As noted here, the Phillies recently crossed a home run milestone, hitting the 14,000th round-tripper in their long history. It came off the bat of J.T. Realmuto on May 22nd. Bryce Harper’s two solo shots last night brought the total to 14,030.

From that piece:

It’s June 20th, 1883: Krakatoa has recently erupted, Treasure Island has arrived in book stores, and the Brooklyn Bridge is now open after 13 years of construction. Meanwhile, the Phillies are in their first season in the National League. They’re in Boston, facing the Red Caps (the future Atlanta Braves) for their 35th game of the year, and their record stands at 8-26. Batting third in the top of the first inning, shortstop Bill McClellan will do something no Phillie has done yet: he will hit the new franchise’s first ever home run.

That’s right, the Phillies’ first homerun was hit 141 years ago today.

Here is how Philadelphia newspaper The Times covered it, per Phillies historian @MattDAlbertson:

McClellan’s home run was made in the first inning, the ball lodging between two pickets directly over the right foul-post. The same fence stopped two home runs for the Bostons.

Below is a rendering of the Boston team’s home, the South End Grounds. Note the tall fencing extending into right field, in front of those precarious-looking rooftop bleachers.

Again, from the article on the 14,000th:

The Phillies would hit two more homers in 1883, by Emil Gross and Blondie Purcell. Jack Manning hit the next one, in early 1884, making it a four-way tie with one each. McClellan was the first Phil to hit his second (7/3/1884), and he held at least a tie of the lead for over a year until the last week of the ‘84 season.

The title of Phillies career HR leader would change hands eight times before Mike Schmidt overtook Del Ennis in July of the 1980 season. He may hold the title for a good long time: