Kingsbridge Athletics baseball team

[Don Rice]

There’s a great photo of the 1914 Kingsbridge Athletics semipro baseball team in Twomey and Casey’s  book on NW Bronx. I’d really like to learn more about the team.

In 1917 they turn up in Inwood playing at the Dyckman Oval for a couple years. But before 1914 and after 1918 it’s a big MYSTERY. I’m hoping there is a lead out there to learning more, if anyone can help.

[ndembowski]

I found some game write-ups and box scores for the games here.  The first link top left has one.  New York Historic Newspapers is a great site and recommend it for research.  If you find anything interesting about the team, please post it.  The name Keleher is interesting.  There was a middling player for the Brooklyn Robins of the same name, who was out of professional baseball at the same time that the Kingsbridge Athletics were playing.  Maybe they were the same guy?  Probably not but I would be interested to know for sure.

Here’s another:

If you are looking for more information than that, there could be something in the Riverdale News newspaper.  The Lehman College library has issues dating from 1915.  Next time I am there I will have a look at that time period and get back to you.

Can you post a picture of the Dyckman Oval?

 

[Thomas Casey]

In the words of Mr. Spock…. “fascinating”  the intersection of the Kingsbridge Athletics and the Dyckman Oval Stadium.

 

[Don Rice]

Thanks guys – I’ll try the NY Historic Papers. The question I’d be very interested to know the answer to is if the Athletics’ move south to Inwood had anything to do with the American League (Yankee) stadium that was being built at 225th Street and Broadway before the team’s new owner (Ruppert) changed his mind about the site. Were the Athletics displaced by the Yankees unrealized plans?

[Thomas Casey]

Where possible, please post the dates of the newspaper articles

[Don Rice]

Here’s the  Jan 19, 1917 article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle announcing the Kingsbridge Athletics lease to build the first semipro ballpark at Dyckman Oval. History in the making!

[Thomas Casey]

Wow!….Many details, dates and facts to help with research.  Time to chase down family trees and see what records they can share.

 

[Thomas Casey]

Bronx connection to Cornelius Joseph Savage

[Don Rice]

Good one Tom. Here is Savage tending bar in 1933 in the Bronx and telling tales of his baseball days. Any idea where this was? Sep 26 1933 Brooklyn Times Union.

[Thomas Casey]

Some details of Babe Ruth and Cornelius Joseph Savage

 

[Don Rice]

I think Babe Ruth signing with Connie Savage to barnstorm at the end of the 1921 season is how the Babe got suspended in 1922.

Each year MLB prohibited the two World Series teams from barnstorming afterwards. The Yanks played the 1921 Series, lost to the Giants, and then Babe went barnstorming with Savage. Getting Babe Ruth suspended… Do you that that could have ended Savage’s career as a baseball promoter? Is that why he was back tending bar in 1933?

[ndembowski]

I was looking for the location of the tavern and found an interesting blog entry on one of the people named in the article, Joe Press:

The Bronx-born Joe Press was in his early 30’s and although he never played professional baseball, he had been managing the New York Metropolitan area’s best semi-pro teams since he was a teenager. Even lacking a professional pedigree, Joe Press was a respected man. After dropping out of school at age 14, the teenage Press skippered the Bronx Orioles, then took over the Highbridge Athletics, a traveling team that featured future Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch, a Fordham University student at the time. By age 19 he was running the Bronx Giants, one of the best semi-pro outfits of the pre World War I period. During the war Press managed a team for the Seabury Shipyards which boasted several big leaguers trying to avoid the draft. After the war he moved up steadily to better clubs, first College Point, then the Springfield Greys. The veteran baseball man gained a reputation of not only assembling top-notch teams but also for his role in finding and nurturing home-grown talent for professional baseball. Among his biggest finds were Tony Cuccinello of the Dodgers and a steady stream of prospects for the Yankees. As one of the most experienced men in the Metropolitan semi-pro circuit, Press’ word was good enough for Yankees super-scout Paul Kritchell to hop on the subway and take a look at whoever the manager recommended. The two men formed an unofficial working relationship that lasted into the 1950’s.

I found that here.

There is some interesting stuff at the bottom regarding Negro League Baseball and the Yankees near the bottom.  I still did not find the location of the tavern though!

[Thomas Casey]

Found a link to a Julius Press divorce decree. President of the Parkchester Inn – 1508 Metropolitan Ave., Bronx,

[Thomas Casey]

Some images of the Dyckman Oval

[Thomas Casey]

[Thomas Casey]

Local Ad

[Thomas Casey]

[Don Rice]

I actually have an original of that postcard, a lucky find.

Here’s a clipping from the NY Press Apr 24, 1915, perhaps the first year the Kingsbridge team played at the Dyckman Oval.

 

 

[Thomas Casey]

More Fun Facts !

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