.