In the late 1860s, the Madison Capital City Base Ball Club didn’t play very many close games. Most of their matches, against local "picked nines" and clubs from nearby towns such as Oshkosh and Appleton, provided no challenge for the Capital Cities. On the other hand, Madison took on the best teams in the West, including the Rockford Forest Cities and the Chicago Excelsiors—and almost always lost by dozens of runs.

The unique position of the Capital City Club resulted from a variety of geographic and demographic factors and allows historians a fascinating window into the post-Civil War baseball world. Madison was a tiny town, even by the standards of 1860s America, but its population of University students, state employees, and businessmen allowed the Base Ball Club to draw from a larger talent pool—and one with more leisure time—than was available to neighboring amateur nines. The Capital Cities could coax top organizations to play in Madison. But if they wanted to play more than a handful of matches, they needed to take on vastly inferior teams, such as Milton College.

Sackmann’s presentation focused on the five years bordered by the rise of the Capital City Club and the 1871 formation of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. The story of early Madison baseball is largely unknown to historians; most studies of the period focus on major cities and the clubs that toured the country and competed for national championships. His study offered Madison baseball as a useful counterpoint that can help us understand the experience of the national game in the era before the first major league.

Jeff Sackmann is an insurance agent and saxophonist living in Madison, Wisconsin. He leads the New York-based Oy Christina! Jazz Orchestra, whose new album will soon be available at JeffSackmann.com. He also performs with former James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield and a variety of other Madison ensembles. At SABR 34, he will present a paper entitled, "‘But Few Can Touch Him’: George Wilson and Integrated Wisconsin Baseball, 1905-1908."