The Nantucket Baseball Club, 1893, “Away Game”

acrylic on wood, 18” x 24"

$7,500

Founded in 1893 by Nantucket’s Civil War veterans and out of work whaling crew members, the Nantucket Blue Stockings played on their home field for over a year, competing against summer residents, tourists and passing Yachting crews with great success. Seeking to build on that success, the club proposed playing other more challenging teams on the mainland. Unfortunately none of the teams on Cape Cod or even Martha’s Vineyard were willing to make the crossing to Nantucket. Undeterred, the team, manager and faithful mascot Ahab embarked in a used whaling dory to the mainland for a series of away games. Halfway across Nantucket Sound a dense fog rolled in and the ill fated Blue Stockings were never heard from again. There was not another sports team formed on Nantucket until the 1918 “Fighting Quakers” football club.