Sunday, May 3rd
11:00 AM
1859 game to be re-enacted
under 'Massachusetts Rules'
with baseball alums in
period uniforms
11:00AM
chess match between the archrivals
1:00 PM
Varsity game
Varsity game to air live on www.ESPN360.com -- click on Watch Now
link.
If the preceding does not get you to the game click here.
Combined Williams - Amherst viewing parties in nine cities:
Atlanta,
GA
Austin,
TX
Denver,
CO
Philadelphia,
PA
San
Diego, CA
San
Francisco, CA
ESPN U will air the game on Monday, May 4th at 7:00 PM EST,
again on Wednesday, May 6th at 7:00 PM and on Wednesday, May 13th
at
12:00 AM. ESPN U is also available on Channel 614 on DirecTV.
A little over 20 months before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the
16th President of the United States the first intercollegiate
baseball game in America was played in Pittsfield, Mass., between
Williams College and Amherst College. The July 1, 1859 game was the
first athletic competition between the two schools, but the rivalry
between these two prestigious national liberal arts institutions
goes back 41 years earlier.
In 1818 shortly after graduation ceremonies at Williams, then
President Zepheniah Swift Moore who had been hired away from
Dartmouth with a promise that Williams College would move east,
resigned and moved east into the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts
where he helped found Amherst Academy, which later became Amherst
College.
Legend has it that Moore absconded with several Williams faculty
members, students and even library books, putting the fate of
Williams College in jeopardy. By 1821 Williams established the
first college alumni society in the world to save the College, and
reaffirm the College's commitment to Williamstown.
What baseball started in 1859 has now been extended to 26 varsity
sports, the admission office, faculty, alumni and administration of
these two prominent colleges. By all accounts folks on both sides
of the rivalry do agree on one thing – without the other
school, neither would be as great an institution.
|
|
Baseball Field circa 1859 -- Courtesy Amherst
College |
The game played on that famous Friday
in Pittsfield arose out of a challenge issued by Amherst to
Williams. The teams of 13 players were chosen by lottery from the
all-male student bodies, and the game was played under
'Massachusetts Rules' on a field that featured a square shape and
not the current diamond shape.
The thrower (pitcher) stood 35 feet from where the striker (batter
was positioned). First base was 30 feet from where the batter
stood, with a right-handed batter facing first base and home base
30 feet directly behind the batter. When a runner reached first
base he would turn left and go 60 feet to second base, then left
again 60 feet to third base and 60 feet to fourth or home base
(which would have been 30 feet directly behind where the batter
stood). The batter did not stand at home plate as is true in the
modern game.
An out was recorded when a ball was caught in the air or a runner
was struck with a thrown ball before he got to a base. One
out, all out; side retired. A ball met with the swinging bat was in
play no matter where it went – there was no foul territory. A
team had to score at least 65 runs to win the game.
According to Robert D. Spurrier in an article in UpCountry
magazine in May of 1976, James F. Claflin of Amherst (1859) is
credited with coming up with the idea of Amherst challenging
Williams to a friendly game of baseball. Williams accepted
the Amherst challenge and returned a challenge to meet in chess the
day after the game.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts was selected as the site because of its
long involvement with the game of baseball, the hospitality offered
by the Baseball Club of Pittsfield and the Chess Club of Pittsfield
and as a neutral site.
In 2006 baseball historian John Thorn gave a speech in Pittsfield
about having discovered in the minutes of a 1791 Pittsfield town
meeting the first written reference to the game of baseball in
America in a provision banning the playing of "base ball" too
close to the meeting house.
The Baseball Club of Pittsfield played on a field located near the
intersection of Maplewood Ave and North St.
In a two-day battle of what the Amherst Express referred to as
"muscle and mind," Amherst emerged victorious in baseball and chess
and Amherst's Claflin was a star in the baseball game and also
participated in the chess match.
|
| Amherst star James Claflin,
Class of 1859 -- Courtesy of Amherst College Archives and Special Collections |
Claflin, the catcher, led off the game
for Amherst with a home run and on the day he scored seven runs and
was not retired as Amherst overcame an early 9-2 Williams lead to
win 73-32.
Amherst had four players record seven tallies on the day with John
Storrs, Emory Tower and Jacob Loring Pratt tying Claflin for the
team-high. Four tallies was the Williams high, which unfortunately
for the Ephs equaled the lowest number of tallies recorded by an
Amherst player. Leading run scorers for Williams included Charles
Ezra Simmons, Benjamin Franklin Hastings, Joseph Huntley Knox and
Robert Edes Beecher.
Earning the first collegiate baseball win was Amherst's Henry
Dwight Hyde, while Robert Edes Beecher took the historic loss for
the Ephs.
From the Amherst Express we learn that each team supplied the ball
that the other team would try to hit and the two balls were
different. "The Amherst ball weighed 2oz., and was six inches
around. The Williams ball was judged to be 7 inches in
circumference, and not to exceed 2 oz. It was also covered with
leather of some light color, drab or buff, so as not to be easily
distinguished by the batter." One can only imagine the kind
of score the Lord Jeffs of Amherst could have run up if they could
have seen the Williams ball clearly !
Great rivalries have wonderful traditions and a rich past and it
took Williams almost 100 years to the day to gain revenge for the
loss of the first college baseball game played. On May 16, 1959,
Amherst College hosted a re-enactment game that was played before
the varsity contest. Williams prevailed in the re-enactment 11-5
"correcting" the result of 1859 in front of 3,500 spectators.
Walter Jeffries, Jr., a senior form Bexley, Ohio was the winning
pitcher for the Ephs.
During America's Bicentennial in 1976 a plaque was set on the spot
of the first game to recognize Pittsfield's place in the history of
college baseball and the 1859 game was re-enacted, followed by the
Williams and Amherst varsity teams playing. Amherst won the varsity
contest that day 11-4, but Williams prevailed in the re-enactment
game, 13-12, "again correcting" the score from 1859.
Michael Barbera representing The College Baseball Hall of Fame
presented the James Ruberto, Mayor of the City of Pittsfield, with
a plaque before the start of the May 4, 2008 Williams-Amherst game
played in Pittsfield's historic Wahconah Park, again noting the
Williams-Amherst game was the birthplace of college baseball.
Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto drew significant applause when he
closed his remarks by saying, "because Williamstown is a lot closer
to Pittsfield than Amherst is, we all know whom we're rooting for."
The plaque was to be attached to Wahconah Park, which will be the
center of the festivities that will honor the sesquicentennial of
college baseball in 2009.
WC.jpg?max_height=302&max_width=284)
|
| George Alanson Parker,
Williams Class of 1862 -- Courtesy of Williams College Archives |
Another re-enactment game with
Williams and Amherst fielding teams comprised of baseball alums
playing in period uniforms on a field laid out in accordance with
Massachusetts Rules will precede the Varsity contest.
Amherst leads the all-time series, which now has reached 322
contests with 189 wins, 131 losses and two ties. Amherst head coach
Bill Thurston who has just completed his 43rd season at Amherst has
had a large impact on the series, compiling a record of 92-34-1 vs.
Williams. The Ephs' Bill Barrale in two years at Williams is 4-6
vs. the Lord Jeffs.
Williams sports a 2-0 advantage in re-enactment games in
Massachusetts Rules.
Williams has hopes that the 21st century will provide a turn
around and the Ephs won last year's game at Wahconah Park, downing
Amherst on May 4th 9-4. Catcher Neal Allar of Amherst tried to
bring back the ghost of James Claflin and 1859 with a two-run home
run in the top of the first inning, but Eph junior hurler Dan Benz
settled down and went 7 1/3 scoreless innings for a total of eight
innings on the day. Benz struck out nine and walked two in picking
up his sixth win of the season.
The Williams attack was led by Pittsfield native, junior catcher
Chad Brown, who had four hits and drove in three runs. The win gave
Williams the NESCAC West Division title and the West Division #1
seed in the NESCAC Tournament.
In an elimination game in the 2008 NESCAC Tournament Amherst
stormed back from a late 8-4 deficit for a walk-off 9-8 win six
days later to end the Ephs' season and take a 17-14 lead this
century heading into the 2009 season. Amherst's Neal Allar plated
the winning run on a long drive to centerfield in the 10th inning.
And somewhere James Claflin chuckled.
More glorious chapters no doubt will be added to the oldest
collegiate baseball rivalry in the years to come as "America's
purest rivalry" shows no signs of waning.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Mariah Sakrejda-Leavitt Amherst College Archives
and Special Collections for providing the field diagram, picture of
the two baseballs used in the game, Amherst Express article, and
the photo of James Claflin.
Many thanks also to Linda Hall in Williams Archives for providing
Williams starters, photo of George Alanson Parker, the Adams
Transcript article, and a copy of the UpCountry magazine
article.
Notes:
i Amherst Express,
July 1st and 2nd, 1859; Williams and Amherst Base ball and
Chess,
Amherst College Archives and Special
Collections, pp. 1-2.
ii Robert D.
Spurrier, "The Historic Game of 1859," UpCountry, May 1976.
iii John Thorn, "1791 and All That Baseball and the
Berkshires", Base Ball, Spring 2007.
iv Amherst Express, July 1st and 2nd, 1859; Williams
and Amherst Base ball and Chess,
Amherst College Archives and Special
Collections, pp. 1-2.
v Raymond M. Fitzgerald, "Eph Batsmen Avenge Defeat in
1859 Game," Springfield
Republican, B 1-2.
