The Project
The plan for this project was to document and preserve the rich history of early baseball in
Westfield Massachusetts. Westfield, located in the western part of Massachusetts, has always been known as a baseball
town as year-after-year strong teams in both baseball and softball emerge.
Inspired by the famous series of Baseball books by Harold Seymour
(the bible of baseball history), I knew there was much more to the history of baseball in Westfield than was
previously documented which was at best limited. As the research began to unfold the parallels in the evolution
of the game and what was happening in Westfield were amazing with many surprises and fascinating facts.
The amount of information that was unearthed was enough to cover two volumes. Much time was spent
gathering all the pieces of the puzzle through research of microfilm and the Internet. Believe me...it was
not in one place.
Volume One
Volume One is a chronological
narrative with game-by-game coverage and player biographies along with amusing stories and fascinating facts that not only
traces baseball beginnings in a small industrial New England town but also provides many missing pieces to the puzzle of baseball history. I
have painstakingly pieced together my own Field of Dreams by researching, compiling and writing of a bygone era
sadly forgotten that will not only delight history buffs of the game but will stand to give all fans of baseball a greater
appreciation of the National Pastime.
