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The KOM League
Flash Report
for
October 10, 2015
Saturday afternoon has arrived. The choices before me were to; watch college football, tune into a major league playoff game, take a nap or attempt to put out a semblance of a weekly (weakly) report. So, as you can see I’m at least attempting the fourth option.
Today, my wife officially proclaimed the end of my tomato season and announced to the neighbor, those who were awake, that my 45 pounds of heirlooms were available to the first ones on the scene. Quickly, I learned that a rich man and someone with freebies have this in common, they have many friends as long as the supply lasts.
With the disappearance of the tomatoes I am now devoid of two things; something to give away and no prepared material for a Flash Report. For the next few minutes I’ll scan my e-mail for the week and see if I can come up with something. If not, I sure won’t have to reveal to you what will be intuitively obvious, even to the most casual observer, upon first glance.
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Hey, a note from Jack Wolfe—Let’s read this one together.
Dear John:
We’ve heard a lot about the trials of a skinny, little, thirteen year old bat boy in the KOM league in the 50’s but I would like to fill you in on what a nineteen year old had to endure at the same time. Not only did we have to hit the curve ball we had to catch up to the fast ball, as best we could, from guys like Ronnie Kline and others. We also had to keep in touch with the home front to make sure our “Honeys” were still missing us.
If we think back to this time you will remember the telephone company had two methods to contact someone. Person to Person was where the operator would call the number you gave her and ask the party who answers if ‘so and so’ is available. If the party was not at home the operator would let you know and the charge was zero. If the person was home, you were connected and the cost was considerable. Station to station is where you simplycalled the number and got whoever was home. The cost was much less but you may get your Honey’s little brother. Not good but there was another way.
This took some preparation. By mail you had to make arrangements; what night you would call, what time (two hours difference you remember) if the game was over by 10:30, by the time you showered and walked downtown, it was 11 right? That meant it was 8:30 on the coast was the time your “Honey” was supposed to be home to get your call.
That meant you had to pick up a couple of bucks worth of quarters, find a phone booth, drop in the quarters and hope that your preparation was followed and the intended person was home to get the call.
It worked but it wasn’t easy. Now, sixty three years later, I simply yell out into the yard where she will be mowing the lawn or weeding in the garden and she comes running. (Please do not show this letter to Janice.)
Jack Wolfe—1951 Ponca City Dodgers—Fullerton, CA
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Ed comment:
My thoughts in reading this are: Wolfe had me three years older than I actually was the year he was with George Scherger’s Ponca City Dodgers. But, he was spot on regarding the telephone situation of that era. Many families, like the one in which I was raised, didn’t have telephones and when we finally got one, we sure didn’t make any long distance calls.
Those in this era would not know how to exist without I-phones but I must say we did quite well. When we got our first telephone, around 1949, we were on an eight party line and our number was three longs and a short. That was three long rings and a short one. Seven other telephones in the neighborhood went off at the same time but they weren’t supposed to answer until their one short and five longs e.g., went off. But, the party line was the major form of entertainment, aside from radio, so you never revealed anything you didn’t want the rest of the neighborhood to know. A book entitled “The Party Line” would make great reading for anyone born after 1955. Things do change and not always for the better.
If you have never heard of Jack Wolfe you should have. He is one of the guys who caught Joe Stanka in 1951 and his older brother Edward was a member of the Bartlesville Pirates in two different seasons and eventually toed the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates before his professional baseball career concluded.
Well, that was the lead item on my e-mail this week. Now, to the next item. Oh! Oh! bad news.
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A note from baseball necrologist, Jack Morris
I just found Bob Jenkins’ obituary - www.legacy.com/obituaries/chronicleonline/obituary.aspx?n...
Obituary:
Robert "Bob" Calvin Jenkins, age 84, of Beverly Hills, FL passed away October 5, 2015, peacefully at his home under the loving care of his family and Hospice of Citrus and the Nature Coast.
Bob was born August 15, 1931, in Hagerstown, MD, to Hilda and Norman Jenkins. Bob grew up in Hagerstown where he attended high school and played American Legion Baseball and was an outstanding athlete. He was signed at 17 years old to the Old St. Louis Brown organization when he played minor league ball and kept doing well.
His career was interrupted by two years in the United States Marines during the Korean War. He was stationed at Opa Locka, FL when he played baseball on the Marine team. While in the Marines and in Miami, FL, he met his wife of 61 years, Lee. After the Military he returned to baseball with the Baltimore Orioles. After one year, Bob and Lee were married October 23, 1954, in Plymouth Congregational Church in Coconut Grove, FL. Bob returned to baseball in Albany, NY and was on the All Star Team where he had a terrific year while playing against Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. While in Albany, Bob signed a contract with the Boston Red Socks as a Rookie and was a hopeful to take Ted Williams' place. Bob went to spring training, hit 340, terrific! But with three keeper stars it was hard to beat out Ted Williams (his hero), Johnny Pearsale and Jackie Jensen.
Bob was then drafted by the L.A. Dodgers where he was sent to replace Monty Irving who was injured. Bob's friends and players were Tommy Lasorda, George Anderson, Tommy Daves, Murie Wells and many others. Bob received many baseball injuries during his baseball years. He then was bought by the Cleveland Indians and was sent to Mobile, AL for two years.
He played Major League Baseball in Osaka, Japan and in Maracaibo, Venezuela. After 16 years of baseball, travel and all the wonderful experiences, he, his wife and family returned to Miami, FL, to live.
Bob worked at the Dade County Sheriff Dept. (Metro-Dade) in the Telecommunications Dept for 22 years. Bob retired at 55 years old and he and his wife moved to Citrus County, FL, in 2001 where he was a small grower of various fruit trees and his beloved blueberries, vegetable garden, flowers and roses which he enjoyed so very much. He loved to make preserves from all the fruit he grew. Bob enjoyed fishing and golf but his passion was his fruit trees and his home.
Bob leaves a wife, Lee Jenkins; son, Steve Jenkins of Charlottesville, VA; daughter, Sharon Jenkins of Denver, CO and her former husband, Tim Muller; sister, Phillis Rose of Hagerstown, MD; brother, Howard Jenkins and his wife, Jane of Hagerstown, MD; cousin, Marvin Jenkins and his wife, Lois of San Antonio, TX; Step sisters, Christine Shives and her husband, Marvin and Rosemary Harlaugh all of Hagerstown, MD; three grandchildren, Adrienne Smith, Shawn Smith and his wife Stephanie and Stephen Smith.
Family will be receiving friends on Sunday, October 11, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Brown Funeral Home and crematory in Lecanto, FL. Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday, October 12th, at the funeral home. Burial will follow at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, FL. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Hospice of Citrus and the Nature Coast. Published in Citrus County Chronicle on Oct. 9, 2015
Ed note:
Robert Jenkins broke in with the Pittsburg, Kansas Browns in 1949 and he was released at the close of that campaign and wound up in 1950 playing for the Miami, OK Eagles who were operating as an independent team in the KOM league that year. Looking back on Jenkins career he posted some of the best years in professional baseball of anyone from the old league. He made it as far as the Pacific Coast league in this country and also played in Japan. His photo with the 1949 Pittsburg, KS Browns is on page 57 of the book “The KOM League Remembered” published by Arcadia in 2004 and written by the same anonymous person scribbling out this report. (Scan this report on Flickr and I’ll attempt to post that team photo in the near future.)
Well, readers, we can go through this obituary together. Many of the names were obviously done phonetically so I’ll point out a few and some other items: Jenkins only played against Mantle in an All-Star game one time and that was in 1949 at Independence, Kansas. He never played against Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle at the same time anywhere. Johnny Persale in the obituary was Jimmy Piersall, Monty Irving was Monte Irvin, Tommy Daves was Tommy Davis, Murie Wills was Maury Wills and George Anderson was also known as Sparky.
Well, those are my comments after a quick run through of the obituary. I did locate Jenkins while he was alive and he had fond memories of his two years riding the rickshaws “through the sticks” of the KOM league.
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Where is everyone?
Many of the readers run, but they can’t hide. Joan Speake sent a note that she and Bob were in Colorado celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary. Gee, I recall seeing Bob as a 19-year old first baseman at Carthage, Mo., in 1949, so I guess it’s not hard to figure that my first wife will spend her 55th wedding anniversary trying to help me recall it in ten days.
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A silent auction:
The museum put one of your autographed books (Mickey Mantle-Before the Glory) out in the silent auction today, and so far the bid is up to $50.00. The auction will go for a week, so it will be interesting to see what it ends up selling for.
The new Jan Sumner book is now available online.
www.barnesandnoble.com/s/independence+mantle+miss+able/_/...
www.amazon.com/Independence-Mantle-Miss-Able-American-ebo...
I guess you found out people do miss your Flash Reports. I normally don't have any comments to make, but I always enjoy reading them.
Take care, Mark Metcalf—Independence, KS
Ed reply:
I like that silent auction concept. If it goes over well I might try doing the same thing. The result would be "The Sound of Silence."
I had some interest in the book in recent days. One person called and asked for some free ones, another called from out of state saying he would send a money order for one---he didn't and another person called wanting two and got here and purchased three. The latter is my favorite way of doing business. It was like early this morning when I found out I had a bunch of friends when I let it be known I had 45 pounds of heirloom tomatoes that would go to the first showing up at my garage door.
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My newest e-mail friend
Over the past few weeks I have heard a lot from Bernie Gerl, the former St. Louis Cardinal minor league catcher who was involved in the tragic 1948 Duluth Dukes team bus crash. Whatever else Gerl did in life he retained his love of baseball. Each morning he arises around 5:00 and with nothing else to do he sends me great e-mails and attachments. I would be hard pressed to even summarize the communication that goes back and forth from Joliet, IL and Columbia, MO.
One thing that Gerl never knew was the identity of all the guys the St. Louis Cardinals and teams in the Northern league sent to Duluth to replace those killed and injured in the July 24, 1948 crash. So, for a couple of days this week I worked on a list and after coming up with at least 40 names of guys on the 1948 roster I spent a lot of time in various data files looking for the birth and death dates of those guys who “filled in.”
Don’t get concerned I’m not going to list all that data but will say that I have the biographical data on many of the Dukes who filled in after the crash or were gone from the team by the time it occurred. They were:
Christian Frank Dubia
Anton Hoenick Jr.
Robert F. Vogeltanz
John Henry Wedberg Jr.
Joseph John Shroba
Willie Woodrow Anderson
Harley Beavers Jr. (Also played for Miami, OK of the KOM in 1950)
James H. Beavers
Howard Wesley Boles
William Anthony McIlhargey
Thomas Sauer
Robert Kehoe (Played for both Carthage and Miami in the KOM )
Oswin Wadewitz
William C. “Pete” Zollo (Record books are off by five years on his birthday and they show him as two different people)
Milton Boyat
Uell Frank Clark
George Hosp (Also played for the Alba, MO Aces and Carthage Cardinals in 1946 and 1947 before going to Duluth.)
Bermard “Pat” Gottsch—He was talked into reporting to Duluth by the St. Louis Cardinals although no official records show he was there. My sources were Fletcher Cupp of the Carthage Pres and Gottsch himself. He didn’t want to resume playing ball and only went to Duluth until the Cardinals could locate someone else. His family owned one of the largest cattle feedlots in Nebraska and there was more money in that than playing Class C baseball.
Some guys I couldn’t track were John Frank Naphole (probably misspelled name) who may have been John Napoleon according to Gerl, Donald Vanderwier, James McClung, Theodore Madjeski, Eugene Ellerman, James Cupp, Richard Harrison, Eugene Ellerman, Leroy Alexander, Donald Foreman, William Emery and Donald Gilmore.
Replacing Bernie Gerl, after the bus wreck, was Ted Madjeski. This is some information shared with Gerl. You were replaced by Theodore Madjeski who both caught and managed the team for the remaining 40 games. He was a 26-year old catcher who started the season for Ft. Lauderdale, FL and had played a game for the Houston Buffaloes before taking over at Duluth. Here is where the record books become confused. They lumped Theodore E. Madjeski and Edward William Madjeski into the files and claimed, as in the case of 1948, they were the same guy. They were wrong on that score. Edward William Madjeski was born in 1908 and had four years of big league ball as a catcher before heading off to the minor leagues where he hung up his spikes in 1941 mostly due to WW II and to a lesser extent, advancing age.. Theodore Madjeski spent part of 1949 with Duluth before going on to Syracuse.”
Well, I’m done
I missed all the football and baseball games due to writing this report so if there were any big upsets let me know. Otherwise, I’ll go blissfully through my remaining days and trying to figure out something else to report, from time to time.*****
Scribble widly using only borrowed pens - document where they were borrowed from (see notes here: farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4541537196_bc5aace191.jpg)
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... after a long time untouched, i just finished one of the last pages left.
... more to follow ...
Quick/simple tee for the new surf/snow apparel brand beachthread.
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I liked how the loop on the bottom will go around the belly button.
Happy Sunday everyone. One of the things I love about Jervis Bay is the way the bush meets the ocean. In this case near Greenfields Beach. I have this on my desktop as a wallpaper - feel free to try it yourself :)
Like it? Put it on your wall - shop.andyhutchinson.com.au/p682521297
Find all previous Photos of the Day in the archive - shop.andyhutchinson.com.au/f892423141
Just want to buy me a coffee? ko-fi.com/A622C34
7:44 am 9 May 2015
more photos of the morning's adventure at etherwork.net/scribbles/CherryBlossoms_Toronto_May2015_p1...