Written by Drew V.
The life work of sporting enthusiast and Superior Court Judge Jacob Cartwright, the Providence angels are a successful and strait-laced ballclub who play in the scenic center of Roger Williams Park on “Angel Island.”
A successful lawyer, respected judge and soft-spoken Roman Catholic deacon, Jacob Cartwright purchased the center of Roger Williams Park in 1893 to build a “holy, disciplined, and transcendent” baseball club. Originally formed from Judge Cartwright’s highly competitive diocesan club, the Angels were opened to non-Catholics in 1893 to comply with LBL mandates.
Likely the most rigid team in the Legacy Baseball League, Angels players are held to “Cartwright’s Canons,” a handbook of strict protocols, courtesies, and exercises written in the fashion of a Liturgy of the Hours. “Non-Catholic brethren are welcome to participate in the organization,” the introduction of Cartwright’s Canons reads, “just as our Savior Jesus Christ healed the gentiles and shared a well with the harlots.”
Players are fined for failure to shave, unkempt hair, cursing, rudeness, impiety, drunkenness, and failure to observe the sabbath.
Judge Cartwright’s no-nonsense franchise is often seen as the complete foil to Father Thomas Carlow’s rowdy Baltimore club. Archdiocesan gatherings between Baltimore and Rhode Island clergy are less than warm during the baseball season, with the respective Archbishops famously devoting pre-series homilies and Prayers of the Faithful to their respective teams.
A perennial runner-up in the Ivy Division, the Angels play a disciplined, clean, and polished form of defensive baseball under Virginia native Michael Scully. Behind pitching star and East Providence native John Griffith, the Angels established themselves as a LBL contender in the mid-1890s. Hard-hitting lefty Vic Kilgo leads a powerful offense with growing talent in prospects like outfielder Rufus Burnell.
A 3-time Ivy Division champion, Cartwright’s Angels look to avenge double League Championship losses to the powerful Philadelphia franchise of the Liberty Division.