On Monday, August 17, 1868, before a crowd upwards of 20,000 fans assembled outside and inside the grounds, the Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn defeated the Mutual Club of New York at Union Grounds, Williamsburg.
"The most exciting game of base ball, perhaps, ever played was the contest of yesterday between the Atlantic and Mutual Clubs. Perhaps we might call it Brooklyn versus New York, and in that regard, Brooklyn took all the honors, for the telling strikes and splendid displays were all made by Brooklyn men, and Brooklyn should feel proud. The Atlantics presented a purely Brooklyn nine, and the Mutuals are in great part Brooklynites, and certainly were it not for them the Mutuals' score would be very small." - The Brooklyn Union
Pitching for the respective clubs is Rynie Wolters for the Mutuals and George Zettlein for the Atlantics.
The Mutuals promptly open the scoring in the first inning; Wolters hits safely and is delivered home by left fielder Lip Pike.
With one hand down in the top of the second, Atlantic first baseman Joe Start and left fielder Jack Chapman hit safely, and catcher Charlie Mills drives home both with a home run. Third baseman Bob Ferguson then gives the Brooklynites a 4-1 lead.
Mutual second baseman George Flanley and right fielder Billy McMahon join together for two runs in the third inning.
But the quarrelsome Atlantics continue surging forward in the fourth with another four-run outburst, Chapman, Fred Crane, Mills, and Ferguson, the architects. Then, through the efforts of Joe Start and Jack Chapman, the visiting aggregation tallies twice more in the fifth.
Cycling back to the fourth inning and through the sixth, Atlantic pitcher George Zettlein retires nine Mutual batters consecutively.
Joe Start scores in the top half of the seventh, giving the Atlantics a commanding 11-3 lead. That is until the Mutual strikers awaken from their slumber. George Flanley, catcher Patsy Dockney, and Billy McMahon each reach base safely. Wolters flies to Dickey Pearce, scoring Flanley. However, McMahon is thrown out at third base by catcher Charlie Mills to Bob Ferguson. With two hands down and Patsy Dockney on base, Lipman Pike hit a ball over the gatehouse for a home run.
In the top half of the eighth, Bob Ferguson answers with a home run of his own. George Zettlein then faces a minimum of three batters to close out the frame.
During a ninth-inning mired by an increasingly unruly crowd shepherding their chaos onto the field of play, the Mutual club manages five aces, highlighted by Lip Pike's bases-clearing triple. But the Mutual threat falls one tally short. Jack Chapman makes a long-running catch of George Flanley's fly to left field, concluding this game.
The Atlantic Club of Brooklyn outlasts the Mutuals by a final 12 to 11 margin. Joe Start, Chapman, and Ferguson lead Brooklyn with three tallies each. Bob Ferguson and Patsy Dockney lead their respective clubs with just one hand down. The Mutuals make more catches on the fly than Brooklyn and convert two double-plays, the Atlantics, none.
- Base Ball Founders: The Clubs, Players, and Cities of the Northeast That Established the Game; McFarland & Co.
