A sunny Sunday when baseball came to Tuam
He wore an Aran cardigan, tweed cap and smoked a fat cigar
During the long summer school holidays of my childhood, the greens in front of St Joseph’s Park on Tullinadaly Hill in Tuam were often alive with the sounds of children’s voices and laughter. These open spaces were a favourite hangout under the eyes of watchful mothers who could identify each child and were well acquainted with every parent in the area. We spent countless hours playing our favourite games and relishing the freedom the summer brought.
Groups of boys gathered to play football on the largest green, improvising goalposts using jumpers tossed on to the grass. Brief disputes about who would pick teams or guard the goal were quickly settled and a lively match commenced where the rules were adaptable and team numbers could change mid game. On a neighbouring green, a mixed group of children might be engaged in a more relaxed but equally spirited game of rounders. Games would often continue until the last rays of the setting sun faded to dusk or when the owner of the football or bat was summoned home. Cherished memories of a very different time.
Rounders was always a popular and sociable game, offering an opportunity to include children of varying levels of athletic skills and allowing them to be part of a team. It is one of the four core sports of the GAA named in its 1884 charter along with football, hurling and handball. During the Irish Civil War, committed Republican and staunch Cumann na mBan activist, Sighle Humphreys played rounders in Kilmainham Gaol using the leg of a wooden chair as a bat. That well-worn and battered chair leg is preserved as a unique piece of Irish heritage in Kilmainham Gaol Museum.
It is a commonly held belief that the origins of American baseball evolved from the game of rounders brought to the country by English and Irish immigrants in the late 18th century. It evolved under different local names such as “town ball,” “base ball” (originally two words) or the “Massachusetts Game”. By the mid-19th century, a formal set of rules was established for the game which laid a foundation for modern baseball, introducing a diamond shaped field, the three-strike system and the method of scoring runs.
The first known game of baseball played in Ireland took place in Dublin on 24 August 1874. Following a 12-game tour of England, two of America’s most prominent clubs, the Boston Red Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics travelled to Ireland from Holyhead.
In June 1919, Croke Park was the venue for a baseball exhibition match between two teams: one made up of American students from Trinity College, and the other composed of members from a US Naval Station detachment. Baseball failed to make any headway after the establishment of the Irish Free State when the Tailteann Games of 1924, a cultural and sporting festival founded to symbolise a new unified Ireland emerging from conflict. It also raised the profile of the GAA following a period marked by deep divisions resulting from the Civil War. This contributed to the emergence of a perspective that regarded participation in Gaelic games as a key expression of an Irish identity.
Sorting and moving bundles of past Tuam Herald newspapers into boxes last year became a much lengthier job than anticipated when a photo or a headline would catch the eye and draw you in. Before long, yellowing pages were turned carefully to find out more. It was one such front page story of August 1970 that sparked interest in baseball facts.
Familiar faces from my youth were joyfully engaged in learning the rudiments of the game on a fine Sunday evening in Parkmore Racecourse with a gentleman sporting an Aran cardigan, a tweed cap, and a large cigar. This was Judge Arthur Joseph O’Dea, an Irish American from New Jersey with ancestral family connections to Galway. These young lads from the town participated in what was believed to be the first exhibition match of the American game of baseball in the West of Ireland.
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