History of baseball in Freeville on display at Southworth

If you enter the Southworth House on North Street in the village, the location of the Dryden Town Historical Society, you will notice pieces of baseball history directly to the right.

The Historical Society recently put the history of baseball in Freeville on display. The display showcases two teams, the Knights of Pythias and the George Junior Republic (now The William George Agency for Children’s Services), both of which played roughly from just prior to 1900 to the 1960s.

“Freeville was into [baseball] for quite a while,” said Trish Sprague, a volunteer and historian at the historical society who also handles archives at the William George Agency.

Each team’s display provides its fair share of memorabilia, including the official team uniform, balls signed by players, trophies and even pieces of equipment that have made it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Some of the memorabilia was on display back in 1995. Sprague and the Historical Society, however, decided to bring it back.

“We thought, ‘’Tis the season,’ so let’s do [the] baseball [exhibit],” Sprague said in reference to the baseball season being in full swing this summer.

Sprague gives credit to Richard E. “Dick” Blackman for handling the research and materials for each Freeville-based team.

“He was a carpenter, so he made the display case for [the Knights of Pythias baseball team],” Sprague said of Blackman, a resident of Freeville who wrote an entire program on the history of baseball in the village.

Mary Lou Taylor, a volunteer at the Historical Society, also spoke well of Blackman.

“It’s fun to read through the program because [Dick Blackman] lets other teammates talk,” she said. “He brought in all of the memories and things they did.”

The teams, on occasion, faced each other. Their schedules, however, were filled with matchups against teams from Dryden, Groton, Ithaca, Cortland and more. The George Jr. team would also have an annual alumni game, where graduates faced current students and community members.

The George Junior Republic team played on campus, while the Knights of Pythias squad had its own field just outside of the village.

“Someone gave (the Knights of Pythias) permission to build a field,” Sprague said. “It had bleachers, a fence and everything on the field. It was a big deal.”

She noted the teams in the general area did not have a field like Knights of Pythias or a permanent field to play on at all.

In the 1950s, the George Junior Republic was given an original concept of the catcher’s mask. The mask, Sprague said, is currently at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“They had three masks that claimed to be the first one,” she added. “I think they decided that this was the first one.”

Baseball games that involved George Junior Republic, and especially the Knights of Pythias, became the hottest ticket in town.

“That’s what you did Saturday [afternoons or] nights,” Sprague said. “They were very popular.”

The Knights of Pythias squad, Sprague said, charged 35 cents to get into their games, which drew large crowds.

“It was the entertainment [of the area],” she said. “It varied in a competitive sense.”

Sprague noted that the Knights of Pythias team was so popular, it would recruit players from Ithaca, Cortland and other municipalities “to make a good team.”

Kids at the Knights of Pythias games, Sprague said, would sit on the railroad tracks outside of the field. She added that for every “ball they returned,” they received 5 cents.

“[The community] admired the big-name players,” Taylor said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of stuff going on back in the day. When the weather was nice out, watching baseball games became the thing to do.”

Sprague and Taylor both noted there is no specific end date for the exhibit.

“It could be up until next year for all we know,” Sprague said.

Dryden Dispatch appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

Open Gate Garden and Art Tour this Saturday

The Open Gate Garden and Art Tour returns this Saturday. Four gardens will be on display during the event. The garden representatives include:

• Deb and Corwin Holtz, 30 Lewis St., Dryden.
• Bob Bobnick, 8 Wall St., Dryden.
• Kelly and Gene Ritter, 27 Mineah Rd., Freeville.
• Mary Squyres, 383 Hurd Rd., Ithaca.

The display of gardens and art, along with musicians, will be showcased at each garden.

Tickets for the garden and art tour are $5 each. The event is free for children 12 and under.

Presale tickets are available at the Dryden Agway on 59 W. Main St., Dedrick’s Farm Market on 19 Cortland Rd., Arnold’s Flower Shop on 19 W. Main St. and Daisy Hollow Farm on 830 Daisy Hollow Rd. — all in Dryden.

Tickets will also be on sale the day of the tour at the municipal parking lot on George Street.

For more information, go to tinyurl.com/2gp8xp8c or the event’s Facebook page at “Dryden Open Gate Garden and Art Tour.”

Haudenosaunee Cultural Celebration this Saturday

The Southworth Library on 24 W. Main St. in the village of Dryden will be holding a Haudenosaunee Cultural Celebration this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event will include the sacred tradition of lacrosse stick making by Ron Patterson and a song and social dance with Chris Thomas and his smoke dancers.

The library invites everyone to experience the rich cultures and traditions of the local Indigenous peoples.

Those who attend the event will receive a free copy of the “Hands-On History! Native Americans” book.

For more information, contact the Southworth Library at (607) 844-4782 or southworthlibrary@gmail.com.