Chapter 12: Worcester

[12] Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds

jjmcgr@aol.com writes:
I love your Boston baseball website.

You may want to add the site on Sever Street in Worcester where Richmond threw the first perfect game in ML history for the Worcester Brown Stockings. There's a nice plaque there. My son made me take him there so there is some interest.

Thanks, jjmcgr!

After searching the Web we found the photo above and further information about the marker at the web site of Benjamin D Hutchins . This web site has other Worcester points of interest as well as reflections on the city -- the author writes that it is "dirty, dilapidated, and possessed of that faint feeling of dispossession" but maintains "I like Worcester's threadbare ambiance for some reason."

Worcester County Agricultural Fairgrounds

The Fairgrounds was a 20-acre plot bordered by Highland, Sever, Cedar, and Agricultural Street. It was also known as Driving Park because it included a track for horse trotting.

The Brown Stockings*

The Brown Stockings began as a minor league team in 1879, and joined the National League in 1880, although Worcester had to cheat a little to meet the League's 75,000 population requirement. The team president was Charles Pratt, the Mayor of Worcester; the field leader was the "prince of baseball managers", Frank Bancroft. Worcester finished 5th in its debut campaign, led by pitcher J. Lee Raymond and shortstop Arthur Irwin. But at the end of the season the team suffered the defection of manager Bancroft, who took four good players with him to Detroit, including catcher Charlie Bennett. Bancroft was replaced by Mike Dorgan from Providence; Doc Bushong (a dental student) took over the catching duties.

In 1881 the Brown Stockings (sometimes called Ruby Legs) drew their biggest crowd ever -- 3,652 -- for a match against Detroit. The much-beloved Bennett was given a gold watch by the Worcester fans who missed him. Worcester won that game but soon fell into last place, and stayed there. The following season was even worse, and for one game the team drew a total of 18 fans. The handwriting was on the wall. After an 18-66 season, National League officials announced Worcester's "resignation" from the league. Troy, N.Y. also departed the league at this time.

The vacant Worcester franchise was picked up by sporting goods mogul Al Reach, who started the Philadelphia Phillies. This team had none of the same management or players as the Brown Stockings , but the Phillies claim to be descended from the Worcester Brown Stockings.

J. Lee Richmond

John Lee Richmond was a lefthanded curve ball artist who stood 5'10" and weighed 142 lbs. He first won fame in 1879, pitching for both Brown University in Providence and Worcester's minor league team. In a rain-shortened, seven-inning exhibition game, Richmond pitched a no-hitter against Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings, who were leading the National League at the time. A week later, he defeated Yale to give Brown the College Championship.

In 1880, his senior year in college, Richmond worked 74 of Worcester's 83 games -- an astonishing total of 590.2 innings -- winning 32 and losing 32. Lee was no slacker. When he wasn't on the mound, he earned his pay by playing the outfield. He continued this kind of yeoman work until 1882 when he began suffering from a chronic sore arm. But Richmond had another career in mind anyway -- he was using baseball to finance his medical education. He pitched briefly for Providence in '83 and then retired from baseball at age 26 to become a doctor. J. Lee Richmond returned to his home state of Ohio, picking up the baseball just one more time, to play a few games for Cincinnati in 1886. The good doctor lived until 1929.

The Game

It was a Saturday afternoon, June 12, 1880. Richmond was due to receive his bachelor's degree from Brown University in four days. He'd taken a train up from Providence, it was late, and so he went without lunch. Charlie Bennett caught the game for the Brown Stockings. Reportedly RF Lon Knight saved the no-hitter by throwing out a batter at first base. Jim McCormick pitched for Cleveland and allowed only 3 hits. The only run scored when Blues' second baseman Fred "Sure Shot" Dunlap juggled a double-play throw from the pitcher and then threw over the catcher's head, as Irwin crossed the plate. The time of game was 1 hour, 26 minutes. The Worcester Evening Gazette called it "the best game on record."

Five days later, Monte Ward would pitch the second perfect game in history. The next National League perfect game would not occur until June 21, 1964!

-- Major source for historical material: Before the Curse by Troy Soos.

*Historical Note

Bill Ballou, sportswriter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, writes:
Dear Mr. Nevard,

Regarding the Worcester Brown Stockings, etc.:

I have researched Worcester's baseball teams, major and minor leagues, for years and I challenge anyone to find a contemporary reference of them as the Brown Stockings or Ruby Legs. I never have. From what I can tell, they were known as The Worcesters, no more or less than that. They did wear brown stockings, and I think that people assume that things in the 1880s were as they are today, with logos and souvenirs and consultants and fancy nicknames. If anyone can fine a contemporary reference of the Worcester Anythings for the city's time in the National League, that would be wonderful.

The Phillies are not descendants of the Worcester franchise. At the close of the 1882 season, Worcester and Troy were thrown out of the National League. New York and Philadelphia were admitted to replace them. There was no purchase of a franchise or players. There is no continuity. Philadelphia simply took Worcester's place.

Finally, the site of the Worcester ballpark was uncovered by research from Brian Goslow. It has always been known that the ballpark was at the site of the old fairgrounds, but that was a huge pice of land, much as today's Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield. Goslow was able to find out precisely where the diamond was, and even about where the mound must have been. The marker represents the fans entrance to the field.

Sincerely,
Bill Ballou

Visiting Worcester

Today the old Agricultural Fairgrounds is part of the Becker College campus, on Sever Street in Worcester. Directions to Becker College, (founded 1887).