Volume 15 , Issue 4

Baseball Memories & Connection of 1903-06

Back ten years ago (2002), in our Vol. IV edition of the OkieLegacy Ezine we received this story concerning Benj Whittenberg and his connection to our Grandpa McGill Baseball days.

"In 1960 my grandfather (Benj Whittenberg) wrote a series of letters to my brother. What follows are excerpts:

August 22, 1960 -- 'When I was in school I became interested in baseball. There wasn't games like football or tennis so we played baseball. In 1903 and 1904 I played all over Indian Territory which is now Oklahoma. Then in 1905 there was our East Texas League formed at Paris, Texas and we beat everybody in the league. Then the next year I played with Galveston in the (South) Texas League. Played there two years and met your Grandmother in Lampassas and we were married in 1907.'

Sept. 10, 1960 -- 'In 1903 and 1904 I played in the Indian Territory. One year I played at South McAlester. The next year at Muskogee. Things were really wild and woolly. There were lots of wild animals up there then and there were lots of wild Indians there too and if they were fortunate enough to get some fire water (that's what they called whiskey) they really were wild. They would drink and drink until they would go crazy and have to be put to bed or in jail 'till they sobered up. When I was playing ball up there one of the Boys was Bruce McAlester a big Chickasaw Indian. He was a good ball player and a very nice fellow. One other boy was Choc Kelly. He was a Choctaw Indian that was the fastest runner I ever saw. He would throw his head back and he could really fly. Indian Territory was part of the Louisiana purchase. Settled by the Creek Indians in 1827. Congress set aside this strip of land for the Indian Reservation. When I was playing ball one of the towns was Tulsa. Then it was so small, maybe 1500 people lived there. Now there are I guess 300,000. Best town in Oklahoma. In the ball park there was a producing oil well and oil then was worth about 50-cents a barrel, now its $5.00 per barrel.'

Nov. 3, 1960 -- 'You asked how we got about in the Indian Territory when I was playing up there. You know that was a long time ago, just a few years, some 56. Well, there wasn't too much transportation at that time. We rode the train. In the train was an engine, one passenger car and a bunch of freight car and coal cars which they called a mix train. Then when we went from one town to another to play we would have a stage coach. We would take off through the country and we would see lots of animals. We would see fox, some deers and occasionally we would see some bears. Of course we would see rabbits, squirrels and rattle snakes but we would never stop and didn't get to kill any. One time when I was playing ball up there in the morning before the game I went down in a coal and led mine, rode a hoist up and down and we have a big hunk of copper lead ore your Grandmother uses it for a door stop.'

J. Ben Whittenberg & early baseball glove"I asked my brother to take a picture of Granddad's glove. Instead he scanned it, front and back, and scanned the only picture we have of our grandfather in his playing days. He took the three pictures and combined them into this jpg. I am thrilled with the results. Hope you find it interesting as well. Thank you for giving me such wonderful treats on this cold, gloomy Maine Winter day."

Baseball Connections

Grandpa McGill's Baseball Connection:
"What a treat to come across your webpage! It seems that our grandfathers went head-to-head in the hot Texas summer of 1906. My grandfather, Whittenberg, was a pitcher for the Galveston Sand Crabs. I particularly enjoyed page 23 "Sand Crabs Administer The Worst Defeat to Senators They Have Suffered This Season." Are these newspaper articles your grandfather had in a scrap book?

How wonderful that they have survived one hundred years! Do you have more or do they end with July 1906? I ask because my grandfather was injured in a Game against Austin, August 22, 1906. He was hit in the head with a pitch which pretty much ended his baseball career. I would also love to see a larger copy of the Baseball Team shown on Page 1. Do you have other pictures? Thank you for this wonderful web site!" -- Cathie   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---