Cricket 1887

452 C R IC K E T : A W E E K L Y RECORD OF THE GAME . n o t . 24, 1887. CRICKET IN AMERICA. T h r o u g h the kindness o f the English Editor of Outing we are able to reproduce from the November number of that magazine, an interesting extract giving the history of the formation and develop­ ment of the Staten Island Club, the prin­ cipal cricket club in New York, and one of the most influential organisations of the kind in the United States. The sketch, wnich is from the pen of Charles E. Clay, is copiously illustrated, and we are fortunate in being able to give three of the illustrations, the first two, which appeared in the Pall Mall Budget of Nov. 12, having been courteously lent us by the manager of that paper. The draw­ ings will show how thoroughly the comfort of the members is studied on the principal cricket grounds of America, j and indeed it must be admitted that the managers of cricket clubs in America and Australia are more studious in their atten- I tion to the wants of cricketers than we are j in England. On the other hand, as far as I wo can learn, in America tho buildings for the accommodation of members are more club-houses than pavilions in the cricket ' acceptation of the word, and the social ; needs of everyday life consequently require j to be met as is not the case on English | grounds. Mr. Cyril Wilson, the captain ! of the Staten Island Club—as we have j sta'ed several times—was some years ago • actively identified with Somersetshire I cricket as well as with the Marylebone and Surrey Clubs. The Staten Islanders, too, have always been so conspicuous in the hospitality they have extended to the amateur teams from this country visiting America, that the sketch of the club’s career which follows cannot fail to be read with interest by English cricketers. THE FORMATION OF THE STATEN ISLAND CRICKET AND BASEBALL CLUB. Among the earliest clubs that existed in the vicinity of New York, whose members devoted themselves to the pursuit of baseball and the maintenance of the game of cricket, was the St. George's Cricket Club, of Hoboken, New Jersey. To this congenial fraternity were attracted most of the Englishmen who came to reside in this country and wished to keep up their cricket. off, during the winter of 1871, the prime movers being Mr. Aymer Cater, an ardent cricketer; Mr. George Scofield, then, as now, a warm supporter of the national game, and their lriends, Messrs. A. E. Outerbridge, Duncan Norvall, William Davidge, William Krebs and others. The idea matured and took definite shape in the spring of 1872, in which year the club was formally organized as the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. It can readily be imagined that the funds necessary for the carrying out of such improve­ ments could not have been borne by the scanty exchequer of the starting club; but large hearted and open handed patrons of the struggling organization came forward in tha persons of Messrs. George Scofield, Aymer Cater, A. B. Outerbridge, Butler Duncan, L. P. Bayard, W. M. Betts and others, who loaned the club the necessary money, which was subsequently refunded as it grew prosperous. The grounds finally chosen, as being most accessible to, and midway between, the two principal landings on the North Shore and Clifton, were known as Camp Washington, having been during the late war in the hands of the Government for military purposes. At present they are in the possession of the Staten Island Amusement Company, and served this past season asthe home ground ofthe Metropoli­ tan Baseball Club. They were situated along­ side the St. George ferry landing, and for Ion" years were the pride and the recreation ground of the residents, until the grasping encroach­ ments of the Kapid Transit Company drove the members to their present location. When first taken possession of by the infant club, the site offered but small attraction as an athletic ground; but the unwearied perseverance and unremitting labors of the moving spirits soon turned a barren and disconsolate wilderness, given over to the occupancy of vagrant cows and straying goats, and the undisputed repository of unsavory dust heaps, into a smiling and verdant stretch of lovely greensward, sweeping in symmetrical terraces of velvety turf right to the water’s edge, and fanned, even on the most sultry days of summer, by the cool and refreshing breezes that were wafted across the waters of the bay. The size of the ground was a rectangular area of 500 by 600 feet, with a slope of about one foot in twenty seawards. Of course this declivity was not calculated to afford the even­ ness required for cricket and baseball, so the centre of the field was first leveled and the first wicket was marked out in 1873, though both games were played as well as they could be under the circumstances during the first year of the club’s inauguration. Subsequently th j upper terrace was graded, and accommo­ dated the votaries of croquet and the then new game of lawn tennis; and finally the lower terrace was graded, leaving the ground when completed in three beautiful plateaux. It also numbered among its adherents a large contingent of Staten Islanders, who, at great inconvenience to themselves, on account of the difficulties of getting backwards and forwards to the grounds, supported the St. George’s Club for the love of the exercise they gob there. The most enthusiastic portion of this set, becoming somewhat disheartened at what they considered a more lavish expendi­ ture of funds than warranted by the condition of the finances, and perhaps, also, taking some exception to the way the St. George’s Club wTas run generally ; but being actuated princi­ pally and most patriotically by the desire to see flourish on their own beautiful island the sports they liked so well, yet had so far to go to enjoy, began to canvass the idea of seriously starting an organization of their own nearer home. This scheme was discussed, on and N E X T IS SU E , D ECEM BER 29.