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The KOM League Flash Report for August 11, 2018

The KOM League

Flash Report

For

August 11, 2018

Or some time close to it!

 

This edition of the Flash Report is currently housed on the Flickr site at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/43912376681/ The photo is one taken during the past week and required that I aim the camera and shoot fast.

 

This edition of the report pays tribute to three gentlemen who have passed away in recent days.

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Guerney M. "Gus" Freeman—Former Miami Owl passes away

 

The KOM League Remembered book, published in 2004, had four images on the front cover. On the left are two left-handed hitters and the other is of Mickey Mantle and his Baxter Springs Whiz Kid manager, Barney Barnett. These are classic photos and the one with the two left-handed batters was shared with me by Guerney Freeman. The two batters are Bernie Tye and Tom Tarascio who played for Miami, Okla. in 1948. Tye got to Miami about the same time Freeman joined the club after being sent down from Topeka. Tye wound up in Miami after slapping the Iola, Kansas owner in the face after the owner made a comment to him that didn’t sit well. That is another story that has been featured in at least one of my books and retold many times in KOM league periodicals. The photo of Tye and Tarascio was replicated some 50 years later at a KOM league reunion.

 

With that bit of introduction here is the obituary of Freeman.

 

www.legacy.com/obituaries/knoxnews/obituary.aspx?n=guerne...

 

Guerney "Gus" Freeman, 95, a native of Kingsport and resident of Colonial Heights, TN passed away peacefully on August 6, 2018, at Shannondale Health Care Center in Knoxville, TN.

 

He attended Dobyns-Bennet High School and played all sports. His hometown team of Borden Mill Village won the 1941 National Semi-Pro Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Guerney went on to join the Navy, graduating from the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps, and served his country providing equipment testing at the Naval Proving Grounds in Dahlgren, VA during World War II.

 

Guerney attended the College of William and Mary. For what he considered the best 11 years of his life, he played baseball as a utility player for many minor league clubs in the Midwest region, culminating his career working for the Brooklyn Dodgers organization. Between seasons, he held other odd jobs including welding at TVA's John Sevier Fossil Plant, welding for General Motors prior to assembly line automation, and working at Bob Wood's Men's Shop in Kingsport, where he met his wife. Guerney later worked for Kraft Foods in their agricultural, retail, and institutional divisions winning many national sales awards before retiring at 67 as a Territory Manager. He enjoyed the game of golf and became a ranger at Warrior's Path State Park Golf Course for several years.

 

Guerney loved everything related to the sporting world and especially reminiscing. He enjoyed nature, talking about business, working around the house, and visiting with friends and family. He was an Elvis fan, danced to big band music, and was a fitness enthusiast. He was truly a "people person" and will be missed by all who knew him.

 

The family would like to recognize the staff of Shannondale Health Care Center for their extraordinary love and compassion during his time there.

 

Guerney was preceded in death by his wife, Alice Williams Freeman; parents, Marion and Texas Freeman; sister, Verna Freeman; and brother, Ernest and Parmer Freeman.

 

He is survived by his daughter, Carla Lewis and husband, Dennis of Powell, TN; sister, Christine Freeman; and several nieces and nephews.

 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made on his behalf to Holston United Methodist Home for Children, P.O. Box 188, Greeneville, TN 37744, phone 423-638-4171.

 

The family will receive friends on Saturday from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport. The funeral will follow at 1:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow the service at Zion Methodist Church Cemetery, 6055 Horton Highway, Baileyton, TN with military rites by the American Legion Post 3/265.

Published in Knoxville News Sentinel on Aug. 10, 2018

 

Ed comment on obituary:

 

In 1941 the National Baseball Congress champion was the Enid, Oklahoma Champlin Oil team, not the Borden Mill team as cited in the obituary. Borden Mill wasn’t even the runner-up as that honor went to the Waco, Texas Dons. In fact, of all my source material I can’t find any information on that Borden Mill team being at the Wichita tourney. If anyone has a copy of the 1942 National Baseball Congress Yearbook, look up that item and let me know if you find anything. Don’t be confused for the bulk of the data for the year of the tourney was carried in the next year’s yearbook. That same thing applies to the Baseball Guides published for professional baseball.

 

Borden Mill was a textile factory where Freeman’s mother and father worked.

 

Guerney’s professional career: Started the 1948 season with Topeka of the Western Association and was sent to Miami on July 15 of that year. In 1949 he played at Rocky Mount and Roanoke Rapids, NC in the Coastal Plain league. In 1950 he was with Greenville, S. C. in the South Atlantic and Lancaster, PA of the Inter-State leagues. His last shot at the game was 1951 when he played for Elizabethton, TN in the Appalachian league.

 

***

 

Freeman’s high school baseball team 1940 Kingsport, TN

 

There is up to a five year discrepancy in Freeman's listed age, depending on the source. Some sources claim he was born in 1928 but as a matter of fact he was born in 1923. It took me a long time to get him to admit it. Most everyone knows the reason he wanted to be younger, so that a professional team would sign him after WW II. I can even find him as a 16 year old, in 1940 in a Kingsport High School annual with him on various athletic teams.

 

The following link shows him with his high school basketball team and is only accessible if you have an Ancestry.com membership. There is also one of him on the baseball team but the basketball picture is superior quality. www.ancestry.com/interactive/1265/43134_b183201-00083?pid...

 

When Freeman reported to Miami, Okla. , in 1948, the local newspaper gave his birth year as 1924 but it was actually July 15, 1923

 

The My Life website was still carrying this detail prior to his death. “Guerney Freeman is 90 years old and was born on 7/15/1928. Currently, he lives in Kingsport, TN. Sometimes Guerney goes by various nicknames including Guerney M. Freeman and Guerney G. Freeman.”

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Death of a loyal reader and former New York Giant minor leaguer

 

Over the past couple of decades there was not a more loyal reader of the KOM league reports than a guy who called himself “Baseball Bill”, “Bill O”, or William O’Donnell.

 

O’Donnell happened on the KOM league news by chance and became what I called “An honorary KOM leaguer.” He was initially attracted to an article found in a KOM League Remembered newsletter about Duane Coots of the 1947 Carthage Cardinals. Coots a Buffalo, New York native later lived in Canandaigua (Shortsville), New York as did O’Donnell.

 

O’Donnell read the early KOM league paper newsletters, most of my books and then stayed on when the Flash Reports began to infest the Internet in late 1990. He loved the KOM league stories for he said they reminded him of the same experiences he had as a young pitcher in the New York Giant chain. His stops along the way were with Oshkosh, Wisc. of the Wisconsin State league in 1953, St. Cloud, Minn. of the Northern league in 1954 and Rock Hill, South Carolina of the Tri-State league in 1955. After a three year absence from the game he played for the Washington Senators Three-I league team at Fox Cities for a brief time in 1958.

 

Many times O’Donnell would make it into these reports for comments he made about the romance and glory of baseball at the mid-point of the 20th century. He was a highly educated gentleman and could make his minor league experiences of long bus rides, low pay and all that goes with it, something that sounded like it was the best time of his life. Oh, yes, he mentioned the young ladies that came to the minor league games and the one that stole his heart and they lived happily ever after, until….

 

This is a note that I received earlier this week from his son, Kevin. “Hi John, We want to notify you that former pitcher William Joseph O'Donnell, from Shortsville NY, passed away on Saturday morning, August 4, 2018, at age 83, in Durham, North Carolina. Obituaries will eventually appear in the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, the Durham (NC) Herald, The Shortsville-Canandaigua area newspaper (not sure of the name) and the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern (WI). A memorial service is tentatively planned for October 4, 2018, which would have been my father's 84th birthday. I have copied my mother on this email, should you need any further information.”

 

Until the obituary appears that will be the extent of the story about the deceased. I just wanted to let the readership known that “Baseball Bill” has departed the scene but his contributions to the content of the newsletters and Flash Reports were some of the reasons the reminiscing about old time baseball has survived, in this forum, for as long as it has.

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Death of a Bartlesville Pirate pitcher

 

www.geisenfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=2126855

 

Stanley “Squeezer” Pawenski, age 88, of Crown Point, IN, formerly Hammond, IN, passed away Saturday, August 4, 2018.

 

Loving father to daughter: Donna Mosca; sons-in-law: Michael Mosca and Ed Hmurovic. Devoted grandfather to Katie Jo (Peter) Lenzo, Jillian (Michael Burke) Hmurovic, Joshua Mosca, and Daniel Hmurovic. Dear great-grandfather to Joni Lenzo and Mia Mosca. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

 

Preceded in death by wife: Joan Pawenski (nee Chapman); daughter: Katherine Hmurovic; parents: Peter and Katherine Pawenski; siblings: Jessie Tobias, Casimir “Casey” Pawenski, Charlotte “Lottie” Skorupka, John “Yanks” Pawenski, Virginia “Virgie” Kostyo; and in-laws: Rolland and Vera Chapman.

 

Born into the great depression, Stan's life started out rough but he never let that get in his way. He was a devoted family man who cared deeply and would give the shirt off his back to his family and friends. He was a cook in the United States Air Force during the Korean War and retired from Inland Steel after 39 ½ years as a carpenter; but his true passion was baseball. He played baseball during his time in the Air Force and afterwards was a member of the Pittsburgh farm team. After being told he was “too small” he joined the KOM League and then played many years for the Sam & Henry Indians in East Chicago. He was inducted into the E.C Hall of Fame in 1979 and was always willing to pass on his knowledge and tips to future pitchers!

 

Squeezer also loved to fish and spent many years vacationing in the U.P. of Michigan with his family. He loved playing bingo with his wife Joan, or more like, she loved playing bingo and he happily accompanied her! He loved watching his westerns and cheering on his favorite football team, the Cleveland Browns. Grandpa Squeezer was his favorite title though, and lovingly referred to himself as “Grandpa's Taxi” as he enjoyed taking his grand kids to all their games and practices. Stan will be deeply missed by all but will forever remain in our hearts.

 

Visitation will be held Wednesday, August 8, 2018 at Geisen Funeral Home, 606 E. 113th Ave, Crown Point, IN, from 3:00 PM until the time of the service at 6:00 PM with Rev. Ronald Saatksamp officiating. A private burial will be held at Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens in Schererville, IN.

 

Stan was a member of Concordia Lutheran Church in Hammond, IN. In lieu of flowers, memorials in his memory would be appreciated in favor of Concordia Lutheran Church, Hospice of the Calumet Area, or Lurie Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL.

 

Sign Stanley’s online guestbook and view directions at www.GeisenFuneralHome.com – (219) 663-2500.

 

Ed comments:

 

Born: Christmas Eve 1929 in Hammond, Indiana.

Playing career: Started the spring of 1950 with the Hutchinson, Kans. Elks of the Western Association. He pitched in an exhibition game there on April 9. Within two weeks he was assigned to the Bartlesville roster. He didn’t stay with the Bartlesville club long enough to get into the record books.

 

Stan was a right-handed pitcher who finished the 1950 season in the Chicago Industrial league for the Sam and Henry Indians who were the state champions that year.

 

Also, the obituary stated he played professional baseball after the Korean War. He played prior to entering the service.

 

Here is a blurb from the April 9th edition of the Hutchinson News—that mentions Pawenski

 

Probable Hutchinson starters in batting order were announced Saturday night by (Wes) Griffin as follows Milt Graff, ss; Bob Clark or Tony Smeraglia, 2b; Pete Maropis, cf; Don Erlckson, lf; John Mitchell, rf, Charles McCormick c; Cal Frazer, ss; Harold White lb; Larry Jones, lhp or Gene Bussman, rhp. The lone rookie in the blasting line-up is Harold White, first baseman. He indicated he "belongs" Saturday when he smacked the ball over the fence in one practice swing, and twice banked it off the outfield wall. Hutchinson team officials spent hours in conference with Fred Herring, Pittsburgh farm secretary and Bill Burwell, Pirate scout, Friday night and Saturday, to get the Hutchinson squad within the 24-man season opening limit. Counting against the Hutchinson limit are all players optioned by the Elks. However, players who have been optioned to Hutchinson — Jones by Charleston, S. C.: and Pitcher Dick Sutter by New Or leans, are not counted. Jerry Dahms, catcher and Lou Tond, pitcher, remain on the Bartlesville roster for the time being. Stan Pawenski, pitcher, was optioned to Bartlesville. Gary Thornburg pitcher, was sold to York, Pa. Rookie Harry Gates, pitcher was sold to Salisbury, N. C., Bernie Vogt, catcher, and Mort Richie, pitcher, were sold to Oil City, Pa., an independent club. Robbie Robinson, catcher and Leon Geschan, infielder, were optioned to Mayfield, Ky. Tony Ernst, shortstop, was sold to Harlan, Ky. George Reding, outfielder, was given his outright release.

 

Editorial Comments:

 

Tony Smeraglia, Pete Maropis, Cal Frazer, Harold White, Dick Sutter and Harold White all played for Bartlesville prior to or after the spring of 1950. Jerry Dahms and Lou Tond stayed with Bartlesville that year. Of that group only Maropis, Sutter and Dahms survive. To the best of my knowledge Maropis is the only one of that group who gets this publication. Tony Smeraglia played for Bartlesville in 1947 and by 1950 was with Hutchinson in the spring. He wound up being sent Anniston, Alabama in the Southeastern league He was killed in a car wreck on July 3 of that year near Pell City, Alabama. He was a native of Birmingham, Alabama and I imagine he relished the idea of playing ball closer to home. Here is a big “what if.” What would have his life turned out to be had he remained with Hutchinson for the entire 1950 campaign?

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That is almost it for the week

 

Quite by accident I came across an article in a September 25th 1976 edition of the Carthage Evening Press. That article mentioned what had happened 40 years ago. One of the items mentioned “Area native Carl Hubbell Blanked Murderer’s Row in series game.” That Murderer’s Row was, of course the New York Yankees.

 

That precipitated this note to my lifelong friend, Corky Simpson, who had a distinguished career in the writing profession and got to know Carl Hubbell quite well when both lived in Arizona. Here is a note I shared with Cork. “Corky, what Hubbell told you in Arizona is once again vindicated. Maybe the official records will be corrected after we are gone. Not likely it will be done while we are still around."

 

Simpson’s reply:

 

Johnny: Thanks for sending that. Don't know if I told you this, but Hub walked with his left arm dangling down, the palm facing out away from his body. It was strange. Also, despite having a very cordial personality, he had a "grumpy" look on his face. One day I asked him, "Hub, you hold your arm like it hurts."

He said, "Hell, it's been hurting for 40 years."

Too many screwballs, I guess.

But he was a great guy. -- Corky

 

Ed comment:

 

Simpson and Yours truly have waged a losing battle with the “experts” who basically maintain Carl Hubbell was born in Carthage. He wasn’t, as much as both Simpson and I wish he had of been. I can verify where the Hubbell family lived, in 1900, Northeast of Carthage in the village of Red Oak and they paid their taxes, on that property, at the Lawrence County Court House in Mt. Vernon, MO before heading off to Cushing, Okla. when Carl was a pup. Carl told Simpson he was too young when leaving Red Oak to even remember it.

 

There are a couple of other bits of information on guys who played in the KOM league and eventually made it to the major leagues that will not be set straight during my lifetime. Cloyd Boyer was not born in Alba, Missouri but in Duval Township, six miles north of there.

 

Another fellow that the official records don’t have entirely correct is R. T. Upright who played for the 1947 Bartlesville, Okla. Oilers. Upright’s full name was Roy Theophilus Upright. He was born May 30, 1926 in Kannapolis, North Carolina and died there on December 12, 1986. You could almost write a song about “Theophilus from Kannapolis.” I’ve done this dance previously, in Flash Reports, but for those who have forgotten, the name of the Biblical Theophilus, meant righteous and upright. See the connection? The former Bartlesville slugger received his middle name from his grandfather. Admittedly, I spent a bit of effort in Upright family genealogy before making that discovery.

 

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