Rhode Island Baseball: The Early Years

by Rick Harris

Overview

Woonsocket native Gabby Hartnett set the world record by catching a baseball thrown from a blimp eight hundred feet above him. Then he did it again. Rhode Island Baseball possesses the same knack for astonishing you time after time with stories of baseball legends you thought you knew (like Nap Lajoie) and teams you might never have heard of (like the OSRC: Orcutt's Sure Rheumatism Cure). As you slide back into an era when men and women played professional ball barehanded and a rabbit hole could change a game, you will discover how large a role America's smallest state played in the nation's favorite pastime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596294967
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	08/13/2008
Series:	Sports
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

RickHarris was born and raised in Iowa and currently resides in Cranston, Rhode Island. Rick began his baseball research and writing career in 1992. He has authored Rhode Island Baseball: the Early Years, " published by The History Press in 2008, and "Brown University Baseball: A Legacy of the Game, " published by the History Press in 2012. He has presented at numerous baseball research conferences, provided countless public talks, written many articles and made several appearances on local TV news shows."

Table of Contents

Preface     9
Acknowledgements     13
A Brief History of Baseball in Rhode Island     15
The National Pastime and the Origins and Development of Baseball in Rhode Island
Before Baseball     21
Notes on the Development of the National Pastime     27
Women, Rhode Island and Baseball     39
The Soldiers' Pastime     55
Who Killed the Dead Ball?     63
Historical Notes     69
The Players
Joseph Start     81
Hugh Duffy     85
Charles Leo Hartnett     91
Napoleon "Larry" "Nap" Lajoie     99
Frederick Eugene "Gene" Steere     111
Frank Corridon     115
The Teams
Island Park and the Comets     121
The 1892 New England League Pennant Winners     127
The 1914 Providence Grays     135
The 1926 Sayles Baseball Club     143
Bibliography     149
About the Author     157

Editorial Reviews

"We had a great play at ball today at noon." With that March 1827 diary notation by Brown University student Williams Latham, Rhode Island entered baseball history. But, as Rick Harris notes in this wondrous labor of love, the connection between city and pastime did not stop there. In 1884, the Providence Grays (then in the National League) hammered the American Association's New York Metropolitans, three wins to none, thus winning the first World Series. Although this two-time pennant winner disbanded after the following season, they niched several places in diamond history. Indeed, three Rhode Islanders are honored in Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame. A delightful item for any true lover of our National Pastime.