Albany’s first brush with baseball immortality is scarcely known. It occurred on July 2. 1860 when the Excelsiors of South Brooklyn traveled up the Hudson River to play the Champion club of Albany. While the game seems insignificant, it was the first time that a baseball team ever traveled a great distance to play another team. Unfortunately for Albany, the Champion club lost, 24-6.

By the late 1870s, Albany joined the professional ranks with two teams playing in the International Association. One of the teams departed in May 1879 for Rochester while the other finished the year in first place with a 27-13 record.

The 1880s brought numerous attempts to field a professional team with most failing to complete an entire season. The city tried an entry in the International Association again in 1880, but that lasted only 23 games. An Eastern Association team played just 7 games the following year. On July 27, 1885, the Albany entry in the New York State League folded after 44 games, however, the team was able to post a 24-20 record. The Albany Times the following day reported that “the baseball fever has not been severe enough this season to make it a paying investment.” It’s apparent that other Albany teams of this era failed for the same reasons. Albany also tried the Hudson River League in 1886, but that
too was a failure.

Major League Ball

Fans in Albany from 1880 to 1882 did enjoy the only major league baseball hat has ever been played in the city. The Troy Haymakers, an entry in the National League and the forerunners of the New York Giants, played five games at Riverside Park during those years. Riverside was used as Albany’s home field for most of the late 19th century and parts of the early 20th century. (Albany did play some of its 1901 games at a field called Riverside Park on Bonacker’s Island in Rensselaer. This was on a privately owned island across from Albany’s State Street and did not have any grandstands.) The park, complete with large wooden grandstands, was located between Broadway and Quay Street and Herkimer and Westerlo streets near the Hudson River.

Success did not make an appearance for another Albany baseball team until 1891 when Albany fielded an Eastern League team. The team placed second in an eight-team race. In fact, the season was such a success for everyone in the league, that the team owners decided to have a supplementary season with four of the top teams. Albany again finished second.

The team moved back into the New York State League in 1894 after a sixth-place finish the previous year. The move apparently did not work out as on July 5 the team disbanded, again for financial reasons. While the team was a financial disaster, it was superb on the diamond, leading the league when it departed. The failure of another city’s team in 1896 helped Albany to get a franchise in the Eastern League in May 1896. But after 22 games, the team’s attendance was even worse in Albany than it had been in Toronto. so it moved back to Ontario. The last year of the 19th century saw the first of 18 consecutive years for Albany in the New York State Leagues, a very strong league throughout upstate New
York which provided the majors with a number of talented players.

Championship Teams

Success, a winning record and a championship flag came during the team’s third year int the league. Schenectady appeared headed for the championship throughout most of 1901. But the Senators, as the Albany club had been nicknamed almost 20 years before, managed to snatch the championship.

A victory banquet was thrown for the team at Keeler’s on Maiden Lane on Sept. 6. Bill Quinlan, the team’s owner, received cheer after cheer for bringing a victorious team to the city after so many disappointing failures. Team captain and third baseman Jimmy Tamsett, was presented with a silk umbrella while the rest of the team received “an elegant silver match safe suitably inscribed.”

Another exciting pennant race involved the Senators in 1902. Binghamton had the championship within reach by mid-August, but while they lost eight of their last 20 games, Albany was winning 17 of its last 20 to take the flag by one-half game. A 6-0 and 4-0 doubleheader sweep of Schenectady the last day of the season clinched the team’s second consecutive championship under manager Thomas O’Brien.

The Senators also were named champions of New York state as they defeated Plattsburgh of the Northern New York League in September by winning two of three games.

A pennant would not fly again in Albany until 1907 when the team, led by manager Michael Doherty, won nine of its last 10 games to take the pennant. In that stretch of victories was a game Spalding’s Baseball Guide’ called “one of the most brilliant and stubbornly contested battles on the diamond that had ever been seen.” On Sept. 12, 1907, the Senators defeated the Utes 4-0 in 16 innings. Albany pitcher Lee Fairbanks went the distance allowing Utica just two hits while walking two and striking out 16. A week later, he threw 10 more shutout innings against Utica, although the scoreless game was called by rain. Doherty must have enjoyed those two games a great deal as Albany acquired Fairbanks several weeks before after Utica released him.

Most of the credit for the team’s success in 1907 went to Doherty. An Albany Times-Union article after the season said: “His (Doherty) work has been remarkable and is deserving of the greatest of credit. He is a quiet, gentlemanly player and keeps his men in line by the force of his personality without resorting to harsh words. Doherty’s battle cry is ‘Hang in there, boys.'”

The only excitement in Albany the next several years was the outstanding hitting of Bill “King Bill” Kay. The swift outfielder would become the first Albany player to lead his league in hitting when he batted .351 in 1909. Kay, who saw brief action with Washington’s American League team in 1907, led the New York State League in hitting again in 1910 (.363) and 1912 (.341), and placed third in batting in 1911 (.337). Kay led the league again in 1915 and 1916 while playing for Binghamton. In 15 minor league seasons (playing with Albany in part or all of five seasons) Kay batted a lifetime .332.

The moving trucks backed up to Chadwick Park, the Senators’ home Field on Broadway in Menands, on Aug. 22, 1916 as the team moved to Reading, Pa. The team’s record was not terrible at 48-58; however, financial considerations again played a part in the team’s destiny.

Back to the Eastern League

Albany’s chance to again play professional ball came in 1920 when the Senators took the place of the Providence team in the Eastern League to become the only league franchise on outside New England. The league, a highly respected Class A loop, was formed four years before by combining the New England and Connecticut leagues. That season also was the first for the Senators under the leadership of William McCorry, who was soon to become one of the city’s most popular players and managers. McCorry’s only major league experience had come in 1909 when he pitched 5 innings for the St. Louis Browns. But as manager in Albany, the 5-foot, 9-inch McCorry won 944 games — more than any other Albany manager. McCorry later became the New York Yankees traveling secretary.

After McCorry managed the team to a seventh-place finish in 1920, the team nearly averaged a manager a year for several years. McCorry returned in 1925 and the only thing that forced him out of the Senators’ managerial seat was the collapse of the league in 1932 making it the first Class A league to end in mid-season.

As the New York Yankees were tearing apart the American League in 1927, McCorry’s men were involved in a tight pennant race. The team took first place and brought home a championship banner home to Albany for the first time in 20 years. The championship brought good words about Albany as witnessed by the 1928 edition of the Spalding’s Baseball Guide: “When Albany won the championship of the Eastern League more than one old-timer was gladdened because Albany represents that which was best in baseball years ago.” The season also was called one of the most thrilling as the Senators were pressed into winning the season’s last two games from Springfield (Mass.), which had been battling them for the lead.

The Senators then went up against the International League champion Buffalo Bisons in the Little World Series. Before 4.000 fans at Chadwick Park (named for Henry Chadwick) Albany’s Yank Yordy hit a three-run homer late in the game to give the Senators a 5-3 victory in the first game. An exciting game followed the next day, but the Bisons won as 47-year-old former Senator George “Hooks” Wiltse threw a 1-0 three-hitter. Senator Jack Hopkins allowed just two Buffalo hits. Buffalo won the last game in Buffalo, 7-2, to win the series.

Another postseason series started for the Senators night after they left Buffalo. This one pitted them against second-place Springfield in the Eastern League. It was the league’s first try at a championship series. The series was a dismal failure for the Senators as they lost all three games. It also was a financial loss as only several hundred fans attended each game. The highlight of the series for Senator fans however, must have been the final game as Bill McCorry started at pitcher and then played one inning at each position.

Albany was the location of memorable games for two of baseball’s greatest players — Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. For Cobb, Hawkins Stadium was the scene of the next to last game he would ever play for a major league club. Cobb played an exhibition game in Albany on Sept. 13, 1928 against the Senators while a member of the Philadelphia Athletics. He hit two singles in his five innings of play in the 10-6 Albany win. He played another exhibition in Toronto and then retired on Sept. 17.

Ruth had two big days in Albany without knowing the significance of each as they happened. During an exhibition game with the Senators in 1929, he hit what has been called the longest home run in Albany. Then, 10 years later, he hit what probably was the last home run of his career. The Dodgers were playing the Senators in an exhibition game in 1939 while Ruth was a coach with the team. In the first inning, Ruth hit a two-run homer for what was his last home run in a major league uniform.

Five years later, Albany was again without a minor league team as the Eastern League collapsed on July 17, 1932. The second-place Senators defeated New Haven in a doubleheader that day and then discovered that they had no league to play in. Most teams were losing money while others had their financial support withdrawn from major league teams. Senators’ president Samuel Aronowitz. vowed to bring another franchise to the city as soon as possible. He made good on his pledge as the Reading (Pa.) Keys were moved into Hawkins Stadium (which was built in 1928 at a cost of $240.000 on the site of Chadwick Park and was named for the team’s former owner, Michael J. Hawkins) on Aug. 6 and Albany was a part of the International League.

Controversy from Sing Sing

The only excitement that the team managed to stir up during this period came in 1935 when Johnny Evers, the future Hall of Fame second baseman who was the team’s general manager, signed Edwin (Alabama) Pitts after his release from Sing Sing Prison. Pitts had been convicted of robbing a store in 1930. A controversy arose when Charles Knapp, president of the International League, and W.G. Braham, president of the national Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, refused to OK Pitts’ $200 a month contract with Albany. A month later, however, he was granted permission to play. Pitts batted .233 in his only season with the Senators.

The team would stay around the International League until 1936 with very little success. Despite bringing a team comprised mostly of ex-major leaguers to Albany in 1932, the team could do nothing right. By 1938, the team was in the new Eastern League (which had a salary cap of $3,200 per team per month) where they would stay for the next 23 years and would find their most success, both at the gate and on the field, under the ownership of Thomas F. McCaffrey. McCaffrey bought the Eastern League’s Allentown (Pa.) franchise in 1937 and moved the team to Albany where the club was a member of the Eastern League until 1958. During that time, the team won pennants in 1942, 1949 and 1952.

A number of outstanding players got their start here, including Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner who played his first professional ball game in Albany in 1941. One of the best seasons of all time for a minor league pitcher came in 1949 when Orie Arntzen, then a 40-year-old right-hander, went 25-2 and was named baseball’s minor league player of the year. Arntzen took good advantage that season of the Senators fine play in Hawkins Stadium as they went 50-20 at home. A few seasons earlier, another Senator, James “Ripper” Collins, won the same honor as the team’s player-manager batted .369.

Other notable happenings during this period came in 1935 when Hack Wilson closed out his career in Albany with a .263 average and three home runs in 59 games. Four years later, Rabbit Maranville managed the Senators and played six games at second base at the age of 47. Additionally, Al Gionfriddo hit 28 triples in 1944, the highest total in the minor leagues, and Merrill “Pinky” May in 1947 and Herschel Held two years later collected 151 bases on balls.

The last game played at Hawkins Stadium came on Sunday, Sept. 6. 1958. The Springfield Rifles clinched the Eastern League pennant with an 8-4 win over the Senators. Only 800 fans were on hand for the game and ceremony where former Senator Frank Staucet presented McCaffrey with a plaque honoring him for all he had done for baseball in Albany.

Indeed, one of the saddest days in Albany baseball history came in November 1960 when workmen began tearing down Hawkins Stadium, unoccupied for more than a year and in great disrepair. The site is now home to Mid-City Plaza.

In the 1970s, several games were played at Albany’s Bleecker Stadium in an attempt to entice a team to move to the Capital District. That dream finally became a reality in 1983 when the Albany-Colonie A’s — appropriately members of the Eastern League — played their first game on April 26 in Bleecker Stadium. More than 9,000 fans showed up for a memorable inaugural game at the new $1.2 million Heritage park Aug. 20, 1983. The game with the Nashua Angels was called at 1:09 a.m. after 12 innings with the score tied at 7-7. Most fans did not go home unhappy, however, as 66 kegs of beer were consumed that evening.

John Clapp had initially left the Ithaca Athletic Club (IAC) in 1870 to become a professional ballplayer. His obituary claims that he learned his skills from the IAC. He played into shape each spring with the local club before joining his professional team. Clapp’s letter to Harry Wright asking for a tryout evoked a classic reply that gives one an intimate window through which one can see early 19th century baseball. Wright remarked that Clapp seemed very confident of holding his own in any position with the best of them — “the kind of player I want” — but that he wished to ask a few more questions.

He wanted to know what kind of pitching Clapp caught the previous year and how fast it was; what other position did he play; did Clapp think he could play third base; was he confident he could “catch a swift pitcher” like Spalding “up to or close behind” the batter; was he able to fill in satisfactorily for any of the infielders who might be injured; could he bat swift pitching with confidence; was he prepared to come at his own risk and show what he could do? Wright added dryly that he was taking it for granted that “you are gentlemanly and temperate at all times.”

In the early days of baseball, a team issued a challenge by correspondence or public notice. Once the gauntlet let was picked up, the two managers negotiated the ground rules, which included game site, gate division, and a banquet. When the two teams met at the selected site, a mutually agreeable ball and umpire were chosen. The dignified Professor Horatio S. White of Cornell University was frequently called on to umpire. He was the arbitrator for a game in 1877 between the Syracuse Stars and St. Louis Browns p1ayed in Ithaca.

After the 3 p.m. starting time, the game took one to one and a half hours to play. Then the two squads would meet in the club’s house or local dining tavern to enjoy the tale-swapping companionship. The most memorable occasion of the Ithaca’s 1875 season was the banquet held for the Norwich Comet Club at the IAC’s gymnasium. John Clapp resided as the master of ceremonies and baseball wit. Norwich responded with a public letter of gratitude that was published in the Ithaca Journal.

The Ithaca Athletics or Ithacas, played the 1875 season at the Willow Avenue Fairgrounds, East and West Railroad avenues between Willow Avenue and North Cayuga. Today, Short Street dissects the old Fairgrounds.

The 1875 opening day lineup was Jillett, SS; Sandy Burns, CF; Smith, C; Aaron Clapp, RF (John’s younger brother); Finch, P; Denmead, LF; Treman, 2B; John Vant Jr., 3B; and William Ireland, 1B. Substitutes during the 1875 season included Spencer, Frawley and John Clapp.

Late September found Ithaca hosting the professional Athletics from Philadelphia. The visitors, sparked by catcher John Clapp, routed the Ithacans, 12-0. Hall of Famer Cap Anon played first base for Philly and scored three runs on four hits. Three days later in a return match, Ithaca lost, 8-4. John Clapp, suffering from Puffy hands, did not play. The great Anson drew the collar.

In October, the citizens of Richford offered a $60 purse for a contest between the Ithacas and the Oswego Amaterus. The Amateurs consisted primarily of Binghamton players, and Ithaca again called on home-grown John Clapp. Ithaca’s Frawley hurled for Oswego and defeated his home team, 11-6. The purse was split $40 to the winners and $20 to the losers. Each member of the winning team got four bucks. Ithaca later won a return engagement, but no purse was offered. The rubber game was canceled due to snow.

By now the enthusiasm for baseball ran so high high that the directors of the Ithaca Athletic Club undertook a campaign to collect $2,500 by selling $100 allotments to raise the standard of baseball in Ithaca. The next year saw the short-lived professional era in Ithaca baseball.

Professional Base Ball

Since the town’s businessmen had subscribed to the IAC’s fund-raising drive during the winter, the beginning of the spring was eagerly awaited. April saw youngsters playing ball in the streets, the Ithacas practicing on the Willow Avenue grounds, and a convocation of central New York baseballists in Syracuse, N.Y.

Early in the summer of 1876, Driving Park was built in an area now occupied by Topps Supermarket. Admission to the new park was 25 cents with 15 cents extra for a covered grandstand seat. Ladies were admitted free of charge.

The directors put together a strong team to compete for the championship in 1876. Their roster included J.H. Richmond, C; Nick Alcott, P; J.G. Smith, SS: Williams Ireland, 1B; R. Treman, 2B; J. Burns Jr., 3B; Hick Carpenter, inf/of; E. Spencer, CF; Aaron Clapp, RF; and McCaffery, LF.

Richmond was a seasoned slugger from the Philadelphia Athletics, where he had been a teammate of John Clapp. Nick Alcott had pitched previously with Shibe’s Base Ball Club in Philadelphia. Later in the same season, Lew Say, SS, John Piggott, 3B, A. Lawrence, P/inf, and Chub Sullivan, 1B, were added to the squad.

The Ithacas found their May schedule practically washed away. They played only five games between April 22 and June 8. By June 12 the team had seven wins and two loses. Both defeats, before large home crowds, were ate the hand of the Syracuse Stars. Failure to beat a close rival overshadowed sterling performances against Rochester and Binghamton in the eyes of the fans.

The local newspaper further misled supporters as to the strength of the local club with such statements as: “A very fine contest is anticipated and although there is, of course, no certainty as to the result, it is quite generally believed that the Ithacas will be successful.” The fans went to Driving Park expecting to defeat the Syracuse Stars, who were one of the finest ball clubs of the late 1870s. The populace wanted a team like the Stars, which beat National League nine.

The town’s newspaper, the Ithaca Journal, led what seemed to be a vendetta against the team. The directors were publicly admonished to present their ballplayers in top physical condition, reduce the team’s laziness, and deter its tendency toward dissipation. In a late season contest, several Ithacas played for Binghamton against the Syracuse Stars and it was trumpeted in Syracuse newspapers. The Ithaca Journal defended the team by stating, “Syracuse papers erred … there are no revolvers on Ithaca’s team. The Directors would not retain such, as they uphold the purity of the game.”

“Revolvers” were those who jumped contracts. Since the many clubs and leagues of the 1870s had no written agreements with each other, team officials pirated whomever they wished. Standard player contracts went from April 1 to Nov. 1. Players received pay at no other time. A club usually sounded out many baseballists before choosing their team. Players sought to protect themselves by initiating deals rather than waiting for the owners.

The Ithaca Journal also suggested that the captain should police the crowd and remove unruly spectators. Captain Hick Carpenter resigned after the appearance of that article. An unfortunate incident precipitated this public advice. On Sept. 15 at the Firemen’s Day game, the umpire called that game in the sixth inning in the anticipation of rain. Ithaca had scored six times, had two runners on base and had only one out at the time. The score reverted to the fifth inning, or 12-2 in favor of Auburn. The crowd turned ugly and several fights broke out.

The high point of the season came a few days later on Sept. 19 when Ithaca battled the National League Hartfords in 11 innings before losing 5-4 to Hall of Fame curveballer Candy Cummings. Two days later, Ithaca walloped a good Detroit ball club, 11-1. They followed with two victories over Binghamton, but once again failed to defeat the Star club of Syracuse.

Al Spalding of league champion Chicago called off a late date in October on short notice. When word of the Chicago postponement was received, the directors disbanded the team. Neither Captain Carpenter, the Ithaca Athletic Club, nor the Ithaca Journal could fill empty seats. Fans stayed away because of disappointments in club capabilities, uncertainties due to inclement weather, and last minute cancellations by League clubs. Little hope was given at the time for another season of IAC baseball.

Hick Carpenter went to Syracuse and later to the National League, where he was a left-handed third baseman for 12 years. He, Lew Say and John Clapp played for Cincinnati in 1880. John J. Richmond spent three years in the National League and four in the American Association. Aaron Clapp played for Troy and Hornell while Alcott went to Binghamton in 1877 and moved with the team en masse to Utica the following season. Smith shortstopped at Buffalo in 1877 and Piggott returned home to star for Lowell. McCaffery went to Detroit, Chub Sullivan spent the next two years at Cincinnati before heading east to finish his career, and the rest of the team became amateurs again.

Its one excursion into professional ball seemed to satisfy the IAC as it never again supported professional baseball. Club baseball was not sponsored for many years. Public support instead shifted to collegiate athletics.

The Ithacas compiled a 45-27 record including a combined 21-13 versus upstate rivals Auburn, Binghamton, Rochester and Syracuse. These stats were reported by J.G. Burns.

In February 1878, a lively organizational meeting had been held in Buffalo, NY. The International Association chose the Tecumseh club as the 1877 pennant winner, made new by-laws and settled ever present disputes among members. A controversial issue was the case of the Binghamton Crickets versus the Uticas. The Cricket players had signed contracts to play in Utica for the 1878 season. The Binghamton Cricket Base Ball Club then inked the former players to 1878 contracts and claimed that within last year’s agreement was the implied right of first refusal. This controversy was decided in favor of Utica because the Utes held the prior dated contracts. Before the Reserve Clause in 1879, baseball contract law was the law of prior contract. The entry fee was raised to $30. Assessed annual dues were $20 per club. The visiting team guarantee was upped to $75 and the number of deadheads (non-playing attendees) allowed jumped from 10 to 12.

L.H. Mahn, the ballmaker, represented Holyoke at the meeting and gave a successful baseball demonstration. The association accepted the Mahn ball as its official baseball.

The congenial group of club representatives decided to gather next year in Syracuse. They adjourned and prepared to start the season.

Fourteen teams began the pennant chase. By special agreement, the squads were competing for prize money as well as the championship banner. Soon the club directors found that they had been duped. They paid Mahn $10 per dozen for the same baseballs that the National League had paid $7.50. In a bit of controversy, the league adopted the Spalding ball. Many of the subsequent unused Mahn baseballs are today on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The Stars

In 1878, the Stars peaked in their remarkable four-year meteoric history; they were the best team ever to play in Syracuse. Every man on the ’78 team played in the major leagues. The regulars were assembled by a thrifty and prudent management. McCormack, Hotalin, Farrell, McKinnon, Mansell and Carpenter formed the nucleus of the Star team. Harry McCormack was found pitching against the Stars for a local Syracuse club in 1875 and was signed on the spot. Lithe and agile Larry is the first National League pitcher to win his own 1-0 shutout with a home run.

Pete Hotaling split time between Syracuse and home town Ilion in 1875. He caught for the Ilions in 1876 in order to be with his boyhood friend Lew “Buttercup” Dickerson. He came to the Stars in 1877.

Jack Farrell was signed off the Princeton town team during an Eastern road trip in May 1876. The Stars inked him for $25 per month.

Alex McKinnon was picked up on the same road trip. He tended first base for an amateur Boston squad called the Star Base Ball club. His playing career was beset by controversy and tragedy that culminated in his death during the 1887 season. Alex was hitting a robust .340 at the time.

Jimmy Macullar came from the 1876 and 1877 Auburn teams. He plugged the shortstop gap. Salt City (Syracuse) favorite Mike Dorgan returned from the St. Louis league team to fill the catching position. George Derby signed on to play right field and serve as change pitcher.

The 1878 team also included a returned original Star, George Adams, who had patrolled the outfield in 1876. He was one of the two survivors of the original Live Oak jumpers. (In order to build a competitive team, Star management in 1875 secured the services of five players, Dorgan, Adams, Madden, McGlynn and Crossup, from the Lynn Live Oaks for the 1876 season. Not completely satisfied, Star directors raided the Live Oaks during the ’76 campaign and came away with Al Hall and James Tipper. Of these players only Dorgan was a real nugget. He starred for Syracuse, went on to shine for Jim Mutrie’s “We are the People” Giants and resurfaced on Syracuse’s American Association club of 1890.)

Denny Mack had a long and varied baseball career until 1878. He was a utility infielder/outfielder for the National Association Philadelphia Athletics and tile Philadelphia Base Ball Club, National League St. Louis Browns, the independent Fall Rivers, and in 1878 he appeared for both International Association pennant contenders — Buffalo and Syracuse. Denny became an evangelist after his playing days.

John Richmond held down infield positions for the 1875 Philadelphia Athletics and the 1876 Ithacas. He shortstopped for the Binghamton Crickets in 1877 before coming to the Stars.

Tom Smith played for Binghamton and came with Richmond to be a part-time infielder for the 1878 Stars.

Hal McClure played many years in the New England area and filled in when needed for the Stars.

The Season

On June 2, the “Twinklers” had a remarkable 23-3 record. The first defeat was a 4-2 contest with Utica. The second was a forfeit to Auburn when the Stars walked off the field to protest the umpiring. The third loss came at the hands of the defending International Association champion Tecumsehs.

The Stars were a tremendous draw on the road but suffered from lagging attendance at home. In Albany, the Stars drew crowds of 2,600. At Buffalo, Cleveland, Troy and Utica, the Twinklers attracted more than 2,000 kranks. In Cortland, against the Binghamton Crickets, the Stars performed before 1,500 while several thousand more watched from beyond the enclosed park. Many gatherings of more than 1,500 saw the Rochesters routed by the Stars.

At Syracuse’s newly built Newell Park, followers did not fully support the shining orbs. Discounting May 1 and July 4, the Twinklers had only five crowds in excess of 1,000. Three were against Utica. Utica was the team which had played in Binghamton the previous years when they were the Star’s bitterest foes. May 1 was a holiday and the first anniversary of Syracuse’s 16-inning scoreless tie with the St. Louis Browns as 2,500 expectant rooters saw McCormack “Chicago” the Uticas 3-0.

The fourth of July traditionally was the biggest baseball box office day. The Twinklers thrilled and early morning assemblage of 3,000 in Utica by losing to the locals 5-1. The two teams then boarded a train and chugged into Syracuse for the afternoon game. More than 3,000 howling enthusiasts witnessed Alcott again besting McCormack. This time the score was 3-1.

Neither game counted in International Association standings because the holiday playing date was not one of the designated championship games. July 4 was the one day that baseball clubs could plan on making profits. Troy would play Albany on that day, Ithaca would go against Binghamton; Buffalo would play Rochester, and so on. Kranks would pay 25 cents for admission to the grounds. A covered grandstand seat could be obtained for 10 cents additional charge. Visiting clubs worked out their own arrangements for splitting the holiday pot. Troy and Albany usually halved it. The home nine could pay a guarantee, 10 cents per head, or another agreeable arrangement. Faltering clubs and cooperative nines, which was a way of saying teams which did not get paid regularly, would stay together until the July 4 contests. The proud Binghamton Cricket Base Ball Club disbanded July 9 after paying bills and salaries due to poor attendance.

Rules were always a bone of contention and added spice to the game. The Stars protested a game with the Worcesters because the old-timer who umpired called Jack Farrell out when he was “plugged” with the ball. Even though this was a championship game and the rules had been misinterpreted, no attention was paid to the Stars’ protests. Pinch-runners could run for the hitter by standing behind the catcher and running to first base when the ball was rapped. Pete Hotaling scored the only run of the game against Hornell while running for McCormick. Pete played center field and batted second as well as pinch running in the same game.

Pitcher George Derby was banished from an exhibition game at Utica for using an above-the-belt-delivery. Maker of Hornell was injured while trying for a diving catch. Hornell had no substitute. The Stars agreed to call the game in the middle of the sixth inning with a 7-7 tie. Several times during the season both Syracuse and Buffalo, as visitors, had walked off the field in the bottom f the ninth when the opposing team led. The clubs had become too professional to play a useless half inning.

All summer defending 1877 champ Tecumseh found itself locked in a ding-dong battle with Buffalo, Syracuse and Utica for the championship. Buffalo, with Alleghany stars Galvin and Fulmer, put together a great team and grew more troublesome as the season progressed. Utica, pushed by their slugging center fielder Hardie Richardson, hung tough but could win only one of four from Buffalo. Tecumseh made a good defense, but due to the inclusion of Syracuse and Buffalo, the Association was stronger then the previous year. The London, Ont., Tecumsehs disbanded when they saw that they had no chance of repeating as champion.

The Tecumsehs disbandment changed the demeanor of the league and threw the standings into turmoil. According to the Association rules for disbanded teams, the lowest number of games played with every team was the number of games that counted for championship purposes. Many Star victories were thrown out.

The pennant race came down to Buffalo, Syracuse and the umpires in a one-game season. Buffalo had won 13 straight games on a homestand late in the season. Rivals claimed that it was due to the umpiring of Nichols. A Rochester umpire, George Campbell, filed a lawsuit against the Buffalo Express newspaper for libel in its description of his work in a 16-3 Rochester rout of Buffalo.

Game Time

The Buffalos scored nine runs in the first two innings of the championship game and held the Stars to a single tally. The was the pennant. Buffalo surged into the lead, but the Twinklers had one last trick to play.

Rochester disbanded on Aug. 21. The Stars claimed a forfeit from them for a scheduled Aug. 23 championship game. The Stars explained that though Rochester had released its players, it still existed as a club. If the win counted, Syracuse and Buffalo would be tied for the prize money and the championship bunting.

So it was that the 1878 pennant was not decided until March 1879 at the plush Baggs Hotel in Utica. Team representatives voted to disallow the Rochester forfeiture, thus awarding the championship banner to Buffalo. Little hoopla ensued because both Buffalo and Syracuse had been invited to play in the National League for the 1879 season. Both teams did so.

One of baseball’s earliest and most exciting leagues quietly drifted away. The pennant winner often wondered for half a year if it was the real champion. It was the National League which gained. Such stalwarts as Hardie Richardson, Chick Fulmer, Pud Galvin, Mike Dorgan, Hick Carpenter, Ned Hanlon, Doc Bushong, Larry Corcoran, Jack Farrell, and John Montgomery Ward joined the league and thrilled major league fans for many years.

The directors met … and shook dice to see whether the Bingos should go or linger and the festive cubes said they Should meander. And now we ain’t got any Bings.

The Daily Leader felt the main cause of “the Bingo disfranchisement was the large crowds or people that didn’t go see `em.” But, it had been quite a year for the Binghamton team: visits to Newark (“the benighted land of malaria and bad hotels”}, to the Syracuse “salt marshes,” to “Starch City” (Oswego), and contests against the Rochester “Lushers,” a team which would have found the International League Guide useless, “because it doesn’t furnish addresses of saloon keepers.” The Elmira Gazette, which covered the exploits of Binghamton’s closest (though non-league) rival, was subject to almost daily criticism by the Daily Leader. It was written that a man from Elmira happened to stroll by Riverside Park (home of the Bingos) and had asked someone what was going on there — evidently the “cheesy ball” the Elmira papers were “gushing over” had left the man incapable of recognizing a baseball game when he saw one. Or so it was reported in the Daily Leader.

This article will cover the 1887 season of the Binghamton Bingos, primarily through the pages of the Daily Leader. Binghamton’s weekly papers, the Democrat and the Republican, made little mention about baseball. The Democrat, however, did have a story about “Base Bail Lunatics” in its May 12 issue. It is the story of a Connecticut man who was considered insane because all he talked about was baseball. The Democrat added that now there were “about 10,000,000 such lunatics in the country.”

The Question of Black Players

The April 12 issue of the Daily Leader had two items of interest in its “Base Ball Notes” column. The first concerned the prospective unnerving for opponents when they visit Riverside Park since “the Binghamton Gun Club (is) in the next lot” The other item concerned Frank Grant, the noted black second baseman:

Complaint is being made that Grant … is being used as star player by Manager Chapman of Buffalo. This accounts for the amount of ground he is allowed to cover … and no attention is paid to such a thing as another man’s territory.

The Daily Leader was seemingly ambivalent about the black players in the IL. This is best illustrated in its coverage of the release by the Bings of two blacks, second baseman John “Bud” Fowler and pitcher William Renfroe. The lead note of July 13 read; “Gone coons Fowler and Renfroe.” But, in the same group of notes is this comment on Renfroe: “He will return to his home in Memphis, whence he expects to join the Topekas of the Western League. Renfroe is a gentlemanly fellow, who deserves to do well”

Two June visits to Binghamton by the Cuban Giants, a top black independent team, were cause for the Daily Leader to break out the racial epithets. On the ninth, the Bingos defeated the Giants 12-8, with Renfroe hurling a complete game and allowing one earned run. The Giants were referred to as “the snow flakes,” the “dark objects,” and “the simmenian (sic) visitors,” and a suggestion was made that “watermelons at home plate” might help the Giants. On June 30, the Giants returned, and this time emerged victorious, 8-6, in a game called after eight innings. The Daily Leader reported that “the sable, cimmenan (sic), colored Ethiopians, who make their lair at Trenton, N.J., jumped on the peripatetic Bings yesterday, and spilled innocent gore.” Bud Fowler, in his Binghamton finale, went 2 for 5, but committed two of the 10 Binghamton errors.

Despite remarks such as these, which can only he judged today to be cruel and bigoted, the Daily Leader was generally sympathetic to the blacks in the IL. For instance, in the May 14 notes: “If’ Billy Hoover (umpire) made the remark that is credited to him, that on a close point he would give a decision against a team employing a colored player, he should be driven out of the League at the toe of a boot.”

Hoover resigned by the end of the month to manage the Oswego team which soon disbanded.

On July 14, the International League directors met in Buffalo to discuss the “question of black players. Several representatives declared that many of the best players in the League were anxious to leave on account of the colored element, and the board finally directed Secretary White to approve no more contracts with colored men.” The Daily Leader was quiet on this matter until after the season ended. But on Oct. 1, it commented; “We think the International League made a monkey of itself when it undertook to draw the color line.” And, on Oct. 7, “We wonder if the International League proposes to exclude colored people from attendance at the games.” It is obvious where the Daily Leader stood on the question of blacks in the IL.

Bud Fowler had an interesting run at Binghamton. He was one of the stars on the team, usually playing second and, usually batting cleanup. SABR’s Minor League Baseball Stars lists the righthanded batter’s record as 34 games, a .350 average and 23 steals for the Bingos. The Daily Leader reported on his exploits consistent with the attention his teammates received. Rarely was his blackness referred to in game stories.

Though there is no indication of how Fowler got along with his teammates, it does seem that there was no blatant hostility against him. The Oswego club respected Fowler’s opinion enough to sign black second baseman Randolph Jackson upon his recommendation. On June 4, the Daily Leader reported that “Mr. F.F. Billings offered as a prize a life-sized portrait of the member of the Binghamton club who made the greatest batting average during home games of the current week … the official score-sheet … shows Fowler is the lucky winner of the prize.” With a .500 (8 for 16) average for the week, Fowler beat out 10 teammates for the portrait, each of whom hit over .300. One would hardly expect that such a gift would have been given to a despised member of the community. After all, even “official records” could have been altered, but there seemed no reluctance in awarding the prize to Fowler.

Fowler continued to play for the Bingos until June 30, when, according to the Rochester Chronicle, he was released upon the condition he sign with no other IL club. There must have been rumblings of displeasure before then, however. For example, on June 9, the Daily Leader reported: “We are authorized to state that the report of Fowler’s release was entirely without foundation.” Seemingly, the forces were in motion which would lead to the banning of blacks in the IL the following month.

The 1887 Season

On April 21 Binghamton began its exhibition schedule with a 10-3 win over Scranton before 800 fans. Already there was “a rumor afloat that Binghamton will not finish the season,” which “Cricket” (Sporting Life’s Binghamton correspondent) adamantly denied. Fans were reminded that if a game was to be played, a red tag with “Game” on it flew on Court Street, opposite the stores of Clark and McHenry; a blue flag meant no game. The Bings went 5-0 in exhibition play, including two wins over Scranton and Reading, and win over Allentown.

Regular season play began on May 3 and the Bingos beat Utica 8-2. The following day the Utes were soundly drubbed 26-8, with pitcher Ely allowing just one earned run and going 6 for 6 at the plate. Fowlers second inning single contributed to a seven-run outburst. On May 9, Buffalo’s Mickey Walsh was the victim of a seven-hit first inning explosion. Fowler was in the middle of the rally which, reported the Daily Leader, gave Walsh a “dose of nux vomica.” Binghamton finished its first homestand 5-5. A trip to Oswego netted three wins in four tries, and the Bings scored 47 runs. Fowler was the starting pitcher and loser in Oswego’s 12-10 win. He gave up five runs in less than two innings, causing the Daily Leader to remark: “Fowler has hitherto been the packhorse between a lame arm and victory. He didn’t get there yesterday.” Two days later, Fowler “got there.” The Bings beat the “Sweegs” 8-3, with Fowler the batting star. In the fourth, “Fowler stepped to the plate, and meeting the second ball pitched fairly in the nozzle, drove it over the right field fence for a four-bagger.”

Binghamton traveled to Newark and lost four games in mosquitoland, the highlight being George Stovey’s 9-0, five-hit shutout. It was reported that the Bingos offered “a bushel of peanuts” for Stovey. Black hurler Renfroe (2-4 record) broke in during the afternoon session of a Memorial Day doubleheader with Utica. After winning the opener 20-13, the Bings completed the seep with a 14-9 victory. Renfroe hurled a complete game in an hour and 40 minutes, striking out nine. The Daily Leader wasn’t concerned with Renfroe’s color that day. In fact, it seemed most concerned with the absence of the clown, Juice, left home by Utica, which was accused of penny-pinching.

When Oswego folded at the end of May, Binghamton’s three wins over them were removed from their record. So as June began, the Bings were 8-11, nine games behind first-place Newark (17-2). The Bings first June contest was a 12-11 win over the Syracuse S tars. Fowler’s two-run double in the eighth provided the winning margin. For the day Fowler was 4 for 5, with three doubles, each good for “two Ottomans.” On June 2, the Bings lost to Syracuse 7-6 in 11 innings. Renfroe, “(who) promises to be a daisy” went the distance allowing no earned runs. The Daily Leader reported that “The ‘Bings’ did not support Renfroe yesterday and many think the shabby work was intentional.”

In addition, Syracuse players were refusing to support Higgins, a black pitcher. On June 4, Renfroe and the Bings lost to Higgins and the Stars 10-4, before 1,500 in Syracuse. Scranton joined the league the following day. On June 25 Renfroe pitched the Bingos to an 11-7 win over Utica. The Daily Leader reported that “the dark-skinned twirler of the Bings gave them tricky little geometrical problems full of arcs and tangents … toward the final stages of the examination, however, he tried them on some of the rudimentary branches, and found them apt and greedy.”

The beginning of July saw Newark still atop the IL at 28-11, Buffalo second with 30-15, Rochester third, 21-18 and Toronto fourth, 19-18. Binghamton was ninth with a 15-21 record and 10 1/2 games ahead of last-place Utica. On July 2 it was reported that Mark Twain was scheduled to umpire at Elmira. The 1887 National League champion Detroit Wolverines visited Binghamton on July 6 and won 6-1, behind the pitching of Walter Burke, a “fat cuss” with an excellent “drop curve.” Hardy Richardson was 4 for 5 for Detroit and Stump Weidman hit a home run. The Bingos resumed regular IL play the following day with a 3-2 win over Buffalo. Knight had replaced Henry Ormsbee as manager with the Bings’ record at 18-22, 11 1/2 games behind first-place Newark.

The “lift” provided by the new manager was short-lived as the Bings quickly lost four straight to Syracuse, allowing 45 runs. The previously mentioned league meeting was held July 14 ad in addition to the discussion of black players, it was decided that Wilkes-Barre would assume Utica’s record. The Daily Leader speculated that this “might lead to a reopening of the Oswego matter (where teams’ wins and losses versus Oswego wee deleted). However, the Oswego matter remained closed. In other matters, Jersey City and Newark were censured for playing a Sunday exhibition on July 3, and umpire salaries were raised from $200 to $250 a month, effective immediately.

Mounting Financial Problems

On July 25 a meeting was held on the fate of the Bings. It was decided that a benefit game versus Elmira would be played. One thousand tickets at $1 each were to be sold and it was hoped that “an enthusiastic response will enable the committee to dispose of the entire number” and “keep the franchise in this city.” The Bings lost to Stovey and Newark 4-3 on the 26th. Outfielder Milt West was suspended “without pay by the Binghamton Association for indifferent playing. Justice to this player would seem to demand that he be released.” West was released and eventually signed with Columbus.

As the Bingos moved into August play, the financial difficulties were becoming more apparent. Four players were released on the night of Aug. 6 following a 7-3 loss to Buffalo. Among those released were season-long hurler Tony Madigan and team stolen base leader Casey, who was hitting about .330. The Daily Leader commented that “maybe too many players were pruned by the Board of Directors.”

“Base Ball Notes” of Aug. 10 spoke to the issue of rowdy fan behavior:

It is scarcely a wonder the club is not successful financially. One would imagine from the conduct of the spectators that only loafers were present. Decent people will feel bound in the interest of self-respect, to stay away … if those disgusting exhibitions continue.

By now it was evident that the fans had better start turning out for the games or the team would fold. The fans were admonished daily to “attend the games” and it was hinted that if folks want a warm welcome at the Great White Gate, they should “attend the games this week.” When attendance for a 7-4 loss to Rochester on the 16th was still small, the Daily Leader in its best guilt-inspiring tones wrote that the turnout was “not such as becomes enterprising Binghamtonians.” The payroll which was causing all of these difficulties was reported to be $2,400 a month.

On Aug. 20, the Bingos beat Elmira 18-2 for their third exhibition victory in as many tries against their hated rival. As mentioned earlier, the directors met that night and the Bingos folded. After numerous urgings for the fans to turn out, the Daily Leader on Aug. 23 lamented: “We are a Bingless people.” The Republican noted that Binghamton was a lively baseball town “for its inches,” but had too small a population to support a club.

The demise of the Bingos created a league controversy. Sporting Life reported in its Aug. 1 issue that Binghamton’s games against the teams remaining in the league would count only if a replacement for the Bingos were found. This stand, consistent with the IL constitution, drew the ire of Syracuse, which had defeated Binghamton in 10 of 12 meetings. The Stars, previously hurt when Oswego disbanded, threatened to withdraw from the league should their wins against the Bingos be removed from the standings. A meeting was scheduled for Aug. 30 in Buffalo and as the Sept. 7 Sporting Life headlined: “Syracuse Wins; Binghamton’s Games to Count.” Rochester, Wilkes-Barre, Newark and Jersey City joined with Syracuse in a 5-4 vote which allowed the games with Binghamton to count, despite the fact that no replacement franchise was found.

The Bingos did re-appear on Sept. 9, with only Ely and pitcher Green remaining from the IL club. The new-look team lost 6-3 to Elmira. In the IL, Toronto won 22 of its last 26 games to capture the pennant. The final standings:

The Binghamton team stole 179 bases, scored seven runs a game, and ranked ninth with a .304 team average. The Bings also ranked ninth in fielding percentage (.893), committing 343 errors, or about 4.5 per game. Individually, pitcher Green won 14 games and hurled the team’s two shutouts.

This look back on the 1887 Binghamton Bingos serves as yet another confirmation of the often frustrating maxim “things never change.” Certainly baseball had improved its relationship with black athletes, but perhaps one should be merely grateful for Branch Rickety breaking the half-century old color line and not question his motives. Certainly many former Negro league players today feel that Rickey’s main reason for signing Jackie Robinson was to lure black fans into Ebbets Field.

But in other areas it seems as if 100 years had changed very little. Milt West, earning a fraction of what today’s big-leagues make, still could be suspended for “indifferent play.” Big salaries also were a concern then. Sporting Life used the Peoria Reds for “a sample of the tremendous increase in player salaries” that was occurring in 1887. Fan violence supposedly a malady of today’s “permissive society” plagued the ’87 Bings.

And perhaps most poignantly for present day Binghamton baseball fans this note on the prospects for a team in 1888 in the Oct. 7, 1888 Daily Leader: “Binghamton will have a team if somebody can be found to go behind and push the darned thing.” That “somebody” was found in 1888 and Binghamton had baseball almost continuously for 80 years. Today out of organized baseball since 1968, Binghamton is once again looking for someone to push the darned thing. Some things never do change.

By 1905, many cities and towns of the state, particularly in the central and western zones, were linked by a network of interurban electric trolley lines which carried passengers from place to place at speeds which could reach 90 miles an hours. Towns in the Finger Lakes area between Rochester and Syracuse and north to Lake Ontario were growing prosperous and confident and the booster spirit manifest in such towns across the country dictated that they had to have their own ball clubs.

So in March 1905 a meeting was held in Auburn to form a league. It would be a “trolley league,” supported by the wealth and by the natural rivalries of the communities involved. Lending impetus to the organization was the tradition of representation in professional baseball experienced by many of these places reaching back to the 1880s.

The league opened the 1905 season with a compliment consisting of Seneca Falls, Oneida (which dropped out July 25 and was not replaced), Cortland (which dropped out of the league July 18 and was replaced by Canandaigua, which in turn dropped out July 27 and was not replaced by another franchise), Rome, Lyons, Oswego, Palmyra (this franchise dropped out of the league on June 15 and was replaced by Geneva on July 2), and Ilion (which was replaced during the season by Fulton). The final standings showed the outcome of the pennant race:

So far, no explanation had been found to account for the great discrepancy in games played in the cases of Geneva an Ilion-Fulton in comparison to the rest of the clubs, but this condition continued to hold true in 1906 when Auburn and Penn Yann (later transferred to Syracuse) replaced Rome and Lyons with the final standing as follows:

In 1907, with Lyons back in the league replacing Syracuse, the domination of Seneca Falls ended with a pennant victory for Oswego.

In its final year, the ESL, operated as an independent circuit and whether or not it competed a full season is not know. Research by Vern Luse indicates that it opened the season with Auburn, Fulton, Geneva, Lyons, Oneida and Oswego with Geneva and Lyons dropping out July 15, replaced by Watertown and Ogdensburg.

In its short history, the league proved to be an avenue of opportunity for several players who reached the major leagues. The best know of these was Jack Graney, long-time Cleveland outfielder who appeared as a pitcher with Fulton in 1906. alan Storke, who opened with Auburn in 1906, finished that year with Pittsburgh and proceeded to establish himself as a solid major league infielder before his death in March 1910.

Much investigation remains to be done before the complete history of this league can be written. On site research in the newspapers of league cities is necessary, because microfilm copies through interlibrary loan, where they exist at all, have so far been impossible to obtain. Player averages need to be compiled and reasons for franchise shifts need to be explained. The mysteries of the 1908 season need solution: why was the league then operating independently of organized baseball and did it complete the season? Finally, why did the league give up after 1908?

Short-lived as it may have been, the significance of the ESL lies in its role as part of a baseball tradition strong in the Finger laks region for more than 100 years, a tradition which produced professional leagues like the first New York State League in the 1880s, the early Can-Am League in the mid-1930s, the Border League in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and presently, the New York-Penn League. The Empire State League, unrecognized and all but ignored, was an early 20th century bridge over which this tradition passed.

Ball clubs in the infancy of the game never strayed far from home. Instead, teams played other nines from their city or surrounding area. Road trips, as we now know them, did not exist. That is until the Brooklyn Excelsiors came to Albany.

The Excelsiors’ excursion that would take them across New York state was first announced publicly in the June 28, 1860 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in a small article which told of the team’s planned trip “to Niagara and other cities.” The article briefly described the trip to Albany, Troy and Buffalo, however, the itinerary then became uncertain. “From this point movements are rather uncertain, but it is not improbable the trip will be extended to Detroit to which place an invitation has been received by the club.”

Making the trip was team captain J.B. Leggett, who served as catcher; James Creighton, pitcher; J. Pearsall, first base; J. Holden, second base; William H. Young, third base; John Whiting, shortstop; Asa Brainard, right field; H. Polhemus, center field; and E. Russell, left field.

The First Road Game

More than 1,00 people gathered on July 2, 1860 in Albany at the Washington Parade Grounds, which is now known simply as Washington Park, to watch what was promised to be a “genuine exhibition of baseball.” The Excelsiors — dressed in blue caps, white merino shirts trimmed in blue, white belts, blue pants and white shoes — finished off the Albany club, 24-6, in three hours. The Albany Morning News described the game in its July 3 edition: “As we anticipated with such players against them, the Champions were beaten, their score being very low indeed, but their very fine play in the field prevented the Excelsiors from running up a very large one against them.” The Albany Evening Journal added, “At the conclusion of the game there was cheering on both sides and the ball was delivered to the winners. About 5 o’clock the Champions invited their guests to a glorious dinner at the Merchants Hotel where a happy time was had and the greatest good feeling was manifest.”

The Excelsiors, “who have pretty well reduced base ball to a science,” then took a train across the Hudson River to Troy to continue their “crusade through the province for the purpose of winning laurels, or losing them, with the different clubs,” according to the Daily Whig in Troy. The game, played at Weir’s Course, “was a splendid game, especially toward the close,” the Daily Whig reported in its July 4, 1860 edition. “The match was played under the eyes of quite one thousand spectators — many of them ladies, and much enthusiasm was manifested. The score 13 to 7 is a very fine one, and as in baseball low figures represent good play; this match will be called a first class match. The fielding of the Victorys was fully equal to that of the Excelsiors, but the skillful pitching of the latter club, resulting in the balls flying into the air and being caught, had most telling effect.”

As in Albany, festivities continued after the match when both teams enjoyed a fine supper at the Troy House where “speeches were made, songs were sung and the best of feeling prevailed,” the Daily Whig reported. “Dr. Hegeman, on behalf of the Victory, presented the Excelsior Club with a ball and also a regulation bat, suitably inscribed.”

Off to the Niagara Frontier

The Brooklynites continued by train to the western reaches of the state on July 4. Before a game was played, the host Niagaras took the Excelsiors to Nagara Falls and entertained them at a fine banquet at the Clifton House on the Canadian side of the falls. Unfortunately for the Niagaras, the Excelsiors did not return the hospitality as they beat the home team 50-19. Albert Spalding in his 1911 classic “America’s National Game,” said the Excelsior’s totals were “the highest score that had ever been recorded in a Base Ball match up to that date.”

“It is safe to say that no ball playing was ever before witnessed in Buffalo,” wrote the Daily Eagle on July 9, 1860. “The manner in which the Excelsiors handled the ball, the ease with which the caught it, under all circumstances, the precision with which they threw it to the bases, and the tremendous hits they gave it in to the long field made the optics of the Buffalo players glisten with admiration and protrude with amazement. The effect of their playing could not have a favorable effect upon the spirits and energies of the Niagaras, and some of them were, without doubt, a little discouraged. It was remarked by every one that they did not play with their usual skill and coolness.”

Each Excelsior scored at least three runs in the game, with Leggett leading the way with eight tallies. Five other teammates scored five times each.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle added that “Brooklyn will soon be, if she is not now, able to boast of having the ‘first nine’ in the Union.”

The Excelsiors continued their trek across the state on July 7 by traveling to Rochester, where they encountered the Flour City nine. The Excelsiors won that game also, 21-1. The next day they defeated the Rochester Live Oaks, 27-9. The Daily Eagle reported that the game lasted nearly four hours because it was “much delayed by wind and rain.” The Live Oaks were able to put 10 Excelsiors out on the fly while third baseman Frank Whiting of the Excelsiors “made a clean score with six runs.”

The club surpassed their total of 50 runs accumulated during the Buffalo contest on July 11 in the excursion’s final game, which took place in Newburgh. The final score stood 59-14 as the Excelsiors defeated the Hudson River club to make their trip a perfect 6-0. In the six games, the Excelsiors outscored their opponents 194 to 56.

“The returning excursionists were met at Newburgh by a large delegation from this city,” the Daily Eagle reported on July 13, 1860. “The Club has been well received everywhere, and the trip had been in every sense a success. It should be stated that by the particular request of the Excelsior Club no wines or liquors were allowed on the grounds at any of the matches.”

Inspiring Other Teams

While it may be significant that the Excelsiors started a trend in teams traveling to other cities to face opponents, more importantly, the tour probably caused the formation of many new teams across the state. Spalding in his book wrote: “Always and everywhere on this great journey of conquest the Excelsiors were the recipients of the most gracious hospitality, a true sportsmanlike spirit possessing the hosts in every city visited. Moreover, at all points the game received fresh impetus, new clubs were organized, and word came from all over the State the Base Ball matches were being scheduled as never before.”

“The contests..had inspired the young men of those cities to emulate the example of the youth of New York and Brooklyn, and had begotten within them the hope that they might win for their cities a glory akin to that which had been achieved for the city on Long Island. As a result, clubs were organized by the hundreds, the fever spreading to all parts of the country, East, West, North and South, and matches, which developed strong new players, were scheduled everywhere,” Spalding continued.

The excursion through upstate New York proved so successful that the Excelsiors next headed south for another trip in late July. On July 22, the team defeated a picked nine from all the clubs from Baltimore, 51-6. On July 24, they beat a picked nine from all the clubs from Philadelphia, 15-4.

“Like the New York tour, this trip had a tremendous influence in promoting interest in the game in a new quarter,” wrote Spalding. “Upon their return, the Excelsiors found awaiting them an invitation from Boston, which they were compelled, reluctantly, to decline until a later date.”

The Excelsior’s trip across New York state was perhaps the first great push to spread the emerging sport of baseball.

In a short time, the Civil War would begin to rage and that too would help spread the game throughout the rest of the United States. Before long, the game was well on its way to becoming America’s National Pastime.

There are other parks which could have been mentioned. The one I know best and where many International League records were set, was Offerman Stadium (nee Bison Stadium) located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Ferry Street on Buffalo’s near east side. The original park on this site was built in 1889. It was first called Olympic Park and then became Buffalo Baseball Park. The birth pangs of the original stadium were hardly auspicious. First of all, it was built with second-had lumber hauled from an earlier Olympic Park in another part of the city. Secondly, the contractor who did the hauling was not happy when his $800 bill was not paid. On Opening Day of 1889, the planted himself at the gate on Michigan Avenue and made it perfectly clear he was not going to move until he was paid. Few doubted he meant business after seeing the shotgun he held at the ready. This novel method of enforcing payment proved highly effective and the disgruntled contractor was paid in full, permitting the Bisons to open their 1889 season on schedule.

Although the marriage of Buffalo baseball with the Michigan Avenue diamond was a shotgun affair, it developed into a long and fruitful union of 72 seasons. The old structure, rebuilt, patched up and added to many times, was finally torn down between the 1923 and 1924 seasons and replaced with a steel and concrete stadium with 14,000 seats and a new name — Bison Stadium, which it was called until 1935 when it became Offerman Stadium, following the death of the long-time club president, Frank J. Offerman.

The Buffalo park was located in a densely populated part of the city and had no parking facilities whatsoever. Immediately beyond the right field wall on Woodlawn Avenue was a row of two-family houses whose upper porches provided ideal vantage points for watching the games, provided you stayed alert with left-handed pull hitters at the plate. The story is told of one Woodlawn Avenue resident whose attachment to baseball (he had watched it for free for many years) continued to the very end when a long home run off the bat of Buzz Arlett of the Baltimore Orioles crashed through the front window of his house and came to rest a few feet from the casket in which he laid.

The left field fence, 12-feet high at the beginning and increased to 32 feet in later years, was bounded by the backyards and garages of houses that fronted on Masten Avenue to the east. Many of these residents erected bootleg bleachers on the garage roofs attracting those fans who could not afford to pay the full price at the box office. In deep center field, 400 feet from home plate, the scene was dominated by a huge scoreboard that towered 40 feet above the fence and provided a challenging, but elusive target for International League sluggers during the years. There would be only one to conquer it.

Immediately behind the home plate portion of the stands was a church. If you were a Presbyterian, and so inclined, you could attend church on a Sunday morning and watch the Bisons play in the afternoon without even crossing the street. It was in this church in 1911 that Ed Barrow, then president of the International League, came to be married. The church building, which still stands, bears the scares of many foul balls that bounced off its wall during the years.

Offerman Stadium was always known as a hitters’ park. Its foul line dimensions (291 to right and 321 to left) were not nearly so absurd as those at Nashville, Minneapolis, Sacramento or Baltimore, but what made the park a hitters’ paradise, particularly for righthanders, was the short distance to left-center (346 feet) and the prevailing wind (the ballplayers called it the jet stream) which gave wings to any fly ball hit in that direction.

Records, Records, and More Records

The individual and team batting feats performed in the Buffalo park were numerous. Ollie Carnegie, 12 years a Bison, holds the International League record for career home runs (258) and runs batted in (1,044). While many of his home runs were, of course, hit on the toad, it was at the home field with its friendly left field wall where he was most dangerous. The same applied to Billy Webb, not noted as a slugger, who hit two home runs in one inning against Newark in 1925. George Fisher, a lefty, did the same against Jersey City in 1929. On Aug. 4, 1957, shortstop Mike Baxes of the Bisons hit two home runs with the bases full against the Havana Sugar Kings — a feat accomplished only four times in the ling history of the International League.

But it was a Newark Bear, Bob Seeds, who chose the Buffalo park to put on what could be the greatest two-day hitting performance in baseball history. On May 6 and 7, 1938, he hit seven home runs, four of them in successive innings, drove in 17 runs and rolled up an incredible 30 total bases. And in the ninth inning of the May 7 game, with a chance to add even more to an unbelievable record, he was called out on a 3-2 pitch delivered by a Bison rookie pitcher, Don Ferris.

The Longest Shot

Luke Easter who, next to Ollie Carnegie, is Buffalo’s best-remembered ballplayer, accomplished on June 14, 1957 what no other player, major or minor, semipro or Negro League, had been able to do. He hit a low outside pitch delivered by Bob Kuzava of the Columbus Jets 500-plus feet over the scoreboard in center field. Later in the season, he did it again, this time off Marty Kutyna of Richmond. While the two scoreboard shots are legendary in Buffalo baseball history, they were not the longest or hardest hit balls of Easter’s Buffalo career. That distinction, according to Easter, belongs to a blow he hit off Jerry Lane of the Havana Sugar Kings. On that occasion he flushed a high inside fastball and pulled it directly to right field (Easter was not a pull hitter), across Woodlawn Avenue, over a two and a half story house and into the alley of a house on Emerson Place, the next street south.

The Buffalo park was the scene of four noteworthy team batting exhibitions, all by the Bisons. The first came on July 13, 1929 when the Bisons set an International League record with 11 consecutive hits against the Baltimore Orioles. A single by Clayton Sheedy started the string. Then came singles by Johnny Barnes and Jim Cooney, a home run by Buck Elliott, singles by Ollie Sax and Herb Thomas, a double by Heorge Fisher, singles by Hack Miller, Al Moore and Sheedy, and a triple by Barnes.

On May 30, 1932, the Bisons put on a devastating hitting performance in a doubleheader against Toronto, defeating the Maple Leafs 18-1 in the first game and then completing the felony by annihilating them 26-2 in the seven-inning second game. The Bisons failed to score in the first two innings of the first game, but tallied every other time they came to bat in the two games. For the afternoon they were 41 for 81, and hit eight home runs, one triple and eight doubles. Third baseman George Detore was 6 for 6 in the second game, hitting three home runs and missing a fourth by inches.

On May 15, 1934, the Bisons set another league record with five home runs in one inning against the Albany Senators. Heinie Mueller led off the second inning against lefty John Milligan by drawing a walk. After Butch Meyers had hit a home run, Link Wasem and Johnny Wilson were retired. Greg Mulleavy and Les Malton then followed with home runs, bringing in right-hander Art Jones to the mound in relief. He was rudely greeted by home runs No. 4 and 5 off the bats of Jack Smith and Bill Regan. Then came a tragic footnote to this record hitting display. Irving (Jake) Plummer, a promising outfielder recently called up from the New York-Pennsylvania League, was the next batter. Plummer had been something of a sensation in the three games he had played for the Bisons, going 6 for 12 with two home runs and nine RBIs. Predictably, Jones’ first pitch to Plummer was a bean ball. It caught him flush on the skull and knocked him cold. Plummer tried to came back later in the year, but was never the same and soon drifted out of the game.

Ten home runs in one game! Just another International League record for the Bisons at Offerman Stadium. This time the victims were the Syracuse Chiefs, who were crushed in the first game of a June 20, 1948 Sunday double-header by the football score of 28-11 on the wings of home runs by Anse Moore (three), Johnny Groth (two), pitcher Sol Rogovin (two), John Bero, Chet Laabs and Larry Barton. The Bisons then let up somewhat and won the second game by the more modest score of 16-12. Oddly enough, they scored the same number of runs (44), had the same number of hits (41) and went to bat the same number of times (81) as in the Memorial Day massacre of the Toronto maple Leafs back in 1932.

Sunday, Aug. 4, 1946, was the date of another pitchers’ nightmare at the Michigan-Ferry grounds. After three hours and 30 minutes of wood against horsehides, the score stood Buffalo 20, Jersey City 19, with each team garnering exactly the same number of hits as runs.

After the 1960 season, Offerman Stadium fell to the wreckers’ ball and a junior high school was built on the site. This was a sad eventuality for the baseball fans of Buffalo and for generations of hitters, past and future. As for members of the pitching fraternity, as far as is known, not a single tear was shed.

There is another exception — the birthplace and childhood home of the National League’s first secretary-treasurer (1876-1902) and its fourth president (1884-1902), Nicholas E. “Uncle Nick” Young, in the village of Fort Johnson, N.Y.

The reason the site is open to the public has nothing to do with Nick Young, however, and in fact there is no mention of him there. Fort Johnson (what the home as well as the village is called) was an outpost in the colonial trading empire of Sir William Johnson. Built in 1743, it was the scene of many conferences with the Iroquois nation as Sir William and his son, Sir John, presided over vast land holdings and served as the King’s superintendent of Indian Affairs.

Nick Young was one of 15 children of Almarin Young, a wealthy New York City importer of Swiss watches. The elder Young had purchased Fort Johnson several decades after the American Revolution and the resultant demise of the Johnson clan. He moved to Fort Johnson for reasons of health, operating a saw mill and grain elevator and owning considerable property in nearby Amsterdam.

In 1857, Almarin Young underwent some financial hard times, but was rescued when Abraham Lincoln appointed him Amsterdam Postmaster, a post he held for 17 years.

Nick Young was born at Fort Johnson in 1840 and it was at Amsterdam, according to an 1880s account, “where his first experience in ball-playing was gained, and he attained a prominent position as a cricketer.”

In 1892, a youthful associate wrote: “In those days [cricket] was the popular game, and as playfellows together about the wickets our recollection of Nick are of the pleasantest. Even then his rulings as umpire decided many a boyish wrangle that no doubt would have ended with a battered nose or blackened eye if Nick had not quietly and decidedly pointed out the proper adjustment of the difficulty.”

He enlisted early for service in the Civil War, after which he took an accounting post with the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. In 1867, he helped organize and played right field for that city’s Olympic ballclub, and in 1871 he suggested the founding of the National Association and was elected its secretary. He managed the NA’s Washington, Baltimore and Boston ballclubs and even umpired for that circuit.

During Young’s tenure as national League chief executive, innumerable rule changes occurred, and the National League overcame the twin challenges of the Players’ League and the American Association.

Nick Young died on Oct. 31, 1916.

Fort Johnson is maintained by the Montgomery County Historical Society and is open to the public from May through October. It is located three miles west of Amsterdam on New York State Route 5 where that highway meets Route 67.

Bad form. But a great turnout.

Still, the story of Rochester-area sport — baseball in particular — might better be spun out of material which is at first a little less, but finally far more, dramatic. Here is an anecdote: It is early December. A young man — a boy, really — who has grown up playing sunrise-to sundown baseball in the Rochester city parks and whose loyalties lie with that hell-bent-for-leather gang of gashousers in St. Louis, is picking up some spending money one Sunday morning at his employer’s downtown music store. The boss is there with him; so in an 80-year-old co-worker.

A radio plays in the background. Almost unnoticed, the music rises and falls, the notes climb and descend again, and finally there comes the Last Note, though at the moment it sounds the three workers have no way of knowing it for the Last Note. Perhaps it is only a brief, precarious eighth-note, but a world in an eighth-note, from which pivotal point that world abruptly spins away, erratic, off-balance. A voice interrupts to announce the attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor.

From the perspective of the 80-year-ood, the war to come will not be his war, even as the world in general is no longer his world. Coming of age in the late 19th century, his was the world of Charley “Old Hoss” Radbourn, Rochester’s splendid and tireless gift to baseball in the 1880s, he of the 60-victory season in 1884. In the old man’s time, Rochester had hosted professional baseball clubs variously called the Brownies (after the turn-of-the-century camera marketed by the local giant of industry, Eastman-Kodak), the Bronchos, the Beau Brummels, and, eventually, the Tribe. Ned Hanlon played here briefly, as did Dan Brouthers and Buck Ewing. Reddy Grey, brother of novelist Zane, blasted 12 home runs for the 1901 Bronchos.

His world was the world of Wally Pipp. And George “High-Pockets” Kelly, both of whom played in Rochester around the time of his war, the Great War of 1914-1918, of Ypres and Verdun and Passchendaele. The the doughboys came home, several White Sox fixed a World Series, and George T. Stallings’ Rochester teams won an astounding 309 games from 1921 to 1923.

But in 1941, the world and the war fell to the 17-year-old and thousands like him throughout America. Now managing partner of the Rochester accounting firm which bears his name (and which he co-founded in 1970 with SABR member Melvin J. Poplock), Cortland L. Brovitz found himself, not long removed from the position of music store clerk, flying planes over western Europe, remembering in brief airborne flashbacks the glory days of the Rochester Red Wings.

Gateway to St. Louis

In the winter of 1928, the Rochester ball club became the property of the St. Louis Cardinals at a time when young Branch Rickey was pledged to establish a farm system unrivalled by anyone. Billy south worth managed that first club and, with an extraordinary flair for theatrics, pushed the club to a final day doubleheader sweep of Montreal to clinch the International League pennant over Buffalo by one percentage point.

On May 2, 1929, the wings played their first game at Red Wing Stadium, 500 Norton St., Rochester, which 60 years later is still their home address. Tex Carleton threw brilliant ball for the club in ’29, as did Paul Derringer. Rip Collins supplied the bulk of the power, and for the second successive season, the Wings advanced to the Junior World Series. But for the second year in a row, they lost.

That pattern was broken with the arrival of John Leonard Roosevelt “Pepper” Martin in 1930, as the fledgling Cardinals, led by “The Wild Hoss of the Osage,” finally captured the elusive Junior World Series crown over Louisville, and added a second the next year, defeating St. Paul with the help of George Sisler, who capped a Hall of Fame career by hitting .303 for the Wings that season.

In fact, you could lift virtually the entire decade of the ’30s out of Red Wings’ history and bronze it for posterity. Johnny Mize, Marty Marion, Johnny Hopp, Whitey Kurowski — they left an indelible trail of memories. In 1933, Babe Ruth’s Yankees played an exhibition game at Red Wing Stadium. Walter Alston passed through. Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, the Washington Redskins’ Hall of Fame quarterback, played shortstop there in 1938. And the following, year, the decade was brought to a close with fireworks and flourish, courtesy of Estel Crayton Crabtree.

Crabtree (born, incidentally, in Crabtree, Ohio) really had three careers in professional baseball. The first and third, from 1929 to 1932 and from 1941 to 1944, respectively, were markedly unspectacular major league stints. The middle career, however, won him the undying affection of Rochester fans for his graceful center field play, his steady presence in the Red Wing lineup, and especially for a two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth, three-run homer that tied up a crucial playoff game against the Newark Bears in late September 1939. It was a game, and a playoff, the Red Wings finally won. Nearly 50 years after the fact, a local newspaper poll to name a Red Wings Dream Team still showed Crabree the people’s choice in center field.

Another pennant followed in 1940, and the following summer, appropriate to a year where one could hardly have imagined what the immediate future would hold, Stan Musial hit .326 for the Wings in a brief stopover on the road to Cooperstown.

And these were the memories, the images of giants, that a young, baseball-adoring Rochester boy took off to war with him. Meanwhile, his employer, the owner of the music store, was yet to have his say in Rochester baseball.

Amazingly, the post-war Cardinals equaled and in some ways surpassed the year-in, year-out excellence of their forerunners, and standout performers such as Harry “The Hat” Walker and Bill Virdon continued to post impressive individual statistics. But by the end of the 1956 season, it appeared the Cardinals, citing financial pressures, were no longer interested in maintaining their Rochester farm club. Enter Morrie Silver, the music store owner who 15 years after Pearl Harbor, became first president of Rochester Community Baseball, Inc., after spearheading the successful local effort to keep the Wings in Rochester. Later, in the mid-60s, returning to the presidency again with the club struggling financially, he set matters straight once more. These were easily the two most crucial “saves” ever recorded by anyone affiliated with the Red Wings. Consequently, in 1968 Red Wing Stadium was renamed Silver Stadium. If there is a central connecting link in the entire long tradition of Rochester baseball, it its certainly Morris Silver.

A New Era With the Orioles

By the time the stadium was rechristened, there had been a break in continuity and a new era was well under way; in 1960 the Cardinals and Red Wings had dissolved their affiliation and a new bond had been formed with the Baltimore orioles. With the St. Louis connection gone, longtime fans like Cortland Brovitz found it hard to maintain enthusiasm for the Cardinals, but equally difficult to generate excitement for anyone else. That being so, Silver Stadium nonetheless remained the stage for minor league heroics.

Boog Powell sparkled in Rochester on his way to Orioles fame. New manager Earl Weaver won a pennant in 1966. Bobby Grich was Minor League Player of the Year in 1971 with a stellar set of stats; .336 batting average, 32 homers and 83 RBIs; teammate Don Baylor had captured the same award the previous year. Joe Altobelli, who in 1983 piloted the Orioles to a World championship, steered the Red Wings to a first-place finish in 1971, and then finished fourth, second, second, second, and first again. Cal Ripken Jr., only two years away from an American league MVP award, amassed a .288 batting average with 23 home runs and 75 RBIs in 1981. In 1986, engineering the team’s return to excellence following a number of sub-par seasons, current Red Wings general manager Bob Goughan was named Minor league Executive of the Year by The Sporting News. The 1988 edition of the Red Wings took the International League pennant before dropping the Junior World Series to Indianapolis.

The Rochester area is home to a number of people either formerly or presently associated with major league baseball. Herb Washington, Charley Finley’s designated runner, owns four McDonald’s franchises locally. Altobelli, now a coach for the Cubs, also resides here, as does Curt Motton, once a favorite pinch-hitting weapon off the Orioles’ bench and now a coach for the Birds. Johnny Antonelli, the marvelous lefthander for the Giants and Braves who attended Rochester’s Jefferson High School, is head man at Antonelli’s Fireston, and American League umpire Ken Kaiser comes hone each winter to to host one of the country’s most impressive sports celebrity banquets. Former Yankee standout Vic Raschi was an area resident until his death last year.

Continuity certainly is an appropriate word to use when discussing baseball in Rochester. The city of Rochester had had a professional baseball team every year since 1895. The club also has used its Red Wings nickname since 1928. Additionally, the franchise has been affiliated with only one major league club since 1961.

The story of Rochester baseball previously has been chronicled in a pictorial history entitled The Red Wings — A Love Story (1969), by John L. Remington, to which this brief summary is much indebted. Remington’s book, in turn, cites Billy McCarthy’s Rochester Diamond Echoes (1949) as a source. Such works, of course, always serve to underline the fact that baseball through its long evolution has become in many ways very different from the game played in the days of Old Hoss Radbourn; alongside its legends and nostalgia are its hard, present-day realities.

But Red Wings general manager Bob Goughan eloquently brings together past and present, in words which speak worlds for the history of Rochester baseball and, for that matter, baseball anywhere:

I think you can be down to earth and pragmatic about it and still not take away one little bit of the glitter. It doesn’t lose anything. It’s still an unbelievably textured, stylized exercise in this uniquely, almost ornately carved field of play. It’s all of that, and it’s all of those things that everybody wants it to be.

The all-star game was to be the centerpiece of the day’s activities. The plan for the game was to have each league in the National Association — 41 in all — select one player and from this anticipated “galaxy of stars” two clubs would be organized and meet at Doubleday Field. Mike Kelley and Spencer Abbott, veteran minor league mangers, were picked to lead the two clubs, which would be named in honor of Abner Doubleday and Alexander Cartwright.

Alas, in the months that followed, a combination of circumstances turned the game into a symbolic ritual at best and, at worst, a failure not worth repeating. What might have become an annual and exciting event with much ensuing publicity for the minor leagues, instead, became a memory for only a few.

Counting the Stars

The were several reasons for the failure of the “galaxy of stars.” The National Association’s request for players went unheeded in part because each league president had his own concept of the occasion and there was no way of enforcing the directive. The response of the high minor leagues was particularly poor. The Pacific Coast League was represented by old Dutch Ruether who happened to be in the East on a scouting trip for Los Angeles. Joe Hauser, the American Association choice, was managing a semipro club in Sheboygan that summer. The International League “player” was Benny Bengough, a Newark coach. The Southern Association sent fading veteran Bob Smith, who appeared only briefly with Chattanooga in 1939. Most absurd was the Texas League’s contribution: President J. Alvin Gardner sent a uniform, unnecessary because special uniforms were furnished for the game by sporting goods companies. Even the Canadian-American League, which ultimately gave indispensable support to the game, sent as its official representative the Ottawa manager, Wally Schang. In addition to the Texas League, 15 leagues sent no player at all.

In their defense, the league presidents had several legitimate reasons for ignoring National Association president George Trautman’s pleas. Small rosters in the lower minors created a problem of either playing shorthanded for at least a week or signing a free agent to fill the All Star’s spot. It would be difficult to persuade a club owner to do the former and, from both a talent and financial viewpoint, would not be feasible to do the latter. Clubs certainly could not be faulted for being unwilling to risk the loss of a star performer in the midst of a pennant race. Nor could league presidents be blamed for not wanting to pay the cost of sending a player to Cooperstown. Perhaps President Gardner of the Texas League spoke for all when he said: “I would like to name a player for the game, but it would mean the man selected to the team would have to lose a week or more of play and I don’t think it fair to the team or fans to send away a star for that length of time.”

Another pragmatic problem was that the expense of sending a representative had to be borne by each league. The economy of 1939 had not been restored to a level of prosperity and many struggling minor league circuits, especially those far from Cooperstown, might deem such a cost unbearable, at best frivolous.

The planning and coordination of the game also left something to be desired, which contributed to the result. The game date conflicted with several league all-star games scheduled about the same time. In fact, the East Texas League contest was played on the same date. Scheduling the game a month after the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies also may have made the minors’ celebration seem anticlimactic. And slating the minors’ game close to the major league All-Star contest many have diverted attention from, rather than attracting attention to, the former.

Finally, a lack of publicity may have had an effect. After the March announcement, The Sporting News made editorial mention of the occasion just once, and it was not until June 22 that the first player designations were announced. This was hardly designed to draw national attention to the event.

New York State to the Rescue

Despite these obstacles, and the fact that when players convened at Cooperstown in July, fully 16 leagues had failed to send representatives, the game took place as planned. That it did take place at all is due in no small measure to the contributions made by three of the four minor leagues existing in New York state, particularly the Canadian-American League. In fact, the Empire State’s involvement looms large in the overall success of the day’s events.

The Eastern League’s representative was Albany’s good-hitting catcher, Bill Jackson. Jackson, later a minor league manager, caught most of the game before giving way to a semipro player representing the Cotton States League. The PONY League, in its first year of operation, supplied Art Strott, who finished the year hitting .375. But it was the Can-Am League which came through in a big way to supply the necessary personnel to fill out both squads. As mentioned, Wally Schang, was the official representative. In addition, managers Eddie Sawyer (who hit .369 that year for Amsterdam), Elmer Yoter and Steve Yerkes played in the game and players Springer and Webb filled in. Furthermore, 11 collegians and semipros from central and western sections of the state stepped in to represent the leagues which did not send players.

Moreover, what information is most readily available about the game and the other activities of the day is due to the effort’s of Albany’s Richard Conners. Conners, now a popular a respected member of the New York State Assembly, was in 1939 and Albany sportswriter, “the voice of Hawkins Stadium,” and Eastern League correspondent for The Sporting News. In the latter capacity, he covered the game for baseball’s Bible.

Finally, the ceremonial activities had a decidedly New York state flavor. The Rev. Harold Martin of Ogdensburg, Can-Am League president, delivered the invocation. Cooperstown’s mayor, R.D. Spraker, gave the official welcome, and Cooperstown minister Wilbur Sheriff offered the benediction. Auburn native John Farrell, for many years the head of the New York State League, was honored as one of the two surviving founders of the National Association. Eastern League president Tommy Richardson served as master of ceremonies at the game. The people of Cooperstown and the surrounding area strongly supported the event, hosting, attending the game and furnishing materials for the pre-game parade.

Throughout its history, the Baseball Hall of Fame has given little recognition to the minor leagues. Perhaps the words of J.G. Taylor Spink, which appeared in an editorial in The Sporting News of April 27, 1939, are apropos: “So far, the names nominated to the Hall of Fame have a decidedly major league tinge. None whose career had been almost completely bound up with the minors had been proposed. Yet the minors have played as important a part in the propagation of the game as have the majors and should have their niche at Cooperstown.”

He continued: “If the minors are to be given places in the Hall of Fame — and there is no valid reason why they should not — then they could make no better start than by selecting their No. 1 and No. 2 distinguished figures — Mike Sexton and Tim Murnane.” The names of Murnane and Sexton were among the seven included on the bronze tablet dedicated on that day, but Spink’s lager hope remains unfilled.

In an interview a few years ago, Assemblyman Conners gave his own perspective on the all-star game. While expressing his disappointment at the failure of many leagues to send representative, he attributed it mainly to the economic factors which prohibited struggling minor leagues from financing the sending of a player. Still, Conners continues to remember the event as a “gigantic thing, even awesome,” considering the number of minor leagues from across the country which did choose to be represented.

In any event, and due to the efforts of organizations and people upstate New York, the minor leagues do have their place in baseball’s centennial celebration and, if July 9, 1939 is not one of the memorable days in baseball history, it should be noted as an occasion when, at least once, acknowledgement was made that professional baseball is also minor league baseball.

The box score from the game follows: