Squash racquets came to the States from England in 1882 and was first played at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. The game arrived at the Maryland Club in 1928, seventy years after the founding of the Club and at a point midway between the two world wars. One must realize that in 1858 when the Club was first organized it was a meeting place for gentlemen, and I do mean “gentlemen” in every sense of the word. Those old fellows literally basked in an ambiance of beautiful oriental rugs, dark paneling, the finest food in Baltimore, perhaps the best supply of oysters and terrapin in the whole area, generous drinks, pure white Irish linen, sparkling crystal, sterling silver, (even some gold place settings), priceless historical and sporting prints and paintings, Havana cigars, and a privacy that was almost sacred. The idea of ladies on the premises was not even a dream. As a matter […]

The Maryland Club Open, which marks its tenth anniversary this weekend (there was a one-year hiatus in 2009 with Baltimore hosting the U. S. National Doubles the following spring), is already the sixth longest-tenured event on the North American pro doubles tour, trailing only the David Johnson Memorial event in Brooklyn, the North American Open, Boston, Wilmington and the Jim Bentley Cup in Toronto, all of whom have been stand-bys on the schedule for more than two decades. The Maryland Club courts have borne witness to some extraordinary results since its dramatic debut on Halloween night in 2003, by the end of which two of the top four seeds were sent packing and a third barely survived. Enough landscape-transforming trends were either stopped, marked or jump-started on Eager Street to have given the tournament a character and dynamic all its own, and on this landmark occasion it seems fitting to list them and elaborate on […]