Eagle Feathers #229 – The Baseball

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

United States Civil War General Abner Doubleday fired the first cannonball in defense of Fort Sumter and served honorably throughout the war and beyond. This would not make him as famous as another acknowledgement in his life. He promoted military sports and for over 100 years was the commonly recognized inventor of baseball. Another contender for the claim was Alexander Joys Cartwright, Jr., a New York volunteer firefighter and bank clerk. He later became the first Fire Chief of Honolulu, Hawaii. Cartwright was the first to set down the dimensions and rules of the game that we know today.

No one knows exactly who created baseball. The spirit of the game really goes back to our own back yard. Colonial New Englanders mixed Rounders, a children’s game, and Cricket, a game played with a bat or striker, a ball, and … “wham” … an American pastime was born. Through the years, the interest in the game varied between fair-weather fans, die-hards, tradition, and collecting. For example, a Honus Wagner baseball trading card lately sold for over $3.5 million. Also, a collector’s baseball signed by eleven of the first Baseball Hall of Famers still living when the Hall opened in 1939 sold for $623,369. I am a fan of the baseball keepsake and think a baseball signed by the following eleven Somerville-spirited people would be priceless.

1. Somerville’s, Harold Joseph “Pie” Traynor, learned to play ball at Trum Field, often playing barehanded. He played for Pittsburgh, replacing guess who … Hornus Wagner. Later, Pie became the team’s manager and scout. He was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame and was baseball’s best third baseman for ten years straight.

2. One of the most famous poems about baseball, Casey At the Bat, had two possible authors. One was Earnest Lawrence Thayer, a Harvard-educated, wealthy mill owner. The other was Somerville’s George Whitefield D’Vys, a writer and correspondent. D’Vys was the longest claimant until after many years when the disputing finally stopped. Whatever side you take on the David and Goliath or the Rags to Riches wannabe, the poem triumphs.

3. In 1914, Somerville’s Brother Gilbert Cairns, a graduate of St. Joseph’s High School in Union Square discovered Babe Ruth, the future Sultan of Swat.

4. Fenway Park, the 109-year-old shrine to Major League Baseball, is the oldest in the nation. Charles Taylor, founder of the Boston Globe, was a Somerville Alderman who raised his family on Belmont Street and built Fenway Park.

5. Taylor’s son, John, helped in constructing the park and named their team the Boston Red Sox.

6. Daniel “Danny” MacFayden played baseball for Somerville High School. This spectacled baseball player with horn-rimmed glasses pitched for both Boston and New York. He once struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back-to-back.

7. In 1910, baseball fan President William Howard Taft was the first Commander in Chief to throw out the first pitch in baseball. The tradition still exists today. He also originated the Seventh Inning Stretch during the same game. Two months later, Somerville honored him with a huge Fourth of July Parade and a city-wide tour.

8. Through the years, many businessmen who made Somerville their home advertised their companies at Fenway Park. Among them were Harvey Hood of H.P. Hood & Sons; William Nickerson, co-inventor of the Gillette Safety Razor Company and Charles Taylor of The Boston Globe newspaper. Nickerson is honored by Boston University’s Nickerson Field.

9. Former Somerville Alderman Anthony “Tony” Lafuente’s company, Flagraphics, Inc., has created Red Sox flags, banners and bunting that have adorned the park from the bottom of Fenway’s Green Monster to the top of the John Hancock Tower.

10. During the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, Horace Partridge, was the owner of the oldest athletic goods house in America, Horace Partridge & Company. He was the official supplier of the uniforms of the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Braves and also much of their equipment. Partridge Avenue is named after him.

11. Timothy Keefe was one of the most impressive pitchers in early professional baseball. He was enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. He was born on Somerville’s Springfield Street on New Year’s Day, 1857. He lived a tale of two cities, living also in Cambridge where he is buried and honored by Tim Keefe Square.

This “rounders” off Somerville’s eleven.