The Jersey City Skeeters were a minor league baseball team which operated in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.) The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...

. By 1885, Jersey City had joined the Eastern League, but they dropped out before the end of the season. The team rejoined the league the following year, finishing in second place. In 1887, a Jersey City Skeeters team was playing in the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

, but in 1888, they were in the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

, a much lower league, competition-wise. 1903 Jersey City Skeeters

The team participated in three other leagues before 1902, with little success. In that year, however, the city of Jersey City built the club a new stadium, and the team committed to the Eastern League. They finished in third place in their first year in the league, but in 1903, they fielded a championship team. That year, the team won their first 18 games, and had a stretch of 25 consecutive victories. They won the league with a record of 92–33. The 1903 Skeeters were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. That team was managed by 39-year-old player-manager Billy Murray, who stayed with the team through 1906, but the team never won another championship. The club suffered heavy financial losses in 1914 and on February 24, 1915 owners

William Stephen Devery William Stephen Devery (January 9, 1854 – June 20, 1919), nicknamed "Big Bill". was the last superintendent of the New York City Police Department police commission and the first police chief in 1898. Devery and Frank J. Farrell later co-ow ...

and Thomas A. Fogarty forfeited the franchise to the International League. The league ran the team for the one season and sold it to

James R. Price James Rigby Price (1862–1929) was an American sports journalist and executive. Price was born in 1862 in Baltimore. He began his career in sports as a sportswriter and spent many years working for various New York City papers. Price is credite ...

and

Fred Tenney Frederick Tenney (November 26, 1871 – July 3, 1952) was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned 20 seasons, 17 of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Boston Beaneaters/Doves/Rustlers (1894–1907, 1911) ...

, who moved the club to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

s in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

swamps), but fans rejected the proposed Colts nickname, and the Skeeters name stuck. In 1933, however, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

caused the folding of many leagues and teams, and the Jersey City franchise was moved to

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. Baseball returned to Jersey City in 1937, when the New York Giants moved their highest-level minor league team to Jersey City, calling the team the

Jersey City Giants {{about, the baseball team, the football team, American Association (American football) The Jersey City Giants was the name of a high-level American minor league baseball franchise that played in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the top farm system affi ...

. The team name was revived as a

vintage base ball Vintage base ball is baseball presented as if being played by rules and customs from an earlier period in the sport's history. Games are typically played using rules and uniforms from the 19th century. Vintage base ball is not only a competiti ...

team in 2009.

References

External links

* {{cite web, url=http://jcskeeters.weebly.com/, title=JC Skeeters – Reviving Deadball Era Baseball, accessdate=2009-07-08 Baseball teams established in 1870 Sports clubs disestablished in 1933 National Association of Base Ball Players teams Defunct International League teams

Jersey City Skeeters The Jersey City Skeeters were a minor league baseball team which operated in Jersey City, New Jersey. The club started in the 1860s and by 1870 joined the National Association of Base Ball Players. By 1885, Jersey City had joined the Eastern Lea ...

Brooklyn Dodgers minor league affiliates Defunct baseball teams in New Jersey 1870 establishments in New Jersey 1933 disestablishments in New Jersey Baseball teams disestablished in 1933 Atlantic Association teams