Baseball

We have now moved from the late 1800s, when French-Canadian families first immigrated to Woonsocket to work in the textile mills, to the early 1900s, when many in the French-Canadian community were now first-generation Americans. On this floor, we will consider life and culture alongside work. 

By the 1920s, Woonsocket was considered a “Little Canada,” as three out of every four inhabitants were of French-Canadian descent. This community continued to speak French at home, at church, at work, and even on Main Street, only steps away from the museum. As long as French Canadians remained the majority immigrant group, there was little incentive for them to Americanize. However, other groups sought work in Woonsocket in the twentieth century, including Poles, Ukrainians, Italians, Greeks, and Russian Jews. While ethnic divisions were clear on the cityscape (each group had its own neighborhood, social clubs, and places of worship) the interethnic dynamics of Woonsocket created new urgency to Americanize over the century.

Although Woonsocket French Canadians generally resisted Americanization, one thing that they did readily embrace was the “Great American Pastime”: baseball. Mill workers played on teams sponsored by mill owners. Mill owners sponsored these teams to inspire worker loyalty and to direct energy and attention away from forming unions. As workers expressed dissatisfaction with longer hours and reduced pay, owners sought to keep workers busy and happy through company picnics, lectures, and sports, and away from radical orators and labor organizers. In this way, mill owners exerted influence in workers’ free time as well as their time on the mill floor. 

Baseball was considered an “All American” game and provided a method for assimilation into American life. Many Major League players came from these mill leagues, including Clem Labine, and two Hall of Famers: Napoleon Lajoie and Gabby Hartnett as well as American League Umpire Robert Stewart.