The Middletown Mansfields were an early

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team in Middletown, Connecticut that existed from 1866 to 1872.

Formation

In the summer of 1866, a ballclub was established at Middletown's Douglas Pump Company by the factory owner's son, sixteen-year-old Ben Douglas Jr. Douglas named the team after his great-uncle General Joseph Mansfield, a Middletown native and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

hero. That year, they lost their first match to the Lincoln club of New Britain by a score of 50-1, but steadily improved thereafter; in 1869, Mansfield put up a 8-2 record, all against other Connecticut clubs. The following year, Middletown ventured outside the Nutmeg State to take on such top pro clubs as

Athletic of Philadelphia Athletic may refer to: * An athlete, a sportsperson * Athletic director, a position at many American universities and schools * Athletic type, a physical/psychological type in the classification of Ernst Kretschmer * Athletic of Philadelphia, a ba ...

Mutual of New York The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (also known as Mutual of New York or MONY) was the oldest continuous writer of insurance policies in the United States. Incorporated in 1842, it was headquartered at 1740 Broadway, before becoming a wh ...

and the Star Club of Brooklyn. With a final record of 21-13, Mansfield was crowned amateur champions of Connecticut. The following year (which was also the first season of the all-professional National Association), local brick factory owner Dewitt Clinton Sage presented the Mansfields with a portion of his property "near the shirt factory, five minutes walk from the McDonough House (famous hotel on Main Street), for their free use as a base ball ground for five years." The Mansfield Club Grounds had an especially convenient location, as the Valley Railroad ran right by the field. The grandstand held about 800 people, and around 650 were attendance as the Mansfields played their first game there on June 9, 1871, a 30-14 loss to the

Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President An ...

Professional

When the 1872 season dawned, the Mansfields fully expected to remain an amateur club; they had played matches against pro teams on occasion, but had never beaten one. Still, Douglas was negotiating with

Harry Wright William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, t ...

, manager of the powerful Boston Red Stockings, to bring Boston to Middletown for a few games; Wright advised Douglas that if Middletown truly wanted to play professional clubs then they should pay the $10 entry fee and join the National Association. To the league's apparent chagrin, the Mansfields did just that and joined the now eleven-team loop. The Mansfield club was managed by

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

John Clapp and featured such players as future Hall of Fame

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Jim O'Rourke, then a 21-year-old

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

. He batted .307 in 23 games at

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

, and

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. Also on the team was the star pitcher for the undefeated 1869

Cincinnati Red Stockings The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) 1867� ...

Asa Brainard Asahel "Asa" Brainard (1841 – December 29, 1888), nicknamed "Count", was the ace pitcher of the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team, after having pitched for the Excelsior club of Brooklyn, New York. ...

(past his prime at age 31, he pitched only two games for Middletown and lost them both) and another 21-year-old rookie,

Tim Murnane Timothy Hayes Murnane (June 4, 1851 – February 7, 1917) was an American sportswriter specializing in baseball, regarded as the leading baseball writer at ''The Boston Globe'' for about 30 years until his death. At the same time, he organize ...

, who led the team with a .360 average (sixth-best in the whole NA). But with Brainard coming up lame, Middletown was lacking in the pitching department, usually handing the ball to Clytus "Cy" Bentley. Also just 21, Bentley won only two of his 17 decisions with a 6.06 ERA, worst in the league among hurlers with at least 100 innings pitched. (Tragically, Bentley died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

the following winter, on February 26, 1873.) Clearly, Mansfield did not have the talent to compete with the big professional clubs; a pair of June victories over the woeful (3-26) Brooklyn Eckfords bumped their record up to five wins against nine losses, but Middletown would lose their last ten contests to finish 5-19, in eighth place. (Their swan song was an 11-8 loss to the

in front of 600 people in Middletown on August 9, 1872.) Ultimately, the obstacles for a small city like Middletown (with a population of less than seven thousand) to operate and compete against big-city teams were too daunting, so on August 14, 1872, the Mansfield club closed their books and ended their only major league season.Middletown Mansfields 1866-1872
/ref> Pro baseball would not return to Middletown for nearly four decades, until the Middletown Jewels played in the four-team Connecticut Association in 1910. The Jewels finished 26-24, good enough for second place, but disappeared along with the rest of the circuit at season's end. Middletown had not had a professional ballclub since, but the Mansfield name lives on 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, which plays the game by 19th century rules and wears hand-made uniforms similar to the original team's 1870 outfit.

Notes

External links

Major League Baseball in Gilded Age Connecticut: The Rise and Fall of the Middletown, New Haven and Hartford Clubs
(complete history of Middletown Mansfields)
Baseball Reference Team IndexMiddletown's Season In The SunMiddletown Mansfield Batting Register

References

*Wright, Marshall (2000). ''The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. *Arcidiacono, David (2009) "Major League Baseball in Gilded Age Connecticut: The Rise and Fall of the Middletown, New Haven and Hartford Clubs". McFarland & Co. Defunct National Association baseball teams Middletown, Connecticut Professional baseball teams in Connecticut Defunct baseball teams in Connecticut Baseball teams disestablished in 1872 Baseball teams established in 1872 {{Connecticut-baseball-team-stub

Formation

Professional

See also

Notes

External links

References