An Update on David Abel's Presentational Baseball
An Update on David Abel’s Presentational Baseball
It’s good to hear that David was finally able (no pun intended) to pretty much resolve the question of where and when. City baseball league were big, I mean really big in the first decade on the twentieth century. In Chicago, for instance, it was not uncommon to have neighborhood crowds in excess of 5,000 fans. Not everywhere, but in a number of cities this type of neighborhood pride supported their local baseball teams until WWII.
Hello to all,
It's been about 4 months since I started researching an old baseball that I had acquired. Through the help of many of you I was able to concentrate my research and not spend many hours going around in circles. About two months ago the Boston Public Library had found reference to two teams I was looking for.
They were the Tigers and the Ironsides. Those findings sent my search to the City of Newark, New Jersey. My search continued but with little success until I found a book written by Robert Cvornyek about baseball in Newark. We emailed back and forth. He recently made another trip to Newark to continue his research on baseball in that city. Upon searching reels of microfilm from The Newark Star and The Newark Evening News papers from May of 1910 he hit gold. Not only did he find mentions of the two teams, but detailed accounts of their seasons in the Newark City League. It doesn't stop there. The ball I have has writing on it that says "First Ball Pitched at the opening Game on the Tiger Oval". On May 22, 1910 the champion Newark Ironsides played a double header with the Newark Tigers from the Vailsburg section of town. The morning game was played on the Ironsides turf at the West Side Oval and the afternoon game was played on the Tigers turf on the Tiger Oval. The afternoon game on the Tiger Oval was the first home game ever for the Newark Tigers. The article mentions a large gala and elaborate ceremonies were planned with many attending including political figures. The game drew over 5,000 fans. The ball I have came in a handsome leather display case. The ball is also inscribed with the date that matches the article and the score of Tigers 8 and Ironsides 3 which also matches the article. The ball was presented to a local Assemblyman which I am still searching for.
I know I had email conversations with a handful of you and the name Oval was really hard to search for. The articles mention the other following teams: Bay Views, Parkviews, Rosevilles and the Turners. Some of the other Ovals mentioned are: Parkview Oval, Roseville Oval, Johnson Oval, Ashland Oval.
The newspaper articles even mention the players from both teams. Some of which either went on to play in the majors or already had stints with major league teams.
I want to thank all of you for your help. I still have a little more research to do because I want to learn more about the Newark City League and teams and players.
David Abel
Parrish, Florida
It’s good to hear that David was finally able (no pun intended) to pretty much resolve the question of where and when. City baseball league were big, I mean really big in the first decade on the twentieth century. In Chicago, for instance, it was not uncommon to have neighborhood crowds in excess of 5,000 fans. Not everywhere, but in a number of cities this type of neighborhood pride supported their local baseball teams until WWII.
Hello to all,
It's been about 4 months since I started researching an old baseball that I had acquired. Through the help of many of you I was able to concentrate my research and not spend many hours going around in circles. About two months ago the Boston Public Library had found reference to two teams I was looking for.
They were the Tigers and the Ironsides. Those findings sent my search to the City of Newark, New Jersey. My search continued but with little success until I found a book written by Robert Cvornyek about baseball in Newark. We emailed back and forth. He recently made another trip to Newark to continue his research on baseball in that city. Upon searching reels of microfilm from The Newark Star and The Newark Evening News papers from May of 1910 he hit gold. Not only did he find mentions of the two teams, but detailed accounts of their seasons in the Newark City League. It doesn't stop there. The ball I have has writing on it that says "First Ball Pitched at the opening Game on the Tiger Oval". On May 22, 1910 the champion Newark Ironsides played a double header with the Newark Tigers from the Vailsburg section of town. The morning game was played on the Ironsides turf at the West Side Oval and the afternoon game was played on the Tigers turf on the Tiger Oval. The afternoon game on the Tiger Oval was the first home game ever for the Newark Tigers. The article mentions a large gala and elaborate ceremonies were planned with many attending including political figures. The game drew over 5,000 fans. The ball I have came in a handsome leather display case. The ball is also inscribed with the date that matches the article and the score of Tigers 8 and Ironsides 3 which also matches the article. The ball was presented to a local Assemblyman which I am still searching for.
I know I had email conversations with a handful of you and the name Oval was really hard to search for. The articles mention the other following teams: Bay Views, Parkviews, Rosevilles and the Turners. Some of the other Ovals mentioned are: Parkview Oval, Roseville Oval, Johnson Oval, Ashland Oval.
The newspaper articles even mention the players from both teams. Some of which either went on to play in the majors or already had stints with major league teams.
I want to thank all of you for your help. I still have a little more research to do because I want to learn more about the Newark City League and teams and players.
David Abel
Parrish, Florida
posted by Carlos Bauer at 8:35 AM
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