May 8, 1968

BASEBALL RECOLLECTIONS -- REMEMBER SLATER FIELD?

By Marion H. Norton

When was the last baseball games played at Slater Field?

When was the fence taken down that enclosed the big field and grandstand on what is now Park Ave.?

The questions, for which we have found no exact answers, have led us down the by-ways of baseball recollections as we consulted several local men who were prominent in the national pastime. Some of the stories and named that once filled box-scores in Webster and Dudley were well-remembered; a few facts came as news to this reporter, whose memories of baseball and Slater field predate personal knowledge of what the game is all about.

In the opinion of all the oldtimers contacted, Slater Field went into disuse in the early 1930's -- probably about 1931 or 1932, because the rolling hills nearby and the former baseball area were sold to private real estate developers about 1934. One gentleman, whose interest in baseball is as keen as it was 40 years ago, thinks the field was let run down after John Conway, onetime high school coach and big league umpire, ceased working as groundskeeper for the Slater Company.


GONE IN 1937

The Paul Ziebells, first occupants of a home on the newly developed Park Ave., are actually living on a section of what was once the park, as are all the other families from their home to the Thompson Rd. intersection. They moved into their house in 1937, but believe the fence around Slater Field must have come down several years earlier. Their sons used to walk from their former home on Lincoln St. to play ball on the old diamond after the fence came down.

For a good many years before that -- in fact as long as the fence was standing and the field in regular use, youngsters were prone to try crashing games under the fence on the Thompson Rd. side or from the rear, on what is now Hillside Ave. It wasn't easy to sneak in, recalls one man with who, we talked. The fence was high and well-kept, and if a kid managed to get in, there were usually so many in attendance at games that he was easily caught.


BASEBALL TOWNS

Webster and Dudley were known throughout New England as "baseball towns", with teams that won honors throughout the area. This applied not only to highschool teams but to scores of semi-pro and pickup-nines, some sponsored by industries and clubs, some just neighborhood gangs. One former third-baseman told how Slater Field was jammed with spectators one Sundayafternoon when the North side of Main St. played the South side. That's how a lot lof local teams came into being -- all that was needed was an excuse to stage a game, and at least nine players for each side.

Practically every boy in both towns, from eight years of age and up, managed to play some form of baseball from spring to fall -- scrub-team or club team, high school or semi-pro. These kids wanted so much to play that they would schedule games anywhere within walking distance -- Dad or Mom wasn't expected to provide transportation to the field. Thus, it was a common sight to see a group of boys carrying baseballs, bats, and gloves as they trudged through Main St. They may have been enroute from North Village to Chaseville, or Pine St. in Dudley to Beacon Park. No distance was too great to meet a challenge.

SLATER TEAMS

Slater Field was considered one of the best baseball parks in Central New England. It was maintained by the Slater Company on the vast Slater acreage that then ran from Lincoln St. straight across to East Main St., with scarcely a break for private ownership -- until the 1930's when the company began closing out its local interests. Three baseball teams were sponsored by Slater firms -- one each for North, South, and East Village mills.

Competition among these was keen, but their schedules also included games with other outfits, such as Corbins and St. Joseph A.C. of this town, Southbridge teams, and some of the nines from the highly-touted Blackstone Valley League. This writer's mother as well as father were avid baseball fans. Presumably, when they both wanted to see a game, some of the children were taken along, for we remember watching some of those Slater players when we must have been only five or six years old.

PLAYERS AND CLUBS

My uncle, Matty McManus, Sr., was first a player and then a coach for Slater teams, and also coached the Webster High teams before moving to Rockdale, or Fisherville. There he became coach for the Rockdale team of the Blackstone Valley League, and as we recall, the rivalry was especially hot when he brought his teams to Slater Field to meet local competition, his former teammates.

Some of the Slater players I knew and recall include: Tom Dwyer, John W. Lonergan, Eddie Hart, Paul Douglas, Nory Gauthier, Mumu Clouthier, Red DeForest, and his brother, Edgar, Frank and Nobel Mason, Francis "Rabbit" Lonergan. The latter not only played on one of the Slater teams with brother John, but previously had been a member of a rival squad when he starred for Corbins.

Bates Shoe also sponsored a company teams as did the Chaseville Mills. In addition to the St. Joseph A.C., other club teams, mostly in later years, included Stevens Boys' Club, Davis A.C., Hub A.C., St. Louis Indies, Boosters, ZPRK, Lakers, Dudley PNA, Lakeview, American Legion, and just prior to World War II, Cranston had a team called the Printers.

MARCUSTRY PARK

Though I don't remember his playing days, Joe Marcustry was another player of high repute in the area, and maintained his connection with baseball long after some of the others. He developed Marcustry Park, with its fine diamond, covered stands and small bleachers. This is the field I knew as the "home" place for both Bartlett High and St. Louis High teams. In fact, George Finnegan says that Marcustry Park was the home field from the time he came to town in 1922 until Webster established a diamond and bleachers at the Athletic Field just after World War II.

George, of course, remained baseball coach at Bartlett until a few years before his retirement, and he fielded some championship teams and produced many outstanding baseball players. Jim Dwyer, the late sewer commissioner, was coach at St. Louis High when this reporter came in contact with high school games, and he was succeeded by John W. Lonergan.

FOR ST. JOSEPH'S

Incidentally, John brought to light a little known fact in the community. He first met George Finnegan the summer before George joined the Bartlett faculty, when both were playing the outfield for St. Joseph A.C. How many knew that the former high school mentor had made his first sports sally in the community with the St. Joseph's nine? Only for a couple years were they rival coaches, for John W. gave up his St. Louis post because of business, though he later was umpire for some high school games.

He tells of calling the decisions occasionally at Bartlett contests, when his younger brother Leo "Lefty" Lonergan was pitcher and John "Hebo" Ivascyn was catcher for the Indians. To this day the present State Representative tells the former ump that he never gave his pitcher-brother anything, and called some close ones in favor of opponents. Must have led to a few family squabbles!

THE HOG LOT

Frank Mason was later coach for St. Louis High. He, too, was a former Slater player and one of a prominent "brother team" in local baseball, joining up with Nobel to highlight many a game with their prowess. Like most of the early baseballers, they played most of their games at Slater field, but when members of a club-sponsored outfit the games might have been played at Merino Park, generally called the "Hog Lot", located where attractive homes now dot Charlton Rd. in Dudley; at Beacon Park, for Sunday or holiday features; or at Marcustry Park, located just off Lake St.

Judging by photographs, Webster High teams in early years must have used both Slater Field and Merino Park as home grounds. Leon Jewell, a member of the public high school varsity squads, conributed the pictures of the 1909, 1910, and 1911 W.H.S. nines. (The town high school changed the name to Bartlett in 1913.) One of the photos was taken at Slater Field, another at Merino Park, and the third is in a studio.

WAR INTERFERES

Of those long ago players, only Mr. Jewell and Edgar Craver, former head of Bates Shoe Company, are still living in the community. Both still maintain their interest in the diamond sport.

Slater and Corbin teams gradually were lost to the local scene. South Village became American Woolen after 1923; North and East Village teams went out of existence just after 1930, as the field was abandoned and the mills were eventually sold. Corbins became non-existent when the firm moved from Webster to Marlboro in 1933.

However, youngsters were encouraged to maintain their interest in baseball through the growing numbers of club-sponsored teams, particularly during the Depression decade of the 1930's. When World War II broke out, most of the baseball players of the community, young and old, went into the military service or were engaged in important work on the home front. Thus, youngsters were hard put to find organized baseball, with coaches and managers to handle their teams.

BASEBALL SUFFERS

From the time I joined the TIMES staff in 1927, this reporter had to learn more about baseball, because each of us handled all kinds of news from sports to murder. Names of teams and players became familiar, and the coaches and managers were frequently in the office. The big event each fall (that was before television) was the World Series Extra put out by the TIMES. We all listened via radio, Larry Daly wrote the running story in long-hand, for the clack of the typewriter would be too distracting. I did the box score. Whoever was sports reporter rushed the pages to the linotype machines so that the edition was often on the streets ten minutes after the game.

For a couple of years during World War II, I wrote most of the sports -- only because lack of manpower left the editorial staff short-handed. Almost every week during the summer, teenagers came to the office to ask that a "challenge" be issed to another team, or to publish the fact they were looking for games. It was a slow time for baseball in Webster and Dudley.

GI SUGGESTIONS

Thus, many of the servicemen wrote letters to the TIMES, recalling their own days as players, asking for more sports news, but most of all suggesting that the towns "do something" to encourage sports and to provide suitable playing fields for that day when they would return home.

It was as a result of these letters that Larry Daly, through editorials and personal effort, sparked the idea of creating War Memorials at both Second Island and the Athletic Field.

When they came back after the war, the young men found that most of the teams were no more. The two high schools, the Lakers, Boosters and St. Joseph's A.C. were still active, but there was little to offer young boys. Even the playgrounds were no longer playing regulation baseball.

RETURN OF BASEBBALL

At first skeptical of Little League, the townspeople eventually became interested after Southbridge started a League. and the TIMES encouraged the plan for this community. It took Ernie Pizzetti to really get the program off the ground, and with the aid of a committee, local sponsors were found for the first League. I think that was in 1952.

Many persons have been opposed to these youthful league programs, in the belief they are more competition for coaches and managers than for boys. Nonetheless, the broadening out of Little League into separate Webster and Dudley Leagues, into several minor league teams, the advent of Babe Ruth and American Legion leagues, has once again given youngsters a deep interest in the national pastime and greater opportunity to play.

Few kids are turned down by the minors, though obviously all cannot make it to the regular Little League teams. It may be disappointing, but in my opinion, this is preparation for disappointments that must come when cuts are made in high school squads, in other league, and even in semi-pro and professional baseball.

TODAY'S FIELD

Today, Webster has its own Little League field at another Slater park -- the William Slater Park between North Main and Slater streets. The town also provides baseball fields for the high shool teams of both Bartlett and St. Louis at the Memorial Athletic Field and at Lower Athletic Field. Dudley has an excellent diamond at Crawford Veterans Memorial Field. This is used for St. Louis High and other local teams when the Webster fields are in use.

Outlines of Merino Park -- the Hog Lot -- are invisible among the growing number of homes on Charlton Rd. in Dudley. Slater Field is likewise just a memory, its diamond lost in the attractive yards along Park Ave. and Thompson Rd.

THROUGH THE MIST

Only those with vivid recall can see the high board fence, the gate and the ticket office of Slater Field as they drive in this pretty residential section. Recollection hasn't come up with exact dates but through the mists of delightful remembrance comes a hazy answer to our question -- maybe 1933, ot 1934, or 1935 -- anyway, early1930's.