Hopedale History November 15, 2009 No. 144 Sox, Yanks, Douglas Hopedale in October          Hopedale Pond, October 20 Hopedale in November Get the latest Hopedale news at Hopedalebuzz.com   When I sent the Home School story two weeks ago I was uncertain as to how my Hopedale website would survive the closing of GeoCities. All went reasonably well and almost all of the pages are now opening as they should. Thanks to John Bevilaqua for suggesting that I use UltraEdit for the job and also for keeping the emails coming when I had questions about it. You can still get to the homepage using the old URL, but I had to make changes to all the other pages. The new URL is http://www.hope1842.com/ On Thursday, November 19 at 7 p.m., a program titled From Purgatory to Podunk will be offered at the Little Red Shop Museum. According to the presenters, Pete and Debbie Lincoln, who have visited each of the 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts, “We will present a program of information regarding our trips to each town and city in the state, and interesting historical and trivia tidbits collected along the way. The hour and a half presentation is interactive, and intended to be entertaining, amusing, and informative.  Our purpose is to get Massachusetts citizens to look into their own back yards, and sense what a wealth of history, variety of geography, and extraordinary travel opportunity our state provides.” Admission to the program is free. The shop is now open for visitors on Sundays and Thursdays from one to four.                                                       <><><><><><><><><><> Last April, I sent the story of the Boston Celtics playing at the Draper gym. Here’s another story from the area of a sports event that wouldn’t happen now.                               The Great Douglas Baseball Game, 1946 The Blackstone Valley was buzzing as word spread from Douglas to Millville, from Hopedale to Uxbridge, to the Annex and the Blue Eagle Inn. The shops and mills were closed and schools were emptied as the “Splendid Splinter” and the “Yankee Clipper,” Williams and DiMaggio, headed for Douglas. Major league baseball as played by two of the best teams in the land was about to begin. The date was September 26, 1946, the setting was Soldier Field in the town of Douglas. The Red Sox and Yankees were America’s jewels as the Blackstone Valley joined in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Douglas and its 50 year connection with baseball. The people of the Blackstone Valley, like the textiles and prize woolens they produced, exhibited creativity and new talent in their relationship with baseball. Stars such as Hank Greenberg, Gabby Harnett, Jack Chesboro and Wes Farrell started playing ball on the fields bordering the Blackstone River. Established players like Lefty Grove were brought to the Valley to enhance competition and to highlight the Valley’s connection to Major League baseball. Winifred Schuster, longtime town father, sportsman and baseball fan, gave as his gift to the town and people he loved the best traditional rivalry in baseball, the Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees. All the players received woolen jackets produced in the Hayward-Schuster mills. Schuster’s role in helping he town celebrate its 200th birthday as well as the recent return of its World War II veterans would long be remembered. A crowd of 12,000 filled Soldier Field to root the Red Sox to victory over the Yankees. While Boston proved unable to give their fans a victory that day, they did give them some history by being the only championship team to appear in an exhibition game less than a week before the World Series. Al Schact, the forerunner of the San Diego Chicken, was on hand with his comic baseball routines to the delight and cheers of the crowd. Upton’s Bill Summers, a former Blackstone Valley league umpire and then a top flight American League umpire, called balls and strikes. The anticipated fireworks from the bats of Williams and DiMaggio were absent that day. The Boston regulars played for three innings, giving way to substitutes while trailing New York, 2 – 1. The highlight of the day was the legendary defense of Joe DiMaggio. In the third inning, with Joe’s brother Dom, the “Little Professor,” on first, Williams hit a deep, towering drive to center that seemed destined to put Boston ahead and a souvenir in someone’s hands. Suddenly, the “Yankee Clipper” sailed high above the center-field grass to glove the ball and take away the go-ahead home run. A fourth inning uprising by the Sox gave them a 6 – 3 advantage. The Yanks chipped away at the Boston lead with two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth for an 8 – 6 lead. Following the seventh inning stretch, Boston got its last run to make the final score 8 – 7, Yankees. While this exhibition game may be a footnote in record books, it remains as one of the high points in the rich history of the Blackstone Valley.                                                                                                                 by Paul Playe NOTE: The author thanks Anthony H. Coppola, Douglas town historian, for his cooperation and invaluable assistance. Blackstone Valley baseball                                         Hopedale History Email Menu                        HOME