During World War II, when many athletes went into military service, the military post at the Fort Ontario State Historic Site became a regional baseball powerhouse, due in part to the posting there of former professional and minor league ballplayers, even including a former starting pitcher for the New York Yankees. [Read more…] about When Fort Ontario Was A Baseball Powerhouse
Baseball
Fulton County Baseball History (Podcast)
This week on The Historians Podcast, Mike Hauser, author and Leader Herald columnist, has stories about major league manager Jack McKeon, Parkhurst Field and Moonlight “Doc” Graham from Fulton County baseball history. [Read more…] about Fulton County Baseball History (Podcast)
Baseball’s Satchel Paige on Long Island
By 1950, Satchel Paige was a star of the Negro Leagues and a World Series winner with the Cleveland Indians. He spent most of that year barnstorming across the United States which is what brought him to Riverhead Stadium on Long Island.
In this episode of the Long Island History Project, librarian and historian Fabio Montella relates his research into Satchel, Riverhead, and the deeper connections between Long Island and Negro League baseball. [Read more…] about Baseball’s Satchel Paige on Long Island
Mohawk Valley Baseball History Virtual Talk
The Oneida County History Center will host a virtual talk by Lou Parrotta, the City of Utica Historian, on the history of baseball in the Mohawk Valley, and the local players who made it to the Major Leagues, set for Wednesday, August 12th. [Read more…] about Mohawk Valley Baseball History Virtual Talk
Baseball on the Erie Canal Virtual Talk
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site has announced a virtual presentation by Derrick Pratt of the Erie Canal Museum, who will discuss the Erie Canal’s many connections to the earliest days of professional baseball. [Read more…] about Baseball on the Erie Canal Virtual Talk
Life After Baseball (Podcast)
This week on The Historians Podcast, Brad Balukjian tracks down ballplayers from a single pack of baseball cards from 1986 for his book The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2020). [Read more…] about Life After Baseball (Podcast)
‘Prince Hal’ Schumacher: A North Country Baseball Legend
A celebrity sports delegation attended the Saint Lawrence University commencement on June 12, 1933.
“It was the first occasion that a major league ball team had ever came here to see one of their number receive his degree,” the Ogdensburg Journal reported. “In fact, it was the first time that such a ball team ever came to the village.”
Twenty-two members of the New York Giants were at the university campus at Canton to see standout pitcher Harold Henry “Prince Hal” Schumacher graduate. [Read more…] about ‘Prince Hal’ Schumacher: A North Country Baseball Legend
Ballston Spa’s Abner Doubleday and Baseball
This week’s guest on The Historians Podcast is Ballston Spa author and historian David Fiske who questions the persistent claim that Ballston Spa native and Civil War general Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in Cooperstown. [Read more…] about Ballston Spa’s Abner Doubleday and Baseball
Baseball Legend Cy Seymour’s Final Resting Place
In 1905, Professional baseball player James Bentley “Cy” Seymour (1878-1919), led the National League, and all of professional baseball, in batting with a .377 average, hits with 219 and runs-batted-in with 121 with the Cincinnati Reds. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, and the New York Giants throughout his career.
After his professional career he worked in wartime jobs in the Speedway shipyards and Bush terminal in New York City. While working in the shipyards, he contracted tuberculosis, and died at his home on September 20, 1919. He was buried in Albany Rural Cemetery, Lot 46, Section 15. [Read more…] about Baseball Legend Cy Seymour’s Final Resting Place
19th Century Baseball In The Catskills
The Time and The Valleys Museum is set to host the Mountain Athletic Club (MAC) of Fleischmanns and the Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds in Sullivan County for a nineteenth century baseball showcase, on Saturday, August 24. [Read more…] about 19th Century Baseball In The Catskills