Of all American team sports baseball has the longest and most storied history. And out of all the baseball clubs the very first professional team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings. In 1869 their very first year as professionals (salaried players) the club began an extensive tour of the country taking on and beating virtually all comers. All in all they won over 70 games with nary a defeat and their tour helped spark a national baseball explosion.It is not often that a baseball relic from the mid-19th century comes into the market with any connection whatsoever to the legendary Cincinnati Red Stockings particularly an artifact with great historical importance. So we are pleased to offer the trophy bat awarded to George B. Ellard one of the teams founders and pioneers for hitting the most home runs throughout a five-game tournament hosted by the storied club in September of 1867.In order to fully appreciate the bats importance and provenance a short historical review is in order.Three years before the Red Stockings dominant tour the Cincinnati Base Ball Club was founded by several enterprising young men who simply loved baseball the game that was already being touted as our National Pastime. Amongst the founding members was one George B. Ellard an Irish-born American who until being smitten by the baseball bug was a cricket enthusiast. In early 1867 Ellard having a penchant for promoting baseball became the teams manager. Quickly he recruited a number of the citys esteemed cricket players to play on the Cincinnati Base Ball Club most notably future Hall of Famer Harry Wright. Ellard also coaxed his teammates to play baseball at the Union Cricket Grounds a pastoral open-air setting he thought perfectly suited for baseball. Ellard was right. Soon the baseball club became prominent not only within the city but in its environs and throughout Ohio as well. Ellard proposed that they charge a nominal admission (ladieshoweverwould continue to watch games for free) and the club agreed. In short order they built a large clubhouse on the Union Grounds to accommodate their growing membership; they erected an outfield fence to separate the players from the burgeoning crowds; and most significantly they took on the moniker The Red Stockings because they donned striking uniforms that featured red stockings to be worn with their short white trousers and white flannel shirts. That special touch still a hallmark for that citys professional baseball team to this day was designed by Mr. Ellard. For good measure the omnipresent Ellard ordered and arranged for delivery of their trademark and opened a sporting goods emporium in downtown Cincinnati that provided the club with its bats and balls!1867 was also a banner year for the Red Stockings on the field as well as they won all of their games except one and Ellard himself showed his ball-playing prowess as one of the clubs leading players. It was written that he played the outfield effortlessly and was a first-rate catcher and most significantly handled his bat with the best. When the team called for a convention to form the Ohio State Association of Base Ball Players during the last week of September in order to join their national counterparts the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) the club turned the event into a gala five-day tournament. It was there that George Ellard who had worked tirelessly with others to establish Cincinnatis significant baseball roots had his bat do the talking. On Thursday September 26 1867 the Red Stockings hosted the Hickory Club of McConnellsville Ohio for the tournaments premium game according to Henry Chadwicks renowned baseball Bible The Ball Players Chronicle in front of the largest crowd ever assembled on the Union Grounds. The nationally distributed paper further reported that the game proved to be the best ever witnessed in Cincinnati and created immense enthusiasm among the spectators. The Red Stockings won 28 to 16 with Ellard providing much of the offensive firepower.The offered bat is the very prize Ellard received in celebration of the Red Stockings victory in the premium game recognizing Ellard for the largest number of clean home runs. Affixed to the upper barrel of the exquisitely crafted hand-turned 31?3/4 inch bat is a beautifully engraved 2 by 2?1/4 inch sterling silver shield that reads: Base Ball Tournament ? Union Grounds ? Cincinnati O. ? 6th Special Prize for ? Largest number of clean Home Runs ? Won by Geo. B. Ellard ? Cincinnati B.B.C. ? Sept. 1867. To our knowledge this is the only trophy bat attributed to any member of the Cincinnati Red Stockings that has been publicly offered. Having remained in the possession of a West Coast antique dealer for decades the bats state of preservation is simply superb. Only a few unobtrusive nicks and scratches that have little effect on its imperial display quality. A museum-worthy baseball relic from the formative years of Americas National Game.