Catskills Past
Diamonds in the Mountains
By T.M. Bradshaw
Mountain Athletic Club, circa 1897— Julius Fleischmann, center, middle row, looking off to the side, Max Fleischmann is on Julius’s left, looking very determined. Photo courtesy Skene Library
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ne of the iconic sounds of summer is the crack of the bat against a ball on a blue-sky afternoon. It’s a pastime that has endured for over 200 years, starting with loosely organized pickup games with rules that varied somewhat by locale. A 1791 Pittsfield, MA law forbade the game within window-breaking distance of the town’s meeting house, confirming the early popularity of the game. In the 19th century the sport developed through a progression of organized amateur teams, semi-pro teams, and finally, fully professional teams. A number of teams proliferated throughout the Catskill area, some identified in newspaper references with team names, others only by the town, village, or area they represented: the Stamford Athletics, Windham Resolutes, Schenevus Monitors, Roxbury Nine, Middleburg Leather Chasers, Elk Creek Nine, Treadwell Athletics, Walton RifRafs, Oneonta Stars, Hobart, Hamden, and Cobleskill. These teams played against each other and against visiting teams from farther outside the immediate vicinity, such as the Binghamton Electrics and teams 16 • www.catskillregionguide.com
from Hudson, Kingston, and Albany. They also played against the Cuban Giants, a professional African-American team that was formed in 1885 at a resort in Babylon, NY, and the Cuban XGiants, a team started by players who had left the Cuban Giants. The team that formed in Griffin Corners is of particular note: the Mountain Athletic Club, also called the Mountain Tourists. The Fleischmann family began summering in the Catskills in 1883, over time building a compound of five cottages, perhaps more accurately called mansions, in Griffin Corners. Julius and Max Fleischmann, sons of Charles Louis Fleischmann, co-founder of the company in Ohio that eventually became Fleischmann’s Yeast, were sports enthusiasts. In 1895 Charles Fleischmann purchased and had cleared four acres in Griffin Corners for a ball field so that Julius and Max, then 24 and 18, and both already deeply involved in the running of the family business, could enjoy one of their many athletic interests. The Mountain Tourists fielded a lineup consisting of amateurs, minor leaguers, and some professional athletes from around Cincinnati, as well as Julius and Max.