Youngstown Ohio Works
The Youngstown Ohio Works baseball team was a minor league club that served as a training ground for players and officials who later established careers in major league baseball. The team is best known for winning the premier championship of the Ohio-Pennsylvania League in 1905,[1] and launching the professional career of pitcher Roy Castleton a year later.[2]
Formation and league championship
The Ohio Works team was organized in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1903, under the sponsorship of Joseph A. McDonald, superintendent of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company. In 1905, the club joined the Class C Division Ohio-Pennsylvania League, which was founded that year in Akron, Ohio, by veteran ballplayer Charles Morton.[3] The name, "Youngstown Ohio Works", became officially associated with the club at that time.[4] From the outset, the Youngstown ball club was managed by ex-major leaguer Marty Hogan, a former outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns.[5]
In September 1905, the Youngstown Ohio Works won the first league championship, though sources disagree on the club's final record. This confusion may owe to the disorganized nature of the new league, with its sprawling roster of 11 teams.[6] According to the Spalding Guide (1906), "The failure to furnish official reports was probably due to the clubs being new to a league".[7]
Baseball researcher John Zajc summarizes the varied accounts as follows: "The Reach Guide (1906) credits Youngstown with an 84-32 won-lost record where the Spalding Guide of the same year list a 90-35 record. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1993) tells a third story, giving Youngstown an 88-35 mark".[8] Despite this uncertainty over the club's record, its championship status was apparent, and the team became popularly known as "the Champs".[9] This moniker, however, was not officially connected to a Youngstown-based ball club until 1907.[4]
Final season
The following season, the Ohio-Pennsylvania League trimmed down to a more manageable eight teams.[10] Further research is needed to confirm the Youngstown team's ranking in the league at the close of the 1906 season, though baseball historian Craig Lammers credits the club with a strong 22-12 record.[11]
Early in the season, as the team prepared for a second game with the Zanesville (Ohio) Moguls, close rivals in the 1905 championship games,[12] manager Hogan spoke confidently on his club's chances of capturing the league pennant. "If the boys go through the season as they are playing now, we will have no trouble winning out", he said to a reporter with The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. "Our pitchers are in good condition and are holding the opposing batsmen to few hits. It is the pitching staff that has saved many a game for us. We have no .350 batters on the club, but any man on it is liable to step in and break up a game".[9]
The manager's confidence was rewarded in at least one respect. An article published in the Youngstown Daily Vindicator in October 1906 stated that the local team ended the season with its third consecutive state pennant in hand.[13] The star of the Ohio Works team was a gangling, left-handed pitcher named Roy Castleton, a Utah native who went on to pitch for the New York Highlanders and Cincinnati Reds.[14] On August 17, 1906, Castleton gained national recognition when he pitched a perfect game against rival Akron, shutting them out at 4-0.[15]
Dissolution
Despite the club's apparent success, disagreements over funding led to its sale and relocation. On February 18, 1907, the Zanesville Signal reported that manager Hogan had received permission from "the Messrs. McDonald" (Joseph McDonald and brother Thomas G. McDonald) to negotiate a $3,000 deal for the sale of the team, including its players, to a group of Zanesville investors.[16] The following day, Hogan was quoted as saying, "Youngstown couldn't or didn't raise enough money to cover a sparrow's blanket".[17]
The ball club manager's evident frustration during this period was reflected in comments published in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator almost a week after the team's sale. When questioned on his widely publicized decision to resign as manager of the Youngstown club before the opening of the 1907 season, Hogan reportedly said that he had received "the short end of the deal".[18] No reference was made to the club's sale.[18]
The former Ohio Works manager was apparently not the only observer to suggest that Joseph McDonald engaged in "unsportsmanlike tactics".[19] A feature story that appeared in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator in 1920 stated that McDonald took deliberate steps in 1907 to replace the Ohio Works team with a more seasoned club from Homestead, Pennsylvania.[19] The new club became known officially as the "Youngstown Champs".[4] Rumors of McDonald's supposed strategy apparently angered local baseball fans.[19] According to the 1920 feature article, the Youngstown media highlighted the Champs' unexpected loss to the amateur Rayen Athletics in 1907.[19] The Champs remained active for two seasons. In 1909, the club was renamed as the Youngstown Indians,[4] and the following year, the name was changed again to the Youngstown Steelmen.[4] Both teams competed in the Ohio-Pennsylvania League.[4]
Legacy
The Youngstown Ohio Works team not only gave pitcher Roy Castleton a prized "shot" at the major leagues, but it also played an indirect role in launching the career of Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans. On September 1, 1903, Evans, a reporter at The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, was assigned to cover a game between the Ohio Works and the Homestead, Pennsylvania, Library Athletic Club that was held in Youngstown. Evans took his first step toward a legendary career when club manager Hogan offered him $15 to fill an umpire vacancy.[20] (In 1905, Evans received a major career boost from Youngstown native Jimmy McAleer, who recommended Evans to the American League.)[20]
Ultimately, the story of the Ohio Works team proved to be an early chapter in Youngstown's rich history of amateur and minor league baseball. Decades later, the city served as a perennial host to the National Amateur Baseball Federation championship, eliciting praise from organization officials for the pristine condition of the community's sandlot baseball diamonds, which they described as among the best in the country.[21] Meanwhile, Youngstown-based teams offered valuable experience and exposure to future major league players such as Floyd Baker and Johnny Kucab.[22] Today, the Youngstown-Warren area serves as home base to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor league team that competes in the Class A New York - Penn League.[23]
References
- ^ "Ohio-Pennsylvania League of 1905". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ "Roy Castleton". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1906), p. 288.
- ^ a b c d e f
Filchia, Peter (1993). Professional Baseball Franchises: From the Abbeville Athletics to the Zanesville Indians. New York: Facts on File. pp. p. 258.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1906), p. 288.
- ^ Ohio-Pennsylvania League Accessed 2007-03-08
- ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1906), p. 289.
- ^ "Ohio-Pennsylvania League of 1905". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ a b "Champs Back: They Returned from Zanesville on Early Morning Train". The Youngstown Vindicator. June 19, 1906.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Roy Castleton". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ "Roy Castleton". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1906), p. 289.
- ^ "Hogan Is Popular Here; Fans Glad He Returned". The Youngstown Vindicator. October 14, 1906.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Roy Castleton". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ "Roy Castleton". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- ^ "Franchise, Team and Marty Hogan are Coming Here". The Zanesville Signal. February 18, 1907. p. 1.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Zanesville Has Them Guessing; Marty Hogan Says He's Glad to Be Located in This City". The Zanesville Signal. February 19, 1907. p. 1.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b "Why Hogan Withdrew". The Youngstown Vindicator. February 24, 1907.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c d "Youngstown's Old Circus Grounds". The Youngstown Vindicator. May 2, 1920.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) Cite error: The named reference "vindy-yo-05-02-20" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b Baker, Jon (July 1, 2005). "In Valley's baseball history, Evans was an early scrapper". The Valley Voice. p. 27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Ward, Frank B. (September 16, 1946). "Along the Sports Rialto". The Youngstown Vindicator. p. 7.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Landolf, Charles A. (April 1, 1977). "Youngstown Once Main Link in Minor League Loop Baseball Chain". Youngstown Vindicator. p. 26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Mahoning Valley Scrappers Web site Accessed 2007-03-08