![]() Prior to the l890’s (and in some cases, for a long time thereafter), newspaper accounts of sporting events left much to be desired. Here was where the second and more formidable “stumbling block” appeared. The Baseball Hall of Fame keeps an unofficial listing, but it, too, is largely incomplete hence there were virtually no other sources left open but old newspaper files. The Chicago National League Ball Club could supply no statistics of early attendances, while the Sporting News had available only the figures from 1901 to the present. ![]() First of all, there has always been a chronic lack of sources from which to gather the needed information. The compilation of accurate figures for this period is, of course, hampered by certain stumbling blocks. ![]() Nevertheless, it is a start, and hopefully a good one. My own research is certainly not complete either, thus far having been confined to the Chicago National League club, primarily for the years 1892 through 1900. Inquiry into major league attendances of the old century is a fascinating and often frustrating task, an official tabulation of such figures having never been available. Or could fandom have been more enthusiastic 25, 50, or even 75 years ago, in the far removed nineteenth century for which baseball records are still far from complete? ![]() Witnessing thousands of empty seats at Baltimore during the final two games of the 1971 World Series, one starts to wonder if interest in the national game really is at an all-time high, the record attendance figures of recent years notwithstanding. ![]()
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