Valley Girl Views: When Professional Baseball Was Played In Sunbury Pa

The Sunbury Reds were just one of several professional baseball teams to call Sunbury home

Sunbury had professional baseball as early as 1887, by some reports. By 1909 they had a team in the Atlanta League, and in 1938 Oren Sterling moved his team from Mifflinburg to Sunbury, building a new stadium there. Connie Mack brought his Philadelphia A's to Sunbury for an exhibition game in 1936, and he returned to give a short address before a game in 1940. Sterling moved his team again, to Maryland, and for a short time during World War II, there was no professional ball in Sunbury. Then in 1945, stocks were sold for a new baseball association. From 1946-1947, the Sunbury Yankees, part of the interstate league, played on Memorial Stadium. They were one of 14 teams in the Yankees Farm System those years.

From 1948-1949, Memorial Stadium was home to the Sunbury Reds, a minor league team affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. In 1950, the team was the Sunbury A's. It was that year that Willie Mays, as part of the Trenton Giants team, came to Sunbury for several games. But baseball in Sunbury was on a steady decline, with incentives such as watches being given out at games, in an effort to entice spectators to purchase tickets. There was one last team, the Sunbury redlegs, in 1955, part of the Piedmont league. That year a car was given away at one of the games.

On July 2nd 1956, Memorial field was sold to Weis Markets, ending the era of professional ball in Sunbury.

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Early Years

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Professional baseball started in Sunbury the late nineteenth century. Sunbury fielded professional teams in the Central Pennsylvania League in 1887, 1896, 1897 and 1898. In

1909, another Sunbury team was part of the Atlantic League.

On February 7th 1909 the Atlanta Baseball League met and formed a league consisting of teams from 10 cities: Allentown, Mt Carmel, Shamokin, Sunbury, Pottsville, Reading, Wilmington, Easton, Patterson, and Elizabeth N.J. Wilkes Barre and Hazelton applied for admission but "could not be accommodated." The season was to open on May 20th and close on September 20th. A. Dobbs was the representative from Sunbury at the meeting.

Articles, which ran in every local paper at the time, reported that Sunbury had already received stock subscriptions to the amount of $5,00 and "will have a new park"

Then, in April, it was announced that Sunbury would NOT have a team in the Atlantic League. Baseball was big drama in these early years. They did indeed field a team- there are plenty of stats for them that year showing that they played in the Atlantic League that year. But only for one month.

"SUNBURY DISBANDS The Sunbury base ball team of the Susquehanna and Four-County leagues was yesterday disbanded by Manager C. W. Stahl. The Four-County league game scheduled between Nescopeck and Sunbury for yesterday was not played. The situation in base hall circles at Sunbury is described by last evening's Sunbury Daily as follows: "After one month of base ball, Manager Stahl gave up the business last night as a bad proposition.

The members of the team were paid off and the schedule abandoned. The only reason was the lack of support on the part of the Sunbury public. The receipts were insufficient to meet the expenses and each day the finances going deeper and deeper. As Mr. Stahl has been personally backing the losses had to be borne by him and he decided to quit before the situation became worse.

"Sunbury wants good base ball but is unwilling to pay for it. The town demands a strong team and then comes out to see the games in mere hand fulls. Such has generally been the experience in tie 1 past. Base ball has seldom in ail the years of its existence paid here." The dropping of Sunbury again complicates matters of this circuit. It will now be necessary for President McCollum to call a meeting of the managers to drop another team from the circuit, or take another one on in Sunbury's place"

Feb 4th 1910

SUNBURY WILL HAVE FAST BALL TEAM Sunbury base ball fans are all agog over the team signed by Manager Charles Stahl for his Central Pennsylvania League team and predictions are already being made as to what the team will and will not do to the local aggregation. Manager Stahl refuses to make public his coterie ot stars but admits having signed Pitcher Sheesley. last year in the Atlantic League, Frank Mt Pleasant, the noted Indian athlete and who is both a pitcher, outfielder and star swatsman, and Haddow, the State College third baseman. Manager Stahl has also arranged games with National, American and Tri-State clubs..

June 1910

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The Senators

1938-1940
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The Sunbury Senators

In 1931, banker and factory owner Oren Sterling had owned and managed the Mifflinburg Senators, part of the Lower Circuit of the semi-professional West Branch League. Sterling succeeded in getting his team to the league championship series in 1931 and 1933. In 1934, the Senators moved to the semi-professional Central Pennsylvania League, playing an exhibition game that year against the Williamsport Grays of the professional Class-A New York–Pennsylvania League. The Senators won the Central Pennsylvania League championship in 1935, 1936 and 1937

Connie Mack came to Sunbury in 1936 with his Philadelphia A's, for an exhibition game on Meredith Field.

In 1938, Sterling, having received little support for his team in Mifflinburg, received permission to move his team to Sunbury, Pa. Sterling moved virtually the entire physical structure of the park from Mifflinburg to Sunbury to construct Meredith Field.

The "renovated" Meredith Field was officially dedicated on June 15th 1938."Meredith field is now in fine playing condition, needing only the erection of a new fence in the left field and the installation of showers in the dressing rooms to be fully completed. It is an ideal baseball park and the Senators deserve the full support of all fans."

Sterling's Senators won the Central Pennsylvania League championship in 1938 as well.

Sterling was a major proponent of the creation of the fully professional Class C Interstate League in 1939 and his club became one of its charter members.

1938

July 24th 1939

"Governor Harold Hoffman has threatened to sue everyone from the caretaker at Meredith Field to Judge Landis as the result of a slight accident during the anniversary celebration here Friday night. It seems that the league president tore his trousers on a nail in the chair of his box as he arose when the City Band began playing the national anthem. He experienced considerable' difficulty in hiding his embarrassment during the remainder of the evening."

"Flashily uniformed, the Ethiops wear clown suits and perform an odd assortment of tricks before game time, but don regulation baseball uniforms for the game, during which they give an outstanding exhibition of how the national pastime should be played."

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The Sunbury Indians

1940
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May 1940

In 1940, with the expansion of the Interstate League from four to eight teams, the league was able to move up in classification from C to B. The Sunbury franchise renamed itself the Indians, in part to avoid confusion with the Trenton Senators team.

Carl McNabb was the only player from the 1939–1940 Sunbury teams to make an appearance in major league baseball. He was a pinch hitter in one game for the Detroit Tigers on April 20, 1945

Charles E. "Red"Ahearn

Connie Mack was in Sunbury again, on Monday August 12th 1940

May 1940

June, 1940

"Dutch" Dorman Day, August 31 1940

"Cheering news for Sunbury baseball fans was released today by Oren Sterling when he announced that Fred "Dutch" Dor-man has been signed as manager pf the Indians for 1941. Dorman put his hand to a contract at York yesterday and today entered a York hospital for an operation. He developed hernia in recent weeks and physicians stated that he probably could get along with truss but that if he intended to play ball again he would have to undergo an operation.

Dutch expects to be back at third base next season, so he decided on an operation."

"It is absolutely necessary that Sunbury furnish a new baseball field or repair the old one before next 'season. It is doubtful if the interstate League will permit Sterling to retain his franchise nere unless seating accommodations are increased, the fence is repaired, and- dressing rooms are installed.

He is not in a position to do this work and the future of the team rests with the community. A committee has been appointed to look after the matter but is making slow progress and memers claim that the city refuses to cooperate. The project should start now as next spring will be too late." October 1940

Sterling moved the Sunbury franchise to the much larger area of Hagerstown Maryland in 1941, renaming the club the OWLS [Oren, Win, Luck & Sterling].

"Owner Oren Sterling has definitely decided to pull out of Sunbury. He told me that while there is no danger of losing money in Sunbury, he can't show a profit due to the small town and park." - The Harrisburg Telegraph, 1941

Hagerstown's population was 32,411 in 1941, Sunbury's was 15,422

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For the next few years, during World War II, there was no professional team in Sunbury PA.

Meredith Field, was never used again for professional baseball. The lights used at Meredith Field were bought by the city of Hagerstown and moved to Municipal Stadium.

In 1945, stocks were sold for the new Baseball Association

Sunbury Baseball Stock

1945

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Memorial Park Stadium
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Three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame played at Memorial Park, all players on visiting teams. They were: Willie Mays [Trenton Giants], Robin Roberts [Wilmington Blue Rocks] and Nellie Fox [Lancaster Team].

Memorial stadium was located at Jefferson St extending North to present day Weis Markets and the YMCA.

"The Wicket" was a marshy pond located to the right in this photo. Located North east of Weis. It was a great place for ice skating. Sunbury Motors is in the upper left of the photo.

"Sunbury Memorial Field was built in 1946 to replace the stark Meridith Park, which Ed Baker tells us was really nothing more than a ballfield with some "thrown together bleachers".

The ballpark was built for the Class B Interstate League - a "higher echelon" Minor League system with teams in York, Lancaster, Hagerstown, Allentown, Wilmington, Trenton & Salisbury.

The Sunbury Yankees drew a very impressive 101,000 to the new stadium in 1946.

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Sunbury Yankees

1946 - 1947
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1946 Sunbury Yanks

The Yankees were led by Manager Walt VanGrofski and went 67-73 (6th place) and a much worse 51-89 (8th place) in 1947.

Yankees Attract 101.897

"Sunbury's Yankees, rejoining the Inter-State Baseball League after an absence of several vears caught the public fancy right off the bat and held it throughout the season. A late season slump saw the VanGrofski managed Yankees finish in sixth place after they had maintained a first division berth for the greater part of the campaign. However, the Class leaguers played crowd-pleasing ball end drew 101.897 fans through the turnstiles at Memorial Park, a record surpassed only by the Wilmington Blue Bocks.

Fellows like Johnny Szajna. 6-3 inch Reading boy and one-time Fordham athlete: Steve "Flin" Filioowicz, Kulpmont outfielder and professional football slayer; Johnnv Mackinson, diminutive right-hander with the sharp-breaking curve: "Red" Sinram, hard-hitting third sacker: Wade Bowning Virginia youngster who played a lot of centerfield and batted close to .300 for the year: "Buck" Etchison, one-time big leaguer acquired from York late In the season: and Hank Canadian-born first sacker who sparked the club at bat down the stretch, were popular among fans of Sunburv and the surrounding area during the diamond campaign.

Johnny Lucchi, outfield catcher who led the team at bat for more than half the season, gained a place on the Inter-State All-Star team as utility man. Luechi, Szajna, Mackinson, and Bob Ferris, who started the season with Sunbury and then went to Amsterdam in the Canadian-American League for more seasoning, were recalled by the parent N. Y. Yankees at the end of the Inter-State season and will report to the Newark Bears in spring training early in February. Sinram, the club's No. 1 home run hammerer, was drafted bv the St. Louis Cardinals and will set his second chance to make the big league grade in the spring.

Area fans are rooting for these boys to advance in their chosen profession, and at the same time will welcome the '46 performers scheduled to return for another fling with Sunburv next season."

1946 Sunbury Yankees

Notable Sunbury Yankees players include Sam Herman Carl Braun and Hank Biasatti. In 1946, John Szajna led the team and the entire Interstate League in wins with 19 while, teammate John Mackinson did the same in strikeouts with 181.

In 1946 The Sunbury Yankees were formed, as part of the Interstate League. This team played at the new Sunbury Memorial Field, as did all professional teams after them, through 1955.

Sunbury Yankees

Ray Maloney 1947

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The Sunbury Reds
1948–1949
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The Sunbury Reds of the Inter-State League ended the 1948 season with a record of 74 wins and 64 losses, finishing fourth in the ISL.

The Sunbury Reds of the Inter-State League ended the 1949 season with a record of 59 wins and 81 losses, finishing seventh in the ISL.

1949 Team Bus

American Legion Team, at Memorial Field, 1948

Richard "Dick" Holmes compiled a career record of 4 wins and 11 losses and a 5.90 ERA in his 26-game pitching career with the Baltimore Orioles, Poughkeepsie Giants, Sunbury Reds and Bristol Owls. He began playing during the 1945 season and last took the field during the 1949 campaign

Arthur Young. Catcher. Arthur Young compiled a career batting average of .271 with 5 home runs and 35 RBI in his 212-game career with the Providence Chiefs and Sunbury Reds. He began playing during the 1947 season and last took the field during the 1949 campaign.

Frank DiPrima, Second Baseman and shortstop. Played for Sunbury in 1948.

Thomas Caldwell West, pitcher. Compiled a career record of 63 wins and 46 losses and a 4.94 ERA in his 187-game pitching career with the Dothan Browns, Borger Gassers, Greenville Spinners, Tyler Trojans, Wichita Falls Spudders, Sunbury Reds and Columbia Reds. He began playing during the 1941 season and last took the field during the 1949 campaign.

Larry Miller. Pitcher. Played for the Sunbury Reds in 1949. Compiled a career record of 64 wins and 53 losses and a 3.44 ERA in his 175-game pitching career with the Lockport Reds, Muncie Packers, Sunbury Reds, Davenport Quads, Greenville Spinners, Greenville Bucks and Rock Hill Chiefs. He began playing during the 1947 season and last took the field during the 1954 campaign.

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The Sunbury A's

1950
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Sunbury Athletics 1950

The 1950 Sunbury Athletics were a Class B farm club of the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics. They played in the Interstate League. Sunbury finished the 1950 Interstate League season in last place with a 53-86 record.

Infielder Jack Littrell and pitcher Dutch Romberger advanced to the majors, but neither played a full season.

Connie Mack was not actually in Sunbury in 1950, a recording was played before the game.

"Faithful fans of the A's Hargerstown game heard a recording from West Palm Beach Florida in which Connie Mack wished Manager Saller and his Sunbury club the best possible success in the current season. Connie expressed the hope that the Stallermen would finish 1-2-3 in the Nugent wheel"

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Willie Mays
Plays In Sunbury
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Willie Mays played 81 games in 1950, playing for the Trenton Giants, a team in the interstate league. Five of those games were on Memorial Field in Sunbury Pa.

July 2, 1950 - Game One

Trenton 21 Sunbury 8- Attendance 1,449

Mays went 3 for 6 with a GS home run, double and single. Drove in 5 runs scored 4.

"Willie Junior Mays Outfielder from Fairfield Ala had a grand slam hone run, double and single driving in 5 runs and scoring 4"

July 1950

July 2, 1950 - Game Two

Trenton 9 Sunbury 0.

Mays went 2/5.

August 17, 1950 - Game One

August 17, 1950 - Game Two

August 18, 1950

Toland: " Willie Junior Mays Negro Center Fielder had 3 satisfies."

In 1951 Mays played a few games for the Minneapolis Millers before being called up to the NY Giants.

Team Photo for the 1950 Trenton Giants

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Sunbury Giants

1951–1952
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Climaxing a great stretch drive, the Fox-skippered club came from 10 1/2 games behind fourth place Lancaster on August 1 to grab the No. 4 slot in the Interstate League and earn the right to engage Allentown's Cardinals in the semi-finals of the Governors Cup playoffs.

Squad from left to right includes:

Front Row: Bobin Myers, first base; Harry Musselman, shortstop; Jim "Red" Flanagan, outfieldder ; Bob Ludwig second base.

Second Row: Bill McKechnie III batboy and son of William B. McKechnie Jr, general manger of the Giants. Rudy Yandoli, Pitcher; Irv Burton, pitcher; Manager Charley Fox; Catcher Charley "Blackey" Tedesco, pitcher' Don Taussig, outfielder; Joe Burke, pitcher.

Back row Barney Bornholdt, outfielder; Lloyd Lundeen, pitcher: Joe Margoneri, pitcher; Carl Maloney, pitcher; Dave Abramson, catcher; Jim Mitchell, third-sacker; Harry Jordan, Fort Smith, Ark, trainer-bus driver.

Sam Wainstein, manager of Walkers Jewelers, and William B. McKechnie, General Manager of the Sunbury Giants, announcing that a watch valued at $59.50 will be won by one lucky fan attending each Sunday afternoon home game of the Giants, in 1951

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One last team, the Sunbury Redlegs, played in the Piedmont League in 1955. When the Piedmont League collapsed before the 1956 season, that was the end of professional baseball in Sunbury.

1955 - a car was given away at the game.

1955

On July 2nd 1956, Memorial field was sold to Weis Markets.

Selinsgrove High school employees have removed and bought the fence, tickets booths, and bleachers, club houses other physical assets for use in its new athletic field leaving just the grandstand as a reminder of the once flourishing Memorial park

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