From the archives

Baseball’s early days

Baseball was introduced on campus in 1876 by Union soldiers. Letters from alumni of the 1880s share stories of games against other colleges as early as 1885. By the late 1890s, the sport had come to dominate college athletics. Students were largely responsible for organizing practices and scheduling games. By 1900, the team was a powerhouse, and the college graded and laid out a new baseball diamond between the football field and the railroad tracks. Fayssoux DuPré of the class of 1902 was a particularly strong pitcher, noted for his ability to throw a curve ball. Wofford President Walter K. Greene, class of 1903, played on the team when he was a student.

By Dr. Phillip Stone ’94

The Wofford College Journal in May-June 1902 reported on the last few baseball games of that season.

“Our ball team went to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they played two games with the University of Tennessee on April 25 and 26, respectively. A local paper at Knoxville remarked that the varsity expected to live on Easy Street while Wofford was there. But they were rudely awakened on the afternoon of the first game, the black and old gold waving above them with a score 8 to 7. The second game was still more decisive, the score being 17 to 4 in favor of the boys from South Carolina. Wofford pulled together beautifully with something like the results experienced in ‘ye olden times.’ When the results of these games were announced on the campus, the hearty reception of the news, the yelling, singing, and speech-making reminded one of the famous days of ’99 and ’00. The boys of the team report excellent treatment by the Tennesseans.”

“The great South Atlantic States Music Festival annually attracts large numbers of the most cultured class of people from South Carolina and the neighboring states to Spartanburg. Wofford has always tried to do their part in entertaining these visitors. This year 2 games of ball were played on the college grounds.”

“On April 30, Furman came over from Greenville and crossed bats with the home team. There were no interesting features to the game, and Wofford added another victory to her list, having made 14 runs to Furman’s 1.”

“On May 1, Trinity and Wofford met, and a battle royal ensued. The game was hard played on both sides from first to last. Trinity has a splendid team and made it hot for the home boys but the latter finally won by a score of 4 to 3.”

“The last game of the season was played at Clemson College. The Clemsonites there defeated the Wofford boys to the tune of 6 to 3 in a clean, snappy game of ball.”

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