stevejrogers

http://www.kinsella.org/history/histira.htm ]Irish Immigrants in America during the 19th Century Though life in Ireland was cruel, emigrating to America was not a joyful event...it was referred to as the American Wake for these people knew they would never see Ireland again. Those who pursued this path did so only because they new their future in Ireland would only be more poverty, disease, and English oppression. America became their dream. Early immigrant letters described it as a land of abundance and urged others to follow them through the "Golden Door." These letters were read at social events encouraging the young to join them in this wonderful new country. They left in droves on ships that were so crowded, with conditions so terrible, that they were referred to as Coffin Ships. Even as the boat was docking, these immigrants to America learned that life in America was going to be a battle for survival. Hundreds of runners, usually large greedy men, swarmed aboard the ship grabbing immigrants and their bags trying to force them to their favorite tenement house and then exact an outrageous fee for their services. As the poor immigrant had no means of moving on, they settled in the port of arrival. Almshouses were filled with these Irish immigrants. They begged on every street. One honest immigrant wrote home at the height of the potato famine exodus, "My master is a great tyrant, he treats me as badly as if I was a common Irishman." The writer further added, "Our position in America is one of shame and poverty." No group was considered lower than an Irishman in America during the 1850s. Free land did not lure them. They rejected the land for the land had rejected them; yet even so they always spoke reverently of the old sod in Ireland. All major cities had their "Irish Town" or "Shanty Town" where the Irish clung together. Our immigrant ancestors were not wanted in America. Ads for employment often were followed by "NO IRISH NEED APPLY." They were forced to live in cellars and shanties, partly because of poverty but also because they were considered bad for the neighborhood...they were unfamiliar with plumbing and running water. These living conditions bred sickness and early death. It was estimated that 80% of all infants born to Irish immigrants in New York City died. Their brogue and dress provoked ridicule; their poverty and illiteracy provoked scorn. The Chicago Post wrote, "The Irish fill our prisons, our poor houses...Scratch a convict or a pauper, and the chances are that you tickle the skin of an Irish Catholic. Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country." Instead of apologizing for themselves they united and took offense. Insult or intimidation was often met with violence. Solidarity was their strength, they helped each other survive city life. They prayed and drank together. The men seemed to do more drinking than praying, yet it was their faith and dogged determination to become Americans that led one newspaper to say, "The Irish have become more Americanized than the Americans." The Church played an integral part in their lives. It was a militant Church--a Church who fought not only for their souls but also for their human rights. After the religious riots in Philadelphia where many Catholic churches were burned, the mayor of New York asked Archbishop Hughes, "Do you fear that some of your churches will be burned." "No sir, but I am afraid some of yours will be. We can protect our own." Later, public officials asked the Archbishop to restrain New York's Irish. "I have not the power," he said. "You must take care that they are not provoked." No Catholic church burned in New York. Actually the Irish arrived at a time of need for America. The country was growing and it needed men to do the heavy work of building bridges, canals, and railroads. It was hard, dangerous work, a common expression heard among the railroad workers was "an Irishman was buried under every tie." Desperation drove them to these jobs. Not only the men worked, but the women too. They became chamber maids, cooks, and the caretakers of children. Early Americans disdained this type of work, fit only for servants, the common sentiment being, "Let Negroes be servants, and if not Negroes, let Irishmen fill their place..." The Blacks hated the Irish and it appeared to be a mutual feeling. They were the first to call the Irish "white nigger." A prominent hotel keeper was asked why all the women servants in his hotel were Irish. He replied, "The thing is very simple: the Irish girls are industrious, willing, cheerful, and honest--they work hard, and they are very strictly moral. I should say that is quite reason enough." The Irish were unique among immigrants. They fiercely loved America but never gave up their allegiance to Ireland...and they kept their hatred of the English. Twice they tried to invade Canada, believing that they could trade Canadian land for Ireland's freedom. In New York City, during the Civil War, they rioted against the draft lottery after the first drawing showed most of the names were Irish. For three days the city was terrorized by Irish mobs and only after an appeal for peace by Archbishop Hughes did it end. In Pennsylvania they formed a secret organization called the Molly Maguires to fight mine owners who brutalized the miners and their families. They ambushed mine bosses, beat, and even killed them in their homes. The Irish used brutal methods to fight brutal oppression. They loved America and gladly fought in her wars. During the Civil War they were fierce warriors, forming among other groups, the famous "Irish Brigade". A priest accompanied them and, before each battle, they would pray together before charging into the enemy--even against insurmountable odds. Their faith guided them. They felt the English might have a better life on earth, but they were going to have a better life after death. The days of "No Irish Need Apply" passed. St.Patrick day paraded replaced violent confrontations. The Irish not only won acceptance for their day, but persuaded everyone else to become Irish at least for St.Patrick's Day. The Orangemen or New York City copied the St.Pat's Day parade in 1870 and, as they marched, played "Boyne Water", "Derry" and other songs derogatory towards the Catholics. Fights broke out and only the police (themselves mostly Irish) saved the Orangemen and women. The next year another Orange parade was scheduled...the police banned it. The appearance of large numbers of Jews, Slavs, and Italian immigrants led many Americans to consider the Irish an asset; their Americanization was now recognized. Hostility shifted from the Irish to the new nationalities. Through poverty and subhuman living conditions, the Irish tenaciously clung to each other. With their ingenuity for organization, they were able to gain power and acceptance. In 1850 at the crest of the Potato Famine immigration, Orestes Brownson, a celebrated convert to Catholicism, stated: "Out of these narrow lanes, dirty streets, damp cellars, and suffocating garrets, will come forth some of the noblest sons of our country, whom she will delight to own and honor." In little more than a century his prophecy rang true. Irish-Americans had moved from the position of the despised to the oval office.

patona314 wrote: ="metirish"]I'm from Ireland....and the Irish were not always looked on as positive...I feel bad for Irish-Americans at times... why Four words: Irish Need Not Apply.

="Willets Point"]It would be cool if they just went by their English name: The Georgetown Whats. I once went to summer school at Georgetown and they have a convenience store called Saxa Sundries which at least signifies an awareness of the the origin of the school nickname on campus. WHAT!?

="Edgy DC"]="SteveJRogers"]Watch that sarcasm meter Edgy! You know I mean half way through a season or thereabouts. In baseball, its June/July In hockey and basketball its in February. I follow baseball to the end. So do a lot of people, as evidenced by the thread you're posting in. If not enough do to get the sport better TV ratings, I don't care. Like Kevin Bacon in Animal House huh? "All is Well!"

Nymr83 wrote: the writers strike me as ignorant or worse. to give a GG to a guy who played 20 games of the position smacks of ignorance to what is actually going on in the league Did I miss something, I thought the GGs were done my managers and coaches? BTW, I'll give you something worse that was undereported and only because the player is one of the current "It" players in the game. How was David Ortiz even allowed to be on the ASG ballot as the AL 1Bman? Plays 10 games a year, and only because the Sox need that bat in the lineup when playing at the NL park during interleague.

Only uniformed Met personel in the Met HOF who's bust is not wearing a uniform Hank Webb

Watch that sarcasm meter Edgy! You know I mean half way through a season or thereabouts. In baseball, its June/July In hockey and basketball its in February.

BTW, more to the point, notice that the NFL is the only pro sport, and the only sport save for March Madness that local media and fans follow even if their team's season essentially ended by Thanksgiving? Straight through the Super Bowl, there is no need for some sort of gimmick featuring an ambassador saying "So your team lost, watch the playoffs anyway! Its your duty! JUDY!"

Member of the 1961 MFY JESsssEeee GOONdeeerrrr as Murph would say

That points to the overall success and popularity of the NFL as opposed to baseball. Even if it's not your team, the media hype machine will drill hope the fact that the games are all must see events. Do you get that in baseball? No, usually the local coverage shuts down once the Mets and Yanks make their respective final outs. With the NFL coverage, you still regular coverage even if the Jets and Giants long since cleaned out their lockers. Big case in point towards that fact: See that, last year, the White Sox end their long drought and win the championship. What does SI put on the cover? A preview of the upcoming tilt between the Colts and Patriots on Monday Night Football. Turned out to be a good game, and while not the AFC Championship preview that everyone thought, but still the football game got the cover. Oh there is a nice insert featuring the celebration, but the fact of the matter is football has been ingrained in the nation's conscience as a weekly event that is Must Pay Attention To while baseball is a nice little sport who no one cares about after their particular team's season ends. Tommy Lasorda be damned!

Elster88 wrote: ="cooby"]I guess I'm just not following your thoughts there. Don't bother trying. There isn't much there. So you want the 50 cents for a case beer after the Huskies escape Hartford with a win? The point was that the NFL is at a point where the media and fan reaction is so game to game more than any other sport. The point was that the Jets before the season opened were picked to be one of the truely horrid teams of the league. They win Game 1, so do the Pats and all of a sudden the same folks who thought the Jets would vie for a top 5 draft pick were hyping the fact that the Jets were now battling for first place in the Week 2 hype. Any other sport you don't get that kind of hysteria. A team has a hot (or even cold) first month and there is only guarded optimism, if they were picked across the board to be a bad team. Usually it will be "yeah, they are doing fine now, but how will they hold up the rest of the regular season?" In the NFL, a team wins it's first game and fans and the media hype machine start making plans for January!

Heredia actually had quite an eventual pre-suspension last year, and never got into an MLB game: From Baseball-Reference.com November 15, 2005: Granted Free Agency. February 10, 2006: Signed as a Free Agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks. March 24, 2006: Released by the Arizona Diamondbacks. March 28, 2006: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cleveland Indians. May 12, 2006: Released by the Cleveland Indians.

Gwreck wrote: Wow, this sucks. I used to be pleased that no Mets (at least at the ML level) had been caught cheating with performance-enhancing drugs. Feliks Heredia, although he was on the DL for most of his time as a 2005 Met, and in the same exact way, potential FA early in the postseason

cooby wrote: What does Brady Quinn have to do with it? He's still a little busy. Projected # 1 pick (yeah this is some 8 months and an entire college football season before the draft and all, but this is the media we're talking about) and the Jets were getting anywhere from 1 to 5 wins in most pre-season prognostications. Good for a top 5 draft pick which is right around Quinn should go next spring.

Frayed Knot wrote: ]only the NFL and March Madness seems to keep it's mega audience of the pre-cable/dish explosion days Even the mega-audiences of MNF were are fraction of what they were from the days fo the 1970s & '80s by the time it was finally dropped from network television. No network show has anywhere near the pct of viewing world that they had back then. I was referring to the NFL in general. I mean Super Bowl Sunday is like an unofficial holiday for crying out loud. And every week it's gotten to the point where each game is like a mini-Super Bowl the way the media generates hype these days. Example, listen to the Jets and Giants radiocast, for a 1pm game the Jets start right around 10:30-11 for their pre-game. The Giants would as well if Mike Francesa didn't host a national NFL show until 12. Heck for the important games the station pushes the official start time of Jet pregame untill 8! Also, after both the Jets and Pats won the first game, never mind of course that most prognosticators had the Jets in the Brady Quinn sweepstakes the local radio was treating their game two matchup as "Battle for First Place"

I don't think so, unless you do some real hard core channel surfing and get the Japanese version of ESPN! Probably just daily highlights on SportsCenter or the local sports casts. Sure SNY will have coverage of the Metly activities

But that still means baseball IS a dying sport nationally! = Semi-kidding, I do think that, but no need to travel down that road

True, only the NFL and March Madness seems to keep it's mega audience of the pre-cable/dish explosion days

I love it when the media start making it a "Oh the money changed X" Please. Thats going to happen you know. Guys like Bonds, McGwire, and Clemens were surly jerks right from the start so thats why they've been given the treatment they've been given. Money changes nothing, if the guy was an asshole before the fame, he'll be an asshole with the fame. What changed was the way the person was treated by the media/fans. Instead of "Hey this guy is so polite to us now..." its "Well, what do you think of steroids? Bonds? You couldn't TOUCH Glavine the other night, ect" Difference is, the guy was being very "Crash Davis Cliches" ish to you and now he's starting to open up.

And I really have to think about why I let little things bother me like this. Either that or know that even if its a waste of a post I shouldn't be up at 2 am trying to do it. Geez...

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Popes don't take any shit from anybody. I thought the whole idea of KTE was so we'd know who the Mets are about to face. Who are the starting pitchers, which players have been hot and cold. It's not about what happened 80 years ago to teams that the Mets are not scheduled to play for another seven months. As always, Steve overdoes everything. And the five consecutive rants, each one more frenzied than the one before it, were pretty entertaining. Fair enough, just wishing now someone told me in the Padre thread that I was wasting time so I wouldn't be up untill 2am working on this one. Later

My parents first date was a Johnny Cash concert at MSG circa 1972. My dad had convinced my mom that they were going to a Muhammad Ali boxing match! My mom thought that right up untill the point The Man In Black strolled on stage.

Nice to know that a fucking hobby of mine, researching years and years of shit like postseason history for hours and hours at a time goes fucking unappreciated because one of the fucking teams happens to be the fucking Yankees. Way to feel like I'm a complete fucking asshole for wasting days, weeks out of my life and money spent monking, copying reams of rosters and shit From the Webmaster of the fucking UMDB for crying out fucking loud GO FUCK OFF

Nice to know I wasted my fucking morning hours on shit that no one fucking appreciates. FUCK OFF

I didn't hear anyone complain for the Dodger and Cardinal histories and both of them are just as rich and well known as the Yankees.