The minor league Providence Grays was the name of several
minor league baseball teams between and . These teams were unconnected to the
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leagu ...
.
The first minor league Grays were members of the
Eastern League in 1886,
playing at the
Messer Street Grounds
Messer Street Grounds, also known as Messer Park or Messer Field, is a former baseball park located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was home to the Providence Grays of the National League from 1878 to 1885 and of the minor league Providence Grays ...
.
The team folded in June.
A team known as the Providence Clamdiggers first played in the
Eastern Association
The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian mi ...
in , folding in August, and teams known as the Clamdiggers or Grays played in the Eastern League through .
The Grays and Clamdiggers had been preceded in Providence by the Providence Rhode Islanders who played as members of the 1877
New England Association
The New England Association was an Independent level minor league baseball league that played in the 1877 season and briefly in the 1895 season. The league franchises were based in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The New England Ass ...
.
The next Providence team was a bit more successful, joining the EL in as the Clamdiggers, then changing its name to the Grays soon thereafter. That team remained in operation through , at which point the EL had become 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 ...
. The team moved back to the
new Eastern League in .
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
played for this version of the Grays in 1914.
The Grays returned to the Eastern League again in as the Providence Rubes before changing its name back to Grays in . This team lasted until . Finally, in , the
Providence Chiefs The Providence Chiefs, sometimes known as the Cranston Chiefs, were a Rhode Island-based minor league baseball team in the Class B New England League. During 1946 and 1947, the club was known as the Chiefs, and its team logo was a fire chief. In ...
were formed as members of the
New England League
The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...
, who also changed their name to the Grays in before folding after the season.
References
Defunct Eastern League (1938–present) teams
Sports in Providence, Rhode Island
Professional baseball teams in Rhode Island
Defunct baseball teams in Rhode Island
New England League teams
Baseball teams disestablished in 1949
Baseball teams established in 1886
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