Massapoag Club of Sharon

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Awaiting Review
Nick Name Massapoag Club
Earliest Known Date Saturday, July 4, 1857
Location Sharon, MA, United States
Nine Class Senior
Description

This club appears to have played only by Massachusetts rules.

Sharon MA (1860 pop. about 1400 ) is about 20 miles SW of Boston. 

Walpole MA (1860 pop. about 2000) is about 3 miles NW of Sharon.  North Bridgewater MA, now a part of Brockton MA (1860 pop: about 6600), is  about 20 miles S of Boston.   Holliston MA (1860 pop about 3300) is about 15 miles NW of Sharon. Medway MA (1860 pop. about 3200) is about 15 miles W of Sharon.

 

June 1857 -- Massapoag 25-25-25, South Walpole 2-0-21


"Sharon Correspondence, June 16, 1857

"Mr. Editor:  The members of the 'Massapoag Base Ball Club' extended an invitation to the "South Walpole Ball Club" to meet them in this village for a trial of skill at ball playing.  The "Clubs" met on the afternoon of Saturday last, with twelve members each, every member in tip-top condition.

"Five games of twenty-five talleys each were agreed upon.  The 'bat' was thrown up, the hands laid on, and the winning party took the "batter's hole.'  The sport then commenced in deadly earnest -- no 'boy's play,' but a skillful, vigorous contest of athletic men, swift of foot and ambitious to win.

"The first game was played brisk and smart; the talleyman's voice soon called, a game of ball.  They counted up and declared the Massapoag Club the winners, they having got twenty-five points and the other Club two.  They took to quarters, took a dash of iced-water, cooled up and went in for the second game.

"The Massapoag boys struck a vein of <XX> good luck, and worked it with skill and vigor, and were victorious, having knocked out twenty-five points, before a single talley had been chalked down by their opponents. Iced up again all round and pitched into the third game.

"The 'Walpole boys' were decidedly plucky and played their best.  The game went on, neck and neck -- the outsiders cheered encouragingly each good crack they gave the ball -- victory seemed about to perch on the banner of the Walpole Club, but the Massapoags got a good inning and 'put 'em through in time,' gaining their twenty-five points to the twenty-one put up by the 'South Walpole Club.'

"The game ended the contest on the field, and the players, with their tallymen and judges, adjourned to meet at the table and partake of the refreshments served up by the Massapoag Club. There everything passed off pleasantly -- they vote it a good time all around the ring -- cheered each other and the two 'Clubs' parted.

"I am an outsider Mr. Editor, and do not speak with authority, but I will venture the assertion that the Massapoag Club of Sharon would not decline an invitation to play a game of ball.   OPH"

 

Late June, 1857 -- Massapoag 25-25-25-, Olympics of Boston 21-24-19.


The club donned red flannel shirts for the game, and hitched a ride home on an empty freight train

 

Fall 1857 -- The Union Club of Medway is later reported to have beat the Massapoag Club.

This match was apparently played for the Championship . . . of something.  (We don't yet have a newspaper account of this game.)

 

Summer 1858 -- The Massapoag Club in Full Flower


The Sharon club beat the Old Colony Club of North Bridgewater. 59-54, on July 17; lost to the Winthrop Club of Holliston 101-61 in 6 innings on July 24, and lost a "championship" game to the Union Club in fall 1858.  [See game accounts.]  

 Civil War days -- Massapoag State Championship Relished

"There were thirteen Sharon boys in the regiment and most of them had been members of the Sharon Massapoags, the state baseball champions of 1857. They were very fond of telling their [Civil War] soldier friends of this exciting occasion in which they defeated their rivals, the Olympics, in three straight games.  They had borrowed red flannel shirts from the Stoughton Fire Department and contended for the championship on Boston Common. 

-- from Amy Morgan Rafter Pratt, The History of Sharon, Massachusetts to 1865 (Boston U master's thesis, 1935), page74. 

 

 

 

Sources

See individual game accounts.

Comment Edit with form to add a comment
Query Edit with form to add a query
Found by Paul Johnson, Joanne Hulbert, Craig Waff
First in Location Sharon, MA

Win/Loss Records As Far As We Now Know

Warning: Users should not rely on a team's won-loss record as a reflection of its "standing" among all base ball clubs. Team schedules were not balanced, and a good record against mostly weak opponents does not signify a leading club.

Year Games Wins Losses Ties
1857 3 Played 2 Won 1 Lost 0 Tied
1858 4 Played 1 Won 2 Lost 0 Tied

Ballgames

Page Date City Borough State Team 1 Team 2 Score First in Contributor
Ballgame 1857-06-13 Sharon MA Massapoag Club of Sharon Club of South Walpole 25 - 2 Bruce Allardice
Ballgame 1857-06-29 Boston MA Massapoag Club of Sharon Olympic Club of Boston 25 - 21 Craig Waff; Paul S. Johnson
Ballgame 1857-09-19 Sharon MA Union Club of Medway Massapoag Club of Sharon 25 - 20 Craig Waff
Ballgame 1858-04-15 Sharon MA Massapoag Club of Sharon Massapoag Club of Sharon Sharon, MA Bruce Allardice
Ballgame 1858-07-17 North Bridgewater MA Massapoag Club of Sharon Old Colony Club of North Bridgewater 59 - 54 Craig Waff
Ballgame 1858-07-24 Holliston MA Winthrop Club of Holliston Massapoag Club of Sharon 101 - 61 Joanne Hulbert, Craig Waff, Paul Johnson
Ballgame 1858-09-30 Dedham MA Union Club of Medway Massapoag Club of Sharon 39 - 16 Craig Waff

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Players

Player Years Roles Edit Association with Club
C. F. Bryant 1858
Daniel Mahoney 1858
Dexter Packard 1858
E. Dunakin 1858
E. F. Richards 1858
G. Dunakin 1858
G. H. Tucker 1858
H. R. Hixon 1858
J. B. Middleton 1858
J. J. Dunakin 1858
J. Johnson
J. S Middleton 1858
J. S. Middleton 1858
L. Johnson 1858
O. P. Johnson 1857, 1858 Founder, Initial Officer, Key Player
W. F. Smith 1858
W. Johnson

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