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UNION OF LANSINGBURGH/HAYMAKER OF TROY
CLUB HISTORY
The Union Base Ball Club of Lansingburgh, New York, was one of the most
extraordinary clubs of the post-war era and should have brought fame to its
hometown, which was then an independent village five miles north of Troy.
Instead it became better known by the nickname of the “Haymakers of Troy” – just
as Lansingburgh itself would eventually be swallowed up and renamed North Troy.
Similarly, the legends that still surround this club have obscured and distorted
a far more compelling story of triumph and tragedy.
There are different
accounts of when this club got started. Several sources state that it was
formed in April of 1861 when the National Club of Lansingburgh and the Priam
Club of Troy combined to create the Union Base Ball Club of Rensselaer County.
Yet since few if any of the players on this club were the ones who became famous
after the war, it is debatable whether this was the same club. The members
themselves appear not to have thought so, as the by-laws of the postwar club
dated the origin to August 15, 1866. (“Constitution and By-Laws of the Union
‘Haymakers’ Base Ball Club of Lansingburgh”) Yet this date is also problematic,
since it comes after the club’s first major victory. Meanwhile William Ryczek
states that the club began play in July of 1866, while another source reports
that the club played a match game on July 4, 1865. (Ryczek, 92; John J. Nutt,
Newburgh, Her Institutions, Industries and Leading Citizens: Historical,
Descriptive and Biographical (Newburgh, N.Y.: Ritchie & Hull, 1891))
In any event, it was
not until the summer of 1866 that the Union Club of Lansingburgh began play in
earnest and it burst onto the national spotlight in extraordinary fashion. The
club’s first nine that season was a mix of players from Lansingburgh and Troy –
Thomas Abrams, Andrew McQuade, Peter McKeon, James Ward, Bub McAtee, Stephen
King from Lansingburgh and Cal Penfield, William H. Craver and “Sonny”
Leavenworth from Troy. Despite the youth and inexperience of these men, they
paid a visit down river to New York City in August and after a loss to the
Atlantics, they stunned the baseball world by defeating the mighty Mutuals.
After a few weeks of
being “subjected to pretty severe criticism” over the humiliating loss, the
Mutuals traveled to Troy to exact revenge. Their hosts met their boat in Albany
and escorted them to the ball grounds on a meadow between Troy and Lansingburgh.
The Mutuals ran up nine runs in their first at bat and then shut out the Union
Club. But the home side rallied and by the end of the game the new club had
again beaten the Mutuals by a 32-18 score. One local journalist recorded that,
“the ‘country boys’ and their best of friends were in high glee at the result,
while the New Yorkers were decidedly chop-fallen.” (Troy Press, August
29, 1866)
It appears that the
club also defeated the Hudson River Club of Newburgh to capture the silver ball
that was emblematic of regional supremacy. (Chadwick Scrapbooks, 1867
article from unidentified source. John J. Nutt’s account of the Hudson River
Club does not, however, mention the game.) But otherwise the Union Club of
Lansingburgh seems to have played little in 1866 after the two shocking upsets
of the Mutuals.
While the next three
years would bring many changes and a nickname by which the club became
universally known, in many ways the defining characteristics of the club would
remain constant. The “Haymakers” would become known for their ability to pull
stunning upsets (especially of the Mutuals), for the unpredictability of their
results and for the legends and rumors that would always swirl around them,
often overshadowing their performances on the field.
A perfect example is
the variety of accounts that have been given about how the club acquired its
famous nickname. An unidentified former resident of Troy, quoted in the
Chicago Daily News around 1924, gave this explanation: “Shortly after the
visit to New York the Mutual club came to Troy for a game, riding from New York
to Troy on a night boat. A friend of the Troy team asked the captain of the
Mutuals whom they were to play, and he replied: ‘Oh, a lot of haymakers.’ This
was told the Troy players and when the Mutuals came to the field that afternoon
for the game they saw displayed on a flag pole a white flag, in the center of
which was a large yellow sheaf with a sickle stuck through it and underneath the
word ‘Haymakers.’ The Mutuals were given a trimming that day and thereafter the
name of Haymakers stuck to the Troy team.” (Chicago Daily News, undated
clipping, c. 1924)
As this account
implies, the club members seem to have made a conscious decision to embrace this
nickname and the images associated with it. At some point the club adopted a
logo that showed two rakes and a bale of hay, along with the words “Hay Makers”
and “Lansingburgh, N. Y.” (Warren F. Broderick, “Haymakers’ Bats Brought Fame,”
Troy Record, August 23, 1969) In one team photo, two hayforks are
prominently displayed beside the players. As a result, new tales continued to
emerge, some of which seem to be based in fact while others appear exaggerated
or fictitious.
Jack Chapman, for
instance, later told of how the players stayed at the Grand Central Hotel in
Manhattan on one of their visits to New York and “started out early in the
morning, dressed in their new baseball uniforms, causing a good deal of
amusement among the people on Broadway. Despite their verdancy, the Haymakers
had a strong team and they made the older clubs hustle to defeat them.” (Boston
Herald, March 25, 1905; Chapman Scrapbook, National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Also reprinted in the Anaconda (Mt.) Standard of June 18, 1916,
and attributed to the Brooklyn Eagle of March 26, 1905.) The association
of the club with such rural imagery continued to grow, and in 1868 a national
magazine explained to readers, “The nickname ‘Haymakers’ belongs to the Union
Club of Lansingburg, N.Y. The fact that many of the nine are well-posted in
this branch of farm-work is the probable cause of this name being applied to
them.” (Oliver Optic’s Magazine, August 1, 1868)
Accounts like these
turned into legends, and in 1887 an especially picturesque description of one of
the club’s upsets of the Mutuals appeared. The game in question was played in
New York and according to this version, “an old-fashioned hayrick was driven up
to the players’ gate, and ten men got out and came through that gate. When they
got on the ground the crowd laughed till it cried. The team was composed of
nine six-footers, who wore blue jean pants and shirts. The pants were rolled up
to the knees and the bare legs and feet looked tough as leather. On their hands
they wore big straw hats, and in their hands they carried hay rakes. Oh! How
that crowd did laugh. Ladies had hysterics and strong men cried, laughing at
the ludicrous sight. The visitors took it all in good part, and paid attention
to business. The game was called and the Haymakers piled up their rakes and
picked out a bundle of small hickory saplings they had brought from home, each
man had a stout bat.” (Chicago Inter-Ocean, April 24, 1887)
There is of course
no way to definitively disentangle truth from fiction in such accounts. The
members of the club were most definitely not rural hayseeds and if they indeed
brought rakes to New York with them, it was part of an image they deliberately
cultivated. In fact the players were mostly the sons of Irish immigrants who
grew up in Lansingburgh or Troy. Yet while these men had not grown up on remote
country farms, it is important to remember that many residents of midsize towns
and cities were still involved in agriculture. For example, Joseph King, the
father of two of the club’s outfielders, Mart and Steve, owned a large estate in
Lansingburgh and usually described himself as a gardener, but seems to have
essentially been a farmer.
Even the description
of barefooted players appears to have had some basis in fact. Journalist W. W.
Aulick later maintained that when Mart King joined the club he surveyed his new
teammates and scornfully pronounced them “Dudes.” The other players were deeply
insulted by this “fighting word,” but Mart was insistent. “Why the cap?” he
demanded. “It’ll make you bald if you keep on wearing it – it will, sure’s
you’re a foot high. Whaffor the shoes? Don’t you know they’ll send you to the
chirop’s? Sure they will. Can all that soft stuff.” He threw his cap and
shoes aside and, according to Aulick, his new teammates followed his lead by
playing barefooted and bareheaded in their next game. (W. W. Aulick, “One
Hundred Notable Figures in Baseball: Mart King, Who Scorned All Precautionary
Measures,” Auburn Citizen, March 10, 1911)
Even assuming this
to be true, it appears that the other players soon went back to wearing caps and
shoes. By 1869, the club had donned “very becoming” knickerbocker-style
uniforms that included a white flannel shirt emblazoned with the letter ‘U’ in
old English text, white corduroy knee-breeches, blue stockings, red belts, and
scull-caps. (Chadwick Scrapbooks, account of September 1869 game from
unidentified source) Even Mart King, according to Aulick, began wearing shoes
and a cap after joining Chicago – though only because of the insistence of club
management.
Another intriguing
and difficult to resolve question about the club’s name is why Lansingburgh was
replaced by Troy. One explanation is that the change took place against the
club’s will and was the result of the national press failing to distinguish
between the two adjoining towns. This was the view of Warren Broderick, a
Lansingburgh historian who maintained that “there was a rivalry over the ball
club between Troy and Lansingburgh … Actually most of the players were from
Lansingburgh and the games were played in the ‘Burgh’ but Troy claimed the team
because of its success.” (Warren Broderick, contributions to the Troy file at
the National Baseball Hall of Fame) And Broderick’s contention is supported by
the club’s logo, which contained the words “Hay Makers” and “Lansingburgh,
N.Y.,” and by the 1868 printed constitution, which includes the nickname
“Haymakers” alongside the proper name of “Union Base Ball Club of Lansingburgh,
N.Y.” on the title page but does not have the word “Troy” anywhere.
Yet this may not be
the whole story. Troy featured several clubs of its own in the immediate
aftermath of the Civil War, most notably the Victory Club. But the emergence of
the Union Club caused the Troy clubs to disband or scale back and men who had
supported these clubs became associated with the Lansingburgh club instead.
According to the former Troy resident quoted by the Chicago Daily News,
“the business men of Troy became interested and furnished the expense money” for
the tours of the Union Club and for their first uniform (which was blue “with an
American shield on the breast”). (Chicago Daily News, undated clipping,
c. 1924) While it is always difficult to tell who was making the club’s
decisions at any point, men from Troy did become more prominent in the club’s
officers over time.
Thus it seems that
some sort of tacit agreement was reached by which the players would not object
to being billed as being from Troy in exchange for this support from the
businessmen of the larger city. But if so, not everyone in Lansingburgh was
happy with the arrangement. “The Haymakers of Lansingburgh are looked upon by
Trojans as a home institution,” complained the Lansingburgh Budget. “We
were aware that some people always looked upon many good things as their own. A
slight difference of opinion between such lookers on and actual owners has
necessitated courts, police officers, and penitentiaries.” (quoted in Puff, 8-9;
no date provided)
It is especially
difficult to tell who was making decisions for the club in the spring of 1867.
Thomas Abrams was described as the club’s original captain in his obituary, but
other sources credited William Craver with playing this role, while by the
spring of 1868 Michael “Bub” McAtee was listed as the captain. (Syracuse
Daily Standard, April 28, 1868) Whoever was in charge faced a number of
crucial choices to make, most notably in picking a first nine.
Shortly after the
close of the 1866 season, the first of many tragedies had occurred when pitcher
Andrew McQuade was killed in a railroad accident. Replacing McQuade was a
dilemma because, while Lansingburgh produced an abundance of talent, none of the
players had experience as pitchers. In addition, there were rumors that Craver
and other stars would leave town to join one of New York’s covertly professional
clubs. Eventually, Abrams was chosen as pitcher though he had never pitched
before and the other players agreed to return, while Mart King joined the first
nine and “Clipper” Flynn of Lansingburgh became the tenth man.
Other crucial
decisions were also made in the spring of 1867. Intriguingly, although the club
was still entirely made up of local players, the choices seem clearly designed
to position it as a national power. In particular, the club showed little
interest in competing against rivals from nearby towns. “It will be
remembered,” sniffed a note in a local paper, “that the Unions played for the
‘silver ball’ with [the Hudson River Club of Newburgh] last year and won it by
one run, but that ball is almost too expensive to keep for the reason that every
club that holds it is obliged to go to Poughkeepsie to play for it when
challenged.” (Chadwick Scrapbooks, 1867 clipping from unidentified source)
Thus the club played
little in the spring of 1867, blaming the unseasonably cold weather, and instead
husbanded its resources. Games in 1866 had been played on either the Village
Green (between 112th and 113th streets) or on a plot known
as Vail’s lot (on Second Avenue between what is now 104th and 105th
Streets). (Warren Broderick, contributions to the Troy file at the National
Baseball Hall of Fame) The latter site was superior, so it was a coup when the
owner agreed to allow it to be used for baseball games again. According to an
account in a local paper, “The members of the Union Club are highly elated in
view of their good fortune in securing the field used for the playing of games
last year, containing about eight acres. The two lots directly south had been
rented for the season, but the premises latterly secured are far more desirable
for ball playing purposes. The organization feels extremely grateful to Hon.
George Vail, the owner, who has kindly tendered his ground without the least
charge.” (Chadwick Scrapbooks, clipping apparently from a Troy or Lansingburgh
paper on June 19, 1867)
Other efforts were
also being made to raise funds to support the club. In July, reader of the
Lansingburgh Gazette were urged, “Don’t forget the base ball picnic at
Lansing’s Grove this afternoon and evening … Sullivan’s Band had been engaged,
and all who love to trip the ‘light fantastic toe’ will have a chance of doing
so to their heart’s content. For the accommodation of their Troy friends, two
cars will leave for that city after the close of the picnic. The Proceeds of
this entertainment will be to the Champion Nine. Go one! Go all!” (Lansingburgh
Gazette, July 25, 1867; quoted in Broderick, “Haymakers’ Bats Brought Fame,”
Troy Record, August 23, 1969)
That same month,
however, brought the first defection when first baseman “Sonny” Leavenworth,
“accepted a position as a member of the Mutual Club of New York, at a salary of
$100 per month.” Worse, a local journalist suggested that Leavenworth’s
departure was the result of a power struggle that threatened to tear the club
apart. “Other members of the Union organization,” he wrote ominously, “express
themselves as being dissatisfied with the way matters are managed, and one or
two more will probably retire from the conquerors. We earnestly hope that the
present organization will be maintained, and that the disaffected will become
reconciled, and in the future as in the past will work harmoniously. The Union
Club is now in a way to attain great celebrity; and if successful in the contest
with the Athletic Club, it will stand at the head of all base-ball organizations
in the country. We hope each member will be willing to waive some points of
difference for the sake of the ‘general good.’” (Chadwick Scrapbooks,
unidentified clippings from July of 1867)
Some sort of
reconciliation was indeed made, as Leavenworth was back from New York within
days. The first nine remained together for the rest of the year and posted some
impressive victories, including two wins over the Unions of Morrisania, the club
that would end up being the official national champions. According to
Broderick, the club also managed another win over the Mutuals, although Marshall
Wright does not list the game. But the 1867 season also witnessed several
lopsided defeats, showing that the “Haymakers” still lagged a bit behind the
Atlantics of Brooklyn and the Athletics of Philadelphia – the two clubs that,
despite the official recognition of the Unions of Morrisania, were generally
regarded as the country’s best nines.
Several tweaks to
the lineup were made in 1868, a season that also saw the club move its home
games to Rensselaer Park, a forty-two acre horse park now bounded by 108th
and 110th streets and by 5th and 9th avenues.
(Puff, 7) The club again changed pitchers, with Abrams becoming tenth man. It
was initially reported that a mysterious man named Slattery would handle the
pitching duties, but instead they went to Rafael Julián de la Rúa, a Cuban
studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also joining the club was first
baseman “Allie” Davis of Utica, who replaced Leavenworth.
In September, Davis
returned to Utica and word also came that “Rua will retire.” McAtee moved from
shortstop to first base to replace Davis, with Eugene Bonker filling McAtte’s
old place. Meanwhile Rua was replaced by Charles Baerman, previously of the New
York Mutuals. According to the intriguingly worded note that announced the
departures of Davis and Rua, “An effort is now being made to secure Baerman, of
the New York Mutuals, as pitcher. He is already a member of the club, having
been elected three or four weeks ago.” (Troy Whig, undated clipping from
September of 1868) It thus seems likely that Baerman was the club’s first
imported professional.
With this modified
lineup, the club that was now becoming universally known as the “Haymakers”
again posted many impressive victories during the 1868 season, highlighted by
two more wins in three contests with the Mutuals (the club that would be
recognized as national champions at the end of the season). But it once again
came up short when matched against the Athletics, the Atlantics and a new
contender for national supremacy – the “Red Stockings” of Cincinnati. Despite
these setbacks, it was an extremely impressive performance for a club composed
almost entirely of homegrown talent at a time when the other national contenders
were becoming increasingly reliant on imports.
The 1869 season saw
the beginning of open professional play, and the “Haymakers” were one of the
clubs that opted to be billed as professionals. Yet another new pitcher was
brought in – hard-throwing and hard-drinking “Cherokee” Fisher of Philadelphia,
who was the club’s first imported professional if that distinction had not
already been claimed by Baerman or another earlier player. Baerman was also
retained, playing second base most of the time and sometimes spelling Fisher.
Another new arrival was third baseman Estevan B. Bellán, another Cuban college
student who had played for the Unions of Morrisania in 1868. The club also
changed grounds yet again in 1869, setting up base in an area south of
Lansingburgh known as Batestown or North Troy. The new ball field was
extensively renovated and renamed the Union Grounds in what may have been a last
effort to remind outsiders of the club’s real origins. (Warren Broderick,
contributions to the Troy file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame)
Despite these
additions, the club’s new incarnation retained far more hometown flavor than
many rivals. While the famed “Red Stockings” featured only one Cincinnati
native, the first nine of the 1869 “Haymakers” still featured William Craver of
Troy and four Lansingburgh natives, McAtee, Flynn, and the King brothers, with
Abrams again serving as tenth man. Even the club’s other new player, shortstop
Mike Powers, hailed from Utica.
On the field, 1869
proved another successful one for the club. Its extraordinary record of
triumphs over the Mutuals continued with two more victories, and the second one
in early July would have made the Haymakers the official national champions had
not the Mutuals had been dethroned a few days earlier. The club also managed
two wins and a tie in four contests against the mighty Atlantics of Brooklyn.
But there were also
eight defeats, and one of these, at the hands of the amateur Pastime Club of
Baltimore, raised eyebrows. The surprise turned to suspicion when the Haymakers
rebounded the next day and beat the more highly regarded Maryland Club. A
national publication for children informed its readers, “The Haymaker Club, of
Troy, N. Y., are again in disgrace. During their late western and southern tour
they arranged to play the Pastime and Maryland Clubs, of Baltimore. The former
is but an ordinary skilful nine, while the latter are the recognized champions
in their district. The Haymakers played the Pastimes first, and, to the suprise
[sic] of every one, were defeated. If the Pastimes could beat them easily, what
would not the Marylands do? Yet, in their game with the latter, the Haymakers
won by a score of nearly two to one. This set folks to thinking, and it was
discovered that the Haymakers had purposely let the Pastimes defeat them, in
order that their crowd might profit by the confidence of the friends of the
Maryland Club, who were backed to win, and thus enable them to win large sums of
money in bets. This base action of the Haymakers is denounced on every hand,
and has lowered that club still farther in the estimation of all true lovers of
the game. It is by such actions of the professional clubs that our national
game is rapidly acquiring a bad name; and if such a course is persisted in, it
will soon be placed on a par with horse-racing, and sports of that description.
We trust our young friends, when they play base ball, play it fairly and
honorably, satisfied to let all dishonorable conduct rest with professional
clubs.” (Our Boys and Girls, October 23, 1869)
There is of course
no way to prove that a game was not fixed, and the associations between
the Haymakers and gamblers created an atmosphere in which such rumors would
flourish. Yet in context, there is nothing about the loss to the Pastime Club
that looks suspicious. The Pastimes had gotten off to a slow start that season,
including a lopsided loss to the Marylands that created the appearance of being
weak. But the Pastimes improved dramatically as the season went on and had
several impressive results in September, such as a win over the Marylands and a
close loss to Philadelphia’s mighty Athletics. It was simply the misfortune of
the Haymakers to play the Pastime Club before its true strength was recognized.
Similarly, the
greatest accomplishment of the Haymakers in 1869 was obscured by rumors and
controversy. The Red Stockings of Cincinnati were the dominant club of 1869,
and the fact that they were not the official national champions was just a
reflection that the Brooklyn and New York City clubs scheduled matches in such a
way as to make it all but impossible for the title to leave the area. The
irrelevance of the official national championship became clear when the Red
Stockings took on all comers that season, including all of the top New York
clubs, without losing a single game.
But while the Red
Stockings were undefeated in 1869, their record was unblemished. They faced the
Haymakers in Troy early in the season and squeaked out a narrow victory. The
two sides met again in Cincinnati on August 26 and the rematch came to an abrupt
end when the Haymakers marched off the field with the score tied at 17-17.
Efforts to get them to return were unsuccessful, so the umpire declared the game
forfeited to the home side. The NABBP, however, later ruled the game a tie and
that was also how Red Stockings manager Harry Wright regarded the contest.
The impetus for the
Haymakers’ withdrawal from the field was a ruling by umpire John Brockway that
catcher William Craver had not caught a foul ball. But this issue soon became
lost amid a flurry of charges and countercharges, many of them very far-fetched
indeed. Eventually a consensus emerged that the Haymakers had left the field to
protect the betting interests of John Morrissey and other supporters, while the
Red Stockings were innocent victims. (See, for example, Ryczek, 188-189)
There is no way to
definitively sort out such a controversy, but it is important to point out that
this version of events is very one-sided. It overlooks, for example, that even
Brockway’s defenders conceded that the play was a close one while many observers
were convinced that the call made by the umpire, a Cincinnati native, was
wrong. The portrayal of the Haymakers as the bad guys also conveniently leaves
out the fact that the players were the victims of vicious assaults after the
game.
Since the Red
Stockings’ side of the story has been told so often, it is worth reviewing
accounts that told a very different tale. Notably, many of these were written
by neutral observers, such as a visitor from Macon, Georgia, who reported that
after the unsatisfactory conclusion, “The Haymakers started for their hotel in
an omnibus, and were stoned by the mob. The Gibson House, where they stopped,
was thronged throughout the evening, and the excitement prevailed everywhere.
The receipts at the gate, which in this instance amounted to $2,500, are usually
divided between the two clubs, but in this case the Red Stockings held a meeting
to decide if any of the gate money should go to the Haymakers. To make a long
story short, the Haymakers were shamefully treated.” (Macon Weekly Telegraph,
September 17, 1869)
When the players
arrived in Louisville for their next game, a local journalist added these
accounts: “The impression seemed to prevail pretty generally yesterday, among
those who had read the full particulars of the Cincinnati game, that the
Haymakers were shamefully treated at that place, and that, though the Red
Stockings are not blamed, the Haymakers have the sympathy and commendation of
all unprejudiced persons. This impression too was heightened by the manner and
appearance of the latter club at the grounds yesterday. They are a lively,
rollicking, full-of-fun, good-natured set of young gentlemen, off on a summer’s
jaunt and making the best of it.” (Louisville Courier-Journal, August 30,
1869)
Meanwhile, a
journalist in Albany, New York, read over all the various versions before
offering this summary:
“We have refrained
from expressing any opinion concerning the recent unfortunate base ball
imbroglio at Cincinnati, until we could see the statements upon both sides.
Cincinnati papers have come to hand, with full reports of the game and its
unfortunate conclusion. They put the best possible face upon the proceedings of
their Red Stocking club. But, even from their statements, we cannot avoid the
conclusion that the visiting Haymakers were most unfairly treated, and that they
were justified in refusing to continue a match in which it was evident that,
they must play against a picked nine and an umpire. The treatment of this club
by the Cincinnatians, contrasts most unfavorably with that bestowed by
Englishmen upon the Harvard rowing crew. It seems to have been settled as a
foregone conclusion, that the Red Stockings should not be beaten; and as they
manifestly were unable to win the game, the umpire stepped in to help them out
of their unexpected difficulty.
“It was slightly discourteous, to say the
least, for the Red Stockings to propose as umpire a gentleman residing in
Cincinnati, who might naturally be expected to show some prejudice in favor of
his friends and neighbors – even if he were not personally interested in bets on
the result, as is said to have been the case. But in accepting this choice, the
Haymakers, who could not know him, did not surrender their claim to fair
treatment, or bind themselves to be governed throughout by his decisions, if
they were manifestly unjust. A ruling of Mr. Brockway on the second inning, in
which he refused to recognize a fair catch by the Haymakers, gave his friends
the Red Stockings ten runs, when they would otherwise have gone out with only
four. This was a manifest advantage – sufficient in itself to decide any
ordinarily contested game. At this early stage, the Haymakers protested against
the umpire as prejudiced and unfair, and demanded that he should be changed!
They had an unquestionable right to do so, under the laws of the National
Association. The refusal of the Red Stockings to make a change showed that they
were in the conspiracy, and intended to put their opponent at a disadvantage.
From that, moment, the game really ceased. A dishonest umpire has it in his
power to win any game, no matter how played, for the club he is engaged to
serve. Mr. Brockway was evidently pledged to give victory to the Rod Stockings.
“Still, the Haymakers toiled on, and
prevented their opponents from taking the lead, until, on the fifth innings,
they were brought to a stop by a decision so monstrous as to be unendurable.
All who have seen this club play, know that Craver is a magnificent catch, and
that it is his specialty to take foul balls, close up to the bat. In this
respect, he is probably not equalled by any other player in the country.
Having received such a ball, he held it up to show that the striker was caught
out; when, to the astonishment of all fair-minded men, the umpire cried: ‘Not
out.’ This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Haymakers got
together and insisted that, in accordance with the well-established laws of the
game, the catch should be allowed. But the umpire declined to change his
decision. They then asked for a new umpire. This, the Cincinnati club refused
to allow. Satisfied that they could not expect justice at the hands of such
adversaries, the Haymakers packed up their clubs and withdrew. In this, they
were perhaps mistaken. It might have been well to finish the game, entering a
protest against every wrong decision, and leaving the public, and the Judiciary
committee of the National Association, to decide whether they had been fairly
treated. This would have been severe punishment to the Cincinnatians who had
bet the Red Stockings would make two runs to one for the Haymakers – as the
umpire, by no amount of cheating, could have given his friends such odds. But
no one outside of Cincinnati will deny that the Haymakers wore justified in
refusing to prolong the contest under such circumstances.
“The course of the Cincinnati mob, in
following the Haymakers to their hotel, hooting, swearing, using obscene
language, and threatening violence which was only prevented by the police, was
consistent with the whole disgraceful performance. It is of a piece with the
rowdyism, on a lower scale, of the roughs collected by the recent prize-fights
near St. Louis. A sporting paper recently said: ‘It is useless for a
prize-fighter, a walkist or a runner, to go West expecting to defeat a local
celebrity; the crowd won’t let him.’ It seems as though base ball clubs must be
added to the list.
“We regret this result, because it will
ruin the reputation of a celebrated club, and inflict injury upon an athletic
and sensible amusement, which is coming to be regarded as ‘the American game.’
Previous to this unfortunate rencontre, the Red Stockings enjoyed, as the result
of their remarkably successful Eastern trip, a fame such as had been won by no
other nine. They might far better have taken the consequences of the defeat they
would undoubtedly have suffered had their game with the Haymakers been fairly
played, than sought to avert it by such disreputable means as were resorted to.
The case must go before the Judiciary Committee of the Association; and no one
can doubt what its judgment will be.” (Albany Evening Journal, August 30,
1869)
Finally, we have
this account from James H. Spotten, the treasurer of the Haymakers:
“No experience of my life made such a lasting impression on my mind as that tie
game at Cincinnati. I don't think there ever was such a scene on a ball field,
nor do I think the feat performed that day by Steve King ever was surpassed by a
ball player with a bat, considering that all of his performances came just at
the psychological moments. There were at least 12,000 persons on the ground,
and of these about 10,000 had paid 60 cents each to see the game. We were to
receive $2,000 as our share of the gate receipts.
"After standing for a number of bad
decisions President McKeon warned the umpire that if he made another he would
take his men from the field. I warned McKeon not to do that in any
circumstances, as we needed the money. We had been advertised far and wide as a
great club out to beat the Red Stockings, and many in the crowd had come
hundreds of miles to witness the struggle. It was the largest gathering seen on
a Cincinnati ball field up to that time, and at the start the crowd was with us,
as the Red Stockings were chesty because of their success, and rather unpopular
in consequence. In one of the early innings when Steve King came to bat there
were three men on bases. Harry Wright, the captain and center fielder of our
rivals, waved the men back but Steve gave the ball a terrific wallop and it went
far over the head of Andy Leonard in left field, for a homer sending in the trio
of players ahead of him. When he came up again Steve drove the ball out for
three bases, sending two players home, and the third time up he hit another
three bagger, sending in a man from third. A total of 10 bases in three times
at bat surely was a sensational performance.
"Then came the awful fifth inning, with
the game a tie at 17 and 17. A foul tip was captured by Carver close to the
ground, but the umpire decided that it was caught on the bound and that
therefore the man at bat was not out. Even the crowd hooted at the decision,
but President McKeon was the one who made the trouble. Indignant at the
decision and carried away by the excitement he put his threat into execution and
called his men from the field. Thousands among the onlookers had come a long
distance and paid their money to see a bail game, and as soon as they realized
what had happened there was a riot. The crowd closed in on us from all sides
shouting ‘Kill ’em, kill ’em!’ There were threatening gestures everywhere, and
in those days, just after the war a Cincinnati crowd was considered about the
toughest in the country. Levi Smith of Troy, was one of our party, and just as
things were looking mighty black and there was every indication of a lynching,
some one in the crowd pointed him out and shouted, ‘There's John Morrissey, the
prize fighter.’ At that a typical gambler, one of the biggest men I ever saw,
pushed his way to Mr. Smith’s side and yelled, ‘no man is going to hurt
Morrissey.’ Then he whipped out a revolver and began to sweep the crowd with
the weapon. He kept that gun moving slowly in a semi-circle in the faces of the
excited rioters, and while he held them back ordered us to get into the coach
which stood waiting. We were driven from the field, followed by a volley of
sticks, stones and assorted epithets.
“Soon after we reached the hotel the
crowd from the grounds arrived, and there was another wild scene. It appeared as
if every one in the mob wanted to hang us. We changed to our street clothing as
quickly as possible, and some of us went outside, and mingled with the crowd.
By midnight the situation became so threatening that a conference of prominent
men and the newspaper reporters was held, with the result that we left the city
almost immediately. We were scheduled to play three games in Cincinnati, but
realized that it would be useless to make the attempt. We actually sneaked
across the river to the Kentucky side and made our way to Louisville, where we
remained for the next two days.” (Edwin A. Goewen, Leslie’s, reprinted in
Auburn Citizen, July 24, 1919)
Obviously, these accounts need to be taken with a grain of salt and they too
only tell part of the story. But they certainly bring into question the
traditional version of events. In particular, the oft-repeated claim that the
Haymakers withdrew to protect the interests of Morrissey and other bettors makes
no sense. As noted by the Albany reporter, the Haymakers were heavy underdogs
in the match and many of the wagers were as to whether the Red Stockings would
outscore them by two to one. With the score tied, there would be no reason for
bettors to want the club to leave the field – instead there would be every
reason to want to continue.
In any event, the
Haymakers were treated as heroes on their return to Troy. The players “were
received at the depot with music and a large corwd of citizens, headed by F.
Eddie Hale. In the afternoon they were escorted to their grounds by a crowd of
citizens and a band, accompanied by the Niagara Club of Buffalo. Several
thousand citizens assembled to witness a game between the Haymakers and the
Niagaras, which resulted in a score of 34 to 9 in favor of the former, seven
innings being played. In the evening a reception dinner was given by the
citizens to the Haymakers, at the Mansion House, the Niagaras being present as
invited guests. Speeches were made by C. L. McArthur, William H. Merriam, and
others, sustaining the Haymakers in their action with the Cincinnati Red
Stockings. George Evans, of the [Troy] Whig, who accompanied the Haymakers,
gave a detailed account of the unjust decision of the umpire in the Red Stocking
game.” (New York Herald, September 10, 1869)
That banquet would
also proved to be the swan song of the club, at least for the nucleus of local
men who had given Lansingburgh and Troy one of the best ball clubs in the
country. In the spring of 1870, four key members – McAtee, Flynn, Craver, and
Mart King – left town to join the White Stockings of Chicago, a newly formed
professional club that offered exorbitant salaries. Craver would be dropped
from the club at midseason under suspicion of game-fixing, but King took his
place behind the plate and helped get revenge on the Red Stockings – the White
Stockings handed the Cincinnati clubs two defeats down the stretch and at
season’s end were generally regarded as national champions.
The Troy Haymakers
also continued to play in 1870, but it was the same club in name only. Even
after Craver returned home, he and Steve King were the only holdovers who
started for a club that consisted almost entirely of imported Philadelphia
professionals.
When the National
Association was formed in 1871, the Haymakers entered the league and played for
two seasons, acquitting themselves respectably. While this club’s connection to
the Unions of Lansingburgh remained tangential, native sons such as Flynn,
McAtee, Craver and the King brothers all played for this club at some point. So
too did Bellan, thereby making him the first Cuban-born major leaguer.
At the end of the
1872 season, Troy dropped out of the National Association. The city would have
an International Association club in 1878 and a National League franchise from
1879 to 1882 as well as many other notable clubs, but never again would it
figure as prominently in the national baseball scene as it had when both
Lansingburgh and Troy claimed the Haymakers.
The legacy of this
remarkable club is a multi-faceted one. The club’s shady reputation has become
what it is best remembered for and not without some justification. While it is
never entirely clear who was making decisions for the club, there were enough
questionable men around to raise suspicion. Craver’s actions also hurt the
club’s reputation, as he was frequently accused of involvement with gamblers and
finally permanently banned from the National League.
The club’s toughness
also became the stuff of legend. According to a 1901 account based on the
reminiscences of George H. Geer of Syracuse, the “Haymakers were a strong team,
but the fighting ability of the players was responsible for most of their
victories. They were known as a team which traveled ‘on its muscle,’ and when
they were beaten they generally got satisfaction by whipping the members of the
opposing team.” Before one game in Syracuse, “The Syracuse team prepared to
take the Haymakers in hand in case they ‘started anything,’ and had Andy Kelley
with his Seventh ward gang, known as the ‘Swamp Angels,’ on hand. Jimmie
Johnson, the crack second baseman of the Central Cities, who was a brother to
Frank Johnson, now living in this city, hit the ball over the fence, winning the
game. The Haymakers sized up the ‘Swamp Angels’ and decided to take the defeat
without a kick.” (Syracuse Evening Telegram, June 17, 1901)
Yet as with so much
of what has been written about this club, the veracity of Geer’s comments is
debatable. For one thing the Central City Club was nowhere near as strong as
the Haymakers, and there is no record of their ever beating them. The depiction
of the club’s propensity for fighting also seems to be, at the least, grossly
exaggerated, as there are no documented instances of actual fights.
In a way, this image
of the Haymakers as tough guys with shady pasts is appropriate since, just as
the players made a conscious effort to be seen as country rustics, so too they
tried to cultivate this perception. Nevertheless, it is regrettable that the
portrayal of the club has come to be dominated by these characteristics because
there was so much more to the Unions/Haymakers.
Most notably, by
whatever name, the club was the embodiment of what so many post-Civil War clubs
aspired to be but hardly any achieved: a group of local young men who proved
they could compete with the nation’s best clubs without hiring outside
professionals. The club also represented a bastion of opportunity, featuring
two Cuban players and a host of Irishmen at a time when the top baseball clubs
were overwhelmingly WASPs. Without doubt, many of the vicious things written
about the players were the result of prejudice. We can be just as sure that
their example inspired other youngsters to pursue baseball – one of these was
New York Giants owner John T. Brush, who rooted for the Haymakers as a young man
and may even have been involved in their management. (Sporting News,
November 28, 1912)
Finally, there is
the tragedy that stalked the club’s original players. Of the eleven men who
played in 1866 and 1867, no fewer than seven were dead by 1881 – McQuade died
right after the 1866 season, followed by McKeon in 1870, Ward in 1871,
Leavenworth in 1874, McAtee in 1876, Abrams in 1880 and Flynn in 1881. In
addition, none of the four surviving players reached the age of 65, and many of
the men involved in the club’s management also died young.
Even club members
who didn’t die young, such as Craver and the King brothers, seem to have been
men of few words. As a result, reminiscences about the club by participants are
all but nonexistent with the exception of those of club treasurer James Spotten,
who lived into his eighties. This absence leaves a gaping hole in our
understanding of this pioneer club that can never be overcome. And what is
known about the Union Club of Lansingburgh/Haymakers of Troy makes that lack of
firsthand accounts all the more tantalizing.
CLUB MEMBERS
The 1866 first nine
of the Haymakers/Unions consisted of Andrew McQuade, William H. Craver, Carroll
F. Penfield, James Ward, Stephen King, Thomas Abrams, Bub McAtee, “Sonny”
Leavenworth, and Peter McKeon. Mart King apparently joined the nine in 1867
after the death of McQuade, but was often referred to as an original member.
Clipper Flynn also joined the club that year but was its tenth man, and was
never described as an original member. The 1868 additions – Borker, Davis, Rua,
and Bearman – were looked on as latecomers, as were all of the subsequent
additions, whether they were professionals like Fisher and Mike McGeary, or men
who appear to have been local amateurs like Hollister and Woolverton.
Thomas E. Abrams:
Thomas E. Abrams, whose obituary described him as the club’s original captain,
was born in Lansingburgh in 1845. He was the club’s top reserve in 1866, then
took over as its starting pitcher in 1867 after the death of McQuade despite not
having pitched before. He did a capable job as the club emerged as a national
power, but he returned to reserve duty in 1868 as the club brought in Rua and
Bearman to pitch. He became a policeman but died in Lansingburgh on May 7,
1880, after a long battle with tuberculosis. An obituary in the New York
Sunday Mercury on May 22, 1880, noted that Abrams “was captain of the
original Haymakers base ball club, and acquired fame as a heavy batter and sure
fielder. Before his illness he was a fine specimen of physical manhood, and
prided himself on feats of muscular skill and endurance, and it was little
thought he would become a victim of consumption. This leaves only three of the
original Haymakers above the sod, Steve King, William H. Craver and Cal.
Penfield.”
Charley Bearman: A
man named Bearman joined the Haymakers in 1868 and pitched seven games for
them. It appears that he was Charley Bearman/Bierman, a well-known New York/New
Jersey player who had previously played for the Mutuals. If so, he was probably
the first outside professional hired by the Haymakers. Bearman/Bierman later
played in one major league game and died in Hoboken on August 4, 1879.
Estevan B. Bellán:
Born on October 1, 1849, in Havana, Cuba, Estevan Bellán became known as Steve
while attending Rose Hill College in New York (part of Fordham University). He
also played baseball there and then played in 1868 for the Unions of Morrisania.
In 1869, he joined the Haymakers and the third baseman became the second Cuban
to play for the club. He stayed with the club after it joined the National
Association, making him the first Hispanic major leaguer. He played his last
major league game for the New York Mutuals on June 9, 1873, and then returned to
Cuba, and some sources credit him with having “introduced the American game to
Cuba.” (Boston Globe, January 17, 1915) And according to an article in
Sporting Life on March 4, 1911, (p. 13), there was even a statue of
Bellán in Havana in honor of his role in introducing baseball. He died in
Havana on August 8, 1932.
Eugene H. Bonker:
Eugene H. Bonker of Lansingburgh was one of the 1868 additions to the club,
seeing action at shortstop in at least ten games. He was born around 1848 in
New York and grew up in Lansingburgh, where his father worked as an expressman.
There is no record of his playing after 1868, and yet his occupation on the 1870
census is listed as “base ball player.” By 1880, Bonker and his entire family
had moved to Manhattan where Eugene, still single, worked as an engineer.
John H. Campbell:
John H. Campbell, the club’s vice president in 1867, was a Civil War veteran who
was born in Ireland around 1835. He worked in the cigar and restaurant business
and died on January 31, 1902.
William H. Craver:
Bill Craver was born in Troy in June of 1844 and became one of the best-known
and most controversial players of the era. After serving in the New York 13th
Heavy Artillery during the Civil War, Craver became the catcher of the Haymakers
and earned renown for his toughness. He joined the White Stockings of Chicago
in 1870 but was soon expelled by the club amid rumors of shady doings.
Controversy continued to dog him throughout his career, but clubs were always
willing to take a chance on him until he was finally banned from the National
League for his involvement in the Louisville game-fixing scandal of 1877.
Craver returned to Troy and became a policeman. He died in Troy on June 17,
1901.
Henry Alfred “Allie”
Davis: Allie Davis was born in Sauquoit on December 7, 1847. The family moved
to Utica in the late 1850s, where his father ran the Central Hotel and Allie and
his brother John became skilled ballplayers. Allie was mostly a pitcher while
in Utica, but when he joined the Haymakers in 1868 he mostly played first base.
After fifteen games for Troy he returned home to Utica in September. Davis
remained in Utica for the rest of his life, worked as a hotel clerk and running
a café and becoming known as one of the town’s best billiard players. He died
in Utica on December 10, 1914.
William Charles
“Cherokee” Fisher: Cherokee Fisher was a Philadelphia native and Civil War
veteran who was 23 when he became the pitcher of the Haymakers in 1869. He
spent two years in Troy, then played in the major leagues for eight years,
winning 57 games and leading the National Association in earned run average in
1873. When his playing days ended, he became a Chicago fireman and died in New
York City on September 26, 1912.
William “Clipper”
Flynn: William Flynn was born on April 29, 1849, in Lansingburgh, New York. He
became the club’s main substitute in 1867, then was a regular for the next two
years before joining the White Stockings in 1870. He returned to play for
Troy’s entry in the National Association in 1871, then ended his career with the
Washington Olympics in 1872. He died in Lansingburgh on November 5, 1881,
making him the seventh of the eleven men who played for the club in 1866 and
1867 to die.
John Augustus
Griswold: Congressman John A. Griswold was a diehard supporter of the club and
reportedly financed an 1867 tour that took the club to Washington and
Philadelphia. (New York Clipper, September 7, 1867; quoted in Ryczek,
187) E. H. Tobias also must have been thinking of Griswold when he wrote, “The
Haymakers of Troy, were under the patronage of a large manufacturing
establishment, whose head was prominent in politics, both State and National.”
(“Paid Players: Amateur Ball Began to Wane in 1869,” E. H. Tobias, seventh of
sixteen-part history of baseball in St. Louis up to 1876, Sporting News,
December 14, 1895, 5) He was born in Nassau, Rensselaer County, and while
sources differ on his year of birth, it appears most likely that the date was
November 11, 1818. After moving to Troy, Griswold was elected mayor in 1855 and
also worked in banking and as president of several railroads, including the Troy
& Lansingburgh Railroad Company. While president of Rensselaer Iron Works, he
became one of the first American manufacturers to recognize the importance of
the Bessemer steel process and he received a number of patents. This enabled
him to play a key role in building the Union Navy’s famous ironclad, the
“Monitor.” Griswold served in Congress from 1862 to 1869, switching parties
from the Democrats to the Republicans after one year. He then was the
Republican candidate for governor in 1868 and, according to his New York
Times obituary, “was undoubtedly elected, but was counted out by frauds.”
He was a trustee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1860 until 1872 so
may have had some role in Rua’s joining the club. He died in Troy on October
31, 1872.
Albert Leet Hotchkin
Sr.: Albert L. Hotchkin was born in Chatham, New York, on March 8, 1833, and
moved to Troy in 1845. His father died soon afterward and Albert pursued
several occupations before opening a store in Troy and then getting married in
1861. His business was destroyed by the Great Troy Fire of 1862, so he went
into business with his new father-in-law, a furniture merchant. He became a
partner after his father-in-law’s death in 1868 and sole owner in 1878.
Hotchkin also became one of Troy’s most prominent civic leaders, serving in
Troy’s Common Council from 1863-1866, as fire commissioner for six years, as
county treasurer from 1873 to 1876, as treasurer of the Troy Fire Department for
nearly two decades, and as sheriff of Rensselaer County. Despite all these
accomplishments, one newspaper article about Hotchkin stated, “Although he was
Sheriff and County Treasurer for many years, he was best known as the organizer
and Manager of the famous Haymaker Baseball Club.” While Hotchkin was involved
in the activities of the Haymakers, it is unclear whether that description of
his role is justified. An article in the Troy Press on August 10, 1866,
listed him as president of the Victory Club of Troy. He subsequently became
treasurer of Haymakers but the length of his tenure and nature of his role are
not well documented. Around 1890, he moved to Washington State and became post
master of the town of Seabeck. He died in Seabeck on October 16, 1899.
(Sources: Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 20, 1899; Descendants of
John Hotchkin of Guilford, CT, by Edgar Hotchkin (see http://hotchkingenealogy.com/))
Marshall Ney King:
Mart King was born in December of 1849, and while the encyclopedias list Troy as
his birthplace, he was in fact born in Lansingburgh. He was one of many
children of Captain Joseph King, who would claim to be 106 by the time of his
death in 1897. According to an obituary, Joseph King “claimed to be of Indian
descent and his appearance was a corroboration of his assertion. His title of
captain was obtained by his connection with Hudson river sailing vessels many
years ago.” But the article also quotes the captain as saying that his father
was in the French dragoons and his mother Dutch, making it difficult to see how
he could be part Indian. Joseph King claimed to have been born on Peeble Island
in 1791 and as commander of the sloop LaFayette to have brought the first bunch
of radishes to Troy. He soon gave up boating and bought a house in Lansingburgh,
where he raised a family and gardened, then remarried and raised a second family
after the death of his first wife. (Albany Evening Journal, May 10,
1897) Mart was only sixteen in 1866 when the Union Club of Lansingburgh began
making a name for itself and does not appear to have been a regular that year.
But he joined his brother Steve in the club’s outfield in 1867 and became so
closely associated with the club that many articles after the turn of the
century inaccurately referred to him as the last of the original Haymakers. In
particular, a 1911 article by W. W. Aulick credited King with refusing to wear a
cap or shoes and in shaming the other players into following his lead by calling
them “dudes.” It doesn’t appear that the club played without shoes and caps for
very long, but that became one of the components of the club’s legend. What is
beyond doubt is that King, who was described by Aulick as being “built on the
massive lines of a battleship,” was one of the toughest men in an era of tough
ballplayers. According to sportswriter T. Z. Cowles, King “served as change
catcher when Craver’s hand had lost so many finger nails that he could no longer
hang on to the ball. ‘Mart’ was a hero in purpose if not a star in
performance. No hurt could drive him out of the game. He, too, spurned all
protection contrivances. Once a foul tip landed squarely between his eyes. It
didn’t even knock him down. He winced a little, shook his head, and went on
with the game. A finger nail torn from its roots meant nothing to him. He
would wrap a rag around it and go on with the game.” (Chicago Tribune,
May 26, 1918) King and Craver both joined the high-paying professional White
Stockings of Chicago in 1870, and when Craver was expelled, King caught many
games for the club that beat the Red Stockings twice and was widely regarded as
national champions. The side whiskers of Red Stockings pitcher Asa Brainard
also offended King’s sensibilities. In one of the victories, King “who was a
rough-hewn oak and possessed a rough voice that was inspiring to men of his
temperament,” loudly urged his teammates to make Brainard “stroke his whiskers.”
(Duluth News-Tribune on December 30, 1906) King broke a finger early in
that game, but in typical fashion he remained behind the plate “without uttering
a single complaint.” (Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October 18, 1870) Mart
King played for Chicago in 1871 and got in a few games for Troy in 1872 but
then, in Aulick’s words, “retired from the game inveighing against an effete
civilization which demanded protection where none was asked for.” He worked in
Troy as a boatman and gardener. By the time of his death in Troy on October 19,
1911, he was regarded as the last of the original Haymakers.
Stephen F. King:
Steve King was Mart’s older brother and was born around 1842. As with his
brother, his birthplace is listed as Troy in the encyclopedias but was more
likely Lansingburgh. He manned the outfield for the club from 1866 onward,
remaining there after many of the players left town. When Troy left the
National Association after the 1872 season, he retired. Steve King died in Troy
on July 8, 1895.
Seaman or Seamon J.
“Sonny” Leavenworth: Sonny Leavenworth, the first baseman of the Haymakers, was
born around 1845 and grew up in Troy, where his father worked as a boatman. He
was the first club members to accept an offer from an outside club, joining the
Mutual Club of New York in the summer of 1867 at a salary of $100 per month. He
changed his mind almost immediately and rejoined the Haymakers for the remainder
of the season. He did not play for the club after that season, and by 1869 was
playing for the Putnams of Troy. He retired after that season and worked as a
grocer until his death on June 19, 1874.
Michael James “Bub”
McAtee: Bub McAtee is listed in the encyclopedias as being born in March of 1845
in Troy, but this may be a mistake as he grew up in Lansingburgh. While with
the Haymakers, he showed unusually versatility by playing both first base and
shortstop. He was one of four Troy players who joined the White Stockings of
Chicago in 1870 and he remained with that club until the Great Chicago Fire. He
returned to play in Troy in 1872 but by then was showing signs of tuberculosis.
After a long battle, he died in Troy on October 18, 1876. According to an
obituary in the Clipper, the surviving members of the original nine
“attended in a body,” but by then only four survived.
McCormick: According
to the article in the Chicago Daily News from around 1924, a man by this
name was a utility player around 1865 or 1866.
John A. McDonald: An
article in the Syracuse Daily Standard on April 28, 1868, said that a
player by this name would be the club’s third baseman in 1868. He does not
appear to have ever played a game for the club, but on August 10, 1868, this
article appeared in the Buffalo Courier and Republic: “Mr. John McDonald, of the
Niagara club, of Buffalo, umpired the important game at Lansingburgh last week,
between the ‘Haymakers’ and the New York Mutuals. The World says the New
Yorkers claimed that the umpire was against them, and that there was a
determination to defeat them at all hazards. The Troy Whig defends Mr. McDonald
in the following style: ‘The World reporter is oversensitive. He has the Mutual
club on the brain, as he sometimes has it in his pocket. In his version of the
matter, he must know that he falsifies and that he willfully misrepresents Mr.
McDonald, whose decisions early in the match won the hearty applause of
President Wildey, of the Mutuals. The truth is, the New Yorkers were out played
at every point, as they will be every time they enter the field with the
Haymakers. The decisions of the umpire were governed by the strict rules of the
game, and if the Mutuals or their friends think different, the matter can be
easily decided by an impartial committee who understand the game. The Mutuals
can find in Troy, at any time, plenty of gentlemen who will wager money and give
odds on the decision of such a committee relative to Mr. McD.’s umpiring. It is
an old dodge with defeated clubs to find fault with the umpire.”
James McKeon: Club
president James McKeon was born around 1835 and was the brother of Peter.
According to Spotten, McKeon was the one who made the decision to pull the club
off the field in the famous game in Cincinnati. He was a local alderman during
the 1860s and the sheriff of Rensselaer County from 1870 to 1873 but seems to
have left town or died soon afterward.
Peter McKeon: Peter
McKeon (often spelled McCune) was born in Lansingburgh around 1846. He worked
as a saloonkeeper and merchant before dying in Lansingburgh on December 9, 1870,
leaving a wife and young son.
Andrew McQuade:
Andrew McQuade was born in Ireland around 1848 and was the club’s pitcher in
1866. He was fatally injured in Albany on November 22, 1866, when his
horse-drawn wagon was struck by a railroad engine. McQuade died in the City
Hospital the following day and his funeral “was attended by the members of the
Union Base Ball Club of Lansingburgh in a body.” (Lansingburgh Weekly
Chronicle, December 5, 1866) Sadly, that scene would be repeated often in
the coming years as the club’s original members one by one passed away.
John Morrissey: The
name of John Morrissey is closely associated with the Haymakers, although the
extent of his involvement with the club is far from clear. Morrissey, who was
born in Templemore, County Tipperary, Ireland, on February 12, 1831, moved to
Troy at age 2 and became a celebrated boxing champion, gambler, gang member and
eventually, with a lot of help from Tammany Hall, a U. S. Congressman and State
Senator. Morrissey was not a member of the Haymakers (although his son was). (Ryczek,
186-187) He did attend many games, however, and one that was played at Saratoga
Springs between Haymakers and Atlantics was reported to have been arranged under
his “patronage.” (New York Clipper, August 21, 1869) His appearance at
games always led to rumors that huge sums had been bet on the outcome, and
sometimes to suspicion of game-fixing. This was most notably the case in the
famous tie game against the Red Stockings, though there is no proof that he
influenced the outcome or even bet on the game. Morrissey died in Saratoga on
May 1, 1878.
Carrol F. Penfield:
Cal Penfield was born in June of 1845 and grew up in Troy. He was one of the
few original club members who didn’t die young, but his life was also touched by
tragedy. His father Nelson enlisted in the 125th New York in the
Civil War and rose to the rank of Major. But he was given a disability
discharge near the end of the war and remained bedridden until his death in
February of 1866. Cal Penfield began playing for the Haymakers that year and
remained the club’s third baseman until being replaced by Bellán in 1869. He
rejoined the club in a reserve role in 1870. Interestingly, Cal’s brother Burr
Penfield, who ran a cigar store in Troy, issued “Base Ball Photograph Cards of
the Haymakers” that year. Cal Penfield then retired from baseball and remained
in town, working as a collar cutter, a clothing store clerk, and as a billiard
hall and saloon keeper. In 1896, Penfield’s wife died at the age of 42,
followed in 1900 by the deaths of his mother and seventeen-year-old daughter.
Cal Penfield left Troy soon afterward and moved to New York City and was soon
forgotten in Troy, as several notes after the 1901 death of Craver described
Mart King as the last surviving member. In fact, Carrol Penfield was still
alive, dying in Manhattan on January 28, 1910.
Mike Powers: Mike
Powers became the shortstop of the Haymakers in 1869 after having previously
played the same position for clubs in Albany.
Rafael Julián de la
Rúa: Rafael de la Rua was one of the new additions to the club in 1868, doing
much of the pitching that season. He was born on January 28, 1848, in Matanzas,
Cuba. By 1860, the twelve-year-old was a student at a small school in Newton,
Massachusetts. Also enrolled at the school was a Finomen Rua, age 18, who was
likely Rafael’s brother. In June of 1864, according to a note in the New
York Times, he arrived in New York on the steamship Havana to begin
preparatory studies at St. John’s College (now Fordham). He studied there from
September 1864 through July 1867, where his fellow students included Estevan
Bellán and his brother Domingo. The official student catalogues give his name
as Julian R. Rua. In 1868, he enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
Troy and began pitching for the Haymakers. His work in a win over the Mutuals
on August 4 led the Troy Times to write, “Rua’s pitching was the acme of
perfection – not too swift to be unreliable, and with just enough of the ‘twist’
to prevent the Mutuals from making their heaviest batting.” The New York
Clipper also mentioned that Rua used a “screw” pitch. (New York Clipper,
June 27, 1868) He left the school without graduating after a single year and
that seems to have ended his baseball career. Rafael de la Rúa was next heard
from on September 23, 1874, when he applied for U.S. citizenship, giving his
occupation as merchant and his address as 15th and 32nd streets in New York.
John W. Scofield or
Schofield: This man was a local bookkeeper who served as secretary and club
scorer in 1866 and later served as secretary of the National Association. He
appears to have been a Civil War veteran, but little else is known about him.
J. Slattery: An
article in the Syracuse Daily Standard on April 28, 1868, said that a player by
this name would pitch for the Union Club in 1868. But he does not appear to
have ever played a game.
James H. Spotten:
James H. Spotten was born around 1841 in New York State and became the club
treasurer. Spotten worked in the coal business as served as town supervisor
from 1882 to 1887. He was also an officer of the club known as the Haymakers
that represented Troy in the International Association, making him apparently
the only man to be an officer of both clubs. (Troy Record, October 16,
1946) He died in Troy on December 11, 1925. Several of Spotten’s reminiscences
are quoted in Richard Puff’s history of the club.
James Ward: Second
baseman Jim Ward, like so many club members, had a short life that was touched
by tragedy. He was born around 1848 in Lansingburgh. His father Philetus
worked as an engineer at the John G. McMurray brush factory and was killed in a
boiler explosion in December of 1865. Jim Ward got married and went to work as
a brushmaker but he died on March 6, 1871.
Others: Beginning in
1870, many professional players from Philadelphia joined the Haymakers and those
men (who included Mike McGeary, John McMullin, Dicky Flowers, Jim Foran and Tom
York) have not been included here. Also joining the club that year were two
reserve players named Hollister and Woolverton. These were probably local
amateurs, but have not been identified.
Sources: There are
many sources of information on this club, but deciding which ones are
trustworthy is no easy task. My aim has been to rely as much as possible on
primary sources and on authors who consulted primary sources. A great deal of
research on this club was conducted by a man named Warren F. Broderick, who
detailed his findings in two articles in the Troy Record – one on August
23, 1969, entitled “Haymakers’ Bats Brought Fame” and a follow-up one week later
entitled “Haymakers Tie Red Stockings in Exciting Game.” In addition, many of
Broderick’s notes were donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and are now
housed in the Troy file. Also extremely valuable is Richard Puff’s “Haymakers
and Daisycutters: Troy and the National Pastime,” in Troy’s Baseball Heritage,
ed. Richard A. Puff (Troy, 1992). William Ryczek’s When Johnny Came Sliding
Home is another very helpful source, as was the “Constitution and By-Laws of
the Union ‘Haymakers’ Base Ball Club of Lansingburgh” (published in the office
of the Lansingburgh Gazette in 1868), a photocopy of which can be found
in the Hall of Fame’s Troy file. An article about the club appeared in the
Springfield (Mass.) Republican on May 12, 1907, and was said to be
based on an interview with Mart King (the “last surviving member”), which had
recently appeared in a Troy paper. It is likely, but not certain, that the
article in question was an undated and incomplete clipping in the Troy file of
the Hall of Fame. The article in the Republican also repeats some
statements from one that appeared in the Duluth News-Tribune on December
30, 1906, and that may also be a source. Other sources are cited in the notes.
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