Elizabeth Resolutes

The Elizabeth Resolutes were a 19th-century professional baseball team based in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They were a member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players for the 1873 season, and played their home games at Waverly Fairgrounds.<ref name="Krell">Template:Cite journal</ref> Though based in the vicinity of Elizabeth, they were usually listed in game reports as simply "Resolute" or "the Resolutes", per the style of the day. "Elizabeth Resolutes" is modern nomenclature.

Team history

Amateur years (mid-1860s–1872)

The Resolutes started as an amateur team in the mid-1860s. They built a successful team by assembling the best local players, especially from their nearby rival Irvington Athletic Club. This culminated in winning the New Jersey state championship in 1870. After almost a decade of amateur status, the Resolutes paid $10 to join the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, making them the first professional team in the state.<ref name=Krell/><ref name="BRNJ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Zinn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The professional year (1873)

The 1873 season went terribly for the Resolutes. The club played just 23 games during its lone professional season, finishing with two victories against 21 defeats. They lost all eight of their home games. The team would have finished last in the National Association, had it not been for the Baltimore Marylands, who only played six games (all losses). They also had poor attendance, due in part to a failure to properly advertise their games.<ref name=Krell/>

Across their 23 games, they allowed an average of 13 runs per game, while only scoring a little above 4 runs per game. The Resolutes played in the first ever professional baseball doubleheader, with two games against the Boston Red Stockings scheduled on July 4th.<ref name=Zinn/> Their biggest win of the season was an 11-2 victory over Boston in the first game of that doubleheader. Their biggest loss was a 32-3 drubbing in the second game of the doubleheader.<ref name="Zinn2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The team's final game was an August 7th loss to the New York Mutuals, 20-3.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their season ended nearly four months before the NA's last game of the 1873 season.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Resolutes' leading hitter was Art Allison, who batted .320, his best season, while playing all 23 games, mostly in the outfield.<ref name=ArtA>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hugh Campbell was the pitcher of record for both wins and 16 of the losses, while also playing at first base and in the outfield.<ref name=Krell/>

Legacy

File:Doug Allison cropped.png

Doug Allison, catcher and manager for the Resolutes, went on to play four seasons in the National League

A few Resolutes found success after their time in Elizabeth. Art Allison would go on to play 31 career games with the Louisville Grays in the inaugural season of the National League (baseball).<ref name=ArtA/> Doug Allison, Art's brother and the Resolutes' primary catcher, would go on to play nearly 100 National League games.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Workhorse pitcher Hugh Campbell, on the other hand, never again played professional baseball.<ref name=Krell/>

Although Philadelphia and New York City teams occasionally played games in New Jersey to circumvent blue laws that forbade professional baseball on Sundays, the Resolutes and the 1915 Newark Peppers of the Federal League are the only "major league" teams to be based in New Jersey.Template:Efn

The Resolutes were the first professional baseball team in New Jersey, and the state has been home to multiple minor league and independent league teams across multiple cities since then.<ref name=BRNJ/> Even Elizabeth itself has been home to a few teams after the Resolutes, though they were all shortlived, with the last Elizabeth professional baseball team folding in 1909.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A modern vintage baseball team took up the legacy of the Resolutes, beginning play in 2000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• 1873 Elizabeth Resolutes season

External links

• Resolutes stats at baseball-reference.com

Further reading

• Wright, Marshall (2000). The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Template:ISBN

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