Presidents and Baseball: Andrew Johnson and Arthur Gorman
According to Major League Baseball, the tradition of baseball teams visiting the White House dates back to August 30, 1865. It was on that day that President Andrew Johnson was visited by a "delegation of the National Baseball Club" on Aug. 30, 1865. He was the first President to have an entire baseball team invited to the White House, something that would go on to become a tradition. Johnson was an early fan of the game and two years later in August of 1867, he was a special guest of honor at the opening of a new ballpark for the National Base Ball Club of Washington, the team he had earlier invited to be his guests at his workplace. According to an article by Kirk Sale, Johnson had a number of plush straight back chairs set up along the first-base line for his friends when he visited the park and on that day he became the first President to watch an inter-city baseball game. A two-intercity match was held involving the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Athletics and Brooklyn Atlantics. According to Sport Magazine, Johnson gave government clerks and employees time off to watch. the games.
Johnson's love of the game was recognized by another team, the Enterprise Baseball Club, who wrote a letter to the President, in which they told him: "We hope you will not scorn this humble offer of a membership in our National Game, but, accept it as a token of our esteem for you as a man, our veneration as a patriot, and our admiration as a statesman." It was Johnson who is credited as being the first president to refer to baseball as "our national game".
It was a player named Art Gorman who is credited with infecting Johnson with his love of the game. Gorman is described by Jefferson Morley of the Washington Post as "a sociable slugging third baseman for the Washington Nationals who first encouraged the the close relationship between presidents and the national pastime..." In the spring of 1865, the 26 year old Gorman, 26 years old, was the starting third baseman for the Washington National Baseball Club of Washington. The Nationals competed on a grassy field just south of the White House which was then known as the President's Grounds (now known as The Ellipse). Gorman had once worked as a page on Capitol Hill, where he befriended a number of contemporary influential politicians including Illinois Congressman Stephen Douglas, and Andrew Johnson, when was then the Democratic Senator from Tennessee who was later elected Vice President under President Abraham Lincoln.
During the Civil War, the National collected a group of excellent players who had somehow managed to avoid going to war. The club's president was Edmund French, who also played second base, was was said to be a poor hitter. Gorman was the vice president and public spokesman of the team. Their ace pitcher was H.P. Williams, whose curveball was known as a "twister", and who served as the club's secretary. The Nationals were not drawing many fans, something Gorman wanted to change.
Opening Day of 1865 followed the end of the Civil War, as well as the tragic assassination of President Lincoln. Gorman's friend Andrew Johnson was now President of the United States. The Nationals had built amphitheater-style seating around the diamond on the President's Ground, hoping to draw more spectators. The renovations including a viewing stand where women were encouraged to sit. The team laid down chalk baselines for the first time. They signed Eb Smith, a slick-fielding shortstop from the Enterprise Club in Brooklyn. Most clubs were charging ten cents for admission to the games, but the Nationals started charging a dollar. As Morley puts it, "In his own way, Art Gorman helped write the modern owner's playbook: build a new stadium, sign free agents, expand the fan base, and jack up ticket prices."
At the time, the two best baseball teams were the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia and the Atlantic Club from Brooklyn, New York. With the Athletics scheduled for a two-game series with the Nationals starting on August 28, 1865, Gorman traveled north to Brooklyn, where he offered to pay the Atlantics' travel expenses if they would come to Washington while the Athletics were in town. The Atlantics accepted. Gorman set up a tournament of the nation's top teams so as to determine a national champion. He even offered to pay the visiting teams' bar bill at the Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The gamble paid off for Gorman, who succeeded in attracting the biggest crowd ever seen at a ballgame in Washington up to that time. A contemporary reporter wrote that the stands were "filled with the belles of the Capital and the beauty and fashion of the city." Unfortunately, the Nationals did not give their visitors much competition, losing to the Athletics by the lopsided score of 87 to 12. The Atlantics embarrassed the Empire Club, also from New York, by a score 55 to 3. But when it came time for the Atlantics to play the Athletics, the Philadelphia team backed out because they would not make any money off of game at the President's Ground. They reasoned that the Nationals would keep the gate receipts and the Atlantics had a game scheduled in Baltimore. Gorman unsuccessfully tried to convince them to stay and play the Philadephia team.
With the championship game cancelled, the best Gorman could do was to get the visiting team to meet the President of the United States. On August 30, 1865, Gorman escorted members of his team and the Atlantics to the presidential mansion where they met Andrew Johnson. Johnson promised to attend a game someday. He kept his promise two years later in August of 1867. Gorman ushered Johnson and his entourage to cushioned chairs parked along the first base line of the National's new home field on Capitol Hill to watch the Nationals play the Athletics. The visitors again pounded the home team but Johnson didn't care. Newspapers reported his attendance, and at least twenty baseball clubs around the country wrote to offer him honorary memberships in their clubs. Johnson hoped that by associating himself with the popular new game, it might help him politically. But it was too little too late for that.
Meanwhile, the Nationals attracted more fans and generated free publicity. They got better as a baseball team too, winning 9 of 10 games on a western road trop. When the season was over, Gorman was elected president of the National Base Ball Player Association. Two years later, in 1869, Johnson's successor, Ulysses Grant, invited the Cincinnati Red Stockings to the White House. In 1883, President Chester Arthur invited the Forest City Club of Cleveland. It was on this occasion that he famously said "good ballplayers make good citizens."
Arthur Gorman used his baseball connections to transition into a long career in Maryland politics, getting himself elected to the U.S. Senate on three different occasions. The National baseball club of Washington rebranded themselves as the Senators in the 1890s, and Gorman was nicknamed "the original Washington Senator." Gorman died in 1906.
Johnson's love of the game was recognized by another team, the Enterprise Baseball Club, who wrote a letter to the President, in which they told him: "We hope you will not scorn this humble offer of a membership in our National Game, but, accept it as a token of our esteem for you as a man, our veneration as a patriot, and our admiration as a statesman." It was Johnson who is credited as being the first president to refer to baseball as "our national game".
It was a player named Art Gorman who is credited with infecting Johnson with his love of the game. Gorman is described by Jefferson Morley of the Washington Post as "a sociable slugging third baseman for the Washington Nationals who first encouraged the the close relationship between presidents and the national pastime..." In the spring of 1865, the 26 year old Gorman, 26 years old, was the starting third baseman for the Washington National Baseball Club of Washington. The Nationals competed on a grassy field just south of the White House which was then known as the President's Grounds (now known as The Ellipse). Gorman had once worked as a page on Capitol Hill, where he befriended a number of contemporary influential politicians including Illinois Congressman Stephen Douglas, and Andrew Johnson, when was then the Democratic Senator from Tennessee who was later elected Vice President under President Abraham Lincoln.
During the Civil War, the National collected a group of excellent players who had somehow managed to avoid going to war. The club's president was Edmund French, who also played second base, was was said to be a poor hitter. Gorman was the vice president and public spokesman of the team. Their ace pitcher was H.P. Williams, whose curveball was known as a "twister", and who served as the club's secretary. The Nationals were not drawing many fans, something Gorman wanted to change.
Opening Day of 1865 followed the end of the Civil War, as well as the tragic assassination of President Lincoln. Gorman's friend Andrew Johnson was now President of the United States. The Nationals had built amphitheater-style seating around the diamond on the President's Ground, hoping to draw more spectators. The renovations including a viewing stand where women were encouraged to sit. The team laid down chalk baselines for the first time. They signed Eb Smith, a slick-fielding shortstop from the Enterprise Club in Brooklyn. Most clubs were charging ten cents for admission to the games, but the Nationals started charging a dollar. As Morley puts it, "In his own way, Art Gorman helped write the modern owner's playbook: build a new stadium, sign free agents, expand the fan base, and jack up ticket prices."
At the time, the two best baseball teams were the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia and the Atlantic Club from Brooklyn, New York. With the Athletics scheduled for a two-game series with the Nationals starting on August 28, 1865, Gorman traveled north to Brooklyn, where he offered to pay the Atlantics' travel expenses if they would come to Washington while the Athletics were in town. The Atlantics accepted. Gorman set up a tournament of the nation's top teams so as to determine a national champion. He even offered to pay the visiting teams' bar bill at the Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The gamble paid off for Gorman, who succeeded in attracting the biggest crowd ever seen at a ballgame in Washington up to that time. A contemporary reporter wrote that the stands were "filled with the belles of the Capital and the beauty and fashion of the city." Unfortunately, the Nationals did not give their visitors much competition, losing to the Athletics by the lopsided score of 87 to 12. The Atlantics embarrassed the Empire Club, also from New York, by a score 55 to 3. But when it came time for the Atlantics to play the Athletics, the Philadelphia team backed out because they would not make any money off of game at the President's Ground. They reasoned that the Nationals would keep the gate receipts and the Atlantics had a game scheduled in Baltimore. Gorman unsuccessfully tried to convince them to stay and play the Philadephia team.
With the championship game cancelled, the best Gorman could do was to get the visiting team to meet the President of the United States. On August 30, 1865, Gorman escorted members of his team and the Atlantics to the presidential mansion where they met Andrew Johnson. Johnson promised to attend a game someday. He kept his promise two years later in August of 1867. Gorman ushered Johnson and his entourage to cushioned chairs parked along the first base line of the National's new home field on Capitol Hill to watch the Nationals play the Athletics. The visitors again pounded the home team but Johnson didn't care. Newspapers reported his attendance, and at least twenty baseball clubs around the country wrote to offer him honorary memberships in their clubs. Johnson hoped that by associating himself with the popular new game, it might help him politically. But it was too little too late for that.
Meanwhile, the Nationals attracted more fans and generated free publicity. They got better as a baseball team too, winning 9 of 10 games on a western road trop. When the season was over, Gorman was elected president of the National Base Ball Player Association. Two years later, in 1869, Johnson's successor, Ulysses Grant, invited the Cincinnati Red Stockings to the White House. In 1883, President Chester Arthur invited the Forest City Club of Cleveland. It was on this occasion that he famously said "good ballplayers make good citizens."
Arthur Gorman used his baseball connections to transition into a long career in Maryland politics, getting himself elected to the U.S. Senate on three different occasions. The National baseball club of Washington rebranded themselves as the Senators in the 1890s, and Gorman was nicknamed "the original Washington Senator." Gorman died in 1906.