The village of Monticello was mostly a harmonious community in the late 19th century, its residents passionate about all things American, including baseball. In fact, the national pastime was one of the few things that could ever divide the populace, and it did briefly, before uniting them solidly behind the local team.

That local team, known as the Hemlocks, was a formidable baseball team back then, able to hold its own against all comers, who often came from as far away as Jersey City and Brooklyn. But the Hemlocks proved no match for a makeshift squad made up of players from their own village.

The Hemlocks were so popular that whenever they played, the local businesses would close down so everyone could attend the game, but perhaps no game ever drew the kind of crowd as two 1878 contests that pitted the team against the Mutuals, a loosely knit squad of locals put together specifically for the occasion.

The series was originally supposed to consist of three games, to be played at Bennett Field on Mill Street (later the site of the old Monticello High School on St. John Street). It came about as the result of a challenge issued by Monticello innkeeper LeGrand Morris, who felt the Hemlocks were ignoring the best player in town. Unable to convince Hemlocks’ captain George Lugington any other way, Morris and Monticello attorney Theron A. Read arranged the games to showcase the talents of pitcher Blake Mapledoram.

Ludington, often described as “the life and soul of the team,” had built the Hemlocks into the power they were, wisely choosing new players to upgrade the team when the situation warranted it. “Ludington was an inspiring leader and trainer,” wrote Edward F. Curley in his book, “Old Monticello.” “He selected players that developed to be the best in the country, some of the number afterwards entered professional teams and made good.”

Ludington, who was also the team’s catcher, felt Mapledoram was too young to play for the Hemlocks, and besides, Bill Hindley, “with his cannon ball straight delivery” was his pitcher. So Mapledoram was forced to watch from the sidelines as Ludington and Hindley, along with Frank Holley, Oscar Olmstead, Thomas Watts, Frank Snook, Charles and Henry LeBarbier, and Joseph Merritt played game after game.

Morris and Read, and other fans, knew that Mapledoram had grown up on the family farm and was strong as an ox. He had practiced his pitching against the barn door every chance he got and had developed tremendous arm strength and a wicked curve ball. They knew he could also play third base and right field and was better than most of the Hemlock players.

Morris and Read were so sure that the Hemlocks’ bats were no match for Mapledoram’s arm, that they assembled a team around him and issued the challenge, leaving Ludington with little choice but to accept.

Curley, a witness to the series, recalled in his 1930 book that Mapledoram “got his chance. He pitched for the Mutuals, and Charlie Harlow, now Admiral Harlow of the United States Navy, was catcher. The series was on, with the following scores: First game, Mutuals 9, Hemlocks 5. Second game, Mutuals 5, Hemlocks 3. Third game, never played–- a Hemlock couldn’t be located with a search warrant.”

From that point on, Curley writes, Mapledoram was the Hemlocks’ hurler, and an already formidable team became virtually unbeatable. Ludington juggled the line-up as necessary: When Oscar Olmstead, his starting second baseman, had to quit the team because of his clerical duties in Royce and Cady’s Store, Lud moved to second base and brought in a player named Wade from New York City to catch.

When the competition demanded it, Lud would resort to ringers to supplement the homegrown talent, at one time featuring three professional players in Hemlock uniforms.

One of those pros, Charlie Reipschlager, who played for the Monticello team under the name of Mitchell, later played in the American Association, one of the three major leagues at the time, and was the catcher for the New York Metropolitans when they captured the Association championship in 1884. He played major league ball through 1887, wrapping up his career with the Cleveland Blues that year.

Despite his undeniable talent, Mapledoram never made it that far. He was never better than in his final game as a Hemlock, overpowering a Brooklyn team, striking out 17 while hurling a shutout.

“Someone had told them (Brooklyn) that the Hemlocks were weak, as some of the players had left to go into business,” Curley writes, “but the left fielder, Lanahan said after the game, ‘If those players are the remnants, what in h-ll [sic] was the other team like?’”

Mapledoram’s ambition was to play pro ball, and he left Monticello to pitch for the Johnstown, PA team. Pitching in a game against Pittsburgh, he threw his arm out and never played again, though he umpired major league ball in the Union Association in 1884 and the National League in 1886.

By the time the 20th century dawned, the Hemlocks were but a faded memory, though baseball enjoyed a rebirth in Sullivan County in the early 1900s. By that time, in an eerie foreshadowing of a similar and better-known phenomenon in the sport of basketball some 30 years later, many of the top collegiate baseball players in the nation were spending their summers at the Liberty hotels in order to play ball, and when they combined on the Liberty town team, they were a match for anyone.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.