1937: THE PHILLIES AND SENATORS COME TO DUNN FIELD TRENTON

Do you remember Dunn Field? It was over on the Brunswick Circle within the bounds of Princeton and Brunswick Avenues. I was an occasional visitor to Dunn Field during my Trenton Giant years. It was also the home field of the Trenton Senators back in the 1930's. Imagine how excited local Phillies fans were when the team came to Dunn field for an exhibition game!

Anonymous said...

I played many a game on the former Dunn Field lot. Penn Fruit, a large supermarket was nice enough to keep the field mowed and all of our pick up games were played there and that was almost daily during the summers of the late 1950's into the 1960's. It is currently the State Lottery and I think the grass is gone. Oddly, as kids this never came up and we never made the connection between the Dunnfield Auto Parts store across from it on Princeton Avenue. That patch of ground was also the home of Pix Hamburgers (5 for a $1) and Circle Lanes. Skip

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

THANKS FOR THAT INTERESTING INPUT, SKIP. THANKS ALSO FOR VISITING!

Michael said...

Just to clarify matters, Dunn Field was owned by the Diocese of Tremton, It never contained "Circle Lanes" which was owned by John Mastrasimone, the father of Dr. Angelo Mastrosimone, John Simone the prominent Real Estate Broker, and The famous Playright son who wrote the Burning Bed. The "lanes were located across the street, directly across from Heavy Salvage Yard On Princeton Ave. Penn Fruit was located a large store there and the Post office built a substation on the Brunswick Ave. frontage. Tommy Heath was the Manager of the Trenton Giants, and I saw Willie Mays play there along with Robin Roberts, and others in the old Interstate League. The kids were allowed in free in what was called "The knot hole gang" We were not close to the action, but we were inside the field. Does anyone remember in I think 1946 the polio epidemic kept the park dark because of the scare of spreading the disease. Who among us could forget wearing the "Duke Tabacco pouches filled with camphor to ward off the disease? In regards to the "Industrial League", my cousin Chet Kuzma played for American Steel and Wire's team for a number of years.An outstanding athlete, whose abilities did run in the family, unfortunately! Regards Mike Kuzma

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Michael said...

correction:did not run in the family Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Anonymous said...

Sorry Mike, I should have written that we hit the ball from alongside the Penn Fruit wall and into Pix or Circle Lanes, usually on a bounce but Ed Smolinski and a few other were known to put one over traffic. He tried out for the Phillies. Skip

Thursday, April 21, 2011

1932: PERRINE FIELD

EACH DAY BRINGS AN "I NEVER KNEW THAT" KIND OF ENTRY. I HAVE HEARD OF "THE STADIUM GROUNDS," "DUNN FIELD," WETZEL FIELD, MORRIS FIELD, AND NOW COMES PERRINE STADIUM, LOCATED IN THE PARKWAY-W.STATE STREET AREA BY WHAT BECAME "JUNIOR 3."

REMEMBERING THE TRENTON GIANTS

Many baseball-minded visitors to this web site who have silver in their hair will remember the late, great, Trenton Giants Class "B" Interstate League team whose home field was on the Brunswick Circle and known as Dunn Field. The Trenton Giants team was the farm club of the New York Giants who played at New York City's Polo Grounds; another memory for those of us with silver or no hair. How I loved to listen to those games on WBUD, 1490 on the dial with studios on the second floor of the Prior Drug Store on the corner of Bridge Street and South Pennsylvania Avenue in Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Bus Saidt and Bill Hildenbrand's broadcasts were as good as any big time radio announcer of the day. (Byrum Saam, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Vince Scully, etc.)

Here's a little quiz for my fellow old timers:
Wilmington, Sunbury, Lancaster, York, Hagerstown, and Harrisburg. Assuming that you understand that Pittsburg is the PIRATES, Cincinnati is the REDS etc., finish the team names in the listing above. Also let me know if I forgot any of those interstate league teams.
No fair using Wikipedia! I took these out of my head and I expect you to do likewise!

RALPH LUCARELLA said...

HI TOM...I COULD RECALL WHEN WILLIE MAYS WAS SCHEDULED TO REPORT TO THE TRENTON GIANTS AND HE DID'NT SHOW UP. WHEN HE FINALLY SHOWED THEY WERE SHOCKED AT HIS ABILITY IN THE OUTFIELD. WILBUR JACKSON WAS THE PLAYER I ADMIRED. BEST REGARDS.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Tom Glover said...

I remember WIllie's time as a Giant. I was a fan of Mo Cunningham and Wilbur Jackson. Remember Pete Pavlik?

Tom Glover

Thursday, March 22, 2012

1931: THE OLD "BRUNSWICK CIRCLE"

If you look to the left in the above photo, you will see a portion of Trenton's fabled "Dunn Field;" home of the Trenton Senators and later the Trenton Giants. It was also the field where many Catholic schools played ball.

1951: I STILL MISS THOSE TRENTON GIANTS!

"WBUD, fourteen ninety on your dial, Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Good evening sports fans, this is Bus Saidt with Bill Hildenbrand bringing you tonights game from Dunn field between the Hagerstown Owls and our own Trenton Giants.....brought to you again tonight by Stan Coney Rebuilt Engines, Morrisville. Tonight Don Robertson goes for his 12th wind in this 1951 season of Interstate League Baseball...."

How well I remember those hot summer nights before air conditioning as I listened to my favorite hometown baseball team play their interstate rivals: The Lancaster Red Roses, York White Roses, Sunbury Reds, Allentown Cardinals, Hagerstown Owls, and our arch enemies, the Wilmington Blue Rocks. My heroes were Maurice "Mo" Cunningham and Wilbur Jackson. My favorite pitcher was "bespectacled" Don Robertson. I remember Paul LaPalme, Pete Pavlik, and a very young and talented Willie Mays.....those were the days!

1989: WILLIAM R. BAGGOTT III

Oh, the stories I could tell about Bill! He was one of my Hamilton High Class of 1951 classmates. He was the shining star in Louise Baird's choir at Hamilton High School from 1948 to 1951. Bill had the voice of an angel, and as you can see by the graphic, he was an accomplished professional singer who could well have been at the N.Y. Met. I first met Bill one evening in 1949 at a Trenton Giants baseball game over at Dunn field on the Brunswick Circle. He happened to take the seat next to me. As we got to know each other I found that he would be a classmate when I began my HHS years in 1949. Needless to say, Bill was already a major factor in Louise Baird's choir. Bill, Joe McManimon and Leon Belardino loaned their beautiful tenor voices to many of the Fred Waring choral arrangements we sang. I recall one assembly when Bill sang the beautiful and sacred, "Sanctus." It touched me so deeply, I actually had tears in my eyes and a huge outbreak of "goosebumps." Elsewhere on this website is a column I wrote as a tribute to Bill when I received the devastating news that he had gone on to be with the Lord. He is up there as one of the leading tenors in the heavenly choir. It was a true privilege for me to be able to say I sang with him in our old barbershop quartette back in the 40's and 50's. Like Judy and me, Bill also married a classmate from HHS '51, the lovely Barbara Eckert Baggott, whom I still hear from on occasion, and whom I know misses one of the area's most beautiful voices. Thanks to Ms. Alice Schmidt Mullen, also from HHS '51 for preserving this, and many other clippings relating to Hamilton High's Class of '51: "The Class With Class."

1946: WILBUR JACKSON; ONE OF MY HEROES

WILBUR JACKSON AND MAURICE "MO" CUNNINGHAM WERE THE "BABE RUTHS" OF THE INTERSTATE LEAGUE. ANYONE WHO WAS AROUND WHEN THE TRENTON GIANTS WERE PLAYING AT DUNN FIELD OVER ON THE BRUNSWICK CIRCLE WILL ATTEST TO THE FACT THAT INTERSTATE BASEBALL WAS EVERY BIT AS EXCITING AS TODAY'S TRENTON THUNDER BASEBALL.

1928: DUNN FIELD HURRICANE DAMAGE REPAIRED

Before there was a Trenton Thunder, before there was a Trenton Giants, Before there was a Trenton Senators, there was a little known Trenton Packers; the latter three all belonging to the late, lamented "Interstate League."

1949: My Favorite Trenton Giants Team

Bus Saidt, Bill Hildenbrand and WBUD, in conjunction with "Stan Coney Rebuilt Engines" brought us the Trenton Giants via WBUD, 1490 on the dial, Morrisville. I was a loyal Trenton Giants fan. They played at Dunn Field on the Brunswick Circle. I still remember many of my favorite players, especially Mo Cunningham, Wilbur Jackson, Pete Pavlick, Don Robertson, Paul LaPalme, and of course, a late-comer, Willie Mays.

Do you Remember the TRENTON GIANTS?

Many old timers remember going to Dunn Field, on the Brunswick Circle to watch the Trenton Giants play their opposing teams in the old Class "B" Interstate League.. Let's see, they played against the Harrisburg Senators, Sunbury Reds, Lancaster Red Roses, York White Roses, and the team's perennial nemisis, the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Who rembembers Maurice "Mo" Cunningham, Pete Pavlik, Don Robertson, Ray Kaat, and "Say hey" Willie Mays.