Ballplayers of Old

Bob Hartley's recent reminiscenses about night-league baseball stirred Marie Hamlin of Winfield to write: "Wonder how many people remember the game of Cambridge and Udall? I recall it took 13 innings until 1 a.m." She said "it was out of this world, the big leagues couldn't beat it." She recalled that the game finally was called in the wee hours at 0-0.

"Some of the players of Udall were Fred Satterthwaite (think he was pitcher for Udall. Fred was Cowley County sheriff for years. Also Gene Foote, Ted Biby. For Cambridge: Clay J. Smith (now at Winfield Rest Haven), Herb and Willis Brunton of Cambridge, Beecher Brunton of Burden, Frank and Paul Brunton, also Lundy and Ledgerwood. At one time also Rob Brunton, a young player.

"The night league was well attended and as you went to them you soon became acquainted with the players on the several teams.... I'm making a scrapbook of all your writings. Thanks for so many memories."

When I contacted Fred Satterthwaite, that righthander from Udall who became the league's leading pitcher, for more information, he provided a scrapbook with accounts of various games. But, due either to modesty or outright forgetfulness, he said he couldn't recall that overtime game. (Fred was in law enforcement in Cowley County for 31 years. He was a Winfield police officer from 1953 to 1962, undersheriff from 1962 to 1967 and sheriff from 1967 to 1984.)

The following from Fred's scrapbook is the Courier account of the opening night game of the 1947 season between Udall and the Winfield Legion: "Udall, playing before a big opening night crowd, defeated the Winfield Legion 12 to 3 to start off the 1947 season in the Winfield night baseball league.

"Legion, after playing strong defensive ball for eight innings, fell apart in the ninth and the Udall boys ran wild, scoring eight runs. That was anti-climax as Udall led 4 to 3 going into the final stanza. Lee Doyen, on the mound for Udall, pitched a masterful game. He held the Legionnaires to four hits, three of which came in the first inning, struck out 15 batsmen and blasted out a two-base hit. Bill Evans started for the Legion and scattered the Udall hits well until the ninth."

Another Winfield heavy hitter was Bill Cloud, a Southwestern College instructor and baseball coach. A Courier account of one of the games reported: "Pacing the Winfield batting attack, Cloud smacked two doubles and a single in four trips and batted in five runs."

That same game marked the first league appearance of big Dan Kahler, Southwestern's great basketball center who played centerfield for the Legionnaires. The Courier reported "the versatile all-around star reached first three times but failed to get a safe hit."

Udall was the 1941 champion of the night league.

Some of Fred's recollections: Gene "Lefty" Foote, a Cambridge pitcher, "pretty fast'; Joe Classen of Udall, "a big, old boy"; Ted Biby, "the classiest shortstop I've ever seen"; Clay Smith, "went into the majors."

And Fred has this very special recollection of the Aug. 22, 1950, game: "It was my turn to pitch the ball game. They announced over the loudspeaker, 'Fred and Lois just gave birth to a son and he was just too nervous to pitch tonight.' Paul Frederick Satterthwaite was born Aug. 22, 1950, at 6:05 p.m."

A Courier article had this to say about the victorious Legion team:

"1950 is the second time a Legion team has won the Winfield Baseball League, and it is the first time any winning team has ever beaten the All-Stars. The team was under the able management of our new commander, Willie Jack, and the players were as follows: Infield - Ty Hardy, Jim Barnthouse, Norman Sandell, Jackie King, Ted Biby; catchers - Dick Barnthouse, Don Parker; outfield - Ted McAllister, Dan Kahler, Bill Cloud; pitchers - Teddy Satterthwaite, Joe Vann, Bob Groene, Bobby Jackson, Bob Schroyer, Joe Huffman, Joe Classen; bat boy - Kermit Rowe."

A thank-you - Many thanks also to Jim Barnthouse for stirring up his memories for this baseball yarn.

Preserving memories - A Winfield business is providing a most helpful - and reasonable - service to folk who want to preserve printed memorabilia, such as newspaper clippings and full newspaper pages. It also works fine for such things as handwritten letters.

The Heaven Bound shop on Main Street provides the laminating service which seals the item in thin, clear plastic, easily read from both sides. As far as I could determine, it's the only Winfield business providing this service. Proprietor Virginia Burkett of Arkansas City said she recently finished laminating more than 40 pages of newspapers dating back to the 1890s for the Udall Historical Society.