Greetings Thorp Alumni
Every spring, as flowers begin to
bloom and weather encourages outdoor activities, one can hear baseballs
making contact with bats. This has been going on since the late
1800’s-early 1900’s. John “Boo John” Harycki, a 1951 Thorp High
School graduate, shared some of his early baseball experiences.
SUNDAY BASEBALL
In the 1940’s and ‘50’s, the only major team sport on the American scene
(all small towns and rural areas in the 48 states) was baseball.
It must be remembered that in this pre-television age professional
basketball was played sporadically in such huge metropolitan areas as
Oshkosh and Ft. Wayne. Professional football was beginning to draw
a following in certain Eastern and Midwest areas, including Green Bay.
However, our national post-time truly deserved the title. Every
American youth learned the game from his parents and radio accounts of
the exploits of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, etc. When we
thought of athletic heroes to emulate, my friends and I were always
calling ourselves Dizzy Dean, Stan Musial or Eddie Mathews. Our
springs and summers consisted of swimming, baseball, fishing and more
baseball.
Given this background, it is understandable that in the small Midwestern
town of Thorp, “pick-up” teams were formed by the players themselves
ages 8 through 15 (no coaches available). Once a youth entered
high school he was able to play team baseball in the spring and American
Legion in the summer.
As baseball was the only team sport at which I excelled, it consumed
hours of my daily life, particularly from March through August.
The Thorp City Baseball Team had a record of winning and playing at a
superior level ever since I recall attending their games and practices
in the middle 40’s. The games were played every Sunday afternoon
(lights were non-existent) from May through August. The Thorp
Cardinals played in the Cloverbelt League against neighboring small
towns in the area. I have often reflected as to the reason why
Thorp was one of the two or three consistently dominant teams in Central
Wisconsin for a period of at least 20 years. I prefer to believe
that our dominance was due to a combination of tradition, dedication and
an unusual mixture of talented athletes.
A major objective of the chapter is to list and describe some of the
great players and characters of those teams, but first it is necessary
to set up the atmosphere and ambience of these wonderful Sundays. The
games themselves were played at the City Diamond located about (?) mile
north of town. The seating areas consisted of 2 bleachers of about
10 or 12 rows; one behind the 3rd base dugout and the other, home team
dugout, behind first base. The only other structures were a small
refreshment stand between the two benches and two outhouses behind the
bleachers. The field itself consisted of the traditional dirt
infield and an outfield circled by a snow fence, a type of barrier
typical of Midwestern states consisting of thin wood vertical slats
about 3 feet high held together by strands of wire and anchored by metal
poles – all quite movable. The games themselves were the biggest
event of each summer weekend and our town of 1,052 souls consistently
hosted a crowd larger than this number. As many of our players
came from the town itself and nearby farms, it meant that a large
majority of the town and rural citizens attended the games every Sunday.
As the bleachers themselves probably seated about 100 to 150 people, the
majority parked their cars in a row from first and third base down the
foul lines and completely circled the outfield. The fans both sat
on and in the vehicles and a great play was always greeted with
cacophony of all car horns. Beer seemed to be the most common
beverage and from the 5th inning on those who consumed more than others
became more vocal and usually contributed in a variety of ways to the
action ad color of the contest.
My first memories of watching our local teams are filled with vignettes
of all time great players such as Leonard ‘Corky’ Jaskot. Corky
was a farm boy who showed a rare combination of speed, power and a great
arm as a teenager. When in shape, he truly had the physical
dimensions of a prototypical third baseman – his prime position.
Corky stood about 5 feet 11 inches with broad sloping shoulders, huge
long arms and looked like a football linebacker. He weighed about
215 lbs in his earlier days. However, in the 1950’s when I played
with him he had matured to a more Ruthian 225 or 230 pounds. Corky
was the supreme home-run hitter and his prowess enabled him to play with
the Owen professional team during the week. He had been offered a
contract with the Philadelphia Phillies franchise, but this was war-time
and he chose to run his family farm in lieu of a professional career.
I shall always remember Corky celebrating late with the gang on Sundays.
He always went from bar to bar in his uniform and was truly our version
of a celebrity.
Another player who is indelibly etched in my memory was another third
baseman/pitcher, Frank ‘Slug’ Gwiazdon. Frank was a little older
that (than) Corky, but similar in build – about 5’ 10 or 11 inches, at
least 200 pounds with a chest and arms like a gorilla. He did not
possess talent equal to Corky; he was an average fielder and hitter –
but a fiery competitor. We always felt that ‘Slug’ never felt a
game was complete unless he engaged in a fight at third base or home
plate. I recall the time when he was managing the old-timers team of the
40’s in an exhibition against the current team of the 50’s. WE
were in the field; I was pitching, when suddenly the umpire stopped the
game because of a loud altercation behind home plate at the refreshment
stand. It seems that ‘Slug’ had a slight disagreement with the
current manager over gate receipts and had decided that the best way to
resolve the issue was to grab the fellow, who was behind the counter, in
a headlock and hold his head against the counter. I’m sure that
the profits were reapportioned before we continued the game.
Another great player and more of a contemporary of mine was Gerald ‘Jug’
Glashoff ’48. “Jugger” did have the talents of Corky and was even
a better hitter and probably a bit faster. Jug also had the
ability to play professional ball – but he was tied to the farm after
his father passed away. As Jug was only three years older than I,
I considered him one of the best friends on the team and we used to
engage in an ongoing banter about how he would bat .400 against me (his
view) and I would strike him out every time (my view). I shall
never forget a game in which Jug made a play that typified his game and
was talked about for years afterward. It seems that we were
playing Stanley at their park and they had jumped to a 7 – 0 lead.
Their pitcher was throwing bullets and had struck me out twice in a row.
In about the 5th inning we started hitting him and scored three runs.
I came up to bat with 2 men on base and 2 outs. Thankfully for me,
they relieved the starter and I got a hit to left, scoring a run, making
it 7 – 4. “Doc” Stuesser then hit a single, scoring another run
and sending me to second. This was both good and bad news because
Doc and I would have vied for last place in foot speed. The next
batter was Jug and he hit a double to right center. I scored
easily and Doc lumbered around third with the tying run. The throw
and Doc arrived at the same time. Doc slid into the catcher and umpire
ruled him safe. The catcher was so upset that he stood with his
back to third base and jawed with the umpire, gesturing with the ball in
his right hand as to how he tagged Stuesser on time.
Meanwhile Jug had gone to third on the throw home and, seeing the
catcher arguing with the ump, Jug set out for home. As he
approached the plate, the catcher was still standing with his back to
third, unaware of Jug. It was a brilliant move to score the lead
run, but there was one problem; Doc was so exhausted from his run from
first to home and from his slide that he remained in the same horizontal
position in front of home, listening to the argument. Well, Jugger,
hell-bent, slid into Doc, home plate and the unsuspecting catcher –
making jolting contact with all three and the startled ump ruled Doc
safe as well. We held the lead and won 8 – 7.
(Sunday Baseball will continue in the May alumni column.)
2007 ALL-THORP ALUMNI REUNION:
Friday, July 6, Saturday, July 7th
TAA, PO Box 75, Thorp, WI 54771
715-669-3698
thorpalumni@gmail.com
|