Fields of Dreams

Mordecai Brown's passion for baseball was so great that even after his retirement from the major leagues he could not leave the game and the people that brought him such joy.  Just a few seasons after Mordecai hung up his professional cleats, the Indian Refinery Company of Lawrenceville enlisted him to use his world champion talents as the player /manager of the company's traveling baseball game.

The Havolands, as they were called, after the company’s revolutionary wax- free oil, were more than just a collection of refinery employees. The Havolines were a formidable force on the field of play throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa with Three- Finger Brown as a rallying point. The Havolines defeated many a worthy opponent including the infamous House of David exhibition team.

Mordecai Brown made his home in Lawrenceville and when the refinery merged with Texaco, Mordecai remained not only as the Havolines manager, but also a stockholder in the company.

Mordecai represented Havoline Oil and the people of Lawrenceville as their ambassador at the 1933- 34 World's Fair in Chicago.  He would go on to open his own Texaco service station at the corner of 7th and Cherry streets in Terre Haute Indiana, never leaving behind his memories of playing for the Lawrenceville team.

This satin ball uniform may have been worn by one of the promoters of Havoline Wax Free oil at the World's Fair exhibit. (Satin seems to be an impractical material to use for a regular baseball uniform.)