OLD BATS: Chauncey Kan of Panama City Beach, Fla., writes, “Love
the stories about the past from the old bats. Keep ’em coming.”
Is Chauncey is referring to our baseball columnists? Let’s hope
he wasn’t casting aspersions on our readers!
Meanwhile, we heard from John E. Rimer of Bradford concerning
those minor league ball teams: “In regards to the letter from
Barney Snyder I would like to add a little. Bradford played
Jamestown a day-night double header on the last day of the
season.”
“Jamestown had a game lead on the Bradford Phillies so Bradford
had to win both games. The afternoon game was played in Jamestown
and Bradford won behind the pitching of Elroy Face and then came
home to win the nightcap behind Jake Schmidt.
“Jake was working his way up through the Phillies system when he
got lime in his eyes. Lime was used to mark the base foul lines and
the batters boxes. That was before the use of chalk. From what I
was told the lime caused some eye damage and Jake gave up
baseball.
“However, for Elroy it was a different situation. He returned to
Bradford for the following season and then the Phillies traded him
to the Pittsburgh Pirates. They figured he was too small to pitch
Major League Baseball.
“But the Pirate fans know better as he set the Major League
record with 20 straight wins in relief. On a Sunday afternoon, I
was in Pittsburgh and watched him win a doubleheader (two games)
and Don Drysdale lost both for the Dodgers. Don started the first
game and came in in relief for the second contest.”
Clif Hastings of Rew dropped us this line: “‘Lights, please, Mr.
Baily,’ was the most common phrase in our Bradford area. Mr. Bailey
apparently controlled the lights at Community Park. Whether it was
for baseball or any other public event, when natural illumination
fell to a certain level, an announcer would call out ‘Lights,
please, Mr. Baily,’ and full illumination would instantly be
restored.
“It was a household phrase. One time during an assembly at the
high school, a power failure plunged the auditorium into complete
darkness. And, as if on cue, a hundred or so programmed voices rang
out, ‘Lights, please, Mr. Bailey.’
“In our Bradford area, Mr. Bailey was an icon.”
