Amenia is the center for baseball lovers

Copyight Poughkeepsie Journal May 30,2017, Anthony P. Musso
The game of baseball, invented in the 1800s, grew in popularity so quickly that it became known as the national pastime. Far from Major League games in large cities, local teams’ games in the Hudson Valley regularly attracted huge crowds. As early as the late 19th century, Amenia was dubbed “A Baseball Town” and today boasts the only New York squad still represented in a primarily Connecticut-run league.
In 1886, the Hudson Valley League was formed and, by 1890, teams from the Amenia hamlet Wassaic; Lithgow; Millbrook; and Lakeville, Connecticut, were entertaining local fans regularly. FOR 90 YEARS, former Washington Hollow church offers antiques.
In Amenia, baseball games were played on what is referred to as “the old field by the school,” a baseball diamond that was situated just south of the Amenia Seminary, now Town Hall. Baseball so captured the minds and hearts of both players and spectators in Amenia that crowds of up to 500 would turn up to watch a Sunday game. In 1908, the Amenia Monarchs joined a semi-pro league and competed against teams from New York and New Jersey. “Sunny” Cunningham was the Amenia star of that era but a number of hard-playing and talented players followed him on the team through the years. One, William “Doc” Bartlett, reached legendary status during his 60-year involvement in the game.
Bartlett, a left-handed batter, began playing first base for the Monarchs in 1926; He consistently maintained a batting average of .300 or better. While he retired as a player/manager in 1952, he continued his association with the team through the 1980s. He was inducted into the Dutchess County Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.
Another local legend in Amenia baseball is Tom Downey lll, who started his baseball career in Little League in 1957 and progressed through several teams and leagues, finally joining the Monarchs in 1967. “Baseball in Amenia was popular from its earliest days because so many people here supported it,” Downey recalled. “It was a farming area and that’s what people did for entertainment.” Downey spoke about three seasons that a retired New York Yankees pitcher played for the Monarchs. “In the early 1990s, I had Jim Bouton pitching for me on the Monarchs,” he said. “I got a call one night from one of my players telling me that Bouton wanted to pitch batting practice the next day.
“He showed up in shorts, borrowed a ball cap and threw batting practice, and afterward got to talking with the players and liked them. He was around 50 years old and started pitching for the team. Our catcher was 55 and Bouton once remarked that our battery was historic; combined they were 100 years old.”
Downey started managing the team in 1972; that lasted through 2016. This year his son assumed the role of manager.
“The whole town came out on Sundays to watch baseball games,” said town of Amenia Historian Arlene Iuliano. “During the 1930s and 1940s I was a child and it was a very important event to attend every week. We were all big baseball fans. “The farm kids were strong from throwing bales of hay around and they could play ball very well. The turnout of the community was a big factor in baseball becoming so popular in town.” Today, the Monarchs play games in Waterbury, Torrington and other Connecticut towns, Downey said. “Baseball is still a hot topic in Connecticut,” Downey said. “As we travel all over Connecticut, we normally bring as many fans from Amenia than the home teams have in the stands.” The “old field at the school” is long gone and the Monarchs now play home games at the “Doc” Bartlett Field, which opened in 1984.