SPECIAL PLACE: “The mention of the McKean-Elk League in ‘Another
Era’ stirred up some memories about the league and the date of the
closing of the Bradford Ball Park,” writes John Moffett from
Kushequa.
The reference was to the “50 Years Ago” entry under the “Another
Era” for the Aug. 11 edition of the paper, in which the Bradford
Eagles had pitched themselves into the finals.
John continues: “In 1961, I remember playing for Mount Jewett in
the McKean Elk league. Some names remembered from the Bradford team
were Jack Randolph, Ron Rahr and Jerry Persichini.
“I was lucky as a 16-year-old to be able to play with the Mount
Jewett team managed by Eddie ‘Ever do any pitchin’?’ Carlson, which
had Ron Ewing, Bill Brawand, Eddie Allegreto, Dick Anderson, Bob
Mollander, Bill ‘Lefty’ Ecstrom and Bob Swanson, just to name a
few.
“And, by the way, we won the league in ’61 and ’62, if memory
serves me correctly.”
PHONE BOOK: Allen Fuller stopped by to show us an old pine door
from a small kitchen cupboard that he had retrieved while helping
to remodel a home on Olean Road near where the old sanitarium once
stood.
The inside of the door was filled with penciled-in phone
numbers, but only the last four digits.
Some of the names listed were Anderson’s grocery, Dr. Whelan,
Reed’s, the Pennhills, Lincoln, Johnson, Burns, Kuische and
Oliver.
Allen planned to take the door to the Bradford Historical
Society to see if someone there might be able to determine its
vintage.
The old sanitarium, now gone, was called Rocky Crest – and
before that, Bon Air (we know that from having seen it referenced
in old issues of the Era).
GAS PAIN: Barney Snyder of Tucson updates us about the price of
diesel gas for his Jetta.
“Right now, in Tucson, the difference is as much as 30 cents a
gallon. I bought it for ,3.99 (on Aug. 13). Even Chevron has
dropped it to ,4.05. The rest are in the ,4.30 range.”
The rise in gas prices has caused a significant drop in miles
driven. Since November 2007, Americans have driven 53.2 billion
fewer miles than they did over the same period in 2007, the U.S.
Department of Transportation notes. That’s more than the 49.3
billion fewer miles driven by Americans over the entire decade of
the 1970s.
