In the earliest days of organized baseball, Brooklyn teams dominated the new game. The second recorded game of baseball was played near what is now
Fort Greene Park on October 24, 1845. Brooklyn's
Excelsiors,
Atlantics and
Eckfords were the leading teams from the mid-1850s through the
Civil War, and there were dozens of local teams with neighborhood league play, such as at
Mapleton Oval. During this "Brooklyn era", baseball evolved into the modern game: the first
fastball, first
changeup, first
batting average, first
triple play,
first pro baseball player, first
enclosed ballpark, first
scorecard, first known African-American team, first black championship game, first road trip, first gambling scandal, and first eight pennant winners were all in or from Brooklyn.