(Above: The original ballfield at what is now Memorial Park was not much more than a glorified weed patch with a rag-tag wooden grandstand as seen in this rare but grainy photograph from around 1920, just before the first improvements were made. Photos courtesy Lansdale Historical Society.)
How Baseball and Patriotism Built Memorial Park
Lansdale had community baseball teams dating back to the 1870s. One of them was this 1899 crew managed by Billy Diehl (derby hat in second row).
By Dick Shearer, President, Lansdale Historical Society
From the Spring 2020 issue of Discover Lansdale Magazine
Lansdale has always been a gathering spot for special events year-round. People would travel great distances to attend parades, festivals, sporting events, fraternal society socials, church picnics, revival meetings and shooting contests, or just to enjoy a refreshing afternoon listening to the Lansdale Band play at Edgewood Park.
The train and trolley made all of this possible. Out-of-towners could get here easily from all four directions, even in the eras before every garage housed an automobile.
But what did Lansdale residents themselves really like? Back a hundred years ago, in 1920, the town was head-over-heels crazy about baseball. People couldn’t get enough of it. As early as January – long before the last snowflake fell – stories about local teams were finding their way onto the front pages of The Reporter and the Republican and Review.
It was traditionally “Hot Stove Season,” so named because men around the country gathered around pot-bellied stoves with refreshments in hand to debate what would happen once their favorite teams finally hit the diamond.
We picked 1920 not because it was a century ago, but rather because baseball talk that year indirectly led to the development of Memorial Park and, in the process, improvement of the town’s weed-infested ball diamond.
In the cold, snowy days of January 1920, talk spread around Lansdale that it might gain admission to the Montgomery County Baseball League if it promised satisfactory playing conditions. Our borough had numerous teams before – dating back into the 1800s – but the Montco League was a step up. It was classified as semi-pro, which allowed for a combination of paid and amateur players.
Joining the league involved money and community support. There was the field to fix, uniforms to buy, equipment to purchase and, of course, funds to pay those “pros.” The town was all for it. So was the newly-formed William E. Hare American Legion Post, as well as hundreds of former servicemen returning from World War I. Lansdale’s merchants chipped in and so did the industrial plants.
By early February, Lansdale was voted into the league unanimously, joining Ambler, Doylestown, Souderton, Fort Washington and Chestnut Hill. Abe Jackson was appointed manager by an oversight committee. He promised to give local players first shot at making the team before going outside to find the pros.
Committees were established to handle the administration and finances of the team and excitement grew throughout Lansdale as winter grudgingly yielded to spring.
At the same time, controversy was brewing on another front. Borough citizens had been looking for a way to appropriately honor those who served, and in some cases died, in World War I. A great push had been under way to build a Memorial Hall on West Main Street. It would be a combination of a veterans post and community center with indoor recreational facilities.
Plans for this building were drawn up by Lansdale architect Milton Bean, and a spirited fund-raising drive was launched. Everything seemed to be on track, until the issue of who would oversee the building was raised. The borough, which also held a financial stake, wanted to be in charge; so did the American Legion post. The impasse stopped the project dead in its tracks.
Cooler minds interceded. Why not combine the baseball park fund-raiser with the drive to honor the vets, not with a building but a memorial park that would include a large area for honoring the war heroes and an expanded recreation area that the entire community could enjoy?
The compromise was quickly embraced. In fact, all but a few of the residents who donated funds for the Memorial Building agreed to shift their contributions to this expanded project. And while it eventually took 15 years to develop Memorial Park and its ballfield to an approximation of what it is now, the wheels were set in motion during those cold days of 1920.
We’d like to have a Cinderella ending to this tale, but we don’t. Even though the Doughboys, as they were called, attracted their fair share of “pro” players, the team came in just two wins over .500. The Doughboys finished the season strong, compiling a 10-8 record in their Montgomery County League debut, trailing champion Souderton (15-4), Doylestown (14-6) and Ambler (13-6).
But the good news is the team ended the season only $100 in the red, a loss that was quickly covered. And as history tells us, it launched a much bigger undertaking for Lansdale that we enjoy to this day.
From the Spring 2020 issue of Discover Lansdale Magazine
Lansdale has always been a gathering spot for special events year-round. People would travel great distances to attend parades, festivals, sporting events, fraternal society socials, church picnics, revival meetings and shooting contests, or just to enjoy a refreshing afternoon listening to the Lansdale Band play at Edgewood Park.
The train and trolley made all of this possible. Out-of-towners could get here easily from all four directions, even in the eras before every garage housed an automobile.
But what did Lansdale residents themselves really like? Back a hundred years ago, in 1920, the town was head-over-heels crazy about baseball. People couldn’t get enough of it. As early as January – long before the last snowflake fell – stories about local teams were finding their way onto the front pages of The Reporter and the Republican and Review.
It was traditionally “Hot Stove Season,” so named because men around the country gathered around pot-bellied stoves with refreshments in hand to debate what would happen once their favorite teams finally hit the diamond.
We picked 1920 not because it was a century ago, but rather because baseball talk that year indirectly led to the development of Memorial Park and, in the process, improvement of the town’s weed-infested ball diamond.
In the cold, snowy days of January 1920, talk spread around Lansdale that it might gain admission to the Montgomery County Baseball League if it promised satisfactory playing conditions. Our borough had numerous teams before – dating back into the 1800s – but the Montco League was a step up. It was classified as semi-pro, which allowed for a combination of paid and amateur players.
Joining the league involved money and community support. There was the field to fix, uniforms to buy, equipment to purchase and, of course, funds to pay those “pros.” The town was all for it. So was the newly-formed William E. Hare American Legion Post, as well as hundreds of former servicemen returning from World War I. Lansdale’s merchants chipped in and so did the industrial plants.
By early February, Lansdale was voted into the league unanimously, joining Ambler, Doylestown, Souderton, Fort Washington and Chestnut Hill. Abe Jackson was appointed manager by an oversight committee. He promised to give local players first shot at making the team before going outside to find the pros.
Committees were established to handle the administration and finances of the team and excitement grew throughout Lansdale as winter grudgingly yielded to spring.
At the same time, controversy was brewing on another front. Borough citizens had been looking for a way to appropriately honor those who served, and in some cases died, in World War I. A great push had been under way to build a Memorial Hall on West Main Street. It would be a combination of a veterans post and community center with indoor recreational facilities.
Plans for this building were drawn up by Lansdale architect Milton Bean, and a spirited fund-raising drive was launched. Everything seemed to be on track, until the issue of who would oversee the building was raised. The borough, which also held a financial stake, wanted to be in charge; so did the American Legion post. The impasse stopped the project dead in its tracks.
Cooler minds interceded. Why not combine the baseball park fund-raiser with the drive to honor the vets, not with a building but a memorial park that would include a large area for honoring the war heroes and an expanded recreation area that the entire community could enjoy?
The compromise was quickly embraced. In fact, all but a few of the residents who donated funds for the Memorial Building agreed to shift their contributions to this expanded project. And while it eventually took 15 years to develop Memorial Park and its ballfield to an approximation of what it is now, the wheels were set in motion during those cold days of 1920.
We’d like to have a Cinderella ending to this tale, but we don’t. Even though the Doughboys, as they were called, attracted their fair share of “pro” players, the team came in just two wins over .500. The Doughboys finished the season strong, compiling a 10-8 record in their Montgomery County League debut, trailing champion Souderton (15-4), Doylestown (14-6) and Ambler (13-6).
But the good news is the team ended the season only $100 in the red, a loss that was quickly covered. And as history tells us, it launched a much bigger undertaking for Lansdale that we enjoy to this day.
