Orioles Broke the Sunday Baseball Taboo in Brooklyn, Maryland
Billy Barnie’s Orioles Broke the Sabbath Taboo South of Baltimore
The Baltimore Orioles played their first-ever Sunday baseball game in Brooklyn, Maryland, June 15, 1890, on a pleasant summer afternoon that ended with a sloppy 11–8 Oriole victory and the arrest of the team’s manager for breaking a state law that prevented people from working on the Sabbath.
The game was played at Brooklyn’s Acton’s Park at the foot of the famous Long Bridge between the present-day Reedbird Park and Masonville Cove in a difficult-to-imagine-today, but then-quaint Brooklyn, Maryland. The Baltimore Sun reported that 6,065 fans attended, a huge number for that era, and the reported number may actually have been larger since throngs of fence climbers made their way over the 12-foot barrier into the park before and during the game. Attendees had picnics on the grass while the game was played, kids frolicked in the nearby fields, and many of the fans may not have noticed when manager Billy Barnie was arrested after the final out.
The New York-born Barnie began his career as a catcher and outfielder for the National Association in 1870s, but wasn’t an everyday player. He started his career playing for the Hartford (Conn.) Dark Blues in 1874, and drifted around the northeast playing for the Keokuck (N.Y.) Westerns and the New York Mutuals through 1875. A journeyman by 24, he bounced around to Columbus, Buffalo and San Francisco trying to find playing time. By 1881 he was playing for the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Atlantics on the Eastern Championship Association, and in 1883 he re-emerged as a manager for the American Association Baltimore Orioles. He even took the field as a catcher in 19 games in 1883 and 1886. He found more success as a manager than a player, but in his eight years in Baltimore never finished above third place. Despite his lack of success he became a local celebrity and was well known in Baltimore.
Fans Wanted Sunday Baseball
In recounting the events of that day, the Sun said that after the umpire ended the game, “Bald Billy” Barnie was approached by Anne Arundel County Sheriff James S. Armiger and Deputy James T. Small, who produced a warrant and who placed him under arrest. It was the first time Barnie was ever arrested, he told reporters. He was taken to Justice Thomas Green’s office in Brooklyn and was booked and kept overnight. Justice Green set a $300 bail, and at 10 a.m. the next morning, Acton’s Park owner Samuel G. Acton showed up and bailed the manager out. For his part in the affair, Barnie was fined $5.
Technically, Barnie was truly responsible for fielding the team that broke the law. He violated Section 247, Article 27 of the State’s Code of Public General Laws by unlawfully playing, or causing to be played, baseball on the Sabbath Day. Yes, there was actually a law on the books prohibiting baseball on Sundays in Maryland. The Old Line State wasn’t alone in that regard; many other states had similar laws. The Orioles charged admission and players were paid, thus making it illegal. Sheriff Armiger sounded almost apologetic in explaining that he was advised by State’s Attorney James Munroe that he must enforce the law against any illegal act.
Some in the press speculated that the Acton’s Park game was meant to test the Sabbath laws, which were beginning to seem antiquated. On that same Sunday the Orioles played in Brooklyn, the Washington Nationals played Wilmington in D.C., but no one was arrested there.
But why play in Brooklyn? It might have been because the two years the Orioles spent at Oriole Park II were tumultuous, and its location in Waverly in north central Baltimore at Greenmount Avenue and East 29th Street was not well appreciated by fans. Alternatively, it might have been because as a test of the Sabbath laws, the team might have found a more sympathetic host in Anne Arundel County than in Baltimore County. Furthermore, the Long Bridge made Acton’s Park a favorite location among many of Baltimore’s elite. Orioles officials even told the Sun that they were considering making it their new home field. But the team turmoil continued, and Oriole Park III, also known as Union Park, was created in Baltimore at Guilford and 25th Streets.
Meanwhile, the Sabbath laws were slowly being repealed throughout the country, especially in the post-World War I years. Returning servicemen and their families were looking for more types of Sunday recreation. Even with the Acton’s Park “test” in June 1890, Maryland didn’t completely resolve the Sunday baseball issue until nearly 30 years later when Maryland’s Court of Appeals overturned Sabbath Blue Laws in 1919. Acton’s Park barely lasted that long. Its longtime owner, Samuel G. Acton, died in 1903, and by 1919 Baltimore had annexed Brooklyn and was selling the property for industrial uses. By then the Orioles had moved on to a new Baltimore location, Oriole Park V, also known as Terrapins Park, at Greenmount and 29th Streets.
A Seminal, Sloppy Sunday Game
So what happened on the field that day in 1890? The Orioles held off the Hartfords 11–8 in a sloppy game that the Sun called “interesting.” Catcher George Townsend was the hero, going three-for-three and driving in three runs. Norm Baker was the Orioles winning pitcher. But the Orioles certainly won ugly. Combined, both Baker and Hartford pitcher, James Lyston (a Baltimore native), gave up only six earned runs. But Baker walked four and Lyston handed out seven free passes. The Orioles logged six errors on a dry field worn down by local teams; Hartford had three errors of their own. The Orioles ran rampant on Hartford catcher, Alfred Moore, stealing eight bases that day. The crowd was large and boisterous, but the Orioles didn’t play great baseball. And then skipper Billy Barnie went to jail.
