Author Will Anderson examines Maine’s ties to the major leagues

WAS BASEBALL REALLY INVENTED IN MAINE? by Will Anderson, published by the author, 180 pages, $17.95.

Spring has arrived in Maine — finally.

Harbingers of this delightful season teased us all again this year, but when the first pitch of the major league baseball season was thrown out last week, we knew that winter was finally behind us.

Baseball and the importance of all its trappings carry weary winter warriors each year through dreary months, anticipating the sights and sounds of America’s pastime.

Each year, I eagerly await a new baseball book that champions the sport, gives me back the smell of my old glove and ball, and sets me on course for another splendid summer.

This spring’s reading list is topped by Will Anderson’s “Was Baseball Really Invented in Maine?” Anderson, no stranger to readers of his special brand of chronicling the unique, has penned a delightful tale of the most famous of Maine athletes, the ones who put on a major league baseball uniform.

By rhetorically asking us the question of baseball’s origins, in reference to our beloved state, Anderson sets out on a course that takes readers from Great Britain to Machias with the grandest of all games.

Anderson has a feel for baseball and its role in the lives of fans everywhere. A native New Yorker, the author grew up during a time when three major league teams graced that city. It was a time when people were often identified by the team they supported. It was a time when the players were larger than life itself. And it was a simpler time, and a baseball game was cherished, perhaps beyond anything we’re able to comprehend in today’s world.

The author:

“There is a beauty and a rhythm to baseball that seems almost like a ballet … a ballet set in a diamond. It’s a ballet with over a century of folklore woven into every game …

“It is a sunny day holding down third base or relaxing in the stands. It is checking the box score to see how a favorite player has done. It is lining a single up the middle. It is baseball. And there is nothing quite like it in the world.”

Indeed. Anderson takes readers on Maine’s version of this journey by relaying the fruits of his exhausting research into our state’s link to baseball with tales of professional players such as Harry Lord of Porter and Bobby Messinger of Bangor, two great players who graced the major league diamonds in the early 20th century for the Chicago White Sox.

Emphasis is given to the so-called town teams that barnstormed the state in the early heydays of the games. Many athletes who would go on to professional careers played at that level or on minor league teams that came through our state.

Major league players such as Mike Greenwell of the Boston Red Sox, Kelly Gruber of the Toronto Blue Jays and Kirby Pucket of the Minnesota Twins all made minor league stops at Old Orchard Beach.

But what makes this book special is the way Anderson captures in print the true spirit of Maine’s “small-town boy makes big” scenario. He loves his “adopted” state.

Players such as Del Bissonette of Winthrop, who hit 25 home runs in his rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1928, Louis Sockalexis of Old Town, whose heroics led the city of Cleveland to name their team after him, and Carlton Willey of Cherryfield, who led the Milwaukee Braves and the National League in shutouts in 1958, receive special mention.

According to Anderson, there have been nearly 14,000 players who have appeared in a major league game at one time or another. Of that total, 68 have been native-born Mainers.

Although on the surface that figure appears to be a small percentage, the lofty achievements of those such as Billy Swift of South Portland, Danny Coombs of Brewer and Bert Roberge of Lewiston make that tiny number special.

“Was Baseball Really Invented in Maine?” is a good piece of writing. It is thoroughly researched, illustrated profusely with reproduced newspaper articles, advertisements and photographs, and properly indexed and annotated as well.

Baseball fans of all ages will enjoy this one. Anderson has penned another winner.

Play ball!

Ron Brown is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.