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
Sports History
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
French Pugilist Georges Carpentier’s Visit To NY
French pugilist Georges Carpentier was traveling with the Seils-Floto Circus from Albany to Montreal in May 1920 when the train stopped briefly at Plattsburgh.
(In an interesting side note, Carpentier was traveling in the same private rail car that President Woodrow Wilson used a few months previous on his trans-continental campaign to gain support for the League of Nations.) [Read more…] about French Pugilist Georges Carpentier’s Visit To NY
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
40 Years After An Olympic Miracle
This episode of A New York Minute in History recalls the “Miracle on Ice,” when the U.S. Men’s Hockey team upset the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. [Read more…] about 40 Years After An Olympic Miracle
Bout of the Century: Heenan and Sayers
Britain and the US share a passion for boxing. Over time, it has been both mass entertainment and highbrow delight for writers from Byron to Norman Mailer, or artists from Cruikshanks to Bellows. In 1949, Kirk Douglas made his name as Midge Kelly in Champion. The greatest sporting event of the nineteenth century was a bout between a London bricklayer and a New York blacksmith. Both were of Irish descent. They became sporting super stars. [Read more…] about Bout of the Century: Heenan and Sayers
Oneida County Hockey History in Utica
Winner of the Kraft Hockeyville USA contest in 2018, the spirit and passion for hockey is strong in the village of Clinton, Oneida County, N.Y. This enthusiasm is rooted in the community’s rich hockey history that began over 100 years ago. [Read more…] about Oneida County Hockey History in Utica
Buffalo Sports History Chronicled in New Book
Author Greg Tranter’s new book Makers, Moments & Memorabilia: A Chronicle of Buffalo Professional Sports (Buffalo History Museum and Western New York Heritage, 2019) explores the origins of Buffalo professional sports history from 1857 through today.
Stories are shared alongside photographs and unique artifacts provided by the Buffalo History Museum and Western New York Heritage. The individuals, figures, and moments were selected by the community through surveys, to reflect the memories that resonate with sports fans and historians alike. [Read more…] about Buffalo Sports History Chronicled in New Book
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