Nathan "Nate" Berkenstock (September 17, 1832 – February 23, 1900) is believed to be the earliest-born professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player, three years older than the next-"oldest" player,

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Harry Wright William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, t ...

, who was born in 1835. (Originally thought to have been born in 1831, Berkenstock's grave gives his birth year as 1832; see below.) Berkenstock played in just one pro league game: the game that decided the first professional baseball league championship in the United States, in 1871. He was Jewish.

Early baseball career

Exactly when Berkenstock first took up the game of baseball is unknown; the

National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.) The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...

, the first organized amateur league, was not founded until 1857, when he was 25. Peter Morris, in ''But Didn't We Have Fun?: An Informal History of Baseball's Pioneer Era, 1843–1870'', mentions him as a noteworthy player from amateur days, but doesn't specify when he began. According to Marshall D. Wright's book, ''The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870'', Berkenstock debuted with the Athletic Club of Philadelphia (the original team of this name, and not related to the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

team that now plays in Oakland) in 1863, when he was 31. The ''New York Clipper'' newspaper described Berkenstock as "not a pretty player, being heavy and clumsy, but does good service (and) generally manages to hold any ball thrown to him." He also served as treasurer for the Athletics. Statistics were very sketchy in the early days of baseball; the only numbers available today are Games Played, Runs Scored and "Hands Lost" (a player was charged with a Hand Lost every time he made an out at bat or on the basepaths). Stats like hits, walks, total bases and runs batted in were still years away from being compiled. Generally speaking, a good player would score more runs than have Hands Lost. Berkenstock played four years with Athletic, from 1863–1866: Athletic was among the top teams in the nation in the 1860s, winning an (unofficial) national championship in 1867, the year after Berkenstock retired.

Berkenstock comes back

On October 30, 1871, the Athletics met the Chicago White Stockings at the

Union Grounds Union Grounds was a baseball park located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. The grounds opened in 1862, its inaugural match being played on May 15. It was the first baseball park enclosed entirely by a fence, thereby allowing ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, to decide the 1871 championship. In the first season of America's first professional league, the National Association, the title was decided not by winning percentage but simply ''wins''; going into the final game, the Athletics had 20 victories (as did the Boston Red Stockings) while Chicago had 19; the "Championship Committee" decreed before the contest that the winner would take the pennant. The fact that the White Stockings were playing at all was significant: the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

had earlier that month wiped out their ballpark and all their equipment, forcing them to play their remaining games on the road, wearing makeshift and borrowed uniforms. The Athletics also had problems: center fielder

Count Sensenderfer John Phillips Jenkins "Count" Sensenderfer (December 28, 1847 – May 3, 1903) was a professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1866 to 1874. Early life John Phillip Jenkins Sensenderfer was born on December 28, ...

had injured his knee, so they called on Berkenstock—by now a 39-year-old out of the game for five years—to play right field, while right fielder

George Bechtel George A. Bechtel (September 2, 1848 – April 3, 1921?) was an American right fielder and pitcher in professional baseball's early history. He played in all five seasons of baseball's first all-professional league, the National Association, and ...

moved to center. Philadelphia won the game, and the championship, by a 4–1 count. Berkenstock failed to get a hit in four trips to the plate (striking out three times), but recorded three putouts in the field, including the final out of the game.

Personal life

Berkenstock was married twice, to Maria Louisa Fable (1832–1871) in 1855, and to Esther H. Gresh (1836–1921) in 1885. With Maria, Nate had two daughters: Lilly L. Berkenstock (1859–1944) and May Malvina Berkenstock (1866–1867). A

SABR The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

report indicates he served in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, enlisting in 1862 and mustering out after two weeks. In 1885, at age 53, Berkenstock played in an old-timer's game between the Athletic and

Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President An ...

teams. He died in Philadelphia on February 23, 1900; his obituary ("Old Base Ball Man Dead", ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', Feb 25, 1900, p.4) states that he was "one of the best known hat dealers in this state" and that his home was on Diamond Street. Berkenstock's tombstone gives his birth date as September 17, 1832.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkenstock, Nate 1832 births 1900 deaths 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Philadelphia Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players Major League Baseball right fielders Philadelphia Athletics (NA) players Philadelphia Athletics (NABBP) players Union Army soldiers