Woonsocket native Gabby Hartnett set the world record by catching a baseball thrown from a blimp eight hundred feet above him. Then he did it again. Rhode Island Baseball possesses the same knack for astonishing you time after time with stories of baseball legends you thought you knew (like Nap Lajoie) and teams you might never have heard of (like the OSRC: Orcutt's Sure Rheumatism Cure). As you slide back into an era when men and women played professional ball barehanded and a rabbit hole could change a game, you will discover how large a role America's smallest state played in the nation's favorite pastime.
RickHarris was born and raised in Iowa and currently resides in Cranston, Rhode Island. Rick began his baseball research and writing career in 1992. He has authored "Rhode Island Baseball: the Early Years, " published by The History Press in 2008, and "Brown University Baseball: A Legacy of the Game, " published by the History Press in 2012. He has presented at numerous baseball research conferences, provided countless public talks, written many articles and made several appearances on local TV news shows.