Missouri’s first statewide semi-pro baseball event was held in Jefferson Metropolis in 1936. The Nationwide Semi-Professional Baseball Congress, based mostly in Wichita, Kansas, had held nationwide tournaments for just a few years and was in search of participation from Missouri.
Solely eight groups, from the anticipated 20-plus invites, had signed up by the July Eight deadline. So Columbia, the unique host website, cancelled for “lack of curiosity.” The congress workplace despatched its public relations man, Harry “HAP” Peebles, to the Capital Metropolis to see the occasion by way of.
Peebles arrange his short-term workplace on the sports activities desk of the Jefferson Metropolis Information Tribune’s 4-year-old constructing downtown. He despatched out 100 invites to semi-pro ball golf equipment statewide, yielding 10 extra groups.
The 11-day ballfest was set at Whiteway Park, later the native drive-in and now an open subject within the 700 block of Heisinger Street.
“Not within the final 15 years has town been so enthused over baseball prospects as at the moment,” the Jefferson Metropolis Publish Tribune reported. “Central Missouri baseball followers might be handled to the flashiest model of baseball ever performed on the Capital Metropolis diamond. … The favored American sport was regaining curiosity in Jefferson Metropolis.”
The double-elimination event determined which workforce would signify the state on the Nationwide Semi-Professional Baseball Congress in Wichita. Over 11 days, 29 video games have been performed by groups from Bonnots Mill, Chamois, Hermann, Iberia, Jefferson Metropolis, Kansas Metropolis, Mokane, Poplar Bluff, Salem, Sedalia, Springfield, Tipton and Windsor.
Former Brooklyn Dodger Zach Wheat, who was residing in Polo, Missouri, on the time, opened the event, tossing the ball to Mayor Means Ray. Wheat performed with the Dodgers for 17 years with a batting common of .324 then later was a supervisor.
Children beneath the age of 15 have been admitted with a membership card for the “Knothole gang” and given their very own seating part. Beer was not offered on the park, however some introduced alongside their very own bucket.
The primary recreation was performed by the Capital Metropolis Utilities versus the Poplar Bluff All-Stars. Different native groups included the Jefferson Metropolis Tweedie Shoemen and the Jefferson Metropolis Bulldogs. The event was built-in, together with the Tipton Tigers and the final word winners, the Kansas Metropolis Blackhawks.
Cardinals scout Gordon “Mae” Maguire was on the event for a number of days, telling the native newspaper he could have discovered some seemingly younger prospects for the majors.
Ending Aug. 11, 1936, the event was not a monetary success, regardless of reviews of as much as 1,000 spectators on some nights. Nonetheless, the statewide event reappeared in Jefferson Metropolis for a second 12 months.
Two groups from the 1936 Missouri event superior to the nationwide event — the first-place workforce, the Kansas Metropolis Blackhawks, and the native workforce, which beat the Blackhawks within the second spherical 14-2, the Jefferson Metropolis Utilities, which took second within the event. Then the Blackhawks received the championship recreation, 17-0, over the Salem Pink Sox, who had overwhelmed the Utilities within the third spherical 10-9.
The Utilities received their opening recreation 6-5 over the Poplar Bluff Stars, however fell to fellow hometown workforce, the Tweedie Shoemen, 9-Eight within the fourth spherical. An encore match between the Utilities and the Mokane Athletics adopted the championship recreation and earned the native workforce the nationwide invitation.
Each man within the Utilities lineup, apart from first baseman Adolph Adrian and shortstop Philbert Newton, had hits of their last recreation, which they received 10-2. Newton walked twice, and Adrian made the bottom on an error. Robert “Nooky” Lee, Edgar Ray Maxey and Oscar “Lefty” Ross every had a pair of hits. And pitcher Ross struck out 15 batters.
Within the nationwide event, the Utilities’ touring roster included pitchers Nick Duncan and Ross; catchers Roy Lee and Ed Holtzhauser; infielders Adrian, Fenton Slaughter, Newton and Francis Stokes; outfielders Maxey, Herb Lee, Cave Barrow and Eddie Mueller; and utility man Norb Schulte. They beat the workforce from Howard, South Dakota, within the first spherical of the nationwide event, which started Aug. 15 in Wichita and featured groups from 27 state tournaments.
Within the win over Poplar Bluff, Carl Miles threw a wild, left-side curveball, second baseman Payne Muir offered superior defensive play; centerfielder Lee carried out some spectacular catching, and first baseman Cave Barrow was the “membership’s main stickman.”
Within the Mokane encore, Frank Triplett “was curving across the bases on his homer contained in the park; he was selecting them up and laying them down so quick that certainly one of his footwear got here off as he got here round third base,” the Publish Tribune reported.
Even supervisor LaVerne Thompson made an impression. “It was swell to see Utility Chief Thompson hunt up Salem boss Claude Smith to congratulate him on the Sox victory,” the newspaper mentioned. “A great handshake and a pat on the again will go a great distance.”
Michelle Brooks is a former reporter for the Jefferson Metropolis Information Tribune. Harry Peebles is her grandfather.
— to www.newstribune.com
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