The Providence Grays
In 1884, Providence was a major league baseball city. The Providence Grays played at the long-gone Messer Field in Olneyville, and were one of just eight teams in the National League. [ Yes, that National League.]
The team was led by ace pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, who won a record 59 games that year and led the Grays to the pennant. In July of 1885, the team's second pitcher jumped ship and defected to a rival league it seemed as if the Grays' season was over, but "Old Hoss" pitched the rest of the games, and the Grays went on a twenty-game winning streak and blew past their hated rivals, the Boston Red Stockings. [Yes, those Boston Red Sox]
When the season was over, the Grays had won the league title by five games. They then played the New York Metropolitans, champions of the rival American Association, in a three-game championship series, and won all three games. It wasn't officially called the "World Series", but the Grays became undisputed world champions.
The Providence Grays disbanded after the 1885 season. A minor league by the same name played in Providence from 1891 to 1929; they once had a promising young pitcher named Babe Ruth. But Providence has not been a "major league" city for over a century, at least in the baseball world.
In the spring of 1998, several local fans banded together to form a tribute to the 1884 Grays, inspired by a league of similar historical base ball teams in New York. They learned the 1884 rules and style of play. Batters could call for their choice of high or low pitches. It took six balls to draw a walk. The pitcher threw from only fifty feet away. A few players wore only small gloves for protection. Most wore no gloves at all, and caught screaming line drives with their bare hands - or tried.
Visit their website to find out more about the original Gray's and where you can see some Old-timey baseball as it used to be played right here in Providence.
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