If you’re a baseball purist fed up with millionaire ballplayers, steroid investigations, and sky-high ticket prices, what could be better than taking a trip back in time to the ‘60s?
No, not the 1960s. I'm talking about the 1860s.
If you want to see some seriously old-school baseball, head to Georges Island this Saturday (August 28) where the Essex Base Ball Club will play a doubleheader, including a game against Boston Harbor Islands park rangers. The vintage ball games will take place on the parade ground of historic Fort Warren, which is best known for incarcerating Confederate prisoners of war during the Civil War. Much like the Union soldiers stationed at Fort Warren, the ballplayers this weekend will be playing a little hardball using the rules of the Civil War era.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of checking out the Essex Base Ball Club for the first time, and it was a lot of fun to be among the cranks (the old-time term for “fans”) watching the action. Seeing the nattily attired players decked out in baggy flannels and pillbox caps definitely gives you a Field of Dreams moment (without the corn and the voices in your head).
What you won’t see the players wearing, however, are gloves. It’s cool seeing the different rules that were used back then. For instance, an out can be recorded if the ball is caught on the first bounce, not just on the fly.
It's not in the same league as Fenway Park, but the Boston Harbor Islands actually have some hardball history associated with them. One year during the 1800s, the horse rendering factory on Spectacle Island used all the skins to make baseballs, and in the early 1900s Peddocks Island was home to an inn owned by John Irwin, a former professional baseball player in the 1880s and 1890s. Irwin helped organize "Ye Old-Timers' Gambol," an annual reunion of retired ballplayers from as far back as the 1860s that drew upwards of two thousand players and fans. The highlight of the day was a baseball game with the retired players in what was one of the earliest old-timers games in baseball history. (I've also read that the Boston Braves played games out on Peddocks, but I have never come across any records of those games in my research.)
Click here for more information about this weekend's vintage baseball on Georges Island. While you're there, check out the great new visitor center and Summer Shack restaurant.
In recent weeks, The Boston Globe has run a number of interesting stories about the Boston Harbor Islands national park area. Two articles, in particular, caught my attention: an editorial in Sunday’s paper on Gallops Island and a Brian McGrory column on Long Island that ran last week.
In addition to being neighbors out on the harbor, Gallops and Long Islands have much in common. They were both used to train Union soldiers during the Civil War; they both played vital roles in World War II; and they both abound with wonderful history and fascinating relics.
Unfortunately, they share something else in common: Gallops and Long Islands are both off-limits to the general public.
Gallops was once one of the primary destinations for visitors to the Harbor Islands. It was one of the few isles with public ferry transportation and visitor services. But since 2000, it has been closed to the public after asbestos was detected on the island. According to the Globe, it would cost $4 million to clean up the island. The money hasn’t come forth, and the island just sits there languishing.
Long Island is closed to the public for a different reason. The former city hospital complex on the island is home to more than a dozen social service programs, including a homeless shelter, a clinic for people with drug and alcohol addictions, and shelters for abused spouses and children. Due to the sensitive nature of these programs, the island is off-limits to the public.
That’s a shame since Long Island may have the most fascinating sights of any of the Boston Harbor Islands. There’s an abandoned Nike missile silo, a cemetery for Civil War veterans with an impressive monument, a quaint lighthouse, the ruins of Fort Strong, and some abandoned structures in the old hospital complex, such as a chapel and a theater that beg to be restored. (Check out the Dropkick Murphys’ video for The State of Massachusetts. It features the theater and a grotto on Long Island.)
It’s going to take some creativity and the involvement of the private sector to get Gallops and Long Islands open to the public. If we simply wait for the federal government to hand out some money, we might be waiting another 10 years to see Gallops open up again.
There’s one site on Long Island that might offer some hope for the fate of these off-limits islands: Camp Harbor View. This summer camp for Boston youth opened in 2007 and was built in just four months. In an area where it takes years just to install a simple shade shelter, that’s an incredible, breakneck pace. And it all happened because Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and retired advertising executive Jack Connors spearheaded the project, which was built with private funds. It serves as an example of how a civic project can happen if it receives community and governmental backing. We need more of these types of projects out on the islands.
By the way, here’s an insider tip if you’re interested in seeing a little piece of Gallops Island in an unexpected corner of Boston. Tucked away in the North End’s Langone Park is a gray stone pedestal topped by a sinking ship and a band of Morse code. The monument honors the graduates of the Gallops Island Radio Training Station, who gave their lives aboard merchant ships supplying American forces during World War II.
The Boston Marathon may be the city's most revered sporting tradition, but it's not the only storied endurance race that draws elite athletes to Boston from all over the globe. On August 14, an elite group of swimmers will compete in the Boston Light Swim, an eight-mile race across Boston Harbor.
Despite its name, there’s nothing “light” about the effort to complete the swim. The moniker comes from the starting location for the race, historic Boston Light on Little Brewster Island. After battling powerful cross-currents, boat traffic, and strong gusts of wind (but no sharks), the swimmers will finish at the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston where they will need to warm up as the harbor waters, even in August, can be quite chilly and wet suits are not allowed. This is old school stuff.
The Boston Light Swim dates from the early 1900s and is the “Granddaddy of American Open-Water Swims.” When 15-year-old Rose Pitonof completed the swim in 1910, it took her 6 hours and 50 minutes. (The story of Rose's historic swim is detailed in Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands.) Depending on weather conditions, most swimmers these days take between three and six hours to complete the course, although the race record is under two-and-a-half hours.
While the swimmers must battle the elements, thankfully, they no longer have to brave a heavily polluted harbor. Along their route, swimmers pass Georges and Rainsford Islands, go underneath the Long Island Bridge, and cross between Thompson and Spectacle Islands. Too bad they won’t have much chance to soak in the scenery of the Boston Harbor Islands.
Many swimmers in the past have used this swim to prepare for an English Channel crossing. But if you’re more at home in the comfort of the kiddie side of the pool—or prefer to stay dry altogether—you can still participate in the Boston Light Swim by serving on support boats that offer food, drink, and lots of encouragement to the swimmers. Race organizers always need escort boats for swimmers with captains who know Boston Harbor and have seaworthy motorboats. All escort boat volunteers will receive $300 directly from the swimmer and an event T-shirt. For more information, visit the Boston Light Swim website.
While you’re there, check out the race’s colorful history. I love the photo of 1908 competitor Annette Kellerman being arrested on a Boston beach the year before for wearing a men’s one-piece swimsuit.
