By Tim Coughlin and Jeff Powalisz
To celebrate the 100th year of Major League Baseball’s World Series, Northeastern Law Professor and former Major League Baseball salary arbitrator Roger Abrams coordinated a World Series Centennial Celebration on Oct. 1.
The first World Series, between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates, was played at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds, now a part of Northeastern’s campus.
“Right on these very grounds you would’ve heard the cries of the vendors selling ice cold sasparilla, seen the scorecards being distributed and felt the fans pushing ever closer to the field,” said journalism professor Chuck Fountain.
The event included discussions by guest speakers, trivia and an essay contest. President Richard Freeland opened up the ceremonies with a short introduction. Photos of the original event were put on display, along with boards of facts and information about the field and the games played.
Participants in the day’s raffle had the chance to win an assortment of souvenirs, including autographed baseballs and a replica jersey from the 1903 season.
“It was a collective effort of a lot of people from across campus [to put the event together],” Abrams said. “We decided what we wanted, put out a call, selected a dozen of the best speakers to each offer their own perspective on the game from history and architecture to journalism and economics. It really was an eclectic group.”
Abrams recently published a book, “The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903,” which chronicles the history of baseball in Boston.
Abrams ended the event with the words of Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) in his final speech in the 1989 film, “Field of Dreams.”
“The one constant through all the years … has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past. … It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again.”
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