Early baseball in Massachusetts/Club 40

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Spread of baseball: Home -> Massachusetts -> Early baseball in Massachusetts/Club 40

Location	Massachusetts
Year	1885
City	Gloucester
State	MA
Found by	Bruce Allardice

Charles Bevis, "The New England League: A Baseball History, 1885-1949" p. 38 says that in 1886 the Gloucester team dropped out of this league, which had been established the year before, due to lack of local interest. I have found no mention of baseball in Gloucester prior to the 1885 forming of this league. The Springfield (MA) Republican, June 13, 1870, marveled that: "Gloucester has 12,000 inhabitants and no base ball club!" Gloucester is a fishing town north of Boston. I can only speculate that baseball interest was minimal here since most of the town's young men were usually out in the Atlantic fishing.

Gloucester MA (1890 pop. about 24,500) is about 30 miles NE of Boston.

Sources

Charles Bevis, "The New England League: A Baseball History, 1885-1949" p. 38; The Springfield (MA) Republican, June 13, 1870