The Capitoline Grounds were conceived in 1863 as a rival to the immediately successful Union Grounds of a year earlier.
A plan to drain the Capitoline pond for base ball purposes failed to take shape, however,
and waited until 1864. In April of that year, the proprieters, Messrs. Weed and Decker offered the
powerful Atlantic Club a free lease at their new park, and the club could scarcely refuse.
The Capitoline grounds stood in Bedford, in a block bounded by Halsey Street, and Marcy, Putnam and
Nostrand Avenues.
On May 5, the first match at the Capitoline Grounds saw the Atlantic Club defeat a field nine chosen by Henry Chadwick from
players of other Brooklyn clubs who attended on the day, 45 to 11. The first proper club match was not
any better- Atlantic defeated Nassau of Princeton 42 to 7.
The Enterprise Club also called Capitoline home in 1864, and Excelsior moved there in 1866.
Both were enemies of the Atlantic Club, and refused to play them, but they played a number of matches
together, both between their best nines and their "muffin" nines of club novices.
The Atlantics take on the mighty Red Stockings in 1870
In 1865, the sliding stolen base was invented by Eddie Cuthbert of the visiting Philadelphia
Keystones at the Capitoline Grounds. He simply ran from first to second during a pitch, which was not
new, but slid to beat the throw instead of trying to stop on a dime. Baseball was changed in a moment, and
the likes of Jackie Robinson and Maury Wills inherited Cuthbert's legacy.
The finest moment of the Capitoline Grounds was the visit of the awesome Cininnati Red Stockings on June 14, 1870.
Harry Wright's club carried in an 89 game win streak, but suffered a stunning defeat, 8 to 7 at the hands of Bob Ferguson's
Atlantics in 11 innings. This was regarded at the time
as the greatest game of baseball ever played, and may still be so. It also bears a curious
similarity to game six of the 1986 World Series, another candidate for the "greatest game" title.
20,000 people jammed the grounds and swarmed the field after the winning run was scored.
Donaldson's failed ballon flight of 1873
Later in the summer of 1870, Chadwick arranged a demonstration of the curveball at the Capitoline Grounds for those members
of the press and public who believed it may only be an illusion. Pitcher Fred Goldsmith, later a star
in Chicago, weaved the ball between two stakes set 20 feet apart, and convinced all present of the reality of
the curve.
The only season of major league baseball at the Capitoline Grounds was in 1872. The Atlantics, then of
the National Association, won the final major league game there 6-3 over Boston, but left for the
Union Grounds in 1873. The Capitoline Grounds continued to host lesser matches, as well such events as P.T. Barnum's circus.
There was also Washington Donaldson's disastrous attempt, sponsored by the Daily Graphic, to launch a hot air balloon to
cross the Atlantic, in October of 1873- the balloon never reached any great height and crashed in
Connecticut, fatally wounding one of his companions. Donaldson himself died in 1875 when a balloon fell into
Lake Michigan.
The Capitoline Grounds today
The last baseball game we can find reference to was a visit
of the Hopkins Grammar School of New Haven, who defeated Brooklyn Polytechnic 4 to 3 on June 16, 1879. The Eagle reported
that "attendance was small, as few but the players knew anything about the match being played." In 1880 the
Capitoline Grounds were demolished, and two streets extended through the block. The resulting housing development
still stands in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
