Out of the Past
All-star team edged Luzerne in 1957 baseball battle Whoa! Hold everything! Baseball isn’t dead yet!
Just when you thought that baseball had faded out of the picture for another year, and football was on the local sports throne, here comes one last gathering of the baseball faithful.
So, let’s go back to where the last column ended, for this week in 1957.
The Luzerne Bells had earlier wrapped up the championship of the County Baseball League, but there was one last challenge left to their honors. A group of local players, some of whom had been playing minor league baseball, issued the Bells a challenge.
They got together, and in the classic battle you would expect for such an occasion, the All-Stars came out ahead, 4-3. Three runs in the fourth clinched the win, coming on singles by Glen Burns and Stan Machinsky, a walk to Paul Redzanic, and Larry Rechichar’s double.
Dave Columbia, Buck Grover, and Maskovich shared All-Star pitching. Grover and Redzanic also hit doubles, Burns a triple and single, and Rechichar a double and single. None of the Bells lineup had more than one hit.
Now, baseball was really over for the year!
Also continuing the last column, there were some additional football games played. Connellsville drew an open date that first week, and had an extra week to prepare for Washington.
-Redstone got a 27-0 collar from Johnstown, the latter coached by former Connellsville football standout Dave Hart.
-Fairchance came from behind with 13 in the fourth to trip Dunbar Twp. in a free-wheeler, 33-20, at Trotter. Jim Martucci scored twice for the host Mules, from a yard out in the first and from the two in the third. Jim Nebraska ran six in the second, and Ray Smitley kicked two PAT. Rock Walton (2), John Lewis, Harold Jones, and Don Kessler scored for FHS, and Kessler kicked three PAT. Walton hooked up with Jones on a 65-yard pass-run play to give FHS the lead for good.
-Waynesburg scored 19 in the second to clinch a 26-7 win over Jefferson. Jim Hill ran 20 yards and added the PAT for a 7-0 Jeff lead. Waynesburg tied in the first on Charlie Reed’s 9-yard burst, and Jim Husk kicked the PAT. Reed scored from 4 yards and 1 yard, Husk ran 54, and Blanch added the PAT.
-California ruined Joe Gratson’s debut as new head coach at Scottdale, winning 16-6. Gratson, former Dunbar Twp. and Penn State standout, succeeded Bud Carson, who would later coach in the NFL, including a hitch with the Steelers. Cal led 2-0 in the first after Tony Amato tackled Arnie Weaver in the end zone, then drove 60 yards in the second. Scottdale had apparently ended this push with Jack Wall’s interception. But the ball was knocked out of his grasp, into the hands of Amato, who stepped into the end zone. Scottdale moved 75 yards for its score, Stoner Tracy keeping from the one. Cal came right back to offset it. Frank Scrip ran 56 to the S-20, from where Frank Kulak pitched out to Scrip, who lateraled to Ed Hixenbaugh, for the score.
-Berlin beat Turkeyfoot, 16-6, Roger Hoover running 55 yards for the only Ram score.
Elsewhere that week:
-Stan Musial had four hits as St. Louis swept the Pirates, 9-6 and 11-3, to remain within 21/2 games of first place Milwaukee. The Pirates are 58-86, and 29 games out of first.
-Joseph Wallace, Uniontown, aced the No. 4 layout at Springdale Golf Course. Five years previous, he dittoed No. 8.
-Four new champions were crowned at the end of the 36-hole tournament at Summit Golf Course, Steve Reposky beat Eddie Smith, 2 and 1, in the championship flight; Bob Lloyd won the first flight, 5 and 4 over Nick Genovese; Earl Shoemaker won, 8 and 7, over Ike King, in the second flight; and Ralph (Pep) Butler won the third flight, 1-up, over Nick Burger.
-Alex Barantovich, Brownsville, is the new president of the Fayette County Coaches Assn., succeeding Lou Rozzi, German Twp. Harry Brownfield, Point Marion, is vice-president, Mickey Finn, Connellsville, secretary-treasurer; W.L. Lewis, Connellsville, parliamentarian, and Gus Cardarelli, Redstone, sergeant-at-arms. Jim Cunningham, Connellsville, most valuable player from the recent Fayette-Washington All-Star football game, received the $800 scholarship provided by VFW Post 47, Uniontown, and Robena Local, United Mine Workers.
-Football prospects at Indiana University (Big 10) include RB Delnor Gales, Connellsville, a 2-yr. letterman; G Bruce Coligan and RB John Meegan, Dunbar Twp. HS; and E Bob Corrigan, Vestaburg.
-Art Ruff and Wendell Klingensmith won the 36-hole member 2-ball championship at Pleasant Valley CC, with a 120-card. They won by two over Van Dyke Humbert Jr. and Jim Hall, and Norm Cunningham and Joe Vuknic. Tied for third with 123 were Cy Rintz and Fred Bluhm, and Ike Childress and Vern Kelly.
-And this sports page note from Columbia, Miss. – ‘The wrestling show might have been a fake, but the aftermath wasn’t.” The report then went on to say that 300 spectators “with flying chairs and flailing fists turned the American Legion Arena into a battleground, after the referee, who was out cold, rendered an unpopular decision.” Somebody knocked the ref out with a piece of pipe. It was added that “two wrestlers and dozens of fans” were treated for scratches and bruises at the local hospital. Fans? Why would they be taken to a hospital? Don’t veterinarians usually treat jackasses?
Jim Kriek is a correspondent for the Herald-Standard