Ruby Legs

Ruby Legs

The talk by some Worcester politicians about getting the minor league Pawtucket Red Sox to move to Worcester from Rhode Island is probably just a pipe dream. There once was a time that Worcester had both a minor league team in the National Association and a major league team in the National League.

 In 1880 the Worcester Club joined the Majors replacing the Syracuse New York club which went bankrupt. It seems that the Worcester team was the Worcester Worcesters. Sometimes it was also known as the Brown Stockings, Brownies, or the Ruby Legs.

The team played ball in the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds which were located in the general area of Becker College and divided by Highland St.

(John) Lee Richmond was the team’s ace and stopper. Reading about him reminds me of Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1972 Carlton won 27 of the 59 games won by the Phillies.

Lee Richmond pitched three years with the Worcesters. Each year he pitched over 400 innings. His best year was when his record was 32 wins and 32 losses. It is likely the great number of innings pitched caused him arm trouble and shortened his career. He ended his playing days with the Providence Grays of the National League where played outfield.

Richmond is probably best known for pitching the first perfect no-hit game in the Major Leagues.  He did so in the second to last game of the 1880 season. It occurred in Worcester on the then Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds. There is a marker in front of the Becker College Academic Center marking the field.

Also in the same year the Worcester club was no hit by Buffalo on the same field. The first record of a team being no hit on its home field.

In 1882 the Worcester Worcesters had such poor attendance that it financially failed. At the last game of the season there were only 6 paying fans. The Worcester Club was always at a disadvantage in terms of attendance. All of the other National League teams were located in cities with at least 75, 000 people. Worcester at that time only had 58, 000 people.

The Ruby Legs  folded and the National League went looking for a club to replace Worcester. It choose the Philadelphia Quakers, a minor league team, to join the National League.  The Philadelphia Quakers later became the Philadelphia Phillies of the modern baseball era.

There is some talk today about how the Worcester Worcesters moved to Philadelphia and became the Phillies. This seems not to be true. Although the Philadelphia Quakers replaced Worcester in the National League, no players nor managers nor owner went to Philadelphia.

Worcester MA has a long baseball history and present. The minor league Bravehearts play baseball at Holy Cross’ field. The Worcester Tornadoes, a minor league team before the Bravehearts, played in the City for many years.

Going pass Lake Park field in Worcester I see the Babe Ruth League teams playing ball; many of them with players I am sure are professional hopefuls.

I have mixed feeling about the efforts to get the Pawsox to come to Worcester. It seems like a slap in face to the Bravehearts.

  

A View From Grafton Hill

On August 26, 2016 the Mayor of the City of Worcester walked through the Wall St. neighborhood.  One of the stops on his walk was the empty lot that used to be the El Morocco Restaurant. The lot sits on high ground with a terrific view of the Worcester skyline.

A housing project of 90 units of 1, 2, 3 bedroom apartments is being planned for the now empty lot.

All of the units will be market rates. There will be no affordable housing units. The developer stated that he could not build any affordable housing units under the state program. The longtime director of Friendly House, Gordon Hargrove, felt that some of the units will eventually become Affordable Units.

Mr. Hargrove is working with the Developer to ensure some additional benefit to the neighborhood. He indicated that the project would include upgrades to the Shale St. School playground.

The Mayor and the Developer showed a schematic of the building layout. However the Developer said that the final project would look different than what on the schematic. He did not have a copy of the revisions.

Like Mr. Hargrove the Mayor felt that the housing unit would help the neighborhood and the City.

Rep. Mary Keefe was also on the walk. She has been involved with the Labor Coalition  which advocates for some construction jobs like those for the project go to Worcester residents and people of color

 The streets in the neighbor are narrow as most of the streets on the Eastside of the City were built well over one hundred years ago. There might be some concerns about traffic and parking. For planners one and one-half cars per unit is considered standard.

Another concern express was how many children would live in the project and where they would go to school. An employee at Grafton St. School which only two blocks away, said that the School was at capacity.

She also said that Grafton St. School is the oldest functioning school building in the Worcester District. There are some renovations going on at the School today, including a new boiler, windows, and an elevator for the handicap.

During the walk the City Manager, Edward Augustus, asked a DPW employee how often the storm drains were cleaned on this street as he pointed to a clogged drain. The DPW worker said his department cleans the drains.

The walk ended on an interesting note as stop in a vendor in Worcester that provides props for local movies. Included in props was the Teddy Bear from the movies “Ted” and Ted2”

Tribe, Race, Government

Tribes, Race, and Government

In Central Massachusetts there is an issue of Native Indian identification that has caught me off guard and surprised. It involves the entity known as a Tribe and what it is and who belongs to it,

 The Native Indians of Central Massachusetts are the Nipmucs. It is thought that the Nipmucs originally came from the Hudson Valley to populate areas of Central New England. Some say they came to the Worcester area by way of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

 There is evidence that name Nipmuc comes from Neepmuck, which derives from Nipamaug, 'people of the freshwater fishing place'.

It is written that the English first encountered the Nipmucs in 1630 when Native Indians brought foodstuff to the English in Boston. Although many people brought food over a period of several seasons, only one man has gone into written history, John Acquittamaug.  His last name is likely that of his band which lived in what is now Woodstock Ct.

 In Worcester County today the Nipmucs have at least three bands or groups. They are:

Chaubunagungamaug Nipmucs or Dudley Indian are descendants of the Praying town of Chaunbunagungamaug which is now located in the town of Webster MA.

Hassanamisco Nipmuc or Grafton Indians are descendants of the Praying town of Hassanamessit which is now located in the town of Grafton MA. This is still the current reservation.


      This land was never owned by White men.

Natick Massachusett or Natick Nipmuc are descendants of the Praying town in Natick. The Massachusetts do not retain any of their original lands. The Naticks today are primarily descended from the Tribe Massachusetts as well as from Nipmuc ancestry. The Natick qualify for state services as Nipmuc.

The first praying village in Massachusetts was in South Natick. The villagers were Massachusetts. The praying villages were called plantations by the English.

The Nipmuc people spoke a language in the Algonquin language group. For the most part the dialect is no longer spoken, although I understand there is some effort to revive it. All Nipmuc people now speak English as their primary language.

Some people like to group the Nipmucs, Mohegans, Naragansetts, Pequots, and Massachusetts together, the consensus seems to be that each was a separate tribe. However there is some disagreement on this.

 Today many the Native Indians of Central Massachusetts live among or attend events of other tribes or communities.

The Enfranchisement Act of 1869 effectively ended tribal interaction with Massachusetts government for about 100 years. The members of the tribes became resident of Massachusetts and citizens of the United States. The individuals could interact with the governments.

Previous to the Enfranchisement Act Native Indians were wards of the state. Their affairs were handled indirectly by a sort of receiver. Some of these receivers were dishonest and much of the Native Indians lands were lost to the English.

The Nipmucs are recognized as a tribe by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 1979 the State legislature passed a bill recognizing the Wampanoags, Nipmucs, and Massachusetts (Nipmucs). This recognition brings some benefits which and oversight by the Massachusetts Bureau of Indian Affairs.

To date only the Wampanoags have received Federal recognition. Federal recognition allows a Native Indian tribe (nation) to establish a government with courts, and laws. It is also allowed to collect revenue and set up casinos.

The standards used by the Federal government to recognize tribes have changed over the centuries. At one time the Federal government tried to recognize tribes by race (blood) a criterion. This was declared to be Unconstitutional.

Now the Federal government uses what is called “political” criteria. Some of the political criteria are:

1.  Since 1900, it must comprise a distinct community and have existed as a community from historical times;2. it must have political influence over its members;

3. it must have membership criteria;

4. it must have membership that consists of individuals who 
descend    from a historical Indian tribe and who are not enrolled in any other tribe. The existence of persistent political relationship as an aspect of tribal relations is also emphasized.

Since the time of the King Phillip (Metacom) War the Nipmucs suffered great losses in terms of their cultural and their population. Many of the people were imprisoned, enslaved, executed, or died from introduced diseases and poverty. In order to survive the Native Indians of Central Massachusetts had to adopt non blood members into the tribes.

Some of the new adoptees were Black and fewer were White. There were anti-miscegenation laws which made legal marriage between Native Indians and Whites difficult.  Until recently many of the light skin people did not reveal their heritage and many of the dark skin people pointed out their heritage. Being part Native Indians was a means to mitigate racial oppression against Blacks.

The children of the interacial marraiges were accepted into the tribe as Native Niomucs, due to the matrilineal focus of Nipmuc culture. Native Indian vanish from state and federal census records but were listed as 'Black', or some in Native Indian person depending on their appearance appeared..

So in the eyes of quite a few people the Nipmucs are mostly Black people. Even among some Native Indians this perception is common.

There is local college professor who never seems to miss an opportunity to say that the Nipmucs are not a known tribe. I get upset every time I hear his words. 

One of the reason I am writing this article is to say that I think that the Nipmucs are tribe. They are a part of our history and an assets. Their tribal traditional should preserved and once again become living.

It does not matter what the Federal government rules.
The Nipmucs have a recorded history that goes back at least to 1630. The tribe has people by birth or by adoption. They faced a period of genocide and survived it. Let us all recognize this Tribe which is still among us.

There are those among us who want to preserve the Blackstone Valley manufacturing history, but have ignored the living people who ancestors were here before the water wheel.

These issues of race, cultural, self-identification, government are sometimes awkward and many times sad to witness. Other times they can be a joy bringing us self-esteem and knowledge.