STEAM ROLLER NINE
Baseball in Rhode Island was booming in the early 1900s. Amateur teams were organized all over the state. In 1903 Tim O'Neil organized his amateur leagues and some players were good enough to play for semi-pro outfits. One team had a familiar name for Rhode Islanders. The Providence Steam Roller name continued on the diamond at Kinsley Park. Manager/catcher Ed "Roxy" McGinley (Providence) led the Roller nine from 1923 to 1926. He had several Rhode Islanders on the Roller including Big Leaguers; Joe Morrissey (Warren), Jackie Gallagher (Providence), Arthur Merewether (East Providence) and Charlie Babbington (Cranston). Pinky Lester (East Providence), Pard Pearce (Providence), Curly Oden (Providence), George Rivard (Providence), Charles "Blondy" Halbert (Pawtucket), Andy Walsh (Pawtucket) and Jack McCaffrey (Providence) also represented Rhode Island. Morrissey played two seasons for the Cincinnati Reds (1932-33) and one for the Chicago White Sox (1936). Gallagher played for the Cleveland Indians for one game and had one at bat in 1923 and a single left Gallagher with a rare MLB career batting average of 1.000. Merewether played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1922 and Babbington was a New York Giant in 1915. They all spent some time in the Minor Leagues in their careers as well as McGinley, McCaffrey, Oden, Rivard, McCaffrey and Pearce. The semi-pro outfit had a competitive schedule and took on all comers around the state and nearby Massachusetts. Their in-state rival were the Natick Hustlers of West Warwick. The Hustlers began play around 1916 and played continually as far as 1926. Like the Roller they welcomed any worthy opponent and filled their line-up with the best players around. In October 1924, Manager Sam Marsocci, added future HOFer and New York Yankee great Herb Pennock to pitch against Anthony A.A. in the final game of the Junior World Series at Anthony Grounds. Natick defeated Anthony 9-5 to take the series. In 1924 and 1925 the Hustlers and Roller met twice in separate 5 game series to decide who was the semi-pro champion of the state.
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In 1923 the Roller lined up games with some of the best teams in the country including some in the Big Leagues and Colored and Cuban squads. In August of 1923 the St. Louis Cardinals came to town with Rogers Hornsby in the line-up. The Cards held off the Roller 5-3 at Kinsley Park in front of a large crowd by bunching hits to win in the second inning. In the following September the Boston Braves (with Cranston's Johnny Cooney in the line-up) walloped them 19-9 pitcher against pitcher Rivard and two others in front of 5000 fans. The Chicago White Sox, with their star Eddie Collins, dispatched the Roller 7-1 despite each team with 8 hits. "Blondie" Halbert collected three for the Roller. In July of 1924 another future Hall of Famer, "Rabbitt Maranville", came to town with his Pittsburgh Pirates and won a hard fought battle 6-5 before a splendid crowd at Kinsley Park. Lester, Morrissey and Walsh all had multi-hit games against the pennant contenders. Boston returned in August this time the Roller held off the Braves off 5-3 capitalizing on a muffed fly ball for three runs.
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Other high profile teams included the Lawrence, Massachusetts club with Olympic Decathlon champion, Jim Thorpe, in June 1924. They beat the Roller 11-7 with six runs in the seventh frame. Thorpe had two hits including a homer and Lester was the batting star for the locals with three hits. The Brooklyn Royal Giants, Brooklyn Cuban Giants, Cleveland Colored Giants, Dan Whitehead's All Stars and the Cuban Stars all came to Providence to take on the team as well during the Roller's tenure in the semi-pro ranks.
