Regarding the Petersburg baseball players: 1894 saw the emergence of a
six-team professional league in Virginia (with teams in Richmond,
Petersburg, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Staunton, and Roanoke). If the
information you have is correct, it's probably a safe bet that
Petersburg's team won the first title of the VA State League. This
information comes from the well-documented and interesting Baseball and
Richmond (2003) by W. Harrison Daniel and Scott Mayer. There is also a
work by David Chrisman on the Virginia League, which is more statistical
in nature. Not sure if Chrisman documents things that early, but there
may be some information on the Petersburg franchise.
Bland Whitley
Library of Virginia