Ash Bats & Spitballs

ASH BATS & SPITBALLS

Contributed by Liz Holler, Chatham Historical Society

A Chatham baseball team composed of local young men was formed in 1878. They called themselves the Passaics and held meetings in Kelley’s Hall above what is now the Sherwin Williams paint store at 246 Main Street. Establishing a team treasury, the Passaics paid dues and held fundraisers. Sportsminded residents and local businesses made donations. A welladvertised social held at the Fairview Hotel on an October night in 1887 also brought in needed funds. The Passaics were able to purchase 6 ash bats for a dollar. Baseballs cost a dollar each. Their home games were played on an empty field, owned by Charles Lum, on the western end of Main Street. They paid Mr. Lum rent for the use of their field.

Long-time Chatham names appear on the team roster: Joseph Minton, Frank Budd, Charles Edwards, William Phipps, Clinton Day, Addison Day, Ed Littlejohn, George E. Lum, W. Pollard, F. Garrison, Louis Roberts. In the team secretary’s notes it was mentioned that two Passaics went on to the big leagues: “Force and Battin are playing on the St. Louis team this year.”

The Passaics’ games took place on Saturdays and Mondays. The opposing ball teams were the Resolute of Madison, the Clippers of Green Village, and the Fortunes of Summit. The Passaics also took on teams from Irvington, Orange, and Newark. Their expense books reveal that the Passaics paid local resident B.B. Bond for horse and wagon rides to transport the team for games in Caldwell and Plainfield.

Another Chatham baseball team emerged in the early 1900s, the Chatham Athletics. The Athletics, also consisting of young Chatham men, were in action circa 1906 to the 1920s. A scorebook kept by the Chatham Athletics in one of their peak years, is in the Chatham Historical Society archives. Like the Passaics, the Chatham Athletics played home and away games against Millburn, Roseland, Berkeley Heights, Livingston, and Madison. The late Arthur B. Jaquith shared his fond memories of playing on the Chatham Athletics. His recollections are recorded in the Fishawack papers.

Mr. Jaquith recalled “the principal sluggers” of the team were Preston Lum and Boyd Howarth who hit homeruns over Myrtle Avenue, which back then was a paper street with no houses and no windows to break. The playing field was an empty lot on Summit Avenue, where Fern Avenue now splinters off. It was referred to as “the field behind the roundhouse.” The roundhouse for the trains stood very close to the town’s current recycling center. Mr. Jaquith remembers that Preston Lum was a spitball pitcher with “a jowl full of slippery elm.” Paul Molitor, Sr. served as an excellent umpire for games. Mr. Molitor was approached to join the National League as an umpire; however, he refused because the job entailed long trips away from his family.

As Chatham life progressed into the 1900s, the sports captured the attention of local residents. Tennis, golf, bowling, boxing, football, billiards and various other sports became popular past-times.