Early Baseball Career
Exactly when Berkenstock first took up the game of baseball is unknown; The National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organized amateur league, wasn't even founded until 1857, when he was 26. 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 team that now plays in Oakland) in 1863, when he was already 32.
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 1863-66:
| Year | Positions | Games | Runs | Hands Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1863 | 1B-OF | 9 | 19 | 25 |
| 1864 | 1B | 8 | 28 | 20 |
| 1865 | 1B | 15 | 59 | 38 |
| 1866 | 1B (reserve) | 13 | 66 | 48 |
| Totals | 45 | 172 | 131 |
Athletic was among the top teams in the nation in the 1860s, winning an (unofficial) national championship in 1867, the year after Berkenstock retired.
Read more about this topic: Nate Berkenstock
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