Category: Baseball
Baseball Season is Back
Well, folks. It’s been a minute since we’ve posted here.
Lucky for you, I’ve missed digging into the Stubby archives for some good stories to share. And I have been craving baseball lately.
During spring training season, I’ve been getting my baseball fix by reading Ball, Bat and Bitumen: A History of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South by L.M. Sutter and researching some new posts to share here. This is a great book for anyone interested the culture of baseball in Southern West Virginia during Stubby’s time.
As for me, I’m grateful to live in Cincinnati and to be able to get in some Opening Day fun. The city embraces its baseball roots of being the first city with a professional baseball team with an Opening Day parade. Yesterday was Cincinnati’s 140’s annual Opening Day Parade with 150,000 spectators.
It finally feels like spring.
Have you read L.M. Sutter’s book? Let me know in the comments.
Extra Innings: Coalfield Baseball Documentary
Bluefield Blue Grays of 1930s
As the boys of summer are swinging their bats, I want to give a shoutout to the boys of summers past.
For anyone interested in the history of Appalachian baseball, check out the 1990s documentary, Extra Innings: Coalfield Baseball, from the archives ofWSWP Beckley/Grandview and distributed by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Having trouble? View on YouTube.
As the description says, “Many Southern West Virginia coal camps had baseball teams in the 1930s. This is the story of coalfield baseball’s golden era.”
Slab Fork Indians, an all-black team
The Sunday games after church were a “raucous displays of coalfield culture,” said the late Stuart McGehee of the Eastern Regional Coal Archives in the doc. “Every little coal company town, and there were maybe 500 of them in Southern West Virginia, had a baseball park. Everyone’s game was baseball…Quality of ball in the coalfields was as good or better at any level of semi-pro or amateur ball in America.”
The late Stuart McGehee of the Eastern Regional Coal Archives
McGraw Brothers
County League system peaked right before WWII and disbanded in mid-1950s.
Baseball Tonight! Bowen Field
Do you have stories about Coalfield Baseball? Share them in the comments!
~Melissa
Vic Sorrell: World Series Pitcher, Bluefield Blue-Grays Player and Manager
Vic Sorrell’s 1932 Goudey Gum Company Baseball Card.
We are celebrating Major League Baseball’s Opening Day! Stubby Currence added so much to the legacy of baseball, especially in Four Seasons Country.
“Sorrell was lured back to Bluefield, West Virginia, one year after his big-league career ended. According to his son, Sorrell and sportswriter Stubby Currence had maintained a close friendship since the pitcher’s coalfield league days in 1924. Currence persuaded Sorrell to pitch for the Bluefield Blue-Grays, recently admitted to the Class D Mountain State League. Down-to-earth and level-headed, Sorrell was a popular, beloved figure in the town of 25,000 residents. He took the mound for the Blue-Grays in his final three years of professional baseball (1938-40), went 26-11, and managed the club in in 1939 and ’40. He announced his retirement after the 1940 season, and 15 years in Organized Ball. In his ten years with the Tigers he was 92-101, logging 1,671⅔ innings with a 4.43 ERA.” -Gregory H. Wolf
March 14, 1935 Press Box column by Stubby Currence. Story references Victor Sorrell, baseball player, pitcher for Detroit Tigers and former player for Bluefield Blue-Grays and Wake Forest University. Click to zoom.
Don’t mess with Davis & Elkins fans
Oh, those cold winter nights of West Virginia of today and days past…
While staying warm, I found this reference to Stubby attending a Davis & Elkins basketball game in a Bluefield Daily Telegraph “Press Box” column from January 24, 1936:
This D & B crowd is no bunch of pansies. Especially those three husky members of the outfit who so generously pushed my marooned car out of the snow in front of that Fairmont road house the night after the ball game in which they were crowned state champs at the state tourney last season. I’ll love them for that, if for nothing else. But I hate to think to what might have happened to me that night had l gone to Wesleyan and not to D & B back in the days of my callow youth. And I love ’em for that, too.
Stay warm, kids!
Bluefield vs. Bramwell
I got a stumper for you today. Well, probably not for YOU, but for me, because I didn’t get a chance to ask The Dad about this one. Here is a photo from Stubby’s archives. Unfortunately, we’re losing the image to the ages.
Bluefield vs. Bramwell. Click photo to zoom.
From what I can tell, it is a photo of a baseball game with the catcher and batter at home plate. The crowd is behind them and baseball bats on in the foreground. But Stubby’s caption reads fine: “Bluefield vs. Bramwell – Glenwood Park, Aug. 1922. Bluefield easy winners over League winners – Walters, at bay.”
I wanted to share this one because this game was played 90 years ago this month. But the stumper is the dates. According the Bluefield Blue Jays website, the Blue-Grays (a precursor to the Blue Jays) were formed in 1924, two years later than this game was played. I’m confident Stubby got the year right, so I’m guessing games were being played before the League was formally formed. The town of Bramwell also lists 1924 as the start of the Coalfield Baseball League:
Interesting Fact: In 1924 “The Coalfield Baseball League.” consisted of four teams in the league including the Bluefield “Blue Grays,” the Gary “Coal Diggers,” the Pocahontas-Bramwell “Indians” and the Coalwood “Robins.”
Even 90 years later, I’m glad Bluefield was victorious.
~Melissa
Bird dog for the Braves
“There’s one!” Spotting future Braves. Stubby the second from the right. Click for larger photo.
Since we’re in the dead heat of July, let’s continue with the boys of summer. In the 1940s, Stubby was a scout for the Boston Braves, and in 1948, he attended the World Series where the Cleveland Indians ultimately beat the Braves in the 6-game series. The Braves franchise moved to Milwaukee in 1953 and then to Atlanta in 1966.
Thanks to Larry: “Currence was a scout for the Braves when they were still in Boston and a keen judge of talent. He referred to the assignment as being a “bird dog” for the Braves in the decade before they moved to Milwaukee.”
Photo details: Holy publicity shot, batman! As a practitioner of the public relations arts, I can spot a staged photo at 10 paces. But I like this one. These guys are committed. Kudos on the acting job, fellas. My fav is the flag. It’s laminated to give it that perfect summer breeze stiffness. I’m not sure who else is in this photo. If you do, let me know in the comments.
~Melissa
P.S. I’m excited to be heading to the Reds vs. Diamondbacks game tonight. The Dad says baseball was Stubby’s favorite sport, as it is mine. I’d like to think if Grandpa Stubby was around, we knock back a few cold ones and he’d regale me with tales of the Bambino and the good ole days.
The Beau Brummel of Bluefield
The Beau Brummel of Bluefield?
I love a good sassing, don’t you? I found this gem by Duke Ridgley, the longtime sports editor of the Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch and the man credited with nicknaming Marshall University the Thundering Herd.
Didja know?
Ripley-It-Or Not, Virgil (Stubby) Currence, the Beau Brummel of Bluefield and the man who annually picks the All-State High School Basketball Team, is the youngest athlete ever to captain a college baseball team in the United States. You Don’t believe it? Well-l-l, it’s as true as Truth. At the ender age of 16 Mr. C was captain and shortstop of the Davis & Elkins club. That was the year D & E had a perfect season on the diamond. They played nine games and lost all nine of ’em..And for dragging this skeleton out of the closet I have reserved a place for myself behind the No. “8” ball in “Stubby’s” dog house.
The baseball started early
“Stay calm, boys,” Stubby whispers. “The faster they take the photo, the faster we can play ball.” (Click the image to see a larger size)
Guess who’s holding the bat in the front row? It’s Stubby, of course! Various baseball accouterments are scattered among the boys, and the girls look none too thrilled (but I love those hair bows). There was no date on the photo, but it was most likely taken in Elkins, WVa., when Stubby lived there as a child.
I’m guessing the kids here are around 8 or 9. If that’s the case, this photo was taken around 1911. Do you agree? I’m not sure what school Stubby attended in Elkins, but it could have been in “the old Central Building that still stands and is now occupied by apartment dwellers,” according to Randolph County Schools.
~Melissa
P.S. I hope all the dads out there had a great Father’s Day yesterday! It’s tough work being a dad, so thank you.
Colts baseball
Lookin’ cool for the Colts.
I found this photo among Stubby’s scrapbook, and he had several copies of it. This is him with a “Colts” baseball uniform with a “W” on his cap, but I’m not sure what team this is. The Richmond Colts were playing in Virginia League from 1918-1928, but in the research I’ve done, the players have an R on their cap. Ah, quite the mystery. Any guesses?
~Melissa
The Stubby Currence Project 