THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD
Sunday, May 12, 1918. Minor league baseball is long gone from the Record reading area, but a crowd of 2,000 people this afternoon proves that there’s still a great demand for the national pastime in Troy.
The crowd throngs the Tenth Street grounds in Lansingburgh to see the city’s top semi-pro team, the AllTroys, take on a Catskill club. Guy Milliman pitches for the home team and gives up two runs in the top of the first inning.
After that, it’s all Troy. The home team ties the game in the bottom of the third and takes the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Three more runs in the seventh make the final 8-2.
After his rocky first, “the lanky twirler for the Trojans had the visitors literally eating out of his hand,” a Record sportswriter reports, showing that people in 1918 were no more likely to understand the meaning of “literally” than their descendants a century later.
As for Milliman, “the local pitcher had perfect control, although a strong south wind was against him.” The winning hurler strikes out eleven and walks only one in his complete-game effort.
Former All-Troy second baseman Jack Lavin, now in the U.S. military, makes a return appearance at his old station while on furlough. Playing only half the game, Lavin goes 2 for 3, including a double.
With many veteran players now in uniform, the All-Troys feature a number of new players today. First baseman McGovern “made a hit with the spectators [with] several difficult stops,” while third baseman Kennan makes himself “the Ty Cobb for the winners” by going 3 for 4. He also makes the team’s only error. Otherwise, the All-Troys play “like a well- oiled machine.”
Elsewhere in town, a far smaller crowd, estimated at 250 people, roots on the Troy Catholic Male Orphan Asylum team on Opening Day for the new Intercity Catholic Baseball League.
The orphans’ opening opponents are the St. Joseph’s Nine of Green Island, defending champions of the Junior Holy Names League. The home team jumps out to a 3- 0 lead in the first inning, but “it was apparent the visitors had the edge in every department.”
St. Joseph’s ties the game in the top of the third and pulls ahead, 5-3, in the fourth. The orphans reclaim the lead, 6-5 after six, but the Green Islanders pull ahead for good with two in the seventh and an insurance run in the top of the ninth.
In other Catholic action, St. Joseph’s of Albany beats St. John’s of Rensselaer, 5-2, and St. Patrick’s of Watervliet outslugs St. Agnes of Cohoes, 17-11.