By Alan Ford
With the handful of scrapbooks and pictures that have come my way regarding the history of American Legion baseball in Shelby, going through such a huge amount of material takes time.One scrapbook gave me the chance for a detailed look at the 1957 Shelby state championship team and participated in the Southeast Regionals at the Sumter Street. Ballpark.
Among the items that jumped out at me:
The Hot Stove League in Raleigh honored Shelby Post 82 American Legion Baseball Coach B.E. “Pop” Simmons with the Will Wynne award as the North Carolinian contributing the most to baseball in 1957. Hall of Famer Ted Williams was present at Raleigh’s Sir Walter Hotel to present the award to Simmons.
An issue of The Star included a tribute to Jim Wilson, the Area Four legion commissioner from Shelby, who collapsed and died while attending a Post 82 game against Belmont in June, 1957. As news of the tragedy spreading around the old Shelby ballpark, a silent moment of prayer was held at the bottom of the seventh inning.
“That ball comes in at you so fast, it sometimes hops!” …. those words came from a member of Shelby’s state championship legion team in 1957 on trying to hit the blazing pitches of Tony Cloninger, ace righthander for the Lincolnton-Cherryville team coached by Norman Harris of Gardner-Webb fame. Cloninger went on to become a 20-game winner in the Major Leagues for the Milwaukee Braves and started the first game ever at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when the team moved there in 1966.
A South Carolina visitor to Shelby, got a taste of how baseball mad this town was in 1957. During the state championship series with Cumberland County, the individual in question drove too near the parking areas for the Sumter St. ballpark. Before the astonished tourist could protest, he was whisked into a lot behind a slew of cars and efficiently parked by the policemen handling the traffic.As he got out of his car, he was heard to say: “What am I doing here? I don’t want to go to the game!”
The Memphis, Tenn., team that came to Shelby and won the 1957 Southeastern Regional crown featured a highly touted catching prospect named Tim McCarver. Of course, McCarver went on to play the position for the St. Louis Cardinals and play in three World Series with the team, then become a respected TV broadcaster. The other teams in the regional event that year were Front Royal, Va., and Owensboro, Ky.
The 1957 legion regional program included a place for fans to write in the lineup and keep score as the action unfolded for up to seven games of the double-elimination event.
In an article in an edition of The Star from that time period, there were several quotes from area fans about the team’s success. One was from a TV repairman in Shelby at the time, Coy Webber: “I tell you, these boys won because hey are just ‘stomp-down’ good players and worked hard.”
With the handful of scrapbooks and pictures that have come my way regarding the history of American Legion baseball in Shelby, going through such a huge amount of material takes time.One scrapbook gave me the chance for a detailed look at the 1957 Shelby state championship team and participated in the Southeast Regionals at the Sumter Street. Ballpark.
Among the items that jumped out at me:
The Hot Stove League in Raleigh honored Shelby Post 82 American Legion Baseball Coach B.E. “Pop” Simmons with the Will Wynne award as the North Carolinian contributing the most to baseball in 1957. Hall of Famer Ted Williams was present at Raleigh’s Sir Walter Hotel to present the award to Simmons.
An issue of The Star included a tribute to Jim Wilson, the Area Four legion commissioner from Shelby, who collapsed and died while attending a Post 82 game against Belmont in June, 1957. As news of the tragedy spreading around the old Shelby ballpark, a silent moment of prayer was held at the bottom of the seventh inning.
“That ball comes in at you so fast, it sometimes hops!” …. those words came from a member of Shelby’s state championship legion team in 1957 on trying to hit the blazing pitches of Tony Cloninger, ace righthander for the Lincolnton-Cherryville team coached by Norman Harris of Gardner-Webb fame. Cloninger went on to become a 20-game winner in the Major Leagues for the Milwaukee Braves and started the first game ever at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when the team moved there in 1966.
A South Carolina visitor to Shelby, got a taste of how baseball mad this town was in 1957. During the state championship series with Cumberland County, the individual in question drove too near the parking areas for the Sumter St. ballpark. Before the astonished tourist could protest, he was whisked into a lot behind a slew of cars and efficiently parked by the policemen handling the traffic.As he got out of his car, he was heard to say: “What am I doing here? I don’t want to go to the game!”
The Memphis, Tenn., team that came to Shelby and won the 1957 Southeastern Regional crown featured a highly touted catching prospect named Tim McCarver. Of course, McCarver went on to play the position for the St. Louis Cardinals and play in three World Series with the team, then become a respected TV broadcaster. The other teams in the regional event that year were Front Royal, Va., and Owensboro, Ky.
The 1957 legion regional program included a place for fans to write in the lineup and keep score as the action unfolded for up to seven games of the double-elimination event.
In an article in an edition of The Star from that time period, there were several quotes from area fans about the team’s success. One was from a TV repairman in Shelby at the time, Coy Webber: “I tell you, these boys won because hey are just ‘stomp-down’ good players and worked hard.”
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