The "Playing America's Game: Part I" Story

Foreword - Recently wrote a letter to Marianne who is the blogger for the Lancaster Historical Society asking her if I was able to use some of the society's photos to illustrate any of my stories I write.  Told me that if they are of low resolution I could use them, so photos shown in this story are primarily from the Historical Society and are low resolution so if  you click on them they may be slightly blurry.

It was an ordinary day.  And, I'm writing about my favorite past-time and passion, baseball.  The new Major League season is in full swing and my Phils are still Pighting, so all's good.  I recently found a few sentences that help describe the beginning of the baseball season …. but back in 1906.  They come from the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer on April 26 and go like this:  The Irishman with his "Wirrah!" and "Begerah!" sits beside the German with his "Gott im Himmel!" and the only thing they have in common is their desire to kill the umpire.  But after it is all over the chronic fan is the best-natured person alive, especially on opening day.  He sits on a hard plank, six inches wide for two hours without complaint, and will cheer any little incident that happens.  Oh to be alive in that era and experience baseball in its infancy.  Back then, as they say, cricket, town ball, rounders and even baseball were played by children, students, slaves, soldiers, farmers and urban workers.  

1858 New York Knickerbockers

The rules were slightly different at the time, but when the New York Knicker- bockers Base Ball Club was formed they devised most of the rules we use today, minus the stop-action video.  That was in 1845 and rules such as field shape and size, how many strikes a batter gets, and tagging a batter out rather than throwing the ball at them were made and all of a sudden baseball became America's National game or pastime.  And boy am I glad!  The Civil War carried the knowledge of the game to all parts of the country and troops returning to Lancaster brought the new rules with them.  By 1866 Lancaster's cricket clubs changed to baseball rules and several teams developed.  

The 1906 Lancaster Red Roses at Rossmere Park.

As you drive around the county today you see the results of those early years behind every school, playground and most country churches with a the ball field, backstop and benches for the players.  By the 1870s many towns and cities had an amateur team that competed against each other to see who had the "best nine."  In 1884 Lancaster had two professional teams, the Lancasters and the Ironsides.  They not only played against other towns and cities, but against each other, but only the Lancasters survived past that first season.  Only a few professional "colored" teams existed in the nineteenth century.  In 1887 The Lancaster Giants, a team originally from Philadelphia and a colored team, came to Lancaster and was the first professional colored team in the area.  

Program cover from the 1943 Red Roses.

They were accepted by Lancastrains, but after a few weeks they disbanded.  Rivalries  developed between pro teams in south-eastern PA and in 1904 the Philadelphia Giants challenged Lancaster to a game.  On that team was Rube Foster, a right-fielder and colored person, who founded the Negro National League in 1919.  In 1905 Lancaster was granted a franchise in the Tri-State League and Lancaster began it's love affair with minor-league baseball.  In 1906, playing for the first time at Rossmere Park, the "Red Roses" defeated the York "White Roses" 9-4 and a new rivalry had begun.  Still prospers today!  During WWI and the Great Depression fans couldn't afford the cost of a ticket so baseball disappeared from Lancaster until 1940 when the Red Roses were reborn, but again, due to fan support, baseball died once more with the last game being played September 2, 1961 at Lancaster's Stumpf Field.  

The 1944 Lancaster Red Roses

The late 50s were my most memorable years when I would visit Stumpf Field near my house and shag a ball hit over the fence during practice and get into the game for free for returning the ball to them.  Also got to know the scorekeeper who would let me in through the rear fence of the field.  He ended up being my History teacher in high school a few years later.  Got to see many a future major leaguers at Stumpf, but my favorite was Willie Mays when he  played for the Williamsport Team in the Eastern League.  Tomorrow's story will bring baseball back to Lancaster one final time as well as a few twists along the way.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.