During the early part of the 20th century baseball was one of the most popular sports to play in New Haven. There were nearly 30 professional and amateur teams, coupled with the industrial and working class background of the city many factories began to establish employee run teams. This eventually led to the development of the New Haven State Industrial League, one of several baseball leagues that existed in the first half of the 20th century centered in factory cities throughout the United States.

The Connecticut labor news, August 21, 1923

     

The Connecticut labor news, August 25, 1923

Looking at the records for the names of the workers during this time they come very diverse European backgrounds. Many of these families would have come in the early 20th century or the latter half of the 19th century as a result for several turmoils during the mid 1800’s. The Irish and Swedish immigration were in large part due to a series of famines that ravaged both nations. Due to this the Irish population dropped nearly by a quarter and the Swedish fell nearly by 10 percent. After the Italian war for unification broke down the medieval feudal system many Italians left for North and South America.  This was mirrored in Germany with several initial revolutions in 1848 with the eventual unification of Germany in 1871, but the ensuing conflicts did cause many Germans to leave for the Americas. Polish immigration was seen as a result of the partition of Poland that rendered it non-existent by absorbing it into the empires of Germany, Austria-Hungry and Russia.