An exhibit detailing the Berkshires’ connections to America’s pastime is on display at the Berkshire Historical Society. And it’s a history home run.The start of “Baseball in Berkshires: A County’s Common Bond” exhibit is just that…the start.
“[Here is] a copy of the bylaw that was written in 1791 that banned the playing of baseball within 80 yards of a meeting house,” explained exhibit co-creator Kevin Larkin.
That bylaw was the product of a September 5, 1791 Pittsfield town meeting drafted for the purpose of preserving the windows in the new meeting house. In addition to baseball, if a person was found playing “wicket, cricket, batball, football, cat, fives or any other games or games with balls” near the meeting house they would be fined five schillings. The bylaw was uncovered in 2004 and is believed to be the first written reference to baseball.
So if that’s the home plate of the Berkshires’ connection to baseball, first base would have to be the first-ever collegiate game.
“What we’re looking at now is a replica of a uniform worn in 1859 by teams from Williams College and Amherst who played a combination baseball game and chess match in Pittsfield in the area of where St. Joe’s High School is right now,” said Larkin.
Amherst took the game 73 to 32 and the chess match.
Before baseball left the dugout and completely embedded itself in American culture, the Berkshires saw two of the area’s best professionals around the turn of the 20th century. Ulysses Frank Grant, a black man, played in organized white baseball before the color line was drawn. The Pittsfield native was known as “The Black Dunlap” in reference to Fred Dunlap, one of the best white second basemen of the time.
In 1904, Jack Chesbro, who was born in northern Berkshire County, pitched his way to 41 wins in a single season — a modern day record.
“There’s tens and tens of thousands of players that have played major league baseball,” Larkin said. “Out of those tens and tens of thousands 315 are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Two of them are from within 20 miles of where we’re standing right now.”
Larkin, who is the author of Baseball in the Bay State and helped put together the exhibit, says there are accounts of the two men playing against each other in their later years.
“From what we can find out Grant did very well against Chesbro,” said Larkin.
The crown jewel of the area’s stake in baseball history still stands. Home to organized baseball since 1892, Wahconah Park is one of the last remaining baseball stadiums with a wooden grandstand. Playing host to a number of professional teams throughout the years, the park was bound to have a few stars shag flies within its confines.
One came through with the Hartford Senators in the 1920s.
“Well in looking at the guy sitting in the middle you might recognize him,” Larkin pointed out. “A lot of people might recognize him. That was one of Lou Gehrig’s first professional baseball games. It was played at Wahconah Park. I believe his first professional home run was hit at Wahconah Park. It went into the Housatonic River.”
For you memorabilia junkies, Larkin says the ball was never found. The likes of Satchel Paige, Jim Thorpe, Carlton Fisk and Greg Maddux would pass through Wahconah on their way to baseball lore. Even outside Berkshire County, the area would continue to find its way into baseball history.
“Gene Hermanski was from the area and he was on the 1947 [Brooklyn Dodgers] team with Jackie Robinson when Robinson broke the color barrier,” Larkin said. “What you’re looking at is one of the bats and one of the gloves he used from that era. I can remember going to the movie theater when the Robinson movie came out and they mentioned Hermanski. I can remember standing right up in the movie theater and saying ‘That guy’s from Pittsfield!’ I mean, this is history. That was probably in the top five of historical events in baseball history right there and Berkshire County was a part of it.”
You can round the bases countless times over with stories brought to life in the exhibit including a scout from Pittsfield named Tom Mooney who just happened to help sign a guy by the name of Ken Griffey Jr., who is being inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in July.
Overall the exhibit features more than 280 items from 90 private collections including old scorecards, equipment and jerseys from local teams. Finally, a baseball showcase wouldn’t be complete without some superstition and “the weird.” Once again, Berkshire County comes through in the form of pitcher Turk Wendell.
“His uniforms are here from the Rockies, Phillies and Mets,” Larkin pointed out. “We have gloves, spikes, balls, autographed pictures and the two things he was most famous for…a bag of licorice and a toothbrush. He used to chew licorice in between innings and brush his teeth before he went out.”
The exhibit is up through May 2nd.
