Brooklyn Bushwicks

From SABR Encyclopedia

The Brooklyn Bushwicks were a semi-pro team that played in Queens, New York.

Max Rosner was a successful business man who in 1911 organized his first semi-pro team, The Cypress Hills.

One of his players on the 1912 team was Joe Judge. He later became a well known major leaguer from 1915 to 1934, primarily with the Washington Senators.

In 1913 Max Rosner along with a silent partner, Nat Strong, founded the Bushwick Baseball Club. Nat Strong had controlling interest in the Brooklyn Royal Giants, a black team.

In 1914, Max took over as manager of the Bushwicks playing games at Wallace field. The Bushwicks established themselves as the premier team in the area, playing Sunday afternoons against the Brooklyn Royal Giants as well as the many famous black teams, including the Lincoln Giants.

In 1916 Charlie Ebbets, president of the Brooklyn National League team, was short of cash to finance his team's spring training in Georgia. He approached Rosner and Strong for a loan, which they agreed to after Ebbets said his team whould play the Bushwicks two exhibition games that spring.

On April 2, they played the first game. 3,000 fans showed up, and the Bushwicks won 4-3. The second game on April 16, the Brooklyn team had all their regulars: Zack Wheat, Casey Stengel, etc., with Rube Marquard pitching. 6,000 fans showed up to watch Brooklyn win 22-2.

On September 19, 1917 the grandstand at Wallace field caught fire and burned to the ground. Rosner then made a lease arrangement for the Bushwicks to play their games on Sunday afternoons at Dexter Park starting in the spring of 1918. This was the start of a long relationship between the Bushwicks and the community of Woodhaven, in Queens, New York, where Dexter Park was located.

In the 1920's some of the teams that visited Dexter Park to play the Bushwicks were the Bacharach Giants, Cuban Stars, and the House of David. Max was a good judge of baseball talent. Starting in the 1920's his team was a blend of ex-major leaguers and local semi-pro players. In 1922 Jeff Tesreau joined the Bushwicks, having previously pitched for the New York Giants for seven years he was the first of many former major leaguers to play for the Bushwicks. In July of 1924 Jack Warhop a former New York Yankee from 1908-1915 was hired as player-manager. The following year Leon Cadore joined the Bushwicks, he pitched in the National League from 1915-1924. Columbus Day 1927, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig came to Dexter Park with an all-star team to play the Bushwicks. An overflow crowd of 24,000 fans showed up. This was the first of three appearances of Ruth and Gehrig all-stars.

During the 1930's the Bushwicks became more and more popular and began attrcting the famous black teams, Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays, among others. In 1933 Carl Hubbell,Hal Schumacher and Blondy Ryan of the NY Giants after wining the World Series with a semi-pro team called the Bay Parkways, 22,000 fans came out to see them. In 1934, after the World Series the Dean Brothers played for the Bushwicks against the New York Black Yankees.

WWII had an impact on the popularity of the Bushwicks as it did with the major leagues. Many of the once famous black teams began to fade out of existence by 1946, with only a few left such as the Homestead Grays, Kansas City Monarchs, Baltimore Elite Giants. And these famous teams only lasted sevral more years and by 1950 the also became extinct.

The Bushwicks still attracted a fair amount of fans each Sunday. In early 1940's, Pete Gray the onearmed outfielder played two seasons with the Bushwicks. Pete then made it to the majors in 1945 with the St.Louis Browns. In 1943 Lefty Gomez in the twilight of his career signed with the Bushwicks in August and finished the season, as well as the 1944 season.

Some of the other Bushwicks that played in the majors are: Eppie Barnes - played briefly with the Pittsbugh Pirates in 1923 and 1924. Ed Boland - played in 1934 and 1935 with Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers. Bot Nokela - made it twice to the majors, 1929 with NY Yankees and 1933 with Detroit Tigers. Al Cuccinello - played bielfy in 1935 with the NY Giants. Tony Cuccinello - with 15 years in the majors, played with his brother Al in the mid 1940's. Tony DePhillips - played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1943. Sam Nahem - played for Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938 and in 1941 with St.Louis Cardinals,in 1942 and 1948 with the Philadelphia Phillies. Dazzy Vance - was released by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935 and signed with Bushwicks. Gene Hermanski - played with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Tommy Brown - played with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Both Hermanski and Tommy Brown played for the Bushwicks in the mid 1940's while on leave from the military. Since they were both under contract with the Dodgers they had to use an alias. Hermanski used the alias of George or Gene Walsh.

The Bushwicks continued playing their usual Sunday double headers, unfortunately by the late 1940's telivision began broadcasting major league games and severely cut into the attendance. By 1950 the famous black teams were gone along with semi-pro teams. In 1950 the Bushwicks lost money and eventually were were disbanded. In 1957 Dexter Park was torn down for a housing development. The only thing that remains is a plaque that commemorates the Bushwicks and Dexter Park.

Sources

• . Times Newsweekly, 1991-09-19.