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Diamonds in the Mountains
By T.M. Bradshaw
One of the iconic sounds of summer is the crack of the bat against a ball on a blue-sky afternoon. It’s a pastime that has endured for over 200 years, starting with loosely organized pickup games with rules that varied somewhat by locale. A 1791 Pittsfield, MA law forbade the game within window-breaking distance of the town’s meeting house, confirming the early popularity of the game.
In the 19th century the sport developed through a progression of organized amateur teams, semi-pro teams, and finally, fully professional teams. A number of teams proliferated throughout the Catskill area, some identified in newspaper references with team names, others only by the town, village, or area they represented: the Stamford Athletics, Windham Resolutes, Schenevus Monitors, Roxbury Nine, Middleburg Leather Chasers, Elk Creek Nine, Treadwell Athletics, Walton RifRafs, Oneonta Stars, Hobart, Hamden, and Cobleskill. These teams played against each other and against visiting teams from farther outside the immediate vicinity, such as the Binghamton Electrics and teams from Hudson, Kingston, and Albany. They also played against the Cuban Giants, a professional African-American team that was formed in 1885 at a resort in Babylon, NY, and the Cuban XGiants, a team started by players who had left the Cuban Giants. The team that formed in Griffin Corners is of particular note: the Mountain Athletic Club, also called the Mountain Tourists. The Fleischmann family began summering in the Catskills in 1883, over time building a compound of five cottages, perhaps more accurately called mansions, in Griffin Corners. Julius and Max Fleischmann, sons of Charles Louis Fleischmann, co-founder of the company in Ohio that eventually became Fleischmann’s Yeast, were sports enthusiasts. In 1895 Charles Fleischmann purchased and had cleared four acres in Griffin Corners for a ball field so that Julius and Max, then 24 and 18, and both already deeply involved in the running of the family business, could enjoy one of their many athletic interests. The Mountain Tourists fielded a lineup consisting of amateurs, minor leaguers, and some professional athletes from around Cincinnati, as well as Julius and Max.
That field required a large outlay of cash and effort to be leveled and have the boulders dynamited out. Still, because of the surrounding terrain, it was said that any hit carried the likelihood of becoming a home run.
Julius became president of Fleischmann’s Yeast in 1897 when his father died. He was also the youngest mayor of Cincinnati, elected in 1900 at the age of 28, serving until 1905.
Several references to the field the Fleischmanns carved out of Catskill rock appeared in the New York Times. A small mention on April 25, 1901, bearing the heading “Rain Causes Damage in the Catskills” noted “The Fleischmann baseball field was damaged to the extent of $1,000.” And a paragraph within a June 14, 1903 article covering events at various Catskills’ towns, referred to Julius’s imminent return to his summer domicile as well as park improvements.
“Mayor Julius Fleischmann of Cincinnati is not expected at his Summer home here until early July. He maintains a salaried baseball team at Fleischmann’s known as the Mountain Athletic Club, who report June 15 for practice.The athletic grounds here owned by him have been enlarged during the Winter, and 5,000 persons can now witness the sporting events.”
The Fleischmann family treated the players like sports royalty, a management style less common at the time than it is now. They were paid well, fed well, enjoyed trips on Fleischmann yachts, and carriage rides to the ball field. In 1900, Julius brought the team to Cincinnati by rail, traveling in a luxury Pullman car, to play an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds to benefit Harry Weldon, sports editor for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Max Fleischmann played right field that day and the M. A. C. won 4 to 3, pitcher “Black Jack” Keenan holding the Reds to just five hits.
A photo from the early days of the M. A. C. that has recently returned to the area shows some players who were on what is likely the 1897 team. The photo originally belonged to former Fleischmanns postmaster John Kelly and thanks to the generosity of his descendants is now at Fleischmanns’ Skene Library. Vintage base ball enthusiast Collin Miller expended a great deal of effort attempting to confirm whether Honus Wagner, who some say played for the M. A. C., is in the photo. Miller has lots of evidence to the contrary.
The Fleischmann brothers involvement in baseball was not limited to the Catskills team. In 1900, Max Fleischmann became vice president of the Reds; Julius then bought a controlling interest in the team in 1902. In 1903, the brothers acquired a syndicate stake in the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1912 they attempted but failed to make another such investment in the Chicago Cubs. They sold their interest in the Reds in 1915 to pursue other interests.
The western portion of Griffin Corners that included the ball field had come to be known as “Fleischmanns,” a hamlet with its own post office. The eastern end was still Griffin Corners, with Bridge Street dividing the two. When the village was incorporated in 1913, it was under the name Fleischmanns and included both hamlets.
In May of 1914, Julius sold the park and athletic grounds to the newly-incorporated village for a dollar, with certain restrictions: That it was always to be used as a park and athletic grounds, that it always be kept in good condition, that it never be sold or sublet, and always be of free access to the public. The park included a bicycle track and bandstand in addition to the ball field. The M. A. C. played its last game shortly before 1910.
But wait, that’s not exactly correct—that’s when the original team played their last game. In 2007, local businessman Todd Pascarella and former mayor Dave Morell revived the ball club. Other vintage ball clubs dot the Catskills, such as the Delhi Polecats and the Bovina Dairymen, all members of the Delaware County Vintage Base Ball Association and the Vintage Base Ball Association, which has over 200 teams nationwide. These amateur teams play by the rules of the sport from different eras, using the equipment of the 1800s—wooden bats, accurate reproductions of uniforms, and depending on which year’s rules are being used for a particular game, no gloves. One very definitely modern change, lightyears ahead of MLB, is that women are welcome to play.
History repeats, both good and bad. In 2009, $10,000 of grant money revitalized the M. A. C. infield. And far worse than the heavy rains that did $1,000 worth of damage to the field in 1901, Hurricane Irene ravaged many towns in the Catskills in September 2011, leaving everything flooded and in a shambles, including the Fleischmanns’ ball park. But once the major issues affecting residents’ lives were addressed—homes, roads, bridges— some people started thinking about vintage base ball again in 2017. One such person was Collin Miller, who had been third baseman for the M. A. C. Federal disaster relief funds enabled the village to purchase a backstop, a pitcher’s plate and home base, all installed by community members.
Miller is now team captain, playing at various infield positions, and maintains a website and blog about them. A manual scoreboard and “Wall of Fame” honoring the founders and early players was hand-painted by second basewoman, Chrissy “Showtime” Skubish. And the field has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
A schedule of area games throughout the summer is available on the Delaware County Vintage Base Ball Association website at delcovintagebaseball.org. The current season ends with a twoday, 12-team event in Bovina called the Cowtown Scramble on September 30 and October 1. Play ball!
T.M. Bradshaw shares other thoughts on history at tmbradshawbooks.com.
