national meeting. The number of clubs at the convention, and thus in the association, increased from 16 to 25 after the first year, and to 50 by spring 1859. This list gives the sixteen who convened in 1857, followed by the three later members who survived to be charter members of the new National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (known later simply as the "National League") in 1876; none of the original sixteen made it into the National League. Brooklyn: Atlantic (to 1870, professional), Bedford (1857), Continental (to 1863), Eckford (to 1870, professional), Excelsior (to 1870, amateur), Harmony (1857), Nassau (to 1859), Olympic (1857 and 1859), Putnam (to 1862) Morrisania (now in The Bronx, New York): Union (to 1870, professional) – that is, Union of Morrisania New York: Baltic (to 1863 and later?), Eagle (to 1869?), Empire (to 1869), Gotham (to 1870, amateur), Harlem (to 1869?), Knickerbocker (to 1868?) --who would go down in history known as the New York Knickerbockers Mutual (New York) (1858–1870, professional) Athletic (Philadelphia) (1861–1870, professional) Chicago White Stockings (1870, professional) The five named in bold continued as sometime members of the 1871–1875 National Association, (the second of two successive "National Associations") considered the first professional league. Dates refer to NABBP membership, not baseball activity or legal organization, but not all clubs retained membership annually; in particular, the Civil War curtailed membership for 1862 to 1865. Newark, New Jersey is one of the cities to the west across the Hudson River from New York City. Eight Newark clubs were sometime members and two more clubs from Newark, the Empire in 1858 and the Eckford in 1870, played matches with member clubs. Newark members, all years, ordered by first membership: Newark Base Ball Club (1860–1869) – that is, "Newark of Newark" or "Newark Newarks", Newark Eurekas (1860–1869), Newark Adriatics (1861–1862), Newark Americus (1865–1869), Newark Pioneer (1865–1867), Newark Active (1867–?), Newark Excelsior (1869), Newark Amateur (1870) The members farthest from New York in the early years were the Liberty club of New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1858, the only one of 25 members outside modern New York City; Niagara of Buffalo, New York in 1859, when the next furthest of 50 members was the United club based in Trenton, New Jersey; and the Detroit club of Detroit, Michigan in 1860, when five of 59 members were from outside adjacent New Jersey and New York states, the other