Ball, Bat and Bitumen: A History of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South

213 Pages·2012·4.48 MB·English

by  Sutter L M

Ball, Bat and Bitumen
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN STUDIES
¡. Memoirs of Grassy Creek: Growing Up in the Mountains
on the Virginia–North Carolina Line.Zetta Barker Hamby. ¡998
2. The Pond Mountain Chronicle: Self-Portrait of a Southern
Appalachian Community. Leland R. Cooper and Mary Lee Cooper. ¡998
3. Traditional Musicians of the Central Blue Ridge: Old Time, Early Country, Folk
and Bluegrass Label Recording Artists, with Discographies. Marty McGee. 2000
4. W.R. Trivett, Appalachian Pictureman:
Photographs of a Bygone Time.Ralph E. Lentz, II. 200¡
5. The People of the New River: Oral Histories from
the Ashe, Alleghany and Watauga Counties of North Carolina.
Leland R. Cooper and Mary Lee Cooper. 200¡
6. John Fox, Jr., Appalachian Author. Bill York. 2003
7. The Thistle and the Brier: Historical Links and Cultural Parallels
Between Scotland and Appalachia. Richard Blaustein. 2003
8. Tales from Sacred Wind: Coming of Age in Appalachia.
The Cratis Williams Chronicles. Cratis D. Williams.
Edited by David Cratis Williams and Patricia D. Beaver. 2003
9. Willard Gayheart, Appalachian Artist.
Willard Gayheart and Donia S. Eley. 2003
¡0. The Forest City Lynching of ¡900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy
in Rutherford County, North Carolina. J. Timothy Cole. 2003
¡¡. The Brevard Rosenwald School: Black Education and Community Building
in a Southern Appalachian Town, ¡920–¡966. Betty Jamerson Reed. 2004
¡2. The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music.
Edited by Charles K. Wolfe and Ted Olson. 2005
¡3. Community and Change in the North Carolina Mountains:
Oral Histories and Profiles of People from Western Watauga County.
Compiled by Nannie Greene and Catherine Stokes Sheppard. 2006
¡4. Ashe County: A History.
Arthur Lloyd Fletcher (¡963). New edition, 2006
¡5. The New River Controversy.
Thomas J. Schoenbaum (¡979). New edition, 2007
¡6. The Blue Ridge Parkway by Foot: A Park Ranger’s Memoir. Tim Pegram. 2007
¡7. James Still: Critical Essays on the Dean of Appalachian Literature.
Edited by Ted Olson and Kathy H. Olson. 2007
¡8. Owsley County, Kentucky, and the Perpetuation of Poverty.
John R. Burch, Jr. 2007
19. Asheville: A History. Nan K. Chase. 2007
20. Southern Appalachian Poetry: An Anthology of Works by 37 Poets.
Edited by Marita Garin. 2008
2¡. Ball, Bat and Bitumen: A History
of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South.L.M. Sutter. 2008
22. The Frontier Nursing Service: America’s First Rural Nurse-
Midwife Service and School. Marie Bartlett. 2009
23. James Still in Interviews, Oral Histories and Memoirs.
Edited by Ted Olson. 2009
24. The Millstone Quarries of Powell County, Kentucky.
Charles D. Hockensmith. 2009
25. The Bibliography of Appalachia: More Than 4,700 Books, Articles, Monographs
and Dissertations, Topically Arranged and Indexed. John R. Burch, Jr. 2009
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Ball, Bat
and Bitumen
A History of Coalfield
Baseball in the
Appalachian South
L. M. SUTTER
CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN STUDIES, 21
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
To the ballplayers of the coalfields.
May the stories of your skill, your grace,
and your spirit radiate from the heart
of Appalachia and live forever.
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Sutter, L.M., ¡959–
Ball, bat and bitumen : a history of coalfield baseball
in the Appalachian south / by L.M. Sutter.
p. cm. — (Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies ; 21)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3594-4
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
¡. Baseball—Appalachian Region, Southern—History. 2. Appalachian
Region, Southern—Social life and customs. I. Title.
II. Title: History of coalfield baseball in the Appalachian South.
GV863.A53S87 2009 796.3570973—dc22 2008049102
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 L.M. Sutter. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: The Lonesome Pine League’s ¡934 champions, the
Lee Smokies (courtesy of Ty Harber, Jr.); inset ©2008 Clipart.com
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments 1
Introduction 5
1. The Coal Towns 9
2. The Appalachian Pastime 19
3. The Emperor of Baseball 30
4. Tye Harber’s War 43
5. The Boys of the Lonesome Pine 49
6. Moonlighting Bearcats 76
7. A Wide-Awake Town 86
8. Fathers and Sons 94
9. Fertile Soil 104
10. Almost Valhalla 113
11. The 1951 Hazard Bombers 128
12. The Choices We Live With 136
13. Bob Bowman 144
14. Vince Pankovits and the Mean Season 153
15. The Old Man of the Mountains 163
16. The Women in the Stands 170
Epilogue 187
Chapter Notes 191
Bibliography 195
Index 199
vii
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Preface and Acknowledgments
This project began when I came across a pictorial history of Lee County, Virginia, that
featured photographs of local semipro and professional coalfield baseball teams dating back
to the early twentieth century. As in photographs of baseball teams anywhere, the young
players looked alert and excited, but the coalfield players had an added hunger about their
eyes, an edge that was almost palpable. As a longtime baseball fan but a new arrival to the
region, I found the photographs intriguing and began to do some research. To discover
that the entire southern Appalachian coalfield region had avidly supported baseball for
decades—and throughout the convulsive changes in the coal industry—was remarkably
interesting. And a little research made it readily apparent that the combination of coal min-
ing and America’s pastime produced a different animal from the game as it was played else-
where. But it also showed that information on the game in the Appalachian south would
be as hard to locate as the ruins of the most remote mountain coal camp.
Southern Appalachia is an area long misunderstood by the outside world. Its moun-
tains have served for centuries as an effective fortress for keeping its own people in and
strangers out. Many Americans have never heard of coal camps; those that have generally
regard them as alien cultures at best and, at worst, medieval institutions. In this work, I
have attempted to demystify the Appalachian coal camp, to show that, in many ways, it
was like any other little American town except perhaps for its salty, dynamic personality,
bred of the dangerous work that was its lifeblood. The unusual ethos of the coal camp,
where being alive could never be taken for granted, engendered a distinctive brand of base-
ball, as tough and lively as its players and fans.
As many similarities as a coal community might share with any other American town,
there were differences. Baseball played by mineworkers, for instance, was not just a relax-
ing diversion but a desperately needed physical and emotional release for athlete and spec-
tator. For the coal companies, baseball in the early days could be wielded as an anti-union
tool, and throughout the years it was a lucrative corporate enterprise, with huge amounts
of money—from gate receipts and gambling—passing between the hands of operators and
on to hired ringers.
Other differences between the coal camp and the average American town were more
profound than those regarding baseball. While towns from every region of the country dealt
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