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Once Upon a Team: The Epic Rise and Historic Fall of Baseball's Wilmington Quicksteps
Professional baseball was barely into its adolescence in 1884 when a hard-playing, hard-drinking minor league club out of tiny Wilmington, Delaware—the Quicksteps—got the opportunity of a lifetime.
Led by archetypal stars Tommy “Oyster” Burns and Edward “The Only” Nolan, the Quicksteps attacked opponents with a spike-sharpened, rough-and-tumble approach to the game that was only then coming into style, including Nolan’s revolutionary delivery, the curveball. Managed by a wise cricket veteran and bankrolled by a cigar-chewing sporting goods dealer who ran illicit gambling rings by night, the Quicksteps were the talk of the town, playing to an .800 winning percentage in the minors and holding their own in exhibitions with big league clubs.
The National League was less than a decade old then, and the American Association, which had been established two years earlier, was nipping at its heels. But when a maverick millionaire named Henry V. Lucas established a third major league that year—the Union Association—the pro game erupted into chaos.
When the ensuing battle for players and fans claimed the life of the Union Association’s Philadelphia Keystones, the Quicksteps, in an extraordinary remedy, were abruptly promoted to the league to take their place—team, stadium, and city in a single fell swoop. But their arrival in the majors was anything but a dream come true.
As the first shots were fired in a near century-long battle for player rights, mass defections and a comedy of on-field error and misfortune resigned the Quicksteps to a virtually unassailable record for baseball futility.
Loaded with colorful characters, highlight plays and behind-the-scenes drama, Once Upon a Team tells the forgotten true story of a tumultuous and remarkable summer; a team driven and summarily destroyed by its own dream of success.
Led by archetypal stars Tommy “Oyster” Burns and Edward “The Only” Nolan, the Quicksteps attacked opponents with a spike-sharpened, rough-and-tumble approach to the game that was only then coming into style, including Nolan’s revolutionary delivery, the curveball. Managed by a wise cricket veteran and bankrolled by a cigar-chewing sporting goods dealer who ran illicit gambling rings by night, the Quicksteps were the talk of the town, playing to an .800 winning percentage in the minors and holding their own in exhibitions with big league clubs.
The National League was less than a decade old then, and the American Association, which had been established two years earlier, was nipping at its heels. But when a maverick millionaire named Henry V. Lucas established a third major league that year—the Union Association—the pro game erupted into chaos.
When the ensuing battle for players and fans claimed the life of the Union Association’s Philadelphia Keystones, the Quicksteps, in an extraordinary remedy, were abruptly promoted to the league to take their place—team, stadium, and city in a single fell swoop. But their arrival in the majors was anything but a dream come true.
As the first shots were fired in a near century-long battle for player rights, mass defections and a comedy of on-field error and misfortune resigned the Quicksteps to a virtually unassailable record for baseball futility.
Loaded with colorful characters, highlight plays and behind-the-scenes drama, Once Upon a Team tells the forgotten true story of a tumultuous and remarkable summer; a team driven and summarily destroyed by its own dream of success.
- GenresBaseball
240 pages, Hardcover
Published May 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 17, 2018
A marvelous investigation drawing on obscure newspaper reports, this book chronicles the beginnings of the nation's past-time. The era is brought to life as Springer harvests data from local papers to resuscitate events from the 1880s. The genesis of baseball unfurls from the chaos of poorly funded teams with rosters of talented though often rascallion players barnstorming via rail to play games to enthusiastic crowds. Rivalries complicate the proceedings as better funded teams lure away the better players from the less solvent.
It's a telling of a number of local histories that link up as regional leagues form and newspaper reporting spreads the word to fans eager for the news of their teams and favorite players.
Admittedly, the series of reports on local games can get as tedious as the grind was for the players, but the book is a celebration of a time of formation, of entrepreneurship, a hopeful era as folks united in pursuit of a central enthusiasm.
It's a telling of a number of local histories that link up as regional leagues form and newspaper reporting spreads the word to fans eager for the news of their teams and favorite players.
Admittedly, the series of reports on local games can get as tedious as the grind was for the players, but the book is a celebration of a time of formation, of entrepreneurship, a hopeful era as folks united in pursuit of a central enthusiasm.
May 12, 2021
An interesting look at a baseball team that existed when the sport was changing rapidly and only really starting to become America's pastime. Scattered throughout are also some great bits of baseball history (unrelated to the Quicksteps) that I would do well to remember for future trivia nights. My main criticism of the book is that there are a lot of names, both players and local places (which someone from Wilmington would probably appreciate more than me). I did enjoy reading some of the player backstories because they highlight how different the game and the country were back then, but there were a few too many names for me to remember. I would certainly recommend to someone who loves baseball.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews