Much of the recent interest in Dayton sports history has related to the Dayton Triangles football team, and rightly so given the upcoming 100th anniversary of the first ever NFL game which was played right here at Triangle Park.
But Dayton also has a strong legacy as a baseball town, which isn’t surprising when you look at how the community has wholeheartedly embraced the Dayton Dragons. When the Dragons debuted in 2000, they broke a 49 year absence of professional baseball in Dayton.
Before then, going all the way back to the 1860s, a wide variety of amateur, independent and minor league teams have called the Gem City home, as well as a charter member of the Negro National League.
The first known team in town was the Dayton Baseball Club, founded in the late 1860s. Its claim to fame was an exhibition game in Dayton against the powerhouse Cincinnati Red Stockings who became the first fully professional baseball team in 1869.
One report describes the valiant effort by the home team: “That day in May, the Dayton club was able to hold the Red Stockings to just six runs…in the first inning.” The Red Stockings would go on to win by the astonishing score of 104-9.
What is thought to be the first professional team in Dayton was the Dayton Gem Cities of the Ohio State Association in 1884. In the decades following, baseball in Dayton went took on many names, with several referencing Dayton’s aviation heritage or the soldiers home. The Dayton Reds, Old Soldiers, Veterans and Aviators all played before World War 1.
The best season that a Dayton team would enjoy came in 1900, when the Veterans played to a record of 90-43 (.677) under longtime manager Bill Armour. The following year, the Pittsburgh Pirates would come to town for an exhibition game in which a young Honus Wagner knocked in two runs to help lead the Pirates to victory.
A team would again be called the Dayton Aviators from 1928-1930. That team disbanded after one disappointing season, but a new team known as the Dayton Ducks arrived in 1932. In 1939, they became the Dayton Wings, but after two years the name reverted back to the Ducks.
The Ducks were a minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers for most of that time, except for one year as a White Sox affiliate and three seasons when it was not affiliated with a major league team. For all but one of those years, the team played in the Middle Atlantic League.
The manager was a former major leaguer named Howard D. Holmes, who was known as “Ducky” Holmes. First baseman Frank McCormick, who would go on to become a 9-time MLB All-Star and the 1940 NL MVP and World Series Champion with the Reds, played for the Ducks in 1935.
The outbreak of World War II in 1942, however, spelled the end of the Ducks in Dayton.
After the war, a team returned to town in 1946 known as the Dayton Indians. They disbanded in 1951 along with the rest of the Central League.
Dayton Marcos: the Negro Leagues in the Gem City
The story of baseball in the United States is one of longstanding segregation, and this was the case in Dayton as well. With a handshake agreement among major league owners barring black players from the major leagues, the Negro leagues arose as the premier competitive platform for those shut out.
The Dayton Marcos were an original member of the first incarnation of the Negro National League founded in 1920 by Rube Foster. They played against teams including the Kansas City Monarchs, Indianapolis ABCs, Chicago American Giants, and Cuban Stars, and players such as the legendary Satchel Paige.
The Dayton team, however, had already existed for many years before the league was formed. The Marcos started as an independent team that played against both black and white competition across the country. For a number of years, the Marcos were the only black team in the Ohio-Indiana league.
One of its most notable players was Bill Sloan, who had emerged as a hero during the Great Flood of 1913 when he led the rescue of 317 people during 68 hours of non-stop work.
The Marcos, however, would not find much success as they finished last in the inaugural 1920 season and left the league. They would return in 1926, but a second-to-last place finish led to another quick exit. The Marcos kept playing as an independent team until World War II.
Lost Ballparks: Old Baseball Fields of Dayton
During the years of the Dayton Ducks, Marcos, and others, the site of today’s Fifth Third Field was occupied by a Delco factory building. Teams in those years played at a variety of parks around town that no longer exist.
Fairview Park was located on the NW corner of Fairview Ave and North Main Street. The land was later used for the C.J. Brown School, which was built on what had previously been the infield of the baseball park. Today the school has been razed.
Another was North Side Field, at Leo Street and Troy Pike. The dimensions for this park were recorded and are still known today: 370 in Left, 420 in Center, and 285 in Right with a high fence.
Still another was Hudson Field (also known as Ducks Park), on the south side of West Third near the Soldiers Home.
The Dayton Marcos played mainly at Westwood Field which was located on Western Avenue, today’s James H. McGee Boulevard.
Sources
The Dayton Marcos: From the Flood of 1913 to the Dragons of 2000 by Margaret E. Peters
Dayton’s Major League Team: Old newspaper accounts and fading memories are the only sources of informationon the Dayton Marcos by Marc Katz
Dayton Area Sports History
DaytonTriangles.com
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