Q: Baseball was played in Kansas as early as 1867 when the Frontier Baseball Club was organized. In which city was that first Kansas baseball club organized? 
Evan Kvasnicka, whose uniform is now in the collections of the Kansas Museum of History, joined the Narka, Kan., baseball team following World War II. This woolen Narka uniform was modeled after those worn by the St. Louis Cardinals at the time. An image search for the first baseball club in Kansas was unfruitful. If you have one of the Leavenworth team from the 1800s, email us! (Photo via Kansas Historical Society)
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A: Leavenworth
Glen Pelensky, from Narka, Kan., and Evan Rudolph Kvasnicka, from Haddam, Kan, wearing their Narka baseball uniforms in the 1940s. (Photo via Kansas Memory/Kansas Historical Society) According to the Kansas Historical Society, baseball was played in Kansas as early as 1867 when the Frontier Baseball Club was organized in Leavenworth. The game had already been a popular way for soldiers to relieve the boredom of camp life during the Civil War (1861-1865). Thousands of veterans moved to Kansas following the war and brought with them a love of the game. Soon teams sprang up across the state, and a baseball tournament was held at the 1867 Kansas State Fair in Lawrence. A silver trophy in the shape of a baseball was awarded to the winning team. Baseball continued to grow in popularity and by the turn of the century many towns across the state fielded teams.
(Source: Kansas Historical Society)
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