by 1870, Sept. 29th Boys went to see the match between [the] Red Stockings and [the] Empires — R[uns] S[cored] 7 — E[rrors] 5. It rained at the fifth in[ning].
Prefect Diaries for the years 1851 to 1894 from the Saint Louis University Libraries Special Collections are now available online. Part of the Historical Records Collection in the University Archives, these diaries were kept by University Prefects, or supervisors, who oversaw the studies and discipline of small boys attending the school. At that time, students as young as ten years old could be enrolled. The diaries are some of the earliest records of the University and preserve first-hand accounts of the daily lives of students and Jesuits at Saint Louis University, dealing with administrative, educational, and spiritual matters as well as social life and entertainments.
The opening entry for the diary of 1870 records that on Sept. 2 the prefects Mr. Charroppin and Mr. Weinman left the College Farm in north St. Louis, where they had spent the previous summer months while school was out of session, to begin the academic year on Sept. 5 with 168 boys making up the student body. But book learning and spiritual guidance were not the first concerns of Jesuit educators at the beginning of the year—for already on the first day of school the “boys got their tickets” for the upcoming baseball game (!) between the St. Louis Red Stockings and the Empires Baseball Club. Both the Empires and the Red Stockings were early amateur baseball teams in St. Louis, although the Red Stockings did go professional for one year in 1875 as part of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. The Red Stockings’s field, which was known as Compton Field, was located on the west side of Compton Avenue at Gratiot Street, several hundred yards north of the intersection of Chouteau and Compton Avenues. Ironically, Saint Louis University is currently laying out a new baseball diamond at this same Chouteau and Compton location. Jesuits and baseball have a long history!
The Prefect Diaries are only part of the larger Historical Records Collection, which is being digitized and added to the Digital Collections of the Saint Louis University Libraries with the assistance of the Digitization Center. If you have questions about these or any other materials in Archives & Manuscripts, please contact John Waide, University Archivist, 314-977-3091, waide@slu.edu.
