Early Nashua teams Nashua began minor league play in 1885 when the "Nashua" team played as members of the independent
New Hampshire State League. Nashua continued play in the New Hampshire State League in 1886. In 1895, Nashua joined the eight–team
Independent level
New England Association. The New England Association reformed as a six–team independent league with the Nashua "Rainmakers" as a member. The other league members were the
Fitchburg,
Haverhill,
Lawrence Indians,
Lowell Ladies Men and
Salem teams. On May 3, 1895, in a game at Nashua, Lawrence defeated Nashua 36–17. The New England Association permanently disbanded on July 8, 1895, when the league folded with the Lawrence Indians in first place. In the shortened season, Lawrence won the New England Association championship with a 33–19 record, followed by the Nashua Rainmakers (27–21), Lowell (24–24) and Salem/Haverhill (20–28).
New England League 1901 to 1905 Nashua resumed minor league play in 1901, with the team becoming members of the New England League. The
Augusta Live Oaks,
Bangor Millionaires,
Haverhill Hustlers,
Lewiston,
Lowell Tigers,
Manchester,
Nashua and
Portland teams began league play on May 15, 1901. Nashua began play in the 1901 New England League under manager Henry Burns. The Nashua team had a final record of 39–49 to place sixth in the final standings of the eight-team independent New England League, which held no playoffs in the era. Nashua continued play in the 1902 New England League and an ugly event occurred at Nashua during the 1902 season. On July 14, 1902, umpire Gaffney was working his first New England League game as Nashua played Lowell at Nashua. Games in the era often had only one umpire. After a series of events, Gaffney left the ballpark in the fifth inning. During an argument with the umpire, over a disputed fair or foul home run that Gaffney ruled as a fair ball, Nashua pitcher Jack Miran punched Gaffney in the face. Many of the 500 fans in attendance at Lawndale Park mobbed Gaffney, who required a police escort to leave the field. Lowell manager
Fred Lake changed Gaffney's call to a foul ball, taking away his team's home run. Each team provided a player to umpire the for remainder of the game in which Nashua eventually lost to Lowell by the score of 7-1.
Ike Van Zandt had a whirlwind season in 1902. On June 2, 1902, Ike Van Zandt, who had just returned to play for Nashua after a suspension was fined $100 and suspended by the team for "instigating a rebellion" The
Portsmouth Herald, reported that Van Zandt had "led a 'strike' the day before and came near getting three others to join. As it was, the play of the team was so loose that the game was lost when it ought to have been won...He and McManus (also suspended) were outfielders and they seldom made an error." After hitting .242 in 22 games for Nashua, Van Zandt was briefly sent to join the semipro Woonsocket Gyms. In 1902, Nashua continued play as members of the eight team,
Class B level New England League, as the league received a class level. Playing home games at Landale Park, the Nashua team ended the season in sixth place in the 1902 New England League standings. Nashua finished with a record of 46–66, as Henry Burns returned as manager. The Nashua team finished 29.0 games behind first place Manchester and finished ahead of only the
Fall River Indians in league play. During the 1902 season, Wilson and his Nashua teammate Ike Van Zandt partnered together to open a pool hall in Nashua. Nahusa joined the
Brockton Shoemakers,
Concord Marines,
Fall River Indians,
Haverhill Hustlers,
Lawrence Colts,
Lowell Tigers and
Manchester teams in league play. After their last place finish the season before, Nashua improved to place second in the 1903 New England League standings. McLean was said to regularly chew large amounts of Brown's Mule
Chewing tobacco and drink heavily. Usually drinking
corn whiskey, McLean and had a penchant for confrontational behavior. In his thirteen-year major career, the 6'5" tall McLean played in 862 games. His major league career ended in 1915 following a physical fight that involved
New York Giants manager
John McGraw and Giants scout Dick Kinsella in a hotel lobby. After having been suspended for ten days by McGraw for not being in condition to play, McLean and entered the lobby of the team's hotel with an entourage of other men and the group first attacked Kinsella, who broke a chair over McLean's head in the melee. McLean's group eventually fled away from the scene in a car. Six years later in 1921, McLean was shot and killed at age 39. McLean was shot by the manager of a saloon in
Boston the day after a McLean had had an altercation in the same bar. The saloon manager, James J. Connor, was arrested on suspicion of murder and Connor was later sentenced to serve one year in prison. In the 1903 season,
Moonlight Graham played for Nashua and also the league champion
Lowell Tigers teams in the New England League. With a short major league baseball career, Moonlight Graham later became the basis of the character of his same name in the baseball movie
Field of Dreams Author
W.P. Kinsella had first discovered Graham's name and statistical information in
The Baseball Encyclopedia and noticed that Graham played just one major league game with 0 at-bats. Kinsella's research revealed that Graham become a physician after his baseball career ended. Kinsella based Graham's story on the character in his novel
Shoeless Joe. In 1989, Kinsella's novel was adapted into the motion picture
Field of Dreams. In the 1903 season, Moonlight Graham hit .240 with seven triples, while playing in 89 games between Nashua and Lowell. ,
St. Louis Browns. Van Zandt played for Nashua from 1902 to 1904 with numerous controversies surrounding him. Pitcher
Ed Pinnance played for Nashua in 1904 after making history the previous season. In 1903, while pitching for the
Philadelphia Athletics, Pinnance had become the first full-blooded American Indian to play in a regular season game in the major leagues. Pinnacle made his major league debut on September 14, 1903, pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics against the
Senators. The 1904 Nashua team ended the New England League season in a tie for fifth place in the final league standings. With an overall record of 62–62, Nashua finished 20.5 games behind the first place Lowell Tigers in the final standings and ended the season in a direct tie with the Concord Marines. Concord ended their season with an identical record to Nashua at 62–62.
Jack Carney and Sid Rollins served as the managers in leading Nashua in the New England League season. Nashua ended the season with a record of 41–66, finishing 27.5 games behind the first place Concord Marines, who had a 69–39 record. Stephen Flanagan managed the Nashua in the final season of Nashua's initial tenure as members of the New England League. Stephen Flanagan managed the Manchester Textiles team in 1906.
New England League 1926–1927, 1929–1930, 1933 The Nashua "Millionaires" team played the 1925 season as members of the semi-professional Boston Twilight League.
Tom Whelan was the player/manager as the Millionaires won the league championship. In 1926, the New England League would reform as a minor league. For the 1926 season Whelan was hired to manage the
Lowell Highwaymen team in the newly reformed league, but he had to resign as minor league baseball banned him for the season for having used a banned player while managing at Nashua in 1925. Pitcher
Carl Ray continued play for Nashua in 1926 after having played for the Nashua Millionaires semi-pro team in 1925. Ray threw a no-hitter for Nashua against
Jeff Tesreau and the
Lynn Shoemakers team on July 3, 1925, winning the pitcher's duel with Tesreau by the score of 1-0. Nahusa native
Ray Dobens played for the 1925 semi-professional Nashua Millionaires in the summer while still a student playing baseball at
Holy Cross. Dobens would later serve as the general manager of the
Nashua Dodgers beginning in 1946. Nashua resumed
minor league play in 1926 when the New England League reformed as a Class B level league, after having folded in 1919. On May 11, 1926, the
Haverhill Hillies,
Lawrence Merry Macks,
Lewiston Twins, Lowell Highwaymen,
Lynn Papooses,
Manchester Blue Sox and
Portland Eskimos teams joined the Nashua Millionaires in beginning league play. The "Millionaires" nickname for the Nashua team,
The Boston Globe said was due to the "lavish manner in which they were supported by the owners." The Nashua "Millionaires finished in last place in 1926, returning to New England League play. With a 37–56 record,
Fred Lake,
Chick Keating, Sandy McGregor and
Johnny Mitchell managed the Millionaires during their last place season. The Millionaires placed eighth in the final standings, finishing 20.5 games behind the first place Manchester Blue Sox in the eight-team league. Having played for the Millionaires team in 1925, Carl Ray returned to play for Nashua in 1926 after being released by both the
Indianapolis Indians of the
American Association in May 1926 and the
Hartford Senators of the
Eastern League. In 1926
Clyde Sukeforth went to spring training with the
Cincinnati Reds. After the spring ended, Sukeforth played for the Nashua Millionaires of the Class B New England League, before Reds recalled him in late May, where he made his big-league debut on May 31, 1926. After appearing in four games for the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, Sukeforth spent the rest of 1926 with the
Manchester Blue Sox before making the Reds roster in 1927. Sukeforth later became a minor league manager, a major league coach and a scout after his playing career. Sukeforth is known for scouting and signing both
Jackie Robinson and
Roberto Clemente. Due to a suspension of manager
Leo Durocher, Sukeforth served as the interim manager for the
Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, managing the Dodgers to wins in the first two games of the season, which included Sukeforth making our the lineup card for Robinson's major league debut on April 15, 1947. On July 21, 1972, Jackie Robinson wrote a letter to Sukeforth that is now preserved at the
Baseball Hall of Fame. "Please understand that I do not have any reservations in praise for the role that Clyde Sukeforth played in the growth and development of my beginnings in baseball. I have been very appreciative of the fact that whenever there were problems in the earlier days, I could always go to you, talk with you, and receive the warm and friendly advise that I always did," the letter said in part. After graduating from high school, Tebbetts signed a contract with the
Detroit Tigers after they agreed to pay his college tuition. He attended
Providence College where he became an
All-American in baseball and graduated in 1934. His time as the mascot for the Millionaires was responsible for Tebbetts becoming a catcher, as his idol on the team was Clyde Sukeforth. In 1927, the Nashua Millionaires continued New England League play and improved to a third-place finish, led by manager
Bill Stewart. Nashua ended the regular season with a record of 47–43, placing third in the New England League. The Millionaires finished 12.5 games behind the first place
Lynn Papooses in the final regular season standings. Nashua did not qualify for the playoff won by Lynn over Portland. The Nashua Millionaires folded after the 1927 season. Nashua's Bill Scholz led the New England League with 73 RBI. Stewart was simultaneously an umpire in the
National League from 1933 to 1954. Stewart was an umpire in four
World Series (
1937,
1943,
1948 and
1953 World Series). He also umpired in four
All-Star Games, the (
1936,
1940,
1948 and
1954 All Star Games), working behind the plate in the 1954 game. Bill Stewart was the home plate umpire for
Johnny Vander Meer's second consecutive
no-hitter in 1938, and served as the crew chief for the
1951 three-game pennant playoff series between the
New York Giants and the
Brooklyn Dodgers. Today, Bill Stewart's whiskbroom is currently in the collection at the
Baseball Hall of Fame. As the New England League continued play in 1929, the Nashua Millionaires rejoined the eight-team Class B level league during the season. The Nashua Millionaires membership in the league was brief. After beginning the season as members, on June 19, 1929, the
Lowell Millers franchise relocated to become the Nashua Millionaires. The Millers had a record of 13-22 at the time of the move. After compiling a 28–47 record in while based Nashua, the team ended the season with an overall record of 41–69. The Lowell/Nashua team ended the season in seventh place and were managed by
Bill Merritt and Tom DeNoville. A Lowell native, Bill Merritt had purchased the New England League
Salem Witches franchise and moved the team to Lowell to begin the 1929 season. After beginning the season in Lowell, poor attendance and financial issues forced Merritt to sell the team to Nashua owners. The Manchester Blue Sox won the New England League championship and finished 31.5 games ahead of the seventh place Millers/Millionaires. Nashua finished ahead of only the eighth place
Gloucester Hillies in the final standigs. On June 16, 1930, both the
Lewiston Twins and Nashua Millionaires disbanded. After briefly continuing play as a four-team league, the New England League disbanded on June 22, 1930.
Shano Collins managed the Millionaires, who had a record of 5–13 when they folded. After a two-season hiatus from minor league play, the 1933 Nashua Millionaires returned to the reformed six-team Class B level New England League. The
Lawrence Weavers,
Lowell Lauriers,
New Bedford Whalers,
Quincy Shipbuilders,
Taunton Blues and
Worcester Chiefs teams began league play on May 17, 1933 without a Nashua franchise in the league. In 1933, as the New England League reformed as a six-team Class B level league, the Nashua Millionaires returned to New England League play for a partial season in 1933, joining the league during the season. It would be the last season of play for the Millionaires in the New England League. The team played in three cities during the season. On June 6, 1933, the Quincy Shipbuilders had compiled a 12–6 record when the franchise relocated from
Quincy, Massachusetts to Nashua, playing as a
Detroit Tigers minor league affiliate. The team became the "Nashua Millionaires" and Nashua continued play until the franchise relocated for a second time before completing the season. On August 8, 1933, the Nashua Millionaires moved to
Brockton, Massachusetts where the team completed New England League season playing as the
Brockton Shoemakers. The Quincy/Nashua/Brockton team ended the season with an overall record of 28–47, placing fifth in the six-team New England League.
Hal Weafer and Paul Wolff served as managers in the three cities and the team did not qualify for the four-team leageue playoffs. The three city team placed finished 22.0 games behind the first place New Bedford Whalers in the final regular season standings. The New England League changed names after the 1933 season, before reforming in 1946. Weafer remained an American League umpire until 1947, when he began serving as an umpire supervisor in the minor leagues. Weafer also approved and worked with graduates of the
Al Somers Umpire School. Nashua next hosted minor league baseball in 1946. Nashua resumed play when the New England League reformed in 1946. The
Nashua Dodgers were formed as a minor league affiliate of the
Los Angeles Dodgers and began a noteworthy three season tenure as members of the reformed league with
Baseball Hall of Fame member
Walter Alston as manager.{{cite book ==The ballparks==