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1878 – 1888
The first club: South Bend's baseball begins with the Green Stockings, a semi-professional club organized in 1878. The SABR biography record of a South Bend pitcher of the era puts an organized South Bend club of 1878 at 32–4, and a contemporary account of the club calls the Green Stockings the city's first professional organization.
The first park: Greenstocking Park was built in 1878, the club's own ground, and it also hosted the city's earliest football — Notre Dame's spring games against Michigan in April 1888 were played there.
The first minor-league team: In 1888 the Green Stockings fielded South Bend's first minor-league club, in the independent Indiana State League, managed by Bootsey Johnson and playing at Greenstocking Park. The venture lasted the one season; organized league baseball then left the city for fifteen years.
Sources:
- Baseball-Reference Bullpen, South Bend encyclopedia — Greenstocking Park built 1878; the 1888 Green Stockings, Indiana State League, manager Bootsey Johnson.
- SABR Biography Project — the organized South Bend club of 1878 put at 32–4.
- Journal of Sports Philately account of South Bend's first professional organization, the Green Stockings.