B for Baseball
BASEBALL IN COLCHESTER
Colchester educator and athletic coach Dave Shea as a young man, is the face of the baseball player in this life-sized display. The “Colchester Town Team” of 1946 would have worn a uniform like this one during the games they played in that era.
| On Sunday, August 11, 1946, the team was the winner of the Inter-County Baseball League Championship played in the town of Colchester. The game was played “before the largest crowd of ball fans of the season” and Colchester defeated the “Hebron Town Team” by a score of 9 to 5. |  |
In 1946, Dave Shea was one of the mascots for the team, and a few years later when he was 18 years old, he was a player for the Class C All-State Team. Soon after, he played for some minor league teams until an off-season injury to his shoulder ended his baseball career.
Colchester also has a connection to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (1837-1922) was elected the first president of the National Baseball League in 1876, and in 1937 he was elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
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Colchester also has a connection to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (1837-1922) was elected the first president of the National Baseball League in 1876, and in 1937 he was elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. |
Charles “Charley” F. Daniels (1849-1932) was born and died in Colchester, Connecticut. He was an American umpire in Major League Baseball, and umpired professionally from 1874 to 1889. He was among the original umpires hired when the National League was founded in 1876, and was the last active umpire among that group when he retired after the 1889 season. He served in the National Association (1874-75), the National League (1876, 1878–1880, 1887–1888), and the American Association (1883–1885, 1889), as well as the Eastern League, and was a referee in college baseball.
He called two no-hitters in his career; one was the first no-hitter in major league history, and the other was a perfect game.
Charley Daniels is also credited with discovering the famous baseball player Connie Mack (whose original name was Cornelius McGillicuddy). Daniels was then the manager of the minor league baseball team the “Hartford Dark Blues” when he found Connie playing for a Meriden baseball team. He gave Connie a chance to play with the Hartford team thus launching Connie Mack’s successful baseball career.
Ron Wotus in October 1984 Article from “The Colchester Standard”
