For sure, changes are in store for Oneonta Tigers baseball fans when the season begins on Friday, June 19. Under new ownership and management, among those changes will be a new picnic area for groups, planned beer sales and season-long radio broadcasts of the games. The aim of these changes is to generate community excitement and boost attendance.
A similar situation was at hand in 1924. A meeting was called at the Community House, formerly on Ford Avenue, now part of the parking lot next to the northern end of the Wilber Mansion. It was held to test the community's interest in baseball and its willingness to support it.
Let's just say the 1924 campaign got under way like firecrackers going off. David F. Wilber attended the Feb. 20 meeting at the Community House. Wilber was a part-time Oneonta resident then, having interests in Washington, D.C. Wilber had been president of the Oneonta Community Baseball Association in 1889 and hadn't been involved in Oneonta baseball since the turn of the century.
With a good crowd on hand, Wilber spoke and brought the audience to what was described as a frenzy of enthusiasm, declaring, "I will stick with this to the very end."
For his enthusiasm, Wilber was elected president that night to what was called the Community Athletic Association. Many influential citizens were elected to the board as well, such as Judge Abraham L. Kellogg, DeForest Keyes, Harry W. Lee and Frank Herrief, to name a few.
With Wilber's leadership, the 1924 season went well, as he was determined to field a strong team, saying, "Enthusiasm for baseball must be aroused; the stands must be filled at every game and the team given wholehearted support."
Oneonta fielded a semi-professional team at the time and 1924 was successful in competition with other teams in the region. Sometimes professional and Major League teams came to play exhibition games at Neahwa Park Field, today's Damaschke Field. On July 25, Oneonta played Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, winning 4-3 in a 10-inning affair.
Oneonta fans were in for quite a surprise in early August. The Oneonta Star reported on Monday, Aug. 4, that Oneonta would take over the franchise of Utica in the New York-Pennsylvania in two days. Utica had the worst record in the league, been plagued by low attendance and financially was sinking fast.
D.F. Wilber was at the forefront in arranging this, which many considered as salvation for baseball in Oneonta.
Ray Thomas was the team manager and was kept on upon the move to Oneonta. Thomas had free pick of players from the Utica team as well as the best Oneonta had fielded to that point in the season.
"Oneonta should feel proud of the fact that (NY-Penn) President Farrell
picked the city for the franchise," reported the Star. "Two other cities, both four or five times as large as Oneonta, were after the honor but Oneonta got it because of its clean baseball record in the past and because of its beautiful park."
Oneonta may have inherited the NY-Penn League's last-place team but it didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm about having a professional team in a well-established league.
Oneonta's first game was Aug. 7, on the road in Williamsport. The first home game was Monday, Aug. 11, against the same Williamsport club. The largest crowd of the season was on hand for a 3:30 p.m. start, but the Oneonta Giants lost, 7-3.
Noteworthy in this season was the allowance of baseball played on Sunday in Oneonta, previously forbidden by law. The first Sunday game was played Aug. 17.
Oneonta belonging to the NY-Penn League was short-lived. Oneonta wanted to return in 1925, but the league officials declined, saying the city wasn't large enough to be a fiscal success. It wasn't without hearty appeal to keep Oneonta in the NY-Penn League, led by D.F. Wilber and Charles Bowdish.
Down but not out, Oneonta worked to get back into a league. In 1925, it was Ernest C. "Dutch" Damaschke who took his Company G team, bolstered by other good players in the city, into the new Schoharie County League.
Oneonta's next foray into a high-quality, established professional league came in 1940 with the Canadian American League. Oneonta re-joined the NY-Penn League in 1966, where it has been ever since.
On Monday: A 1954 fire in Oneonta was the worst in 25 years in the city.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
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