Tagged: Gregory H. Wolf
Vic Sorrell: World Series Pitcher, Bluefield Blue-Grays Player and Manager
We are celebrating Major League Baseball’s Opening Day! Stubby Currence added so much to the legacy of baseball, especially in Four Seasons Country.
I found this article talking about Stubby’s connection to 1935 World Series Winner and Detriot Tiger pitcher Vic Sorrell, who played for the Bluefield Blue-Grays in the 1920s and 1930s.
“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
Read the Sorrell’s biography by Gregory H. Wolf on the Society For American Baseball Research. Sorrell went on to become the head baseball coach at North Carolina State University from 1946 to 1966.
Here is a column Stubby wrote about Sorrell in 1935.

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.
~Melissa