Valley Girl Views: Fatmen Vs Leanmen - The Charity Baseball Game in Selinsgrove

Fatmen Vs Leanmen, Selinsgrove 1898

"Fatmen and Leanmen assembled following their charity (town band) baseball game on the Susq Univ diamond (pre-Warner). The "Fats" captained by Charles Erdley bested the Kid Kessler led "Leans" by a score of 28 to 13, on September 23, 1898. The men wearing the stars are presumed to be the game's umpires."

This photo, published in the Times in the 1950s, was identified in a 1933 article in the same paper. Here's a clearer photo, followed by the 1933 article:

"Which one of those years in the gay nineties was it that the Fatmen and Leanmen of Selinsgrove played their first and only base ball game on the old sports field where the W.W. Naugle and Son steel tool plant is located? That query is brought to mind by the kindness of William M. Kantner in bringing to The Times office the other day a photograph of thase teams taken after the memorable engagement.

Soon after Kantner left the picture here Fred Spahr. of Pittsburgh, called to make his customary and welcome visit of the holiday season. Spahr is included in the group as one of the fifteen youngsters shown in the portrayal wearing short trousers and caps.

George "Germany" Keidcrr was score keeper of the fray. He is sealed above all the others on the plank from which he reached to the blackboard on the high board fence to keep the tally. He was a busy man for the seven-inning record of the afternoon reads:

Fatmen 1 4 4 2 0 6 5 X x 22

Leanmen 2 1 2 3 3 2 1 X X 14

The umpire was Dr. F. J. Wagenseller, known to all the community as "Young Doc'' and to the men of his own age as "Casey. In order that the men would not be compelled to cover too much ground eleven men were used on each side.

"Gizzard" Smith, the railroader; Percy Keiser Keystone Hotel proprietor; Jonas Miller and Charles Erdley. boon companions and competitors as local liverymen ; Valentine Bolig, master carpenter; Albert Arbogast farming implement salesman: Samuel Gemberling, railroader: Newton Fisher, butcher: Henry L. Phillips, merchant tailor: John F. Bucher. restauranter, and Dr. P. A. Boyer, medical practitioner.

The Leanmans cohorts numbered : Albert Gemberling, tinner; George C. Wagenseller, druggist and coal retailer; Dr. A. R. Potleiger. veterinarian: Charles Kerns, Man-About-Town; Miles L. Snyder, coal retailer, Charles Covert, Liveryman; Reuben L. Ulrich, photographer; Charled "Kid" Kessler, barber; John F. Laudenglager, coach maker; Joseph G. Lesher, publisher of The Times, and T. H. Heicher, baker.

Selinsgrove lads, who just crowded into focus for the thrill of having their pictures taken, included: Arthur Arbogast, Lester Oppenheimer. Silas H. Schoch. James "Red" Blecker. Robert Ammerman, Ira Lutz, Marlough T. Heicher, James , Sholley, Robert Gemberling, Howard "Dutch" Laudenslager, George Snook, William M. Kanter, James and Frank VarnBuskirk, Carol Gemgerling and Fred Spahr.

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I've been searching for more information on this, and I can't find much. Fatmen Vs Leanmen games were held all throughout the country, from the 1880s until the early 1950s. They appeared most often in newspapers in the 1920s. They were almost always charity games, and they seemed to be completely separate, but in addition to, the normal town teams. Sometimes there would be both a spring, and fall, game.

The competitions were not limited to baseball. In 1885 there was a fatman vs leanman race in Buffalo NY, a basket ball game in Maine in 1925, and in 1896 there was even a fatman vs leanman shooting competition in California. In 1904 there was a fatman, and a leanman, bowling league in Wilkes Barre.

If anyone knows more about how the Fatment Vs Leanmen Tradition began, I'd love to hear from you!

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