An 1869 Letter from a Tufts College Student featuring a Six Page detailed account of the College's Baseball Games by John

Unbound. Fine. A lengthy 13 page Autograph Letter Signed ("John") dated 16 November 1869 to fellow (or former) student Taber Ashton in Philadelphia. Three bi-folia plus a single leaf. Folded as mailed else just about fine; original envelope present (a little soiled, two canceled 3 cent stamps intact, postmarked "College Hill, Mass."). An exuberant and effusive letter sent by a scholar from the Class of 1871 at Tufts to Ashton with about half of the letter devoted to baseball at the College. After John devotes two pages to detailing his efforts in successfully selling Tabor's bureau and textbooks, but failing to sell his lamp, and enclosing $4 (not present), and a single page assessing and comparing the Classes of '72 and '73, John starts his missive in earnest: "Base ball, next, of course." He then devotes nearly six pages to the sport, starting with the momentous news: "To begin with I am in the first nine! I have played their right field all season. My play in the field has been only average 'though I have made some very fair catches & some awful muffs." He continues "My batting has improved a great deal. They count me one of the heaviest strikers... He recounts several games: "We played a game with the Harvard Sophs, on Jarvis, in which game we were beaten 36 to 5! In that game I made two of the five runs. We had been blinded twice, first and second innings. I went to the bat made a bully strike, away down the left field, got my second, stole to third and came home with the first tally. This was off Grey's pitching. I did precisely the same thing again, and made my second run." He recites his bad luck on being robbed of hits and says: "I hope you won't think me egotistical in speaking about myself. You were always interested in my progress as a ballist... ." He gives an assessment of the other players on his team: "Chas. Southard as Captain of the nine has exceeded my expectations. He has played steadily and well. He never played his ball any better." He gives frank opinions of other players including freshmen Stetson and White: "Stetson lamed his arm soon after coming and has not done much since. He will make a very fair catcher with practice. White at center field, though much praised when he came has not done very well. He is not a very good striker & no surer on a fly than I am. Another unfortunate thing for us has been Henry Harris Lawness. He had to go home.... with a sore leg... ." There are other bright spots though: "Joe Dunham is pitching splendidly. He is steady, sure, and usually bats finely. O'Brian at second, 'Hosea' Knowlton at S.S., and Laverty at 3d, have played capitally. He reports on other games: "We played the Univ. of Charlestown, 25 to 25, (Tufts had a fair prospect of winning if the game had not been called on the 8th inning); Harvard, 36 to 5; Somerset, 25 to 17 (we ought to have beaten them, if we had only thought we could do it; the game was a very sharp and pretty one). Univ. of S. Walden[?], winning by a score of 38 to 10 or thereabouts, and Harvard Scientific, no game, Tufts ahead end of 4th, 19 to 13. We shall try to get a uniform next spring & shall play sharp." He reports further, with a detailed account of a game between the Freshmen and Sophomores, with the frosh prevailing by a single run. During the game he was persuaded by the players to be the umpire, which resulted in many close decisions. He mentions again the prowess of the Harvard nine: "The Harvards are tremendous this year. They have waxed the 'strong teams' of the Lowells, time & again. Nobody denies their superiority. Even [College President Hosea] Ballou, while murmuring about 'practice' and the like, admits that the Harvards can lick 'em every time." After his report on baseball he mentions many additional details about classmates, dormitories, the new buildings expected to be built on campus, Philadelphia acquaintances that he met in Cape Cod who might know Ashton, and much besides. We suspect the identity of the author of the letter could be determined by someone with slightly more energy than ourselves. A superbly chatty letter with a wealth of detail about early college baseball, such detailed personal accounts are rarely encountered.