Miami Blues Scorecard--1946 late season

The KOM League

Flash Report

For

August 2 thru 9, 2015

 

Note: For future reference this report is posted the Flickr site at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/19971817506/i

 

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How long does it take?

 

Each time a Flash Report is prepared a number of them go to people who have no interest in such stuff (the majority). However, there is a select cadre of good Samaritans who receive and print the reports and take them to some folks who don’t have computers and those without computers actually want to see the reports, or so I’m told.

 

One distribution pipeline goes between my computer and Pittsburgh, PA. From there the reports are allowed to incubate and on the next trip from Pittsburgh to Burgettstown, PA a whole pile of paper goes along for the ride.

 

Return with us now to “Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear,” in this case April 12, 2015. Around 9:00 p.m. in the Eastern Daylight time zone, on July 30, 2015 a call was placed to me. The caller said “I’m sitting here with the Reds/Pirates game on television and thought I’d call you and ask a question.” When I don’t have answers to questions I have no fear for I can invent them. The caller said he was reading the Flash Report for the week of April 12 through 18 and saw the name of Walt Wherry. Since very few of the readers will recall that name I’m attaching the URL, containing the Flash Report that mentioned him. www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/17004911050/

 

Making the call from Burgettstown was former Pittsburgh Pirate minor leaguer, Pete Maropis. I would have given his middle name but his parents were frugal and didn’t place one on his birth certificate. Anyway, Pete has been a friend for a long time and is only one of two former KOM leaguers in the past three years to visit with me in Columbia, MO. In his recent call he wanted to get the telephone number of his old roommate at Davenport, Iowa in 1949. They had also been teammates at Fargo-Moorhead in 1948.

 

In preparing the April 12, 2015 Flash Report there wasn’t any effort to document the whereabouts of Mr. Wherry or if he was still living. I told Pete I thought Wherry may have been deceased but that I would do some checking. A quick run through the regular resource files indicated that he was most likely alive and was now 88- years old. I called Pete back with that information and he said that was the correct age for his old roommate.

 

Maropis played a lot of baseball with guys in the Pirate minor league chain who went to the major leagues and he declared that the strongest throwing arm he had ever seen belonged to Wherry. Maropis also saw some decent arms in the KOM, Northern, Three-I and Western Association but none to top Wherry. Maropis was the runner up to Mickey Mantle in hitting in the Western Association in 1950. He has always laughed that although he finished second he was still 50 points behind the hard-hitting Joplin shortstop.

 

From the time Wherry left Davenport, in 1949, until the mid- 1970’s the former roommates hadn’t seen each other. At that point in time Wherry contacted Maropis to advise him his slow pitch softball team, from Cincinnati, was playing a game about 50 miles from Pittsburgh and that he wanted him to attend the game. Pete said he watched about seven innings of the game and told Wherry he needed to get home. Wherry insisted that his old pal hang around and they would go out after the game. Pete responded that the team would go out and drink and that he couldn’t do that and then drive half a hundred miles home. Things like that explain why Pete, no middle name, Maropis will be 90 on his next birthday which is September 27. He said that when he came home from the Army he rolled back his age a year so as to be able to get signed to a professional contract. He wanted to run it back a couple more since he had been in the service for three years but he knew the Pirate scout wouldn’t buy that story.

 

By the time Pete’s birthday rolls around I trust he will have spoken with his old teammate. In looking through some additional documents since I mentioned Walt Wherry in the April 12-18 Flash Report, it is astonishing the things he accomplished in softball and semi-pro baseball with the Ft. Wayne Dairymen even in the same year. . However, in 1964 the National Baseball Congress conducted a poll. By that time 15,359 players had participated in that tournament held each year in Wichita, Kansas. The person voted the most outstanding player of all-time was Leroy Satchel Paige and the runner-up was Walter Vernon Wherry. In another recent discovery he was elected to a Covington, Kentucky High School sports hall of fame. rcnky.com/articles/2014/03/20/covington-public-schools-at...

It appears that he was alive to attend the event. He was a graduate of Holmes High School in 1946.

 

Sept. 3, 1956--WICHITA, Kan. (UP) — An ex- New Orleans Pelicans outfielder tonight will seek to become the first pitcher to win five games in a National Baseball Congress tournament —a record that evaded even the great Satchel Paige. The converted outfielder to make the bid is righthander Walt Wherry of the Fort Wayne, Ind., Dairymen, who tonight will seek to win a fifth national title for their city when they meet the Deming, Wash. Loggers in the finals. Wherry has pitched two shutouts in going the distance three times so far in the tourney. His other victory was in relief. Paige pitched in the first national for Bismarck, N. D., in 1935 and won four games. Thirteen others since have equaled Paige's record. Fort Wayne moved into the title round. Sunday night with a 4 to 1 victory over the Sinton, Tex., Plymouth Oilers. The Deming club, which has eight Zender brothers on its roster, won 11 to 3 in the other semifinal game over the .Alpine. Tex., Cowboys. Alpine and Sinton are scheduled to meet tonight to determine third and fourth place. (Note: One of the Zender brothers mentioned, Nick, played in the KOM league with the Ponca City Dodgers in 1949).

 

At the rate Maropis gets to read these Flash Reports it will be Christmas when he sees this one. So, Pete, Merry Christmas. When hearing from people like Maropis who don’t have a computer I feel bad for they don’t get everything in these reports, namely, the URL’s. If I printed all of those these reports would encompass twice as many pages. I guess I could cut the size of the reports and include the URL’s.

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Anatomy of locating a former KOM leaguer

 

Jack Morris, baseball necrologist, found a recent obituary of a John E. Bright and in it was a statement that the recently departed had played two seasons of minor league baseball in the New York Yankee minor league system. He thought the person in the obituary might have been one of the guys listed as playing in the KOM league in 1949. He wrote: “Are these two guys the same guy?

www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=fleish000her

www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=fleisc001her

 

For those of you who won’t be clicking on any URLs the answer to the question as to whether Jack Bright and John Bright who played with Pittsburg, KS and Miami, Okla. in 1949 was the same guy the answer is “Yes.”

 

That brought another note from Jack Morris regarding a column he had found on Oscar Wigman. “You may have seen this already but here’s a story about Oscar Wigman.” www.coppercountrynews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&...

 

Ed comment:

 

Wigman played at Pittsburg, Kansas for a while in 1951 but you won’t find any information along those lines in any of the record books. I wrote about Wigman at the time of his passing in 1996 but hadn’t seen this recent vintage column that Jack Morris shared.

 

As an afterthought I mentioned to Morris that with the exception of George Sousa Dias, Robert Wesley James and Herbert Fleischer I could now account for all the roster players from that 1951 Pittsburg Browns team.

 

Within a short period of time I had this message from Morris. It was a newspaper article that read “George Lippe of Brooklyn, scout of the St. Louis Browns, has signed Herbert Fleischer, a 17-year-old sensational left-handed pitcher of the Shandaken, N. Y. club to contract, with the Appleton farm of the Wisconsin State League. Fleischer, who stands 6-1 and weighs 178 pounds, lives in the Bronx. He owns a blazing fast ball, a nice assortment of curves and a good change of pace. With Shandaken he won 12 straight without a loss and fanned 117 batters, 20 in one game. The boy inherits his baseball talents from his dad, a policeman attached to the Tax Bureau, who was formerly a hard-hitting outfielder with the New York City Police Department nine.” bklyn.newspapers.com/newspage/54530387/

 

Ed note:

 

Shandaken, NY was a site of a summer camp for boys between the ages of 9-20. The camp which was 125 miles north of New York City. Herbert Fleischer’s dad, mentioned in the article. was named Joseph.

 

The foregoing was most of what I knew regarding the short term KOM leaguer but found this in the newspaper archives.

 

Deseret News January 19, 1952 page 19

 

In late 1951 some Japanese baseball officials were actively recruiting minor league baseball players in the United States. I’m paraphrasing the gist of the January 1952 article that was carried by the Associated Press and I found in the Deseret News published in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Japanese representative stated that their group was looking for young men of Class C caliber as that matched the level of play in Japan at the time.

 

In attempting to attract American ballplayers the cultural experience and the ability to play competitive baseball was highlighted. The Japanese spokesman stressed that the players would not be bringing home any American dollars at the close of the season for that was a commodity of which was in short supply. Near the end of the article it stated that Herbert Fleischer of New York City had expressed an interest in plying his wares in the Land of the Rising Sun and that he had spent the 1951 season with Fargo-Moorhead.

 

Well, sports fans, he didn’t spend all of it there and in my best judgment he never played an inning in the Northern league. I do know he was with Appleton, Wisconsin of the Wisconsin State and Pittsburg, Kansas of the KOM leagues in 1951. No record book will indicate he was with Pittsburg but he pitched on the evening of August 15 in relief. His second stint on the mound was at Carthage, MO on August 21 and he was the losing pitcher once again in a relief role. He had one more shot on the mound prior to the conclusion of the season and he came on in the 8th inning on August 25th against Bartlesville and didn’t either win or lose. So, his KOM record was 0-1.

 

In all the attempts at documenting the 1951 Pittsburg Browns I knew Fleischer was from the Bronx, NY. I recall hearing from someone who kept up with Fleischer after he left the KOM league and a search was initiated to figure out who had seen him after he left the KOM league and when. This is a note I received from Frank Winkler, a Detroit native, who caught for Pittsburg in 1951. This note was received in 2006. "I thought of something just after I finished the letter to you. The 3rd baseman for Iola was a fellow from New York named Vito Valenzano. After the season I went to New York and stayed with Herb Fleischer and his parents in the Bronx. I thought Detroit was big, New York is unbelievable. To show what a small world it is, one evening Herb and I were walking on Broadway. In 1951 it was safe to walk the streets at any time day or night. Who do you think we ran into? It was Vito Valenzano who played for Iola. I thought you would find that interesting. Until the next time. Keep Healthy, anxious to hear from you again"

 

Since hearing from Frank Winkler nine years ago I had spent all my time in searching from Fleischer going through documents in New York. Then, with his birth year information pretty much defined I widened my search. This is a very long URL but I’m attaching it for research verification purposes. search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gss=angs-g&new=1&... What that URL states is that Herbert J. Fleischer was born February 15, 1934 in the Bronx, New York and passed away on September 11, 2005 in Cincinnati, Ohio. From all the foregoing information I know the first and last address he ever had. But that kind of documentation is a bit on the overkill side and not included.

In order to tie some loose ends I was curious if Fleischer ever made the trip to Japan that was mentioned in the January 19, 1952 Associated Press article. Only one person came to mind who could answer that question so I got in touch with Marty Kuhnert in Japan. He knows everything about baseball in that country and even knows more about Joe Stanka than even Joe himself does. I explained everything I knew about Fleischer to Kuhnert and within mere minutes of sending him an e-mail he responded with of his own and this is what he said. “To my knowledge no one by the name of Herbert J. Fleischer ever played in Japan. He certainly didn’t play for the first team of any of the 12 major teams, and in those days there were no independent leagues, and I don’t think company teams as well employed foreign players. Maybe he slipped through the cracks and played some place here, but I rather doubt it. I will ask around and if I can find anything out, I will let you know. All best wishes. “ Marty

 

Well, that word from Marty Kuhnert was enough for me to close the book on Herbert J. Fleischer. No baseball records available show him playing in 1952 which aroused my suspicion that he may have gone to Japan that year. He could have made the trip to the Orient but he didn’t play any baseball. In 1953 he put on his “traveling shoes” and was on the roster of teams in Dublin, GA; New Iberia, LA; Hot Springs, AR: Clovis, NM and Abilene, TX. By the end of the 1953 season he had reached the ripe old age of 19 and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went into military service.

 

Well, the foregoing story took 21 years for me to unravel. Was it worth the journey? Does it add anything to the combined wisdom of the ages? Will the world be better off because of it? The answer to the questions I asked myself is “Who knows.” But, the attempt at finding a bunch of old guys has kept me out of the bars and hopefully has helped stave off senility or delay it a bit.

 

Comment:

By determining the fate of Herbert Fleischer there are now 94 former KOM leaguers to either locate or determine their fate. I’d much rather find those names in a telephone book rather than on a tombstone.

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The Bill Froman Story:

 

When I wrote the title to this article I thought immediately of “The Jane Froman Story” that was a hit movie in my youth. www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am... If you are less than 75-years old you can click on the foregoing URL. Jane is still “around” as far as I’m concerned. I can get in my vehicle and be at her place in mere moments. She resides today on West Broadway Street in Columbia. Take a look at it for yourself. www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5971689 (Ed note: Before I receive a note that I missed naming Miss Froman’s hometown I will state that I’m aware it was Clinton, MO. A person, not identified here, was born there and sent me a note after the last report telling me I had confused Seaford, Del. with Stanford, Florida. I hadn’t but the note provided me with the opportunity to attempt to make contact with the fellow so we could have breakfast in the near future. Possibly, after some early morning coffee we could drop by the cemetery and pay tribute to the lady who was played by Susan Hayward, in the movie, “With a Song in My Heart.”

 

Now back to my Froman story:

 

Upon entering college in Oklahoma, in 1958, I read the Daily Oklahoma sports page and during the football season there was a top notch high school football team located 54 miles south of where I attended school. The team was the Lindsay Leopards. After graduation I moved to other Oklahoma towns and the newspapers reported on Saturday morning the success of the Lindsay football team the previous evening. They won Oklahoma high schools championships in 1958 and later in 1962 and 1963. In the years between 1958 and 1963 the team was always a powerhouse. Most powerhouses can be attributed to their coach.

 

Until a few days ago I didn’t know who coached Lindsay and never gave it any thought. But, now it takes on meaning. The coach attended Tulsa University on a full athletic scholarship where he played varsity football for the Golden Hurricane. From his success at Lindsay the coach moved on to some powerhouse programs in the Lone Star State leading such high school teams as Burkburnett, Corsicana, Mineral Wells and Rider High of Wichita Falls on two different occasions.

 

Much of what the coach learned as the batboy for the 1946 Miami, Oklahoma Blues helped him in later life. In our recent conversation he said that what he learned sitting around the Main Hotel in Miami listening to ballplayers talk opened his eyes to a lot of things and most of it was good. After a year as batboy for Miami games, both home and away, he was promoted the next year as the Miami Owls scoreboard operator. The young man of many talents was paid $3 a game as a batboy which came to the astronomical sum of $360 for the entire season. That was as much as some of the players were making at the time. As scoreboard operator, in 1947, the young man still received $3 per game but his total income was only half that of being batboy for he didn’t run the scoreboard when the team went on the road.

 

It never hurts to know someone when you wanted to be affiliated with a minor league team and the young man had a head start on everyone. He was the 13-year old son of Gertrude and Guy Froman. If you paid attention to last week’s report you know that Guy Froman was the manager of the 1946 Miami club.

 

Whenever contact is made with someone you never know how much they recall. Well, William Froman hadn’t forgotten very much. He traveled with the team to the other five cities in the KOM league and stayed overnight in only three of them. When Miami played at Carthage and Pittsburg it was a round trip most every time. One time the Miami club stayed overnight in Pittsburg, Kansas and billeted at the YMCA. The young Froman really enjoyed that due to the swimming pool in that facility. That swimming pool meant something different to the Carthage Cubs who were attracted to it. Don Anderson caught some guys in it the night he left be behind at the Pittsburg ball park and he fined every player 10% of their monthly salary, $15.00.

 

I’m sure I kept Froman on the telephone too long but he agreed to allow me to name each member of the 1946 Miami roster and he would retort with whatever came to his mind about that person. Only a few short term players on that team failed to elicit a response. So, for this next segment I pulled a brief profile on each Miami Blue and following that I placed Bill’s comment. Regarding some of the players he recalled the name but didn’t have anything in particular to say about them.

 

Alexander Warner L.

D. 7/18/1991 Lubbock, TX (grave stone says 1993)

B. 4/7/1922 Lubbock, TX

Froman’s comment: I don’t recall him.

 

Beran JosephWilliam.

D. 5/6/2000 Claflin, KS.

B. 8/16/1928 Odin, KS

Froman’s comment: He was an 18-year old and my hero on that team. He had more potential than anyone on that team.

John Hall’s comment: Beran was a pitcher at Miami but the next year he was with Ponca City and became a power hitter. Aside from Mickey Mantle, Beran had more home runs in one season, during his career, than any other KOM leaguer.

 

BrownRobert C.

D. 2/29/2004 Cicero, IL

B. 9/14/1918 Chicago, IL

Froman’s comment: He didn’t remember this person.

 

BurichDale John

D. 3/9/1972 Car accident Iowa City, IA

B. 5/29/1919 Riverside, IA

Froman’s comment: He was a very great fielder but wasn’t too good as a hitter.

 

Burris RobertHilliard

D. 3/09/2010 Aurora, Colo.

B. 8/5/1925 Tulsa, OK

 

Bush Simon

D. 8/7/2000 Wyandotte, OK

B. 9/6/192 Vian, OK

Froman’s comment: He was from the local area but I don’t recall much about hm.

 

CarsonRobertDudley (Died on 76th birthday)

D. 2/13/1999 Muskogee, OK

B. 2/13/1923Muskogee, OK

Froman’s comment: He was our backup catchers.

John Hall comment: He was one of the many KOM leaguers to have played with the Wichita, KS Boeing Bombers.

 

Chambers William Jesse

D. 2/5/2008 LaCrescenta, CA

B. 9/19/1922 Glendale, CA

 

Chandler William M.

Lives in Lake Kiowa, TX

B. 2/16/1926 Tulsa, OK

 

Conner Joseph Raymond

D. 1/10/2014 Durant, OK

B. 3/14/1924 Olney, TX

 

CookeJames Timothy

D. 9/08/1991 St. Louis, MO

B. 8/1/1922 St. Louis, MO

Froman’s comment: He had very good speed and played left field.

 

Cross Gerald D.

Lives in Ft. Smith, Ark.

B. 12/15/1924Ft. Smith, AR

 

DennisDavidC.

D. 10/1/1990 VA Hosp. Columbia, MO

B. 5/19/1922 Mapleton, KS

Froman’s comment: He was a tough guy and nobody talked back to him.

 

Dennis Jr. Hallie "Kid" Laverne

D. 12/1/2010 Ft. Scott, KS

B. 10/12/1925Mapleton, KS

 

Engel Oscar Joseph

D. 11/14/2000 Pampa, TX

B. 5/18/1923 Meeker, OK

Froman’s comment: He was a very good player as well as a nice guy.

 

Field Robert E.

Lives in Hutchinson, KS

B. 8/27/1922 Hutchinson, KS

Froman’s comment: I remember him as a blonde headed guy.

 

Froman Guy Willis

D. 3/3/1994 Claremore Hosp. (Miami, OK)

B. 2/4/1902 Peoria, OK (Located just outside of Miami)

 

Froman William Henry-Batboy

Lives in Wichita Falls, TX

B. 9/5/1933 Miami, OK

 

Hatfield Bain Rex

D. 8/26/1977 Keefeton, OK

B. 6/26/1924 Muskogee, OK

Froman’s comment: He was a very good ballplayer.

 

JordanSteve B.

D. 5/4/2009 Twinsburg, OH

B. 6/1/1922 Greenbriar, AR (Conway)

Froman’s comment: He was the mainstay of our pitching staff and was always ready to pitch.

 

JordanRay "Blue"

D. 2/16/1994 Tulsa, OK

B. 5/20/1916 Lucas, AR

Froman’s comment: He was the oldest member of the team and was mostly a relief pitcher. He also drove the team bus. He got married during the baseball season and my dad gave him one day off.

John Hall’s comment: Ray had a twin sister by the name of Fay. What I don’t know is “Did Ray arrive before Fay or vice-versa).” He went to Ponca City for a while in 1947.

 

Keithley Newton A.

D. 2/13/2005 Alvin, TX

B. 2/7/1920 Carterville, MO

Froman’s comment: He played for dad’s Eagle Picher team during the war and then joined the Miami team as the second baseman and was a good all-around player.

 

LewisRodney Neil

D. 6/28/2011 Lewisville, TX

B. 4/25/1923 Nowata, OK

Froman didn’t remember Lewis. Lewis spent most of his life as a protestant missionary.

 

MacKibben Harve

D. 2/19/1965

B. 3/14/1922 Quapaw, OK

Froman’s comment: He was a great high school athlete at Miami and he pitched for my dad’s Eagle-Picher team prior to the KOM league.

 

MarlerRalph Wesley

D.7/3/1978 Springfield, MO

1/29/1924 Springfield, MO

Froman didn’t recall Marler. He got another chance at the KOM league in 1947 when Tom Greenwade signed him and sent him to Independence, KS

 

McHugh Elden Edgar

Living in Kansas City 2014-- NE 37th St.

B. 9/20/1923 Dodge City, KS

Froman didn’t recall McHugh being with the Miami club.

 

Montgomery Robert D.

D. 3/5/1991 Picher, OK

B. 2/11/1919 Picher, OK

Froman’s comment: He was one of the older players on the team but a real good guy.

 

MooreWilliam Jackson

D. 1964 Baxter Springs, KS (1944 Baxter Springs Whiz Kid)

B. 2/1927 Neosho, MO

Froman didn’t recall this fellow.

 

Morgan William Preston

D. 5/30/2006 Okla. City.

B. 6/21/1927 Okla. City

 

Nettles Jr. Wesley Hardie

D. 02/1981 Westminster, CO

B. 11/23/1925 Sapulpa, OK

 

Pace Robert Joseph

D. 7/1980 Neosho, Missouri

B. 8/20/1918 Neosho, MO

 

Packard LorenLee

D. 11/28/1993 Amarillo, TX

B. 5/1/1926 Helena, OK

Froman recalled Packard as a good hitter.

 

Pollock Joseph Steven

D. 7/18/2003 Miami, OK

B. 12/26/1920 Cleveland, OH

 

Riba Jr. Coleman A.

D. 11/23/1997 Miami, OK

B. 6/17/1918 Cleveland, OH

Froman didn’t recall Riba being on the team very long.

 

Schmidt Marvin G.

D. 3/11/2001 Grinnell, IA

B. 3/30/1922 Lodomillo Twp Clayton County,. IA

Froman didn’t recall this short term member of the team.

 

Smith Thomas F. "Buddie"

D. 12/6/1987 Johnson County, OK (Milburn)

B. 10/22/1923 Milburn, OK

Froman didn’t recall this member of the team.

 

Sooter Jr. James Elisha

D. 10/08/2006 Vinita, OK

B. 2/1/1924 Bluejacket, OK

Froman recalled that Sooter was from the area but wasn’t with the team very long.

 

White Billy Nattie

D. 8/12/1997 Breckenridge, TX

B. 3/31/1926 Breckenridge, TX

From had not recall of this player.

 

Zapf Bernard L

D. 3/5/1990 Bernard, IA

B. 8/6/1923 Volga, IA

________________________________________________

Sort of on the same subject:

 

Recent mention of Native American’s, who played in the KOM league, prompted this input from the foremost historian, on planet earth, with regard to the Arkansas State and Arkansas/Missouri leagues. “I found your research on the Native Americans in the KOM to be particularly interesting. The Arkie-Mo had several guys named "Chief" and I always wondered if they might have been Native Americans. Thanks for loading everything up on Flickr - it's a great place to catch up on all the photos you've uploaded and with the Report or text underneath them collects everything in one place.” Jerry Hogan—Fayetteville, Ark.

 

When someone is kind enough to share words like the foregoing my generous impulses take over and I make offers that turn out to cover dozens of additional e-mails. I told Hogan that most every ballplayer called “Chief” was most likely Native American. I did cite Elon “Chief” Hogsett from Brownell, Kansas who was probably an exception to that rule. Stepping out on a limb I told Hogan that if he supplied the names of the “Chiefs” who played in the Arkansas State and Arkansas/Missouri leagues I could most likely tell him from what tribe they belonged.

 

From the point of sending out that offer and getting back the names of the “Chiefs” I had a bit of writer’s remorse. I figured I may have overstepped my limited research capabilities. But shortly, the heat was on for I had before me the challenge to find the ancestry of Columbus Shell and Frisco Roberts.

That project turned out to be fun. Both indeed were full-blood Native Americans. Shell was a Cherokee and Roberts was Creek. They were both from Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and were from towns and buried in cemeteries that you’d think I made up if I mentioned them. I could mention them if someone wants to know more about Mr. Shell who pitched for the Springfield, MO Midgets of the Western Association back in 1929 before eventually winding up at Siloam Springs, Arkansas in 1934. During his pilgrimage on earth he lived many places, even Joplin, MO where in 1940 he was employed in a lumber yard.

 

Frisco Roberts was a young man who started off with Siloam Springs, Ark. in 1940 but don’t spend any time looking up his nearly 60 games with that team for the league folded after the 4th of July and ballplayers were either out of a job or being signed by another organization. You can look about everywhere for 1940 statistics but about the only guy who has them is the previously mentioned historian, Jerry Hogan.

Roberts was picked up by the St. Louis Cardinals and finished the 1940 season and then spent 1941 in their organization before going on to serve his country, joining the Army in 1941 at Oklahoma City. After the war he was back home in the Sooner State playing for Seminole and Duncan for three years. He was another member of Otto Utt’s Duncan Uttmen and in his three seasons in the Sooner State league he had ten teammates who had or would play in the KOM league.

 

Well, I could have gone into much more detail on the Native Americans cited by Mr. Hogan but I’ve done run out of space, energy and visual acuity. If I had gone further I would have mentioned Frisco’s mother’s maiden name was Bear and she raised her children in Tiger, Oklahoma. Fittingly, when the end came for Roberts he was in Oklahoma and is in a cemetery called “The Last Chance.” You all have heard of bear grease. Columbus Shell’s final resting place was a cemetery at Greasy, OK. Take your time looking up those places. But, they do exist.

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Once again a Flash Report comes to an end. Will there be another? Each time one is written I think to myself “This has to be the end of things.” And, it will be the end without readers responding and providing grist for the mill. It seems that just the mention of anything, regardless of much historical significance, can be turned in a 10-12 page missive.

Oh, I do know something I can share. In recent days the Kansas State Historical Society has been given copies of many Baxter Springs Whiz Kid team photos from 1944 through 1949 by Wylie and Mary Ann Pitts. This past week a set of those photos, along with the identification, was sent to me for proof reading purposes. In one case I knew the name that was left blank and made the spelling of the last name of one of the four-time Whiz Kids consistent in each picture. Other than that I think if you go on Kansas Memories and look for the Baxter Springs Whiz Kid photos they should be on-line or will be shortly. Now, that is definitely all I know.

 

Done