Delmarva Sports History: Branch Rickey’s infamous Eastern Shore fishing trip

CAMBRIDGE, Md. – You wouldn’t know it, but J. Edward Walter Jr. Park in west Cambridge was once home to a minor league affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers. And the story of its origins has plenty of twists and turns.

Fred Lucas was a former major league player who was assigned to play for, and then managed a team in Cambridge.

During his time in the Dodgers organization he had built a relationship with Branch Rickey, the team’s general manager.

Lucas had made his home in Cambridge, and following World War II he made it his mission to bring back the Eastern Shore League. To do this, he needed one major league organization to make an investment here on Delmarva.

“Fritz,” as he was known, reached out to Rickey to get an investment from the Dodgers. To secure the funding and support he was looking for Lucas invited Rickey to Cambridge first for a fishing trip, then to go duck hunting.

Rickey hauled in close to 100 fish on the Choptank River, and had an equally successful hunting trip a few months later.

Thanks in part to these trips the Dodgers would agree to commit $60,000 to build a ballpark in Cambridge. One that stands to this day.

Following the agreement, other major league organizations followed suit, as the Eastern Shore League was back for a third time.