Youngstown Ohio Works
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The Youngstown Ohio Works baseball team was one of scores of minor league clubs that appeared in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the early 20th century. Like many of its minor league counterparts, the team served as a training ground for players and officials who would later establish themselves in major league baseball.
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[edit] Formation
The Ohio Works team was organized in Youngstown, Ohio, as early as 1903, under the sponsorship of local industrialist Joseph McDonald. In 1905, the club joined the Class C Division Ohio-Pennsylvania League. Records suggest that the name, "Youngstown Ohio Works," became officially associated with the club at that time. From the outset, the Ohio Works club was managed by ex-major leaguer Marty Hogan, a former outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns.[1]
[edit] League Championship
In September 1905, Hogan led the Youngstown team to the league championship, though sources disagree on the club's final record. As baseball researcher John Zajc writes: "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".[2] According to an article that appeared in the Youngstown Daily Vindicator in October 1906, the Ohio Works team won three "state pennants" under Hogan's leadership.[3]
[edit] Dissolution
Disagreements over managerial control and funding, however, culminated in the club's sale and relocation in early 1907. An article published in the Zanesville (Ohio) Signal on February 19, 1907, reported that Hogan received permission from "the Messrs. McDonald" to negotiate a $3,000 deal for the sale of the team (including its players) to a group of Zanesville investors. In the same article, Hogan was quoted as saying, "Youngstown couldn't or didn't raise enough money to cover a sparrow's blanket".[4] That year, a new franchise was established in Youngstown, one that became known as the "Youngstown Champs."[5]
On November 6, 1912, The Youngstown Daily Vindicator reported that Hogan (fresh from stints as a manager in Zanesville and Lancaster, Pennsylvania) was likely to once again manage a local minor league ball club.[6] Further research will be required to confirm the outcome of this development.
[edit] Legacy
The Youngstown Ohio Works is often remembered for its 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 in Youngstown. Club manager Hogan offered Evans $15 to fill an umpire vacancy. (In 1905, Evans received another career boost from Youngstown native Jimmy McAleer, who recommended Evans to the American League.)[7]
Overall, the Ohio Works team would prove to be just one chapter in Youngstown's rich history of minor league baseball. For decades, the community hosted the National Amateur Baseball Federation championship. Significantly, NABF officials praised Youngstown's sports establishment in 1946 for the pristine condition of the community's sandlot baseball diamonds, which were regarded as among the best in the country.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ The Hogan-Cullinan Family Collection, Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Youngstown, Ohio.
- ^ http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,412,5,0
- ^ The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, Oct. 14, 1906.
- ^ The Zanesville Signal, Zanesville, Ohio, February 19, 1907.
- ^ Peter Filchia, Professional Baseball Franchises: From the Abbeville Athletics to the Zanesville Indians (New York: Facts on File, 1993), p. 258.
- ^ The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, Nov. 6, 1912.
- ^ The Valley Voice, Youngstown, Ohio, July 1-7, 2005.
- ^ The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio, Sept. 16, 1946.
