Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds was a site in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, in the 19th century. The grounds are mainly known for having hosted the

Worcester Worcesters The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist tha ...

, a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

team of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

from 1880 to 1882. As a major-league

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

, the site is usually referred to as Agricultural County Fair Grounds or Worcester Driving Park.

Location

The site was bounded by Highland Street (north), Sever Street (east), Cedar Street or William Street (south – sources vary), and Agricultural (later Russell) Street (west). The grounds were just east of the large public park called Elm Park. Today, the former fairgrounds property contains a grid of streets, and many homes and businesses, including the now closed

Becker College Becker College was a private college in Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester and Leicester, Massachusetts. Becker College traced its history from the union of two Massachusetts educational institutions—one founded in 1784 and the other in 1887 ...

History

The Fairgrounds were home to an

agricultural fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...

and to a horse trotting track, usually called the Driving Park. "

Driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to fol ...

" was a commonly used synonym for trotting, long before the term came to be associated primarily with the not-yet-invented automobile. The Driving Park opened in May 1872, and hosted baseball by August of that year. Horse racing at the grounds took place as late as July 1894, but appears to have ceased after that time due to local officials disallowing "pool-selling" (gambling) on races.

Professional baseball

Driving Park hosted some

games prior to Worcester acquiring its own franchise. These included an exhibition between the National Association (NA) pennant winner Boston Red Stockings and runner-up

Philadelphia Whites The Philadelphia White Stockings were an early professional baseball team. They were a member of the National Association from 1873 to 1875. Their home games were played at the Jefferson Street Grounds. They were managed by Fergy Malone, Jimm ...

, played on October 30, 1873, after the end of the season—Boston prevailed, 15–9, before a crowd of 2,000. A regular-season NA contest was held at Driving Park on October 30, 1874, between Boston and the

Hartford Dark Blues The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut. History In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever pit ...

. Hartford won, 17–11, in front of a crowd of 500. The

competed in 1879 in a later National Association (unrelated to the earlier NA), then for three seasons, 1880 to 1882, in the major-league

(NL). On June 12, 1880, Worcester pitcher

Lee Richmond John Lee Richmond (May 5, 1857 – October 1, 1929) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Boston Red Stockings, Worcester Worcesters, Providence Grays, and Cincinnati Red Stockings, and is best known for pitching the ...

threw the first

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

in major-league history. There is a granite post commemorating the perfect game on the former

campus. The park was also the site of the first, true major league doubleheader. For the price of a single game, Worcester fans saw two games against the

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 ...

on September 25, 1882. The last game for the local major-league club was played on September 29, 1882, with

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

defeating Worcester, 10–7. But it was not the last major-league game in Worcester; five years later, on August 17, 1887, the fairgrounds hosted an NL game between

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The contest—to make up a previously postponed game in the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

—was played in Worcester at the recommendation of Washington manager

John Gaffney John H. Gaffney (June 29, 1855 – August 8, 1913), nicknamed the "King of Umpires" and "Honest John" was an American umpire and manager in Major League Baseball. He was baseball's first great umpire, and played a pioneering role in the use of m ...

, who had grown up in Worcester. Boston won, 6–5.

References

{{Worcester Worcesters

External links

* Game logs at

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

1874
1872 establishments in Massachusetts 1894 disestablishments in Massachusetts Baseball in Worcester, Massachusetts Sports venues in Worcester, Massachusetts Defunct baseball venues in Massachusetts Defunct horse racing venues in Massachusetts Fairgrounds in the United States