How Buffalo's Jimmy Collins helped spur the rise of the Irish-American in Boston in the early 1900s

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — At a time when politics and cultural differences drove people apart in Boston, including turmoil between poor Irish immigrants and the wealthy Boston Brahmins, the success of the Boston Americans baseball club brought people together.

In 1906, just three years after player-coach and Western New York native Jimmy Collins led the Americans to victory in the first World Series, another Irish-American, John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, grandfather of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, rose to prominence as the newly elected mayor of Boston.

“[Irish-Americans] were taking over the political power in the city,” Jimmy Collins enthusiast Kevin Osinski said. “Fitz became mayor — the grandfather of John F. Kennedy — mayor of Boston. And so besides [Collins] being the manager of the Americans, [Fitzgerald] was also a symbol of the rising Irish-Americans in Boston.”

Honey Fitz was the first American-born Irish Catholic mayor of Boston, following a time in the early-1900s when the city’s government tended to reject Irish Catholics, per Fitzgerald’s National Parks Service bio. Irish-American supporters of Fitzgerald were awarded with government positions and contract work, with Fitzgerald running on the idea that power should belong to the people, despite his own success in the standing political machine. During his time in office, he established Fenway Park, among other historic locations.

Honey Fitz, a Royal Rooter himself, was one of Boston baseball’s most prominent backers.

Fitzgerald in 1897, prior to the introduction of the Boston Americans and the American League, served as toastmaster at the Rooters’ celebration dinner for the Beaneaters’ National League pennant victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles were also recognized at the dinner for their victory in the league’s Temple Cup postseason tournament over Boston. The tournament ended up becoming the last Temple Cup, due to general apathy toward the games from both players and fans.

Fitzgerald was a Massachusetts congressman at the time of the dinner and was joined by then-Boston Mayor Josiah Quincy III, other elected officials, players from both Boston and Baltimore teams, and around 250 supporters — including women — a “Boston Globe” article noted. The celebration was held at Boston’s Faneuil Hall.

“The congressman got a rousing reception, which ended with three cheers,” the article said. “He made an address of welcome and congratulation which aroused the wildest enthusiasm, and which showed him to be possessed of much knowledge concerning the national game.”

Researcher and author Charlie Bevis noted in his biography of Collins that Collins tried to downplay his Irish roots at times in fear of causing controversy. Despite this, he looked out for his Irish-American compatriots back home, as his business acumen helped Irish-Americans in Buffalo who moved from the First Ward to South Buffalo, where Collins owned many properties, purchased with the money from the baseball contracts he negotiated.

In “Emerald Thread: The Irish in Buffalo,” author Timothy Bohen leads his chapter on Buffalo Irish athletes with three and a half pages on Collins, including a paragraph about his real estate dealings.

“Wages from professional baseball were paltry, so the forward-thinking Collins prepared for a future after baseball by building houses in South Buffalo off of Seneca Street, capitalizing on Irish migration to that area,” Bohen says in the section. “Within a few years, the enterprising Collins used his earnings from baseball to acquire a substantial real estate portfolio in South Buffalo.”

Collins was unable to purchase the more prime locations of South Buffalo, as three other developers with more financial resources — William and Paul Fitzpatrick, as well as William James “Fingy” Connors — purchased all the “good land,” leaving Collins with more flood-prone territory. But Collins bet on the City of Buffalo building infrastructure to create flood control along Cazenovia Creek, which they did, protecting his properties on Seneca Street and Pomona Place.

“He had the foresight, as South Buffalo [real estate] was about to explode,” Bohen said in a phone call. “He owned most of those properties for two decades, but before the Great Depression, there was a housing depression that Jimmy got caught up in. The structure of his loans is what got him caught up and he had to move in with his daughter [Kathlyn].”

Bevis also said in the biography that Collins’ investments in the area would provide a solid income, particularly with the relocation of Lackawanna Steel to the area from Scranton, Pa. Additionally, the Diocese of Buffalo established St. Teresa’s Roman Catholic church on Seneca Street, particularly with many of those Irish-Americans moving over from the First Ward.

To read more on the legend of Jimmy Collins, click the links below.

Part I: Buffalo’s Baseball Hall of Famer: The legend of Jimmy Collins
Part II: Jimmy Collins’ Wake: How a Red Sox Hall of Famer from Buffalo inspired a Dropkick Murphys song
Part III: Herd mentality: Baseball Hall of Famer Jimmy Collins’ time with the Buffalo Bisons and growing up in WNY
Part V: Collins’ family and legacy – Publishes Oct. 27 at 8 a.m.