The Lynn Red Sox, based in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, were a Class B

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

affiliate of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

from 1946 to 1948 in American

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

. The club played at

Fraser Field Fraser Field is a baseball park in Lynn, Massachusetts that has played host to many minor-league baseball teams over the years. The North Shore Navigators of the New England Collegiate Baseball League play at Fraser Field. In the spring, Frase ...

and was a member of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

(NEL).

History

The Lynn Red Sox continued Lynn's long history of play in the New England League. The Red Sox were preceded in the New England League play by the Lynn Lions (1886-1888), Lynn Live Oaks (1901), Lynn Shoemakers (1905–1910, 1913), Lynn Leonardites (1911–1912), Lynn Fighters (1914),

Lynn Pirates Lynn may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lynn (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Lynn (surname) * The Lynns, a 1990s American country music duo consisting of twin sisters Peggy and Patsy Lynn * Lynn ...

(1915), Lynn Pipers (1916) and Lynn Papooses (1926–1930). The New England League Lynn teams were preceded in minor league play by the 1877 Lynn Live Oaks, who played as members of the New England Association and the 1884 Lynn team of the

Massachusetts State Association The Massachusetts State Association was a minor league baseball league that played briefly in the 1884 season. The Non-Signatory, Independent level league consisted of franchises based exclusively in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts State Associat ...

. The Lynn Red Sox finished in first place during the regular seasons of 1946–47–48, but each year faltered during the playoffs, as the

Nashua Dodgers The Nashua Dodgers was a farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers, operating in the class-B New England League between 1946 and 1949. It is the first professional baseball team based in the United States in the twentieth century to play with a racially i ...

won the NEL playoff championship for three consecutive seasons. Nashua was the first NEL team to break the

baseball color line The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor League Baseball, Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 1 ...

and, in 1946, ugly confrontations were reported between the Nashua and Lynn clubs. Future Brooklyn Dodger star

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played ten non-consecutive seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He began his career in the Negro National League and en ...

integrated the NEL in 1946, along with eventual

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

Roy Campanella Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American professional baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering ...

. "I remember one game against the Lynn Red Sox", Newcombe recalled in 2007. "Their manager
‘Pip’ Kennedy
was all over us, yelling all kinds of acialthings at us, and Mr. uzzieBavasi he Nashua general manager and future Dodger executivegot him into the office and said, ‘They can’t fight you, but I can. If you have any guts, you’ll say to me what you said to them.’ Of course, he didn't say a word." In 1947, Lynn received an upgraded management team when future Bosox

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Dick O'Connell Richard Henry O'Connell (September 19, 1914 – August 18, 2002) was an American front office executive in Major League Baseball. He was executive vice president of the Boston Red Sox from 1961 through 1977 and served as general manager of the t ...

took over the front office, and former Major League pitcher

Mike Ryba Dominic Joseph "Mike" Ryba (June 9, 1903 – December 13, 1971) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. A native of De Lancey, Pennsylvania, he attended Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. He was a right-hander and played f ...

became manager. After one season, Ryba was succeeded as pilot by Eddie Popowski in 1948. But the Red Sox pulled out of Lynn after a 1948 season in which only 49,000 fans turned out at Fraser Field, despite another first-place ballclub. The Essex County city fielded a

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

farm club—the Lynn Tigers—for the first three months of 1949 but withdrew from the league July 19. The NEL itself shut down at the end of the season.

Year by year record

Sources

* Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 3d edition. Durham, North Carolina:

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

, 2007.

References

{{Reflist 1946 establishments in Massachusetts 1948 disestablishments in Massachusetts Baseball teams established in 1946 Baseball teams disestablished in 1948 Boston Red Sox minor league affiliates Defunct baseball teams in Massachusetts Defunct minor league baseball teams Professional baseball teams in Massachusetts Sports in Lynn, Massachusetts Sports clubs and teams in Essex County, Massachusetts

History

Year by year record

See also

Sources

References