Tom Oran In 1862

At a match game of Base Ball played Friday, May 30th, between the Empire, Jr. and Imperial, which resulted in a defeat of the former, the score was [36-18.]

-Missouri Republican, May 31, 1862

The important thing about this game is that the box score lists Tom Oran as the captain and catcher of the Empire, Jr.  Previously, we had traced Oran's earliest game in St. Louis to 1863 and his time with the Commercial, Jr.  Now we can state that the first Native American to play major league baseball was playing in St. Louis in 1862 and that the teenage Oran was a prominent St. Louis ballplayer during the Civil War.