By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
With spring in full swing the Crawford Park District had local baseball heroes as the topic for Tellin’ Tales on Saturday.
Memories of old Legion League teams from New Washington, Galion, Tiro, Bucyrus, Crestline, and Leesville were shared at Lowe-Volk Park. Memories of players who lived in the county that made the big leagues were also shared.
Frank Emmer rose out of the ranks of semi-pro clubs in the county and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds at shortstop. Emmer played with the club in 1916 and 1926. Emmer earned the nickname the “Flying Dutchman” while with Seattle in 1924 and 1925. Emmer was also reported to have hit the first home run in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium while playing for a semi-pro team. Emmer retired from baseball after arm injuries.
Emmer’s grandson Bill Schreck, who attended the event with his family, explained that he doesn’t know any stories from Emmer’s playing days, but that his mom (Vivian Schreck) loved going everywhere and she has been most of the to the ball parks around the country.
“I know after he retired from baseball he was a guard at Westinghouse. He had a house in Mifflin that had acres and acres to mow, and he mowed it by hand with an electric mower. As for his baseball days, it was way before me. But my mom, she loved going to all of the ball parks.”
Stories of Gates Brown’s abilities were also shared with some members recalling the former Detroit Tiger’s ability to hit home runs. Schreck noted that he knew Gates Brown, and recalled watching him hit a home run at the old Crestline ball field.
“I saw Gates Brown hit a baseball at the old baseball park and the baseball field used to be at the old football field. In the southwest corner of the field, the home plate was there, and he hit the ball over the grandstands,” Schreck recounted.
Joseph Blum had brought a few jerseys from the New Washington Historical Museum. Blum also shared photographs of early 1900’s New Washington ball clubs. As well as a few stories from local teams and players. One of these stories included a comical tale about the time in which the 1913 New Washington Merchants played a team that said they were the women’s team from Vaser College, however when the Vaser team arrived they weren’t who they were advertised as.
Blum recalled former Crawford County ball player Jake Striker whose baseball card read born in New Washington.
“New Washington born player, probably the greatest one was Jake Striker. He lived south of town, and he ended up going to high school in Sulphur Springs, but he had a lot of friends in New Washington, and his baseball card says born in New Washington. So that’s really nice,” Blum said. “I happened to go to his first game. I was in sixth grade. In 1961 he played for the Cleveland Indians and won a couple games.”
Before the discussion finished, Crawford Park District Director Bill Fisher spoke about a current local baseball hero in Galion’s J.B. Shuck. Fisher noted that Shuck currently plays for the Chicago White Sox as he passed around a few of Shuck’s baseball cards.