SABR Local Grants update: Sea Foam House night baseball exhibit installed in Hull, Massachusetts
From left: Herb Crehan, Steve Greenberg, and Dennis Riley at the newly installed storyboard exhibit for the first night baseball game in Hull, Massachusetts.
A new storyboard exhibit recognizing the first baseball game played under artificial light in 1880 has been installed at the site of the Sea Foam House in Hull, Massachusetts. The project was partially funded through a Local Grant received by the SABR Boston Chapter.
A dedication ceremony was held on June 11, 2025, with Steve Greenberg, President of the Hull Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Hull Historical Society, as master of ceremonies. Herb Crehan from the SABR Boston Chapter and Dennis Riley, Chair of the Hull Historical Society, also participated. Following the ceremony, a luncheon was held at the nearby Hull Council on Aging.
The town of Hull is planning a public anniversary celebration on September 2, the 145th anniversary of the original game on September 2, 1880. More details will be shared as they are confirmed.
Today, many major league baseball games are played under artificial illumination. In the late nineteenth century, the invention of electric lighting systems made experimentation at ball games almost inevitable. The first known such experiment occurred during the evening of September 2, 1880, when two teams made up mostly of employees from local dry-goods firms played a nine-inning game on the back lawn of the Sea Foam House, a hotel near Nantasket Beach in Hull.
Click here to read Craig B. Waff’s recap of the 1880 game in Hull, which was included in SABR’s book, Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century.
Visit SABR.org/local-grants to learn more about the SABR Local Grants program.
Originally published: July 16, 2025. Last Updated: July 16, 2025.