Posts Tagged baseball

     Paul Weingartner owns this original picture from 1951 taken from the location of Paul’s Auto Body showing the intersection of East Line Avenue and Joffre Street. It is faint, but if you look close you can see the Ewing Park baseball field in the background.

Originally Posted Dec 10, 2010

For those that complain that the football field and track are too far away from the school, there was a time the field was right beside the school. I have been asking for awhile for any pictures anybody might have that show the old field at the school and am grateful for the ones I have received. If you have a picture you would like to share please email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com. So far I have three pictures that I received permission to use and would appreciate any input you may have about them.
    In the first picture you can barely see the field at the bottom of the picture but it gives us a real good idea of the location. Some of the more interesting things about this picture are not so much the field but the layout of Lincoln High School at the time. At the time of this picture, there was a whole additional three story wing of the school where the current cafeteria, maintenance garages, and the “bridge” to the large gym are today. I have to ask those that remember, what was the layout of this wing? Was it all classrooms? I know the school did not have a cafeteria but did this wing have anything comparable to the size of the current cafeteria? Was the ground floor a locker-room for Lincoln Field for both home and away teams? Finally, was there a “band” room and a room dedicated for the choir before the addition?
    Okay, back to the picture, it’s nice to see the old Hartman Elementary School building and you may notice that Holy Redeemer is not there. Where the church parking lot is today, is the former BVM Church and previous to that it was the Methodist Church.
    Now back to Lincoln Field and the second picture. This is an action shot of the 1925 Ellwood City - New Castle game. In the background of the picture you can see the steel work for Lincoln High School that was under construction. You can also see how tight the stands were as an estimated 10,000 people watched the game from the bleachers, on top of parts of the school, and on top of neighboring houses. You can also clearly see how muddy the field was for the game and why New Castle cried for many years that the Ellwood City Fire Department flooded the field to slow down New Castle. The ball carrier in the picture is New Castle’s great Scooter Day, who despite a valiant effort, was not was not able to get into the end zone against the incredible Ellwood City defense.
    In the third picture here, you get a better layout of the field. As you can see, not only did the fans of Ellwood pack the bleachers but it looks to be two to three deep along the fence. Notice the people on top of the First Christian Church watching the game too.  This was not only a football field, but it was the school’s baseball field at the time. Home plate was beyond the field goal posts in the corner of what today would be Oak Avenue and Fourth Street. You can get a little bit of a better idea of the layout of the baseball field in the first picture. In addition to baseball and football Ellwood City also added four public tennis courts to Lincoln Field in 1930.
If you remember the field and would like to share your memories, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Published Sept 25, 2009

    Richard “Dick” Anthony Allen from Wampum played fifteen years in Major League Baseball, mostly with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox. Having played first and third base and outfield, he ranked among the sport’s top offensive producers of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Dick hit 351 career home runs and had a .292 career batting average. The Wampum native led the American League in home runs twice, and led both leagues in slugging average (the AL twice) and on base percentage. His .534 career slugging average ranks among the highest in an era marked by pitcher dominense and low averages. He won the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year and 1972 AL MVP. Richie, as he was known during his time in school, went straight from Wampum High School to the Philadelphia Phillies organization. His older brother Harold signed with the Phillies at the same time.

I never saw Mr. Allen play the game so I will leave the comments to those who did…

Steve said: When you mention the words Dick Allen, you must talk about Hank Aaron and Willie Mays because there wasn’t too many ballplayers could do what he did; his many, many 500+ foot, super-mega blasts. How about TWO inside the park homeruns in one game. It is a farce that he is not in the hall of fame. … How can you say he does not belong, he was the greatest and maybe the most gifted ballplayer ever. You have to realize that he played with incredible players like Aaron, Mays, Clemente, not these steroid players today all juiced up. … Dick Allen is and always will be the greatest…

Mark Roeder once wrote: Dick Allen was my favorite player. Babe Ruth and Willie Mays could have been the best but did not play for my favorite team. My favorite memory watching a White Sox game in the 70s. Dick Allen and Bill Melton both homered in the same game. Melton hit a towering shot that took forever to loop into the left field lower deck stands. When Allen swatted one that same day, the ball traveled to the furthest reaches of the park over the centerfield fence, reaching its destination in a fraction of the time that Melton’s ball took to reach a shorter distance. Dick Allen hit line drives, very hard and long. I also enjoyed watching Rod Carew ply his trade. But Dick Allen was the greatest hitter I have personally seen play.

John Branigan said: I saw Dick Allen play for the White Sox 72 thru 75. This guy was a natural. One of the best I ever saw if not the best. The Sox franchise was in big trouble before Dick Allen, playing some of their home games in Milwaukee…

Rodney Daniels shared: I want to thank everyone that remember and enjoyed the way my uncle played the game of baseball. I watch the way the guys play today and I wonder to myself why he is not in the hall of fame, but I think I know why, and that’s because he got negative press from the sports writers. He has never gambled on baseball or took drugs and he even gave kids autographs. I look at his overall numbers and they are just as good or even better than some of the guys that are in the hall of fame…

Perhaps Charlie Boylan said it best when he wrote: I first seen Dick Allen when I was 10 years old. I went to the Connie Mack and he hit two home runs against the Cards, One of which left the stadium. That day he became my favorite player. When I was in the Army in 1972 through 1974 I followed his exploits with the White Sox and he almost single handedly carried them to a pennant (finished second behind the A’s). They should have built a monument of him in center field at Comisky Park. I later met him at the Phillies triple A stadium in Scranton PA. I spent several hours with him and he was one of the finest gentleman I have ever met. He was driving “big blue” the Lincoln he was given in 1972 by the Sporting News as the AL MVP. Earlier in life he appeared in Scranton in March of 1960 as a member of the Wampum High School Basketball team. They defeated Montrose High that night for the Pa. State Class B Championship. Either he or Willie Somerset of Farrell High was the best basketball players in Pennsylvania in 1960. Not only was he a great athlete and a deserving hall of famer, he was also a great person.

Photograph compliments of Dick Allen Hall of Fame

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoP0OZ8mZX4

According to the Ellwood City Moose Lodge #93 website, the Ellwood City Loyal Order of Moose was organized in 1909 by John Risbeck. The club started with 51 members meeting in the auditorium in the second floor of the Ellwood City Opera House. The Loyal Order of Moose continued to meet there until purchasing the building themselves.

The Ellwood City Moose Club on Lawrence Avenue hosted many events for the community including Lincoln High School’s after-prom for many years and performances by popular musicians including Lawrence Welk, Guy Lombardo, & Vaugh Monroe. Outside of the Lodge, the Moose has sponsored a multitude of things in the community including a little league baseball team for many years.

In 1999, the Ellwood City Loyal Order of Moose No. 93 sold their clubhouse on the North side of the 600 block of Lawrence Avenue to ESB Savings Bank and erected a new building on Factory Avenue. The new lodge offers a large lounge area with the original pool table and shuffleboard table that were restored and refinished, both free to play anytime. The club opens daily at 1:00pm.

If you have a story you would like to share about the Moose or a performance you seen there, please email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Post Originally published April 3, 2009 

When they say history repeats itself, they are not kidding. The Riverside Panthers boy’s baseball team won the schools fourth State Title in the 2012 PIAA Class AA Baseball Playoffs defending their 2011 title. This is the second time in only eight years that the Panthers have won back-to-back State Title’s as the Panthers also won the PIAA Class AA titles in 2005 and 2006.

Just like last year, Riverside found themselves trailing early, this time 3-0, before scoring five runs to win the State Title. According to Ellwood City.org, Riverside has more PIAA titles than any other WPIAL school.

Congratulations go out to the Riverside players, coaches, and entire school for their fourth title in eight years. If you have any pictures of the team you would like to share, please email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

In 2012, Ellwood City won its fifth WPIAL Championship but those are not the only baseball championships Ellwood has won. Before the WPIAL was a thought, the 1928 Ellwood City team won the Championship of the Beaver County Baseball League.

    Players included top row, left to right, Fred Sanders, Jesse Brown, Pat Boyle, Frank Fitzgerald, John Grinnen, and Harold Marshall; Middle row left to right, Manager Connie Wardman, scorekeeper Ray Kellner, business manager Tom Newman and Mark Jamison; Bottom row, left to right: Grundy Volpe, Mickey Huff, Bob Dombeck, Joe Latiano, Hoffmeister, and Mike Cirelli.

   The Ellwood City Wolverines seized the 2012 WPIAL Class AA Championship in exciting fashion with a 9-7 victory over cross town rival Riverside Panthers at Consol Energy Park. After jumping up 7-1 in the second inning against the 2011 WPIAL and PIAA Class AA Champions, the Wolverines watched the Panthers claw their way back to within one run by the fifth inning before scoring two more in the sixth. The outcome was still in question in the seventh and final inning when down 9-7, Riverside had two runners on base before a pop-fly ended the game.

The WPIAL championship is Ellwood City’s fifth WPIAL title, the third since 2001. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the 2012 baseball team but you can read more on the team and see many pictures at ellwoodcity.org/Ellwood_is_awesome

       The current Hartman Elementary School is located on the same property as the original school at the corner of Fourth Street and Crescent Avenue. The school sits upon property that was once Oliver Park that surrounded the Hotel Lawrence. The hotel and land were sold in 1915 to the Ellwood City school board and converted to a school building and apartments until it was torn down in 1925 to make room for the newly planned civic center that included Lincoln High School, Hartman Elementary School, a public library and more. Unfortunately half was through the massive project, the great depression hit and the civic center was cancelled due to the lack of money needed for a project so large.

When it came to naming the new elementary school and the high school, it was decided to put it to a vote. It was decided by the vote to name the high school Lawrence but was later changed to Lincoln High School and the elementary was named after the towns founder Henry W. Hartman. The original Hartman Elementary School was finished before the new high school and classes started in 1923.

For a number of years the school was alongside the baseball field and attached football field. These fields were moved to Ewing Park when the High School was expanded and a parking lot was added. Those that went to the original Hartman School remember that parking lot as their playground for recess and gym classes. The school had a unique playground to say the least. It had a very big metal swing set, metal slides, eight foot high metal monkey bars, a big metal jungle gym; all on blacktop.

I have only been in the new modern school once or twice but I remember Hartman with the old creaky floors, coat rooms, and eight foot wooden heavy doors. In a previous post, we were told by Cheryl Franus that when she started teaching there was a room in the basement of that school that was full of food supplies, gas masks, bedding, etc, all marked appropriately with the triangular design of the Civil defense and the fallout shelters.

When the Ellwood City School Board decided to tear down the original building and build a new school the current students were displaced to the other elementary schools in the district with the large majority attending the previously closed Ewing Park School. We would like to hear your memories of your time at Hartman. Whether it be the teachers, the intimidating hall ways, the art/music room, dungeon of a cafeteria anything; we would like to hear your memories. Please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

I forgot to mention the orange and gray gym. I went to that school two or three years and only remember going into that gym ten times at the most and half of those times were for class pictures and Santa’s workshop.

Originally Published 12-22-08

Wampum Baseball 100 Years Ago

I was given this picture quite awhile ago and have not been able to uncover a single person in the picture. I posted some team pictures that I was also having difficulty identifying and got an overwhelming response identifying almost half of the players in a couple of the pictures so I am hoping you might be able to help me out again. If you recognize anyone in this one hundred year old picture, please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

1914 Ellwood City Basketball Team

This group of young men played their home games in the Shelby Social Club gymnasium as the Central Public School did not have a gym. Three or four of the players are wearing the team jerseys (I am assuming) but I can not identify the logo. What I can identify is that the remaining players are all wearing suits and ties and yes that is E.Ralph Conner holding the ball. If you recognize anyone else in this picture from 1914, please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

1939 Grocott’s Softball Team

When I first received this picture, I was more excited about the partially obstructed view of Grocott’s Service Station with the Pennzip advertisements then I was about the team. However, it is about time that the members of the softball team got their recognition. If you recognize anyone in this “more recent (1939)” picture, please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

1. George Buck, 2. Logan Benninghoff, 3. Billy Williams, 4. Bion E. Leech, 5. Luthar P. Shaffer, 6. Bob Gillespie, 7 Ray Leech, 8 Alex Orr, 9 Fred Foxall, 10 Mike Curran, 11 Edward Hildebrand, 12 Frank “Indian” Craig, 13 Harry Y. McCool, 14 Dave Carson, 15 Rex Piersol, 16 Herman Buck, 17 LeRoy Beatty, 18 Edwin “Shaggy” Logan, 19 Charles Keefer, 20 Charles Carson.

I have posted a number of pictures from older football teams from Ellwood City  and heard many stories of the great Shelby baseball teams and Shelby basketball teams but no one mentioned the 1906 Shelby Tube Mill Football Team (oops Foot Ball Team, in 1906 that was two words.)

    I have to thank Ms. Miriam Filer for taking the time to send me all of these pictures along with the story of the 1906 Shelby team that was another great team that before now, seems to have been forgotten and to be honest, great is not a strong enough superlative. The 1906 team beat teams such as Youngstown, Sharon and Butler by scores of 10-0, 27-0, 23-0, 21-0, 44-0. Franklin was the only team all season to score a point against our boys in a 5-5 tie; touchdowns then were only worth five points.

    The more recent photographs are from 1949 when ten members of the 1906 Shelby Team held a reunion dinner at The Fireplace but got together at Robert W. Gillespie Sr.’s home to share stories and catch up. Those attending the reunion included 1. Bion E. Leech, 2. Harry Y. McCool, 3. Logan Benninghoff, 4. Mr. Gillespie, 5. Luthar P. Shaffer, 6. Edwin Logan, 7. W.R. Williams, 8. Fred Foxall (manager), and 9. M. J. Curran. George G. Buck was also at the reunion but was not pictured. He must be the one taking the picture (?). Only four other members of the 1906 undefeated team were still living in 1949 but were unable to attend the reunion including Frank Craig, Herman Buck, Charles Carson, and Edward Hildebrand.

    I would like to thank Ms. Filer again and apologize at the same time. She had sent me these pictures in April of 2011 and I am just now (January 2012) putting these onto the site. I was very excited when I received these pictures especially since I had never heard of them and do not know how they were skipped.

I recently posted an article on the first Little League Baseball League champions, the 1950 Moose Lodge sponsored team. As world famous as that team is, I quickly got this autographed photograph of “Ellwood City’s FIRST Little League Baseball Team” compliments of Chuck Hall.

     Members of that team included, front from the left, Dick Gaskell, “Flip” Hill, Charlie Hall, John Agostinelli, Art Loccisano, and Bob Kimpel. Second row from left, “Grumpy” Franz, Jim Staggers, Elliot Hall, Dick James, and “Ziggy” Liebendorfer. The back row was coach Jack Barnett, “Chuck” Timblin (Mgr.), and Lloyd Hamil. Thank you Mr. Hall for sharing this picture and other pictures with us all.

   The City of Champions, Wampum Pennsylvania. In 1963, a banquet was held to honor a handful of the champions that have come out of Wampum including athletes and coaches. Seated in front from the left were Buzz Ridl, Basketball coach at Westminster College, and the famous basketball coach L. Butler Hennon who led Wampum to unimaginable success including numerous State Championships.

Standing from left to right were Major League Baseball player Harold Allen, basketball player/coach Ronald Galbreath, and one of Major League Baseball’s greats Dick Allen. All three athletes played for Coach Hennon at Wampum High School and Galbreath played for Ridl at Westminster College for perhaps one of the school’s greatest teams, the 1961-62 season.