KOM League Flash Report for Friday September 13, 2019 ________-Three great grandkids

The KOM League

Flash Report

For

September 13, 2019

 

This Flash Report is on Flickr at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/48728821357/

The photo is described in the last item in this report.

 

A couple of weeks ago it was mentioned that an old acquaintance once told me to never tell people what is intuitively obvious, even to the most casual observer, upon first glance.. Well, he said it a tad bit differently. Without that sage advice I would have probably introduced this report by stating there wasn’t much to say.

 

There were a couple of readers who shared some comments and they both reside in California. Hank Chott, who started out in Chicago managed to work his way west to his current home in Glendora, California. He played at Iola, Kansas a few days then went into the service. Here is his comment regarding last week’s attempt at stringing a few sentences together. “An interesting report John. I didn't get very close with the Iola players (wasn't there long enough) and those that I did get to know were let go before me. But, I do remember the names Ed Scott and Dick Getter.”

 

A note was sent to Chott stating he was on the same roster with Ed Scott and that he would have heard the name of Getter as he was a standout for the team the year before his arrival.

 

Next up those making comments was Mark Santo. Last week there was an article about his late father and he assisted immensely in making that possible. He wrote, after receiving the report “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this story. And thank you for your time and efforts to research all of this information and put it all together so eloquently. I don't have the words to express how good this makes me feel; thank you for that too. Keep up the great work.”

 

A number of e-mails went back and forth between Santo and me and a lot of them had to do with former Ponca City Dodgers. Jim Baxes was mentioned a number of times. He was the father-in-law, for a while of the legendary Dean Martin. What some people may not know is that there was a James Baxes Jr... However, when he is credited with a television or movie role it’s under the name of James Coleman. If you read this URL you will learn the relationship between Dean Martin and Jim Baxes and also the close tie between Baxes Jr. and Stephen Spielberg. www.imdb.com/name/nm0171062/bio

 

Coming in with the third comment was the grandson of Matthew Leroy Robert Saban. Saban got his start with the 1949 Carthage Cubs and had a long career, mostly in the farm system of the Washington Senators. Any time you see the last name of Saban, in the sports realm, you can be assured they are all kin. Here is the comment from Jason Saban. “John, I hope all is well for you and always good to hear from you! How about those Cardinals?! They are hot right now and hopefully it continues.

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Perusal brings surprise

 

Since very few comments were received regarding last week’s report it provided time to peruse the internet for items of interest. Immediately, my attention came upon a site where a photo of the 1947 Miami Owls was contained. Below that photo was a question as to whether anyone could identify the players shown.

 

Well, that would about the easiest thing in the world to do. So, being a good guy I clicked on the photo and got this message. “Subscribe to comments on Minor League History: Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League on The _______Baseball Hangout!” The name of the baseball hangout was intentionally not included. However, I began working my way through all the photos contained on the site and every one of them came from the book “The KOM League Remembered” except one. The only photo that was credited was taken from another site. Why that site was credited and neither my publisher nor I was mentioned is up to a lot of speculation

 

By this time curiosity had the best of me and I decided to see how this site wrote about the KOM league. By golly, it was a total plagiarism job. Am I pleased with this happening? Well, I guess it doesn’t depend upon how I view it but rather the publishers for whom the book was written. Contact was attempted with the publisher (Arcadia) but they were shut down during the hurricane that paid a visit to North Carolina.

 

There may be more to this story later. Stay tuned. If any of you are good copyright attorney’s hang on, I may be in touch.

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Helping Gale Wade

 

Quite a bit of communication went back and forth this week with the Gale Wade family. For those of you from another century, Gale played baseball for many years in the minor leagues and even briefly with the “Windy City Cubs.”

 

Gales’ wife, Barbara, is quite an artist and sent a plea for photos of honey bees, bumblebees and goldfinch. More time was spent going through old hard drives looking for photos, back to 2001, than writing a Flash Report. And, I’m sure the photos are better than these reports and will be around much longer.

 

Mention of the foregoing contact is to let the Gale Wade fans know he is still doing well.

 

Final words.

 

By not having much input regarding last week’s report it gave me time to do other things. One of those things was having breakfast with the three great grandkids on Saturday morning the 7th of September.

 

It has been a custom since the birth of each for them to have breakfast, every Saturday with the guy the call “Geezer.” The oldest great grandson announced, a few weeks ago, that when people get to be 80, they die. Looking at him I reminded him that he could count. Then, he was asked what comes after 79? He looked at me with astonishment. He knew he had either said the wrong thing or that the Saturday morning breakfasts were nearing the end.

 

Following that discussion about old people the great grandson didn’t have much to say about the aging process for a while. This week he was on his way to school and his grandmother let him and his sister roll down their car windows and say hello. After a few short minutes the car was on its way and my great grandson called out “Goodbye, Geezer, I’ll miss you when you die.”

 

Well, I must say that statement gave me the best chuckle of the day for he has come to grips, in his way, of coping with the inevitable. And, that leads me to this. I’m not sure what practical good writing and then sending out these reports accomplish. It is hoped that when they go away someone will say they are missed. By checking my incoming mail I’m not sure that is apt to happen.

 

By the way, the foregoing remarks are NOT aimed at trying to increase e-mail activity. I’m only making observations and as old people are apt to do, talking to themselves.

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Totally off the wall item.

 

Today is Friday the 13th. At noon I entered a local eatery to purchase a couple of meals for a sick person. The person ordering his lunch was a policeman from a distant city in the State of Missouri. When he placed his order the cashier gave him a number that he was to place on his table and when the food was ready it would be delivered to him. I looked at the tag and remarked that it was Friday the 13th and his number for the order was 13. He upped me by saying, pointing to the menu posted on the wall that he had ordered meal #13. He wanted to know if I thought it was a bad omen for him and I responded that it might be the day to buy lottery tickets using that number.

 

Okay, I’m gone.

 

Done