To understand how much the baseball community loved “Wild” Bill Donovan, the ex-major league pitcher who managed the New Haven Profs to the 1922 Eastern League title, just look at what New Haven did to honor him prior to his sudden death in a train crash.

Donovan had been hired by team owner George Weiss to replace another beloved, ex-major league player/manager, Charles “Chief” Bender. Shortly after Donovan led the team to a pennant, fans threw him a testimonial dinner, presenting him with a solid gold watch and a large bonus check, funds taken directly out of their own pockets.

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, was among those in attendance.

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As a sports promoter, New Haven native George Weiss was part magician, part bulldog and totally brilliant.

How else could one explain Weiss enticing the Boston Red Sox to come to Lighthouse Park to play an exhibition game against the semi-pro New Haven Colonials — a mere three days after clinching the 1916 World Series championship?

Weiss, a New Haven High (later named Hillhouse) graduate, would go on to be the general manager of the New York Yankees. But in 1916, he was a 21-year old Yale drop-out with a savvy business sense and rising reputation.

After a brief negotiation with Weiss, Boston arrived on Oct. 15. Most of the regulars, in need of another pay day, were present. The Sox would pitch their ace, a budding 21-year-old named Babe Ruth.

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Baseball-Almanac.com profile of 1916 Red Sox