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1880s-1890s The Warren Armory on Jefferson Street was the home of the Warren Artillery State Championship target shooting teams of 1896 and 1897. And it also hosted basketball, boxing, ping-pong, a play in which a horse starred, roller polo, and walking. A published book opined that roller polo, "invented" in Newport, was "the sport" in New England in the mid-1880s. (The Armory is currently undergoing a deserved rehabilitation.)
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1900 Warren Town Baseball Team. Front row: Johnny Sullivan catcher; Alvin Buffington second baseman; Stafford Chappelle first baseman; Max Turner scorer; Thomas Monahan pitcher; and Sylvanus Bowen shortstop. Back row: Thomas "Our Tommy" Smith left fielder; Charles Bowen manager and center fielder; Andrew Cavanaugh third baseman; Curt Chappelle pitcher and right fielder; and Stan Simister catcher and utility player. The nine, led by Cavanaugh with a batting average of .400-plus, compiled a record of ninteen wins and three losses. (Curt Chappelle is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame.)
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1908-1909 The Warren nine were the 1908 Co-Champions and the 1909 Champions of the Inter-State League. Seated: William "Beany" Ryan; William "Biddy" Smith; Joe Wylie; and Joe St.Peter. Standing: Charlie Kelley; Jack Simister; Curt Chappelle; Howie Martin; Fred LaFlamme; Jim Lonergan; and Jim Parks. The Silk Hats won the Warren/Bristol Little World Series in both years. (Chappelle, LaFlamme, Martin, Ryan, Simister, Smith, and the team itself are members of the Athletic Hall of Fame.) (Lonergan, Martin and Smith were later elected to the Town Council, while Smith was also a State Senator and Lonergan was the town's Collector of Taxes.)
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1909 Warren Silk Hats won the Inter-State Baseball League Championship. Bottom row: Unidentified; Joe Foley, Holy Cross star pitcher who may have been paid $100 for the season and definitely received a diamond stickpin the following spring; Howie Martin; William "Biddy" Smith; Bill "Beany" Ryan; and Fred LaFlamme. Middle row: Jim Parks; Jim Lonergan; Joe Wylie; unidentified; Charlie Kelley; unidentified; Jack Simister; and unidentified. Top row: John McPike and John Simister,Sr. The Bristol team and its fans argued to no avail that one more game had been scheduled and should have been played. (LaFlamme, Martin, Ryan, Jack Simister, Smith, and the team itself are members of the Athletic Hall of Fame, as is the not-pictured Curt Chappelle.) (Later in life Jim Lonergan, Howie Martin, John McPike, and "Biddy" Smith were all elected town officials.)
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1909 Warren Silk Hats Baseball Club that won the Inter-State League pennant was featured in a supplement to the Warren and Barrington Gazette of September 17. Their championship dinner, held at Goff's Hotel on the northeast corner of Main and Joyce Streets, consisted of oysters, chicken soup, salmon salad, roast turkey, banana fritters, Narragansett Lager beer, desserts, and, of course, Silk Hat Cigars. (Chappelle, LaFlamme, Martin, Ryan, Simister, Smith, and the team itself are members of the Athletic Hall of Fame.)
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1909 With Warren having defeated Bristol in the Little World Series, three games to two, one of our fans then proceeded to "rub it in" by talking of "some spot, where baseball is no more." The finale, a 4-0 shutout, was played at the Franklin Street Grounds before six thousand fans. (A ten cent ticket from this Series is displayed in the Hall of Fame Museum that is located in the Town Council chambers.)
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1910 As the Warren Silk Hats town team celebrated their 1908 and 1909 Inter-State Baseball League and Little World Series Championships, the latest Sears, Roebuck catalog was perused by many enthusiasts in town. (The Silk Hats are one of the teams that have been inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame.)
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1910 We don't know if these are the actual baseball uniforms that the Silk Hats/Warren Shoe baseball nine had purchased. However, we do know that the Warren teams were not only among the best in the state, but that they were also some of the best-outfitted Rhode Island nines. (A Warren uniform from the early days of the twentieth century is displayed in the Athletic Hall of Fame Museum that is located in the Town Council chambers.)
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1910 The Silk Hats/Warren Shoe Baseball team that replaced a losing Inter-City League squad won all nine games that they played. Top row: Charlie Kelley; Jim(?)Barry; Jim Parks; Aiken; Howie Martin; Jack Simister; Bill "Beany" Ryan; and William "Biddy" Smith. Middle row: Joe Wiley and Lee. Front row: Wardwell; Brightman; Curt Chappelle; St. Onge; and scorer Max Turner. The Inter-City, Rhode Island's most prominent baseball league, was soon supplanted by the Providence Amateur League. (Chappelle, Martin, Ryan, Simister, Smith, and the team itself are members of the Athletic Hall of Fame.) (Martin was later the President of the Warren Town Council, while Smith was both a Councilman and a State Senator.)
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