The Thorp Courier
Thorp High School Alumni Letter
May 16, 2007
Transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon
Greetings To Thorp Alumni
SUNDAY BASEBALL (part 2)
Continued from April 18, 2007 issue of the Thorp Courier
Written by John “Boo John” Harycki ‘51
Another standout player with whom I played for years was my catcher,
Chet Strzok. Chet joined the team about the same time as I, in 1951.
However, he was older because he had just been discharged from the army
and was labeled “Rookie” Strzok for the rest of his career. Chet
was a big, strapping farm boy, who stood about 6’2” and weighed 195
pounds, all bones and muscle. Chet was one of the best catchers
and hitters ever to play for Thorp. He hit for average and power
and had a strong arm. Chet had all the enthusiasm and joy of playing
that one found in young players of that era. He was also tough as
nails and I shall never forget the time he caught one of my pitches on
the thumb of his bare hand and started shaking it after each pitch.
Before the next batter, he called time and trotted out to the mound.
He said that his thumb hurt and showed me the injury – the bone was
protruding from the joint. I winced and waved him to the bench –
where they rushed him to a doctor. Knowing Chet, I’m sure he played the
following Sunday.
During the years of the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, when I viewed and played,
many and varied athletes made their mark on Sundays. It would be
impossible to mention everyone so I shall attempt to list some of the
more memorable players. My earliest memories are of the older
players such as Ben Wiernacz, a smooth-fielding first basemen; Gay
Asselin, a fast, hard-hitting outfielder; Vic Dombrowski, one of the
best hitters I ever saw. He claimed that on a good day he could
see every seam on the ball as he prepared to hit.
After this group, a number of players joined the team who had spent
years in the military, during WWII. Upon their return, they
brought with them no (not) only talent but an experience from living in
different cultures. Among these players was Leon Wnek, the “Manila
Bomber,” comes to mind. Leon was a truly fine hitter, but an
outfielder with limited range. Billy “the Kid” Huls returned from
service in the Philippines with all the speed at the shortstop position
any wanted. Billy also ‘talked it up’ at short by consistently
hollering Philippine expressions. I will never forget his ‘hokomo
mokotoy’ refrain. He never explained its translation and I’m not
sure he was certain of the meaning.
The years that I played, I had the good fortune to play with many other
standouts in addition to Corky, Slug and Jug. The first I need to
mention is Frank ‘Lefty’ Winarczyk. He was one of the craftiest
competitive pitchers I ever saw. Frank was small in stature but he
had the heart of a lion and was a master of the breaking ball. I
was viewed by some as his heir apparent as I was also a left-handed
pitcher. However, Frank was not one to surrender his hard-won
crown easily and for a number of years he remained the number one
pitcher. A major difference between us was that Frank pitched with
pinpoint control, while I threw very hard but often finished a game with
14 strikeouts and 12 walks – which meant a lot of “standing” for the
fielders. Other players on those stand-out teams were the
aforementioned Ralph “Doc” Stuesser, a fine-fielding, good-hitting
second basemen. Doc, a veterinarian, was one of the very few
college-educated players of those times. He was also one of the
few who were not originally from the Thorp area. I will close this
chapter with references to two more men with whom I played and our
business manager. Al Braun was a fleet center fielder who was a few
years older than I and also came to the team from another area of the
state. The final player who deserved special mention was the only
player on the team from my high school class. Gerald “Porky”
Soderberg was an outfielder who had been my best friend throughout high
school. He and I were cut from the same cloth in many ways – both
mischievous and devotees of all sports. Porky played all three
sports also. However, he excelled at football and I was nothing
more than an average to below-average end on our championship football
teams. Porky usually played outfield and always played with great
enthusiasm and a perpetual grin. I shall close this section with a
memory of a game and play which typifies Porky’s efforts. The game
took place in Marshfield at night after a morning rain. The field
still had several large puddles of water in the outfield and there was a
particularly large stand of water in the right field in the exact area
where the fielder ordinarily played. Porky was our right-fielder
that night and he had a bit of trepidation about playing the area and
circumventing the water. He did so with some success until the 3rd
or 4th inning when a fly ball was hit to right, heading directly for the
water. As it was high and eminently catchable, Porky decided the
best manner to make the out was to back up on the dry ground, take a
hard run, and catch the ball while leaping over the puddle. A good
plan, but alas, he had not calculated the height of the ball or the
width of the puddle correctly. As he came barreling toward the
ball, he jumped as he reached the edge of the water and looked up at the
ball. Unfortunately, his speed was such that he flew under the
ball in his attempt to straddle the puddle. He reached back over
his head while in mid-air, watched the ball go over his outstretched
glove, and landed ignominiously with a loud splash on his back in the
middle of the puddle. Needles to say, Porky took years of ribbing
from all of us and earned a new nickname, “Wetback.”
No account of Thorp baseball would be complete with out acknowledgement
of the team’s business manager, publicist, schedule director and master
of every other nefarious matter. Arthur “Pat” Soderberg was
Gerald’s older brother and the age difference between the two was so
great that many of us viewed Pat as Porky’s father. At any rate, Pat
possessed the business acumen and social skills and strong sense of
humor to deal with the widely varied collection of athletes and fans of
the team. I know that he has chronicled some of his memories of
our best teams such as the 1952 team that went to the state tournament
in Milwaukee. This was a very memorable event for me because I had
just graduated from high school in May and was a 19 year old pitcher on
one of the best teams in the state. While there are many anecdotes
illustrating Pat’s witticism, I should like to close this chapter with
one involving a game I would rather forget. As I recall, we had
just concluded a game at home in which I finished with 3 strike-outs in
3 at bat. Needless to say, I hurried to leave the park in a pique
of anger and embarrassment. I jumped in my car and backed out as
fast as I could. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the fence post behind
me and hit it with a loud thud. As this all took place behind the
first base bleachers, several people looked around upon hearing the
noise and saw what happened. One of the viewers was Pat Soderberg,
who immediately shouted, “Hey, Boo John, that’s the first thing you hit
all day!”
John “Boo John” Harycki
2007 ALL-THORP ALUMNI REUNION
Fri. July 6th and Sat. July 7th
TAA, P.O. BOX 75, THORP, WI 54771
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