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THE INDEPENDENTS OF MANSFIELD
In 1895, a man named John C.
Carrothers described the history of early baseball in Mansfield. He reported
that the first game occurred between the Mansfield and Exercise clubs on
September 12, 1866, on East Fourth Street, and featured a lively ball and
straight arm pitching. The players for the Exercise club were Roberts, Emminger,
Decamp, Snyder, Cobean, Sturges, Rowland, McIlvain, and Dougherty, while
Mansfield countered with Rowland, Guernsey, Thomas, Lacy, McMann, Ritter, Hade,
Leiter, and Strong. The Mansfields won 45-31, with Hade leading all scorers
with seven runs. The umpire was John M. Jolley, a wealthy banker.
The
following May 1st, the two clubs consolidated as the Independents, with the
lineup consisting of L.A. Strong, c; R.H. Rowland, p; G.W. Blymyer, 1b; J.D.
Bell, 2b; J. Cobean, 3b; Gail Thomas, ss; Jacob Hade, rf; George Snyder, cf;
George A. Clugston, lf. The substitutes were A. Sturges, A. Emminger, and E.
Snyder. The club's grounds were located on East Market Street and it faced
clubs from Ashland, Delaware, Akron and Galion, winning most of the matches. In
a game against Akron, R. H. Rowland made what Carrothers called "the great hit
of the day," with the ball ending up 195 feet from home - obviously, this speaks
volumes about the liveliness of the ball they were using. After a game against
the Delaware club, John C. Burns of that club joined the Independents and became
a regular.
In 1868
two New Yorkers, John Clapp and Henry Deitz, were added to the Independents'
regular nine. The club faced opponents from as far away as Pittsburgh and
Washington, playing on grounds on the south side of Newville Road near a
cemetery.
In 1869
the Independents faced the mighty Red Stockings of Cincinnati, the first openly
professional club in the Midwest. The Red Stockings' fame made them a
tremendous draw, and a huge crowd turned out at the fair grounds to watch the
Independents lose 48-11. But the Red Stockings also created a problem for less
proficient clubs in the region, with many feeling obliged to either plunge
whole-heartedly into professionalism or disband. The Independents dropped more
locals in favor of imported players from Philadelphia, but disbanded at the end
of the season and it was five years before Mansfield again had a notable club.
As the
profiles suggest, the club's players were drawn from the most prominent families
of Mansfield, and most of them went on to successful careers in the law,
business or civic matters. By the late 1860s many of them were married and
starting families, which undoubtedly also contributed to the demise of
Mansfield's first prominent club.
Sources:
Mansfield News, June 3, 1895, Mansfield News, May 2, 1903
Key Players:
James
Dorland Bell, b. April 1843 Homer, Oh, d. Dec. 23, 1912, leather dealer
George W.
Blymyer, b. 1840 Pa., d. 4/17/1930 Richland Cty., Ohio, one of Mansfield's
pioneer families, arrived in Mansfield on covered wagon in 1843 and father
founded hardware store
John C.
Burns, b. 1847 Ohio, son of lawyer Barnabas Burns, became a lawyer and city
clerk, living in Chicago in 1936
John
Clapp, born July 17, 1851, Ithaca, New York. Came to Mansfield as a teenager
and was the only member of the Independents to play in the major leagues, having
an eleven-year career as one of the game's best catchers. In 1903, Carrothers
reported that he was corresponding with Clapp, who was living in Ithaca and had
experienced a run of bad luck in recent years. He had started a business, but
lost it as a result of a lengthy illness and had also lost his wife to death.
Clapp was starting over as a policeman. The following year, on December 18,
1904, Clapp died in Ithaca.
George A.
Clugston, b. 1843 Pa., later mayor of Mansfield and president of Tri-State
league club, insurance, d. 9/3/1911 Elks National Home
James
Cobean, b. 1848 Ohio, living in Portsmouth, Va. in 1920
Henry
Dietz, born 1844 NY, stayed in Mansfield for several years and worked as a
painter, but not clear after that. He may have moved to Denver.
Jacob
Hade, b. 1846 Ohio, d. 6/10/10 Toledo, railroad clerk, moved to Toledo around
1880
R. H.
Rowland: was county treasurer in 1873, but seems to have moved to Chicago and
died before 1900.
George
Snyder, b. 1847, a railroad clerk
Lyman A.
Strong, b. 1839, d. July 9, 1916 Mansfield
Arthur D.
Sturges, b. 1848 Oh., 5/30/1923, Lorain County
Gaylord "Gail" Thomas, a Civil War vet, Company D, 102nd Infantry Regiment, b.
1842 Ohio, restaurant, alive in 1890
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