The ballpark was spectacular, a red-brick palace to the game. Fairfax could hardly believe his eyes. It was otherworldly compared to the wooden grandstands and flaking paint of Cartwright Stadium, where he had once played. At last, a ballpark fit for the Angels. Fit for Providence. He stood before a grand doorway on the corner…
Author: Clayton
North for the Spring
The sounds of steam, whistles, the shouts of railroad men and the usual hubbub echoed around the grand train-shed. A dry cough broke through the din now and then, drawing sideways glances from passers-by who politely pretended not to hear the wretched, heaving sound. “You cannot go. Please,” the man’s wife whispered, a great sadness…
Best Laid Plans
Thursday, August 7th, 1919. A theater-like façade — Greek pillars, ornate cornice, ballplayers engraved into the stonework. Clayton Bayman couldn’t quite comprehend what he was looking at on the paper before him. “What is this?” Providence Angels owner Leopold Boase had not been seen much around the club over the past two seasons. He had…
Return of the King
As the 1919 Legacy Baseball League season dawned, clubs and fanatics would mourn those that did not return from war, or those whose ball-playing days had to end too soon because of the injuries inflicted upon them, and they would embrace to their bosom those that returned to play again. The Providence Angels’ rooters were…
Providence Angels Baseball Club: A Season-by-Season History – Extract I
Providence Angels Baseball Club: A Season-by-Season History 1895 – 19XX By James Harvey Extract from Chapter 2: The Deadball Era 1917 1917 would prove a pivotal year in the First World War, the February and October Revolutions erupted in Russia, leading to armistice by December, Germany once again unleashed unrestricted submarine warfare across the seas,…
Providence Prepared
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND – Yesterday (June 3) over 50,000 Providentians took to the streets of the city in enthusiastic support of the call for preparedness. The focal point of the Preparedness Parade was a magnificent “living flag” before the city hall. On a towering temporary review stand some 1,560 school children were smartly assembled into…
The Birth of Baseball Monthly
It was the golden age of print media, radio broadcasting was in its infancy, the newspaper, the book and the magazine were the dominant way we learned of the world around us. Print media’s readership and effectiveness had exploded over the past decades, with increased literacy rates, printing advancements, and rapid urbanization. Print media could…
Providence Bids Farewell To Burnell
Providence Chronicle, Saturday, May 6, 1916 YESTERDAY – The great and the good of Providence gathered before the Friday afternoon ballgame in Cartwright Stadium to bid a fond farewell to Angels great, Rufus ‘Rattler’ Burnell. Among the over 2,500 loyal rooters in attendance were local dignitaries representing our fair community, including Mayor Joseph H. Gainer,…
If You Can Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You
Into the dimly lit main hall of Union Station burst a young man, cases under each arm, he resisted the urge to run and cause a commotion. Wet shoes squeaking on the marble floors, a rushed exchange with a porter to confirm the platform of the ‘Angels Special’ without breaking his stride. Familiar faces of…