Posts Tagged baseball

      The massive facility known as the Shelby Social Club or the Shelby Clubhouse was built only a very short walk from Shelby Works Park located on the corner of First Street and Fountain Avenue. Mrs. Thornhill shared with us that she remembers the park had an outside swimming pool, tennis courts, playground, a place to wash automobiles and a rooming house.
      The clubhouse on the corner of Pittsburgh Circle and First Street was home to an Olympic size indoor swimming pool, a meeting room, a gymnasium, a six lane bowling alley, billiards, an auditorium, a soda grill, lounge room, cafeteria and a basketball court among other things.  The one thing it was missing was a baseball field, but the tube mill already had one; Shelby Field in the Shelby Land Company’s Plan (later to become Ewing Park.)
      Situated directly beside the P.H.B.&N.C. trolley tracks (today Joffre Street) and Foch Street, the tube mill already owned perhaps the most popular recreation of the time, a baseball field.
      An excerpt from “Hack” written by Bob Boone; “People frequently walked far out of their way just to pass Shelby Field to watch Lew (“Hack” Wilson) bat out long home runs and slide on his belly around the outfield. Careful coaching from (Connie) Wardman combined with Lew’s natural talent produced a ten-year-old who played as well as boys many years older. Most of the adults who came to watch this talented youngster also noted that he did little to conceal his pleasure at playing before an audience.”
      When you combine the Shelby Clubhouse, Shelby Park, and Shelby Field; there is not a popular recreation that is not accounted for. The large recreational plan was all within walking distance of work at the tube mill and the employee’s homes in the Shelby Land Company’s Plan.
      We would enjoy hearing from anyone else that remembers Shelby Works Park. There is very little evidence of it’s existence today except this photograph that simply says “Ellwood City” across the back and the memories of but a few. Please share below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      This picture is from a collection of pictures that were recently shared with us. The picture is of the former tube mill taken from the grounds of the old baseball field known as “Tunnel Field”. In the immediate background of the picture is the small village of Burnstown.

      Burnstown is located along the south side of route 488 between Ellwood City and Ellport in the third ward. The area was built up upon the Burns farm that stretched from the Northeastern edge of Ellwood City, east, and included parts of Ellport, Rock Dell, and Wurtemburg Heights. When Merrit Greene was purchasing land for the Pittsburg Company, Burns refused to sell any of his property to the group.

      Burnstown was home to many large homes as you can see in the pictures, and was largely made up of families that worked in the tube mill. Burnstown also housed a number of business including corner grocery stores and barber shops and even had its own school.

      When the Ellwood City Little League baseball league started in 1950, it was made up of six teams including a team many, many Ellwood City youth played for over the years – The Kiwanis. Sixty years later, the Kiwanis team took the field for the last time.
      The Ellwood City Amateur Baseball Federation recognized the Kiwanis Club during the team’s final game and expressed their gratitude, on behalf of thousands of players and coaches, for their outstanding contribution to the Ellwood City baseball program over sixty seasons. The Ellwood City Kiwanis Club had disbanded in September.

As reported in the Ellwood City Ledger…
    The Wolves jumped out to 6-1 lead and held on to defeat the Kiwanis, 6-5, in Ellwood City Little League playoff action at Freidhoff Field on Tuesday night. With the victory the Wolves advance to the Blue Division bracket final against the Rotary on Thursday night. The game marked the end of the Kiwanis sponsorship after 60 years in the Ellwood City Little League.

      The Ewing Park Bridge originally opened as a toll bridge connecting the tube mill to the houses the mill built for its employees in what would become Ewing Park. “Old Big Blue” stood until 1998 when it was torn down and the current Ewing Park Bridge was built in the same location.

Growing up in Ellwood City, we always heard the story of Mr. Foley jumping off the bridge as a bet for a case of beer. For some reason though, the person telling the story always would leave out the part about the dam still being in use at the time and it was not quite the drop it is today.

      We have heard a lot of different memories that involve the old Ewing Park Bridge. Wheter it be riding your bike across to baseball practice, how nervous you felt driving across it with the narrow lanes, or even dropping things on the old steel roof of the abandoned building below the bridge. We would like to hear your memories of the old blue bridge with the tunnel under the northeast end. Please email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com or leave your comment below.

      The first annual Ellwood City Arts, Crafts, and Food Festival was a two day event that stretched all over the town. On that Fourth of July weekend back in 1981; Ellwood City hosted bicycle races, hot air balloon rides, a 10K race, a car show, and a parade.

      As you can see in the picture here Lawrence Avenue was still a one way street with parking on the south side of the street. Also, there are a number of buildings that are no longer part of the Ellwood City landscape and business like the Ellwood City Hardware and G.C. Murphy that are also but a memory. The old firetrucks taking part in the Saturday afternoon parade are also quite impressive.

      The free hot air balloon rides for children were to take place at the baseball fields in Ewing Park. A large crowd gathered as the balloon was unfolded but were disappointed when officials decided that due to the weather, the balloon was not erected. The picture of the balloon sprawled out on the field is the only picture we at EC Memories have of the old Helling stadium football field.

      It was estimated that 1,500 people walked through Helling Stadium Saturday and Sunday to view the eighty vehicles entered in the Arts, Crafts, and Food Festival Auto Show. It was sponsored by the Woman’s softball league at Stiefel Park.

       As for the festival itself, it was not quite like the festival we are used to today. In this section of the park, the crowd is walking to the various displays while children are playing on the park’s outdoor equipment. Most, if not all, of the playground equipment in the picture including the three swing sets, the tables, and the slide are no longer in the park.
One thing that has not changed from the first Arts, Crafts, and Food Festival to today was that on that first Festival, Saturday’s crowd was smaller because of rain.  We would enjoy hearing your memories of the festival in the park. Please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      Perhaps one of the most enduring records in all of baseball belongs to Ellwood City native Lewis “Hack” Wilson. The professional legend of Hack began in 1926 when the New York Giants sold the 5-foot-6, 190 pound, barrel chested, thick limbed Lewis “Hack” Robert Wilson to the Chicago Cubs. Hack would go on to lead the league in home runs three years in a row; 21 in 1926, 30 in 1927, 31 in 1928. In 1929, Hack hit 36 home runs (third in the league) and drove in 150 runs.
      Then in 1930, Hack Wilson set a National League record with 56 homeruns (10 more than Babe Ruth) and set the record that still exists today of 190 Runs batted in, leading the Cubs to the World Series with a .356 batting average. He was not only a homerun hitter though, as he compiled an impressive lifetime .307 batting average over twelve seasons and drove in 100 or more runs six times in his major league career. A few other remarkable feats accomplished by Hack were the two homeruns he hit in one inning in 1925 and three in a single game in 1930.
      During his career, the boy from Ellwood City that everyone in town walked to Shelby field to watch smack the ball compiled 244 home runs and 1,063 RBIs in the Majors. He established the Major League record of 190 runs batted in and the National League record of 56 homeruns in 1930. The homerun record stood for sixty eight years before being broken* but the RBI record remains to this day.
      Hack played hard and aggressive with his long blasts and head first slides and he lived his life the same way. He was believed to have been paid more than any other player except Babe Ruth in 1930, but he died penniless in Baltimore in 1948. Hack Wilson was inducted into The National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.

      There are a number of books written about Hack Wilson, but one in particular paints a clearer image of his life in Ellwood City – Hack – written by Bob Boone  click HERE for an exerpt

 If you would like to share any memories you have, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      On the 24th of October 1968, the Beaver County times reported that Councilman Dom A. Viccari revealed plans for a municipal park in the abandoned limestone quarry bordering North Sewickley Township. The area that was commonly referred to at the time as the “brick yard” would be called Limestone Park. A number of legal battles ensued following the announcement including a claim by North Sewickley Township Supervisors who declared that the land belonged to them as it was in their township. The final ruling was however that the land had been annexed to the borough five years earlier.
       Plans were drawn up immediately for a paved road to be built to the area of the park where several large caves are located. Viccari, who served as the chairman of the parks committee at the time hoped to preserve the caves for their natural beauty and interest along with all seventy six acres.
      Construction of the “new highway” or “four lane highway” had not yet started and it was believed that this new road would make access from the east to the park easier. Today, access is only possible at Brighton Road to the west onto Hack Wilson Drive that goes through the park. Hack Wilson Drive is the sole acknowledgement in Ellwood City of the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer who was born and raised in our town.  
      In 1978, Ellwood city borough obtained Federal Funds through the State Department of Community Affairs to install four lighted tennis courts, a soccer field, and two softball fields in the now forty four acre park. It was then Mayor Sam Teolis who came up with the idea to re-name the park Stiefel Park in honor of Ralph C. Stiefel (re-inventor of Ellwood City with his patented process for making seamless tubing). Today, the park is home to four various size softball fields with lights, lighted soccer field, roller hockey rink, a small playground, and the entrances to the caves have been blocked off.
      Depending on who you are talking to, the park still goes by a number of different names. Stiefel Park still gets called Limestone Park but more commonly we get people calling it the brick yard or even Brickyard Hill. The entire area the park now resides was once an operating coal mine called Kirkman’s Coal Mine.

       In his eighteen year coaching span here, the ledgendary coach Bill Spellman turned Ellwood City into one of the best High School teams in the area winning two WPIAL championships back when the league consisted of 130 teams as there were no separations based on school size such as single A, triple A, as it is today. His team barely missed a third title during his tenure on the final at at-bats in the final inning. 
       During Spellman’s final ten years, Ellwood City won the section title eight out of those ten years, won two league championships, finished runner-up once and reached the semi finals three other times. His career total of 320 wins and 87 losses gives him a remarkable winning rate of 79%. His teams compiled incredible records such as 23-3 (1962), 20-2 (1965). 27-2 (1968) 26-4(1969) and 30-7 (1971), winning sixteen games in a row that his final season.

Excerpt from Spellman: One Man’s Influence by Rev. John Zingaro
       “In that day, athletes tended to play two sports, sometime three. Many teens from the schools in the area who faced each other in football and basketball would also meet in baseball. Thus, stars from nearby towns like Joe Namath and Mike Ditka who gave Ellwood City headaches in the autumn and winter also played against the local boys in the spring. But, in the spring, schools which gave Ellwood City trouble in other sports met their match. Ellwood became a powerhouse in baseball. Playing against schools two to five times its size, Spellman’s teams rose to renown in the second largest high school league in the nation, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL).
      A modest man, Spellman often gave credit to others. And rightly so. He knew how dedicated were many dads and moms in the steel town of Ellwood City – as well as those in its neighboring communities of Koppel, Wampum, Chewton, Wurtemburg and Ellport. They formed the foundation for the coach’s success by creating one of the nations earliest and best-organized sandlot baseball programs. But once the youths arrived at Lincoln High School, it was Spellman who took them to an even higher level.”
 

    Around the turn of the century, the Shelby Tube Mill team was one of the best in the area consisting of Judd Turner, Bid Gillespie, Bill Robbins, Paul Luther, Bill Bayers, Chip Bayers, Joe Havice, Danny Bookamer, Barney McKay, and former minor leaguer Connie Wardman (who mentored Major League Hall of Fame Hack Wilson).

      Paul Luther was the star pitcher of the team leading the 1909 team to a 19-1 record. Later he played an important role in building the Veterans Memorial swimming pool and the Helling Stadium football field in Ewing Park along with teammate William Bayers.

    The Shelby Tube Mill sponsored a baseball team from 1900 to 1910 and the area’s best players seemed to always find their way onto the team.

     We wanted to post a story about the greatest sports franchise in the area but had a difficult time narrowing the story down with all the incredible players to play for Coach Hennon’s Wampum High School Basketball teams. We are planning to follow up this article with a number of articles highlighting the individual players. We would like to hear from you what players you remember, or any other memories you would like to share about the Wampum Indians Basketball Teams.

    School Principal and Head Coach Butler Hennon became nationally famous when Life Magazine did a feature on his unusual training techniques and the resulting success in their January 6, 1958 issue. Hennon’s unusual training techniques (unusual at the time) are still used by schools across the nation today.

     Practices were held with players wearing oversized rubber boots, a duck jacket weighted with sand, work gloves and blinders. To improve dribbling, players practice wearing gloves and taped glasses to keep them from watching the ball, Tug-Of-War for the ball between players handicapped by galoshes and weighted jackets to make tactic more difficult, medicine balls held high get players accustomed to keeping arms up to block passes, and tires hung from the ceiling for passing drills. Some skeptics could argue with the methods, but no one could argue with the resulting 100+ point games, almost season long winning streaks and the three AA State Titles.

     Many of Hennon’s players went on to play at local colleges; most notably first team All American Don Hennon at the University of Pittsburgh and Ron Galbreath NAIA ALL American at Westminster. Noveleski played at St. Francis, Shena and Swogger started for Geneva, Hank Allen had a sensational freshmen year at a small school in Ohio (maybe Baldwin Wallace) and Ron Allen played at Youngstown, and we are sure there are others we are missing. Speaking of the Allen’s, what other small town produced three major league baseball players such as the Allen brothers? From oldest to youngest, the Allen brothers were Harold, Richie, and Ron. Richie went straight from Wampum High School to the Philadelphia Phillies. Harold (or Hank) played basketball at Baldwin Wallace in Ohio his first year out of High School and then signed with the Phillies at the same time Richie (Dick) did. Ron was younger and was key to the 1960 AA title team and he played seven games in the majors for the St Louis Cardinals. There are some that would argue that Harold Allen had the best chance of reaching the NBA, even more so than the all-time great Don Hennon, but he gave up basketball for baseball.

     All this from a school with around 100 students in High School and sixty percent of the student body were girls.

We recently received a picture of the 1964 Ellwood City Pony League Champions – the Sons Of Italy. A number of the faces look familiar such as Mike DeOtto, but we are not positive of who is who. If you know anyone pictured here or remember the baseball team itself, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

History Links

Ellwood City Area Historical Society www.EllwoodHistory.com

Ellwood City’s Amusement Park www.RockPointPark.com

Fombell Historical Society www.FombellHistory.org

News Links

Ellwood City Ledger www.ellwoodcityledger.com

Government Links

Borough of Ellwood City www.ecboro.com

Ellwood City Chamber  www.ellwoodchamber.org

Ellwood City Revitalization www.ellwoodcityrevitalization.org

Recreactional Links

Ellwood City Library www.ellwoodcitylibrary.com

Ellwood City Baseball Association www.ellwoodcitybaseball.com

Ellwood City Memories is not a complete history as much as it is meant to be a collection of memories of Ellwood City. If you would like to read more about the HISTORY of Ellwood City, we recommend the following books…

A History of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania / compiled by A. E. Whittaker, edited by the Ellwood City Historical Association. Imprint Butler, PA. : Printed by Record-Ziegler Printing Co., 1932-1942.

Ellwood City Houses and the People Who Lived in Them / Charles R. Moser ; produced by Steve Shinsky ; photos by Buquo Studios ; c1994.

Ellwood City’s Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Booklet and Program : Ellwood City — 75 years of progress.
Imprint Ellwood City, PA : Ellwood City Ledger, 1967.

100 Years of Memories: Centennial 1892-1992 Ellwood City’s Pennsylvania
Imprint Ellwood City, PA : Ellwood City Ledger, 1967.

Steeltown / Charles R. Walker / Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York / 1950. A book-length study of Ellwood City and its National Tube Co. mill by social science researchers from Yale University in 1946-1948, a time when the mill was threatened with closing.

Infantryman Petitt – By William Gavin

Hack – Bob Boone (story of Hack Wilson, click HERE for an exerpt)

Ellwoodian – Lincoln High School yearbooks, Ellwood City

Pathfinder – Riverside High School yearbooks, Ellwood City

History of the 100th Pennsylvania Roundheads – By William Gavin

History of the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Its Forebearers and Successors in the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean Emergency.
Imprint Allentown, PA : Lithographic Service, Inc.

175th Anniversary Book of Wampum PA –