1885 – 1900

Fast games and clever teamwork...

Baseball Players at Ballston Lake, October 1, 1895
Saratoga County Historical Society,
1967.007.0001

While larger towns in Saratoga County were fielding well-organized teams, smaller communities were also "playing ball." In the Town of Northumberland, the hamlet of Brownville had its own baseball club, probably in the years between 1880 and 1900.

William J. (Billy)
Dower (1869–1941)
Ballston Monitor,
ca 1890
Loaned by John Cromie

Known only as "Jonathan R. Deyoe’s Team," they played clubs in a twenty mile radius, from Victory Mills to Fort Edward (Stars), to Greenfield Center and Quaker Springs. These teams were composed of a tightly knit group, and usually more than one family member played.

 

During this time the rivalry between Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa heated up, with numerous matches being played. The powerhouse team of this period was the Ballston Monitors, organized in 1883. This was an era in which baseball flourished in the area, producing many teams from semi-pro to worker’s clubs.

Saratoga Springs produced a number of clubs in addition to its Athletic Club Team. The west-side neighborhood, populated mainly by workers of Irish descent, formed the Dublin Daisies in the 1890s. Clubs made up of workers from the large hotels played one another. In one well-documented game, the Business Men and the Professional Men of Saratoga Springs went head to head in 1895.

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