Granvillian Tierney had bigtime baseball ties
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
While Granville has had a solid Little League program over the years, and has produced some good baseball teams, connections to professional baseball are few and far between. One of those connections came about during the golden era of baseball, when it was truly considered “America’s pastime.” James J. Tierney was Granville’s connection to a major league team during those golden years.
James Tierney, known as “Jim”, was born in 1882 in Mineville, a small village in the town of Moriah in Essex County. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Tierney, moved to Granville by the early 1890s; the family was among the many of Irish descent that were moving to Granville to get employment during the boom years of the slate industry.
Tierney went to Granville schools, but his name is not among the graduation lists of the Granville High School in the era. He evidently continued his education elsewhere, as Tierney became a teacher of English and math at New York City’s Manhattan College. He eventually resigned this position, becoming a member of the Secret Service, where he took part in breaking up counterfeiters operating out of Canada.
It is unclear how Tierney came to be involved with baseball. One possibility is that a connection to the professional baseball team that operated in Granville from the 1890s to the 1920s was a factor. Another possibility is that Tierney became associated with baseball outside of Granville.
Tierney was selected as secretary of the New York Giants in September of 1921, replacing Joseph D. O’Brien. Tierney had been familiar with many of the players, and was well acquainted with the Giants’ owning triumvirate of C.A. Stoneham, John McGraw and Francis McQuade, who had bought a majority of shares of the club’s ownership in 1919.
In 1927, Mel Ott was signed to the Giants; he went on to have a successful and famed career in baseball with the Giants. Tierney considered the signing of Ott to be the finest moment of his time with the Giants.
Tierney did not forget his Granville connections. He brought some of the outstanding baseball players of the time to Granville during the off season. The players rented a cottage on Lake St. Catherine, and would come to Granville and spend time on Main Street. These players included Jake Daubert, Heinie Groh, Louis McCarthy and Red Murray; all of them were well-known baseball players in their time.
The players usually met up at the Craig Weir cigar store and newsroom; this was in an old wooden building that was located then on the site of the vacant storefront to the east of the present Slate Town Brewing Company.
Jim Tierney was held in high enough regard by the professional baseball community that in February of 1930, his opinion was sought by a reporter of the New York Evening Post. The issue at hand was the player-salary problem. Tierney noted that baseball salaries are three times as large as they were 40 years ago, but the admission prices at the parks have remained the same, and went on to say that if fans and the papers would combine with owners in an agreement to have the prices at the gates increased, then the players could get more money and all owners a fair return.
By the mid-1930s, of the triumvirate of Giants’ owners mentioned above, only C.A. Stoneham remained firmly connected to the club. Stoneham made plans for his son Horace to succeed him as owner of the Giants. It was well known that Tierney and Horace Stoneham did not like each other, and there was a consensus among baseball people that Tierney would resign when the younger Stoneham took over and became owner of the Giants.
C. A. Stoneham passed away in January of 1936. Jim Tierney tendered his resignation as secretary of the New York Giants soon after, and returned to Granville. He passed away Dec. 30, 1958, at a rest home in Troy. By this time, the Giants had moved out of New York City to the West Coast; they have been known since then as the San Francisco Giants.
Jim Tierney is the only Granvillian to have held a high-ranking position within the management of a major league baseball team.
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