Skip to main content

Troy Baseball Monument - Troy, New York

 Did you know that Troy, New York was once home to a major league baseball team? Indeed this was the case for a few years back in the 19th Century. The home of Uncle Sam and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was the home of a professional baseball club in the National League between 1879 and 1882. The team got its start around 1861 as the Unions of Lansingburgh, who were also known as the Troy Haymakers. The name Haymakers came about in 1867 after a victory over the New York Mutuals, with the newspapers donning the team the Haymakers because they couldn't believe that a team from Upstate New York could beat a New York City team.

In 1879, the team from Troy was invited to join the National League and Troy fielded a team call the Cities. Over the four years that Troy had a team, they fielded five future Baseball Hall of Famers. They were Dan Brouthers, Tim Keefe, Roger Conner, Buck Ewing, and Mickey Welch. After some years of poor attendance and a desire by the National League to have teams in larger cities, so they could compete better against the popular American Association, the National League teams from Worcester, MA and Troy, NY were disbanded after the 1882 season, in favor of two new teams, which were the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. The cities of Troy and Worcester were named honorary members of the National League. The San Francisco Giants trace their lineage back to Troy and in fact, the name Giants is a nod to "those very tall boys from Troy".

In 1992, a small monument at Knickerbacker Park in historic Lansingburgh was erected to honor Troy's baseball history, not just of their professional baseball history, but of the players that came from Troy as well. One of those players listed as being from Troy is Johnny Evers of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" fame, who is another Baseball Hall of Famer. The choice to have the monument at Knickerbacker Park is significant, as it one of the sites where the old Troy Haymakers played.










Sources and Links:
Ray Kim - When Troy Was A Major League City
Project Ballpark - Troy Baseball Monument
ESPN - Remembering the Long-Ago Major League History of Troy, New York
Clio - Troy's Baseball Heritage Monument


How to Get There:




Update Log:
February 13, 2018 - Published original article to Unlocking New York.
August 27, 2021 - Transferred article from Unlocking New York to Gribblenation.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bleriot Ferry - Alberta

  Alberta operates six ferries scattered throughout the province. Roughly twenty to twenty-five kilometers up the Red Deer River from the town of Drumheller is one of the most scenic ferry crossings in all of Wild Rose Country, the Bleriot Ferry. Using the North Dinosaur Trail (Alberta Highway 838, or AB 838), the Bleriot Ferry provides a scenic river cruise of sorts in the Canadian Badlands. The Bleriot Ferry started operating in 1913 as the Munson Ferry when a few bridges crossed the Red Deer River. The ferry was started by Andre Bleriot, the brother of famed early aviator Louis Bleriot, who became famous for being the first person to fly over the English Channel. At the time, the Alberta provincial government commissioned local residents to run the ferries. There were several ferries along the Red Deer River, and not only did they serve as vital transportation links, but they also served as local social hubs, since everyone had to take the ferries to go places. Over time, as the...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

I-73/I-74 and NC Future Interstates Year in Review 2024

Welcome to another annual review of progress in constructing North Carolina's New and Future Interstate routes. While 2024 was not too exciting, with no new segments of major routes opening, there was 1 new interstate signing, another proposed new interstate route, and the near opening of a new segment for 2 routes. As tradition, I will start off with a review of what happened with I-73 and I-74 and then move on to the major news of the year about the other new and future routes. Work continued on the I-73/I-74 Rockingham Bypass through the year. The last few months have been hoping for news of its opening before 2025, without luck. Signs of its near completion included the placement of new signs, many with interstate shields uncovered, along the Bypass and intersecting roadways. For example, these went up along US 74 East: Overhead signage at Business 74 exit which contains the future ramp to I-73 North/I-74 West. Signage was also updated heading west on US 74 approaching the unop...