Baseball in the Mahoning Valley

From Pioneers to the Scrappers

Paul M. Kovach

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2023
• Edition: 0
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439677629
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Around the horn in the Mahoning Valley The history of baseball in Ohio's Mahoning Valley has been, to say the least, eventful. Murder, the Civil War, the hot dog, a presidential assassination and one of the deadliest known volcanic eruptions all shaped America's pastime in the Valley. African American baseball pioneer and Hall of Fame inductee Bud Fowler began his professional baseball career in the area, and the first ceremonial celebrity first pitch came from the arm of a prominent local. The area also contributed to Cleveland professional ballclubs like the enigmatic 1883 Blues and the 2016 Believeland Indians, which included numerous players from the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor-league team with its own rich heritage. Digging up little-known facts about Fowler and sundry other colorful stories, local author and creator of Eastwood Field's Days Gone By exhibit PM Kovach celebrates the proud history of baseball in northeast Ohio.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• The Prelude: Krakatoa
• 1. “Dustin’ the Cobwebs”
• 2. Bud Fowler, Niles, Ohio, and the 1883 Blues/Grays Game
• 3. Baseball, Crime and the Ignominious Exit of James Ward Jr.
• 4. Opdyke’s Mahoning Valley Tigers and the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee
• 5. Jimmy McAleer, Jumbo Cartwright, Ed McKean, the Rise of Youngstown Baseball and the “Cleveland Connection”
• 6. The Ballad of Bud Fowler, Parts One and Two
• 7. Niles Native William McKinley and the First Celebrity Pitch
• 8. “Miracle Man” John D. “Bonesetter” Reese
• 9. Cy Young, Ed McKean, Jimmy McAleer, Nig Cuppy, Bobby Wallace and the 1895 Temple Cup Champions
• 10. Harry M. Stevens, the “Cosmopolitan Concessionaire”
• 11. How Joe McGinnity Won a Pennant
• 12. Billy Evans and the “Greatest Pitcher the World Has Ever Known”
• 13. Napoleon Lajoie, Elmer Flick, Terry Turner, John Scheible and the Greatest Pennant Race in Cleveland History
• 14. George Burns, Stan Coveleski, George Uhle, Marty Hogan and the World Champion 1920 Cleveland Indians
• 15. Mahoning Valley Negro League Stars and Modern-Day Heroes
• 16. “We Want Baseball! We Want Baseball!”
• 17. The Scrappers’ Greatest Year: The 2016 “Believeland” Indians
• Appendix: The Mahoning Valley Scrappers: A Short History
• Bibliography
• About the Author