PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia sports fans are one of the most recognizable fan bases around. But, have you ever wondered what a Philadelphia baseball fan was like over 123 years ago?
Matt Albertson, a 34-year-old historian from Havertown, performed a study and says he knows the answer.
Albertson is the co-chair of the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) Philadelphia chapter, also known as the Connie Mack-Dick Allen Chapter. Growing up in the Lehigh Valley, he naturally gravitated towards Philadelphia teams, including the Phillies.
He has spent time learning how the game has evolved and how things have transpired in Philadelphia's long history of baseball, predating the founding of the Phillies, one of the oldest franchises in professional sports.
“I love baseball. I love history, so it just seemed like a good marriage of the two,” said Albertson, who has a bachelor in history from Bloomsburg University and masters degree from Villanova University.
His fascination is 19th century baseball, including learning what a Philadelphia fan was like back then.
“What I've come up with is they're no different than the fan today,” Albertson said. “They're passionate, they enjoy situational hitting, they enjoy power hitting, they enjoy fine defense and they can be obnoxious.”
He said in the 1880s and 1890s, for good and bad reasons, fans would get into fights. One of the stories he referenced was in 1893, when a shortstop threw a ball into the stands, hitting a fan in the head. The fans, irate at the player, wanted him arrested. A police officer, afraid a riot would break out, evidently arrested the shortstop.
That specific story is something that would be extraordinarily unprecedented in modern times, but Alberston added, “Philadelphia fans are notorious for passion, aggressiveness. That’s been the same for 150 years. It hasn’t changed.”
With his research and association with Philadelphia’s SABR chapter, Albertson recently gave a presentation at a conference at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York about 19th century Phillies fans.
“I like finding out why things are the way they are,” he says. “Why is baseball the way it is? Well, we can trace those answers all the way back into the 1860s. And especially for Philadelphia, we understand why the Philadelphia fan is the way they are, why they're so exuberant.”
A resource for the Phillies
Albertson's knowledge of 19th century Philadelphia baseball is so extensive, the Phillies used him to help with their 2022 media guide.
“Matt helped us to research some of the missing spring training sites we had back to 1901,” said Kenny Ayres, a member of the Phillies Baseball Communications staff. “We just didn't have the ability or resources to find where the Phillies trained before that. So of course, naturally, I reached out to the one person I knew that was well versed in 19th century Phillies baseball, and that was Matt Albertson.”
For his gracious help, the Phillies gave Albertson credit in the media guide. Ayres says he has reached out to Albertson many times over the last year or so, whether it’s to get connected to someone who can be a resource about the history of the team, or simply chatting with Albertson about something he’s knowledgeable about.
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“Anytime I need anything historic wise that I don’t know, he’s one of my first guys that I reach out to.”
Ayres said it’s important to know history because it’s “the backbone of everything,” adding “if you don’t know your history, you don’t know anything.”
“And I think it's something that we need around here. To have folks who care about the team history and want to tell the story of the team because, at some point in any history of anything, there's not people alive that lived it, and to be able to continue telling those stories, to be able to be correct and accurate, and so that future generations know the truth about the team and and the players and the goings on, that’s why it’s so important. And it's refreshing. It's refreshing to have somebody who's a younger person interested in the history of the team.”
Striving for inclusion
Albertson’s passion goes beyond research. In 2017, he nominated and dedicated a Pennsylvania Historical Marker to the Jefferson Street Ballparks in Brewerytown, where civil rights activist Octavius V. Catto captained the Pythians against the Olympic ballclub of Philadelphia in a historic interracial game in 1869. This is also where the first National League game was played in 1876.
The Phillies – who joined the National League in 1883 – were the last National League team to integrate, doing so in 1957 with John Kennedy being their first Black player. They didn’t have a Black superstar until 1964 with Dick Allen. And even so, Allen faced horrible racism in his first stint with the Phillies. Albertson calls their late integration a bit of a stain on their history.
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“I think it’s paramount [to celebrate the inclusivity of the sport],” Albertson said. “I say it a lot that baseball is for everyone. Regardless of race, regardless of creed, or gender, it's for everyone.
"It's a game. And for a long time, baseball pushed the envelope as far as a beacon for change in the United States, whether it was labor unions or racial relations. You know, Jackie Robinson is very early in the civil rights movement in the 20th century. So it's important to celebrate, it's important to understand where we were, where we've gone and where we aim to go.”
He says the game has improved as far as diversities are concerned, but there’s still improvement to be made, and “we can always look to the past to find out where it started.”
The uniqueness of his fandom
Albertson, who makes a living as a project manager for a lighting agency while doing his baseball research as a hobby, doesn’t just fill his appetite for baseball by looking at the past.
“He's a huge fan now,” says Ayres. “And some of the stuff that he tweets and discusses tying the history to the present day – I think that’s what makes him unique.”
One of Albertson’s fondest memories as a Phillies fan happened last fall. He and his wife, Jess, who he met in college in 2010 fulfilled a dream of theirs to attend a Phillies postseason game together."
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"They did not have an opportunity to do so until this past season – the improbable 2022 run. The first playoff game they went to with one another was Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Braves, which had Rhys Hoskins epic three-run home run off Spencer Strider. He called it an extraordinary moment — one he lived.
Albertson’s love for what he calls the purest sound in the world – a bat hitting a ball – is tied together with an appreciation for history and an enthusiasm for what’s to come and what’s happening now – even if the Phillies are one of the losingest franchises of all time.
“I often question why I'm a Philadelphia sports fan because of the lack of success often. But, to be honest with you, I wouldn't have it any other way. Because of the limited success of all four franchises, five now with the Union, I think we have a better appreciation for that success.”