Youngstown Ohio Works
Encyclopedia
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
club that was known for winning the premier championship of the Ohio–Pennsylvania League
Ohio-Pennsylvania League
The Ohio-Pennsylvania League was among scores of minor league baseball organizations that popped up throughout the country in the early 20th century...
in 1905, and for launching the professional career of pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
Roy Castleton
Roy Castleton
Royal Eugene Castleton was a relief pitcher for the New York Highlanders and Cincinnati Reds. The first native of the state of Utah and the first Mormon to play in the major leagues, Castleton made his debut with the Highlanders on April 16, 1907, and played his final game with the Reds on May 29,...
a year later. A training ground for several players and officials who later established careers in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, the team proved a formidable regional competitor and also won the 1906 league championship.
During its brief span of activity, the Ohio Works team faced challenges that reflected common difficulties within the Ohio-Pennsylvania League, including weak financial support for teams. Following a dispute over funding, the team's owners sold the club to outside investors, just a few months before the opening of the 1907 season.
The club's strong record and regional visibility spurred the growth of amateur and minor league baseball in the Youngstown area, and the community's minor league teams produced notable players throughout the first half of the 20th century. In the late 1990s, this tradition was rekindled, with the establishment of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers
Mahoning Valley Scrappers
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are a minor league baseball club based in Niles, Ohio, a city in the valley of the Mahoning River. The Scrappers play in the Pinckney Division of the Short-Season A classification New York - Penn League and are affiliated with the Cleveland Indians Major League...
, a minor league team based in neighboring Niles, Ohio
Niles, Ohio
Niles is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The city's population was 20,932 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area....
.
Formation and league championship
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, in 1902, under the sponsorship of Joseph A. McDonald
Joseph A. McDonald
Joseph A. McDonald was a significant figure in the development of the Northeastern U.S. steel industry. As superintendent of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company, in Youngstown, Ohio, McDonald oversaw construction of one of the largest steel-production plants in the country.- Early years...
, superintendent of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century.-Creation:...
. In 1905, the club joined the Class C Division, Ohio-Pennsylvania League, which was founded that year in Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, by veteran ballplayer Charlie Morton. The league's Ohio members included clubs from Akron, Barberton
Barberton, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 27,899 people, 11,523 households, and 7,443 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,095.2 people per square mile . There were 12,163 housing units at an average density of 1,349.4 per square mile...
, Bucyrus
Bucyrus, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,224 people, 5,559 households, and 3,552 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,812.0 people per square mile . There were 5,955 housing units at an average density of 816.0 per square mile...
, Canton
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Kent
Kent, Ohio
Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 27,906 at the 2000 United States Census and 28,904 in the 2010 Census...
, Lima
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
, Massillon
Massillon, Ohio
Massillon is a city located in Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately 8 miles to the west of Canton, Ohio, 20 miles south of Akron, Ohio, and 50 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. The population was 32,149 at the 2010 census....
, Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 16,990 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is named after Mount Vernon, the plantation owned by George Washington.-History:...
, Newark
Newark, Ohio
In addition, the remains of a road leading south from the Octagon have been documented and explored. It was first surveyed in the 19th century, when its walls were more apparent. Called the Great Hopewell Road, it may extend to the Hopewell complex at Chillicothe, Ohio...
, Niles, Steubenville
Steubenville, Ohio
Steubenville is a city located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio on the Ohio-West Virginia border in the United States. It is the political county seat of Jefferson County. It is also a principal city of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Washington, Wooster
Wooster, Ohio
Wooster is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio approximately SSW of Cleveland and SW of Akron. Wooster is noted as the location of The College of Wooster...
, Youngstown, and Zanesville
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...
, while Pennsylvania was initially represented by teams from Braddock
Braddock, Pennsylvania
Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 10 miles upstream from the mouth of the Monongahela River. The population was 2,159 at the 2010 census...
, Butler
Butler, Pennsylvania
The city of Butler is the county seat of Butler County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, situated north of Pittsburgh. The population was 15,121 at the 2000 census.- History :...
, Homestead
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
, and Sharon
Sharon, Pennsylvania
Sharon is a city in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in the United States, northwest of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
. Within the first two weeks of the season, clubs from Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
and McKeesport
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...
also joined the league. Only eight of the original 21 participating clubs finished the 1905 season, however. These included clubs from Akron, Homestead, Lancaster, Newark, Niles, Sharon, Youngstown, and Zanesville. The name, "Youngstown Ohio Works", became officially associated with the Youngstown team when it joined the Ohio–Pennsylvania League. From the outset, the Youngstown ball club was managed by ex-major leaguer Marty Hogan
Marty Hogan
Martin Francis Hogan , nicknamed "The Indianapolis Ringer", was an Anglo-American right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns . After leaving the National League, Hogan moved on to the minor league Indianapolis Hoosiers...
, a former outfielder
Outfielder
Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
and St. Louis Browns
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
.
The team opened the 1905 season with an unexpected 4–1 loss to the Canton Protectives, inspiring a local newspaper to comment that the Youngstown team made "as many errors as hits while Canton fielded almost perfectly and hit opportunely". The Ohio Works club gained steam, however, and began to win games. On May 11, 1905, the Youngstown team garnered controversy when The Akron Times-Democrat reported that the Ohio Works' sponsors provided player salaries that nearly doubled those offered by other clubs in the Ohio–Pennsylvania League. In a report on the outcry in Akron, The Youngstown Daily Vindicator
The Vindicator
The Vindicator, also known at times as The Youngstown Vindicator, is a daily newspaper serving Youngstown, Ohio and the Mahoning County Region as well as southern Trumbull County and northern Columbiana County. Founded in 1869, the newspaper currently has a circulation of 62,100 daily and 87,000...
warned that, "if the Youngstown backers keep adding and force the other clubs to add to the salaries, it is a question of only a short time until independent baseball will be an impossibility". The newspaper article concluded that the large salaries provided by the Ohio Works's sponsors placed a special burden on teams based in "smaller cities".
Competition among league participants was intense, and games were often raucous affairs. On July 16, 1905, a riot broke out during a contest with a team in neighboring Niles, Ohio. According to a newspaper account, the trouble began when two female fans became involved in a "hair-pulling fight". At one point, two "well-known men" were arrested for "taking an umbrella from a woman and breaking it after she had been annoying them with it". Finally, dozens of fans swarmed into the field, where they "pushed around the umpire and interfered with the defensive play of the Youngstown fielders".
In September 1905, the Youngstown Ohio Works won the first league championship, though sources disagree on the club's final record. This confusion may be due to the disorganized nature of the new league, with its sprawling roster of teams. According to the Spalding Guide (1906), "The failure to furnish official reports was probably due to the clubs being new to a league". Baseball researcher Jim Holl summarizes the varied accounts as follows: "The Reach Guide (1906) credits Youngstown with an 84–32 won–lost record where the Spalding Guide of the same year list a 90–35 record. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1993) tells a third story, giving Youngstown an 88–35 mark". Despite this uncertainty over the club's record, its championship status was not in dispute, and the team became popularly known as "the Champs". This moniker, however, was not officially connected to a Youngstown-based ball club until 1907, when it became the legal name of the Ohio Works' local successors.
Final season
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New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Pittsburgh and near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border just east of Youngstown, Ohio; in 1910, the total population was 36,280; in 1920, 44,938; and in 1940, 47,638. The population has fallen to 26,309 according to the...
, and Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....
.
The Ohio Works team opened with 16 players, three of whom had been part of the club during the 1905 season. The team's lineup included William J. Maloney of Bradford, Kentucky; Will M. Thomas of Morristown, Pennsylvania; Tommy Thomas of Piqua, Ohio
Piqua, Ohio
Piqua is a city in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,738 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.Piqua was one of the cities that experienced severe flooding during the Great Dayton Flood of 1913....
; Lee Fohl
Lee Fohl
Leo Alexander Fohl was an American manager in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Boston Red Sox....
of Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Allegheny City was a Pennsylvania municipality located on the north side of the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, across from downtown Pittsburgh. It was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907...
; Louis Schettler of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
; "Dotty" Freck of Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
; A. C. McClintock of Columbus; Roy Castleton of Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
; Lewis Groh of Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
; John Kennedy of Youngstown, Charles Crouse of Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
; Roy Chase of Andover, Ohio
Andover, Ohio
Andover is a village located in the south-east of Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,269 at the 2000 census.The closest village to the Ohio side of Pymatuning State Park, the settlement supports a regional tourism industry...
; Forrester J. Dressner of Garrettsville, Pennsylvania; Harry Schwartz of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
; and Roy Gould of Middlesex, Pennsylvania. Other players associated with the club during the 1906 season were Edward Hilley, Curley Blount, and Charles McCloskey.
The Youngstown club kicked off the 1906 season with an exhibition game against a Cleveland team, emerging as victors in a close contest of 3–4. "Up till the closing minutes it looked like the visiting team, the Cleveland Leaders, would stow the contest away in their bat-bags and leave the field on top", the Vindicator reported. "The finish was exciting, and 400 fanatics who took chances on pneumonia had a chance to warm up and go home in good spirits.". The paper stated that, at the top of the first inning, the Cleveland team was leading by one point, when "the Youngstown gentlemen got busy in the most approved style". According to the Vindicator, Ohio Works player Curley Blount "stepped in front of a slow pitched ball and was sent to third", while A. C. McClintock "stole second with all hands asleep". At this point, the paper added, "[Charles] McCloskey took another base hit and Blount and McClintock scored". The Vindicators summary of the game called attention to pitcher Roy Castleton, "who struck out all three batters in the tenth and got one in the ninth". The paper described McClintock and McCloskey (the "two Macs") as the Youngstown club's "star hitters".
Early in the season, as the Ohio Works team prepared for a second game with the Zanesville Moguls (close rivals in the 1905 championship games), the club manager, Hogan, spoke confidently on their chances of capturing the league pennant. "If the boys go through the season as they are playing now, we will have no trouble winning out", he said to a reporter with The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. "Our pitchers are in good condition and are holding the opposing batsmen to few hits. It is the pitching staff that has saved many a game for us. We have no .350 batters on the club, but any man on it is liable to step in and break up a game". A local newspaper confirmed Hogan's assessment of the team, observing that only one player, outfielder Will Thomas, had worked up a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of .306. Nevertheless, as Hogan predicted, the team defeated the Moguls, with a final score of 11–8. The game's highlights included the pitching of "Long John" Kennedy, who kept the Moguls to seven hits, and the batting of Edward Hilley, who "unloosened a drive to middle field that permitted him to go all the way around".
Hogan's overall confidence in the club was rewarded. The Youngstown team closed the season with an 84–53 record and won its second consecutive Ohio–Pennsylvania League championship. The star of the Ohio Works team was a gangling, left-handed pitcher named Roy Castleton, a Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
native who went on to pitch for the New York Highlanders
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
and Cincinnati Reds. On August 17, 1906, Castleton gained national recognition when he pitched a perfect game
Perfect game
A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
against rival Akron, shutting them out at 4–0. With Castleton's assistance, the Youngstown Ohio Works claimed its third consecutive Ohio state pennant, a prize distinct from the league championship.
Dissolution
At some point, however, disagreements over funding evidently arose between the McDonald brothers and Hogan. On February 18, 1907, the Zanesville Signal reported that Hogan had received permission from "the Messrs. McDonald" (Joseph and Thomas) to negotiate a $3,000 deal for the sale of the team, including its players, to a group of Zanesville investors. The following day, Hogan was quoted as saying, "Youngstown couldn't or didn't raise enough money to cover a sparrow's blanket". The ball club manager's evident frustration during this period was reflected in comments published in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator almost a week after the team's sale. When questioned on his widely publicized decision to resign as manager of the Youngstown club before the opening of the 1907 season, Hogan reportedly said that he had received "the short end of the deal". No reference was made to the club's sale.
The former Ohio Works manager was apparently not the only observer to suggest that Joseph McDonald engaged in "unsportsmanlike tactics". A feature story, that appeared in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator in 1920, stated that McDonald took deliberate steps in 1907 to replace the Ohio Works team with a more seasoned club from Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
. The new club became known officially as the "Youngstown Champs
Youngstown Champs
The Youngstown Champs were a minor league baseball team that competed in the Ohio-Pennsylvania League in 1907 and 1908. The club won the league championship in 1907 but disbanded in the middle of the 1908 season.-Origins:...
". Rumors of McDonald's supposed strategy apparently angered local baseball fans. According to the 1920 feature article, the Youngstown media highlighted the Champs' unexpected loss to the amateur Rayen
Rayen High School (Youngstown, Ohio)
Rayen High School was a public high school in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. At the time it was closed in 2007, it was of the three oldest high schools in the city...
Athletics in 1907. At this point, however, McDonald's relationship with the club was less direct. According to Sporting Life, the Youngstown franchise had been "declared forfeit" in early 1907, on the recommendation of the Akron club; it was subsequently "awarded" to a recently established baseball company. "This was only a formality to make legal the actions taken by Magnate [Joseph] McDonald when they turned over the old franchise to the newly organized company in Youngstown", the paper reported. In any event, the Youngstown Champs went on to win the Ohio–Pennsylvania League championship.
Meanwhile, former Ohio Works players in Zanesville quickly regained their momentum. In March 1907, the new club was admitted into the Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League
Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League
The class D Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League began in 1906. By 1908, however, this baseball minor league was extinct. Cumberland, Maryland dropped out after 1906, leaving Maryland unrepresented in 1907...
, a Division D league. By the close of the 1907 season, the club had seized the championship of the eight-team P-O-M league. In 1908, Hogan's final season as manager, the team was christened as the Zanesville Infants
Zanesville Infants
The Zanesville Infants was a short-lived baseball franchise located in Zanesville, Ohio, and affiliated with the regional Central League. The organization's name was intended to highlight that they were a new minor league club...
and joined the Central League
Central League
The or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...
. Further research is needed to determine the Zanesville Infants' league ranking at the close of the 1908 season, but available information shows that the team neither won the championship nor placed as a runner-up.
With the exception of a few notable figures, the progress of former Ohio Works players is difficult to track. After leaving the club at the end of the 1906 season, Roy Castleton went on to pitch for the New York Highlanders and Cincinnati Reds. Lee Fohl, another noteworthy alumnus, managed the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
between 1915 and 1919. Fohl later served as manager of the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
and Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. Although Fohl was often criticized as a manager, sports journalist John J. Ward (writing in August 1924) credited him, to a large extent, for the early successes of the Red Sox, an underdog that briefly challenged the New York Yankees and Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
before slipping to seventh place in the eight-team American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
. Former major leaguer Billy Phyle, who played for the Ohio Works team during the 1905 season, went on to the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
in 1906. A fourth ex-team member, Louis Schettler, played for the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
during the 1910 season. Schettler (a Pittsburgh native) eventually settled in Youngstown, where he died in 1960.
Much is known about the subsequent career of the team's ex-manager. In 1909, Marty Hogan moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he signed future Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
pitcher Stan Coveleski
Stan Coveleski
Stanley Anthony Coveleski was a Major League Baseball player during the 1910s and 1920s. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969....
to his first professional contract. In 1909, the Lancaster Red Roses
Lancaster Red Roses
The Lancaster Red Roses baseball team, originally known as the Maroons, changed its name at the start of the 1906 season during a bitter match with the York, Pennsylvania-based White Roses. Some sources indicate that the rival teams were named for the opposing factions in England's historic Wars of...
worked up a 75-39 record, seizing the championship of the Tri-State League
Tri-State League
The Tri-State League was the name of five different circuits in American minor league baseball.-History:The first league of that name played for four years and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia....
. As Spalding's Baseball Guide (1910) reported: "Lancaster, under manager Marty Hogan, won its first pennant in the league, and the top rung of the ladder was only gained by the hardest kind of fighting". Hogan went on to manage clubs in Zanesville and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Fond du Lac is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The name is French for bottom of the lake, for it is located at the bottom of Lake Winnebago. The population was 42,203 at the 2000 census...
. In 1913, during a stint in Zanesville, the manager signed pitcher Sam Jones
Sad Sam Jones
Samuel Pond "Sad Sam" Jones was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played in the American League with the Cleveland Indians , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , St. Louis Browns , Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox . A native of Woodsfield, Ohio, Jones batted and threw...
to his first professional contract. In the mid-1910s, Hogan permanently resettled in Youngstown, where he died in 1923, several months after being injured in an automobile accident.
Legacy
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
umpire Billy Evans
Billy Evans
William George Evans , nicknamed "The Boy Umpire," was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1906 to 1927...
. On September 1, 1903, Evans, a reporter at The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, was assigned to cover a game between the Ohio Works and the Homestead Library Athletic Club that was held in Youngstown. Evans took his first step toward a legendary career when club manager Hogan offered him $15 to fill an umpire vacancy. (In 1905, Evans received a major career boost from Youngstown native Jimmy McAleer
Jimmy McAleer
James Robert "Loafer" McAleer was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the Cleveland Spiders, and went on to manage the Cleveland Blues, St. Louis Browns,...
, who recommended Evans to the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
.)
The story of the Ohio Works team proved to be an early chapter in Youngstown's long history of amateur and minor league baseball. In the 1930s and 1940s, the city was a frequent host of the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) championship. NABF officials praised the community for the condition of its sandlot baseball diamonds, which they rated as among the best in the country. During the first half of the 20th century, Youngstown-based teams provided experience and exposure to future major league players such as Everett Scott
Everett Scott
Lewis Everett Scott , nicknamed "Deacon", was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for 12 seasons with the Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , Washington Senators , Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds . Scott batted and threw right-handed...
, Floyd Baker
Floyd Baker
Floyd Wilson Baker was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Browns , Chicago White Sox , Washington Senators, , Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies...
, and Johnny Kucab
Johnny Kucab
John Albert Kucab was a standout pitcher in major and minor league baseball who is best known for pitching the Philadelphia Athletics to victory in Connie Mack's last game as a major league manager.- Early years :...
. Today, the Youngstown–Warren area is home base to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor league team that competes in the Class A New York–Penn League
New York - Penn League
The New York – Penn League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the northeastern United States. It is classified as a "Short-Season A" league; its season starts in June, after major-league teams have signed their amateur draft picks to professional contracts, and ends in early...
.