Family members of Old time ball players [Archive]

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12-06-2006, 01:47 PM

Posted By: T206Collector...on business, I had a paralegal at law firm help me with the copy machine. We spoke about baseball, and it turns out her grandfather was Kid Elberfeld. Funny that...

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12-06-2006, 01:52 PM

Posted By: Dan BrettaSam Thompson's great nephew is a lurker on this board. There have been quite a few family members show up here on occasion looking for cards of their famous ancestors.

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12-06-2006, 01:53 PM

Posted By: Bryan LongMy old boss - who have passed away was also a family member of Kid - his brother collected all of his cards that I could get his hands on. Bosses name? Steve Elberfeld. He actually has a website of his collection - for the life of me I can't remember what the website address was. Very neat guy. .

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12-06-2006, 01:54 PM

Posted By: Jon CanfieldI keep in contact with the son of Myron "Moose" Grimshaw (depicted with Toronto in the T-206 set). Myron is buried in my home town in upstate NY and spent his life (and passed away) a few miles from my house. I met his son, Roger, who I believe is around 80 years old, while doing research on Moose. We were in contact with each other for over 2 years (Roger lives in Florida), but he recently came back to New York and we met up for lunch. He brought along family photos of Myron and some early playing day photos.

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12-06-2006, 01:58 PM

Posted By: MikeI can't recall the year, (early 90's) but I was in an antique store looking for pre war nuggets. I got into a conversation with the owner, a somewhat older woman if I recall. She asked me if I knew who Zack Wheat was? Of course I said. I wish I could recall the conversation, but anyway she told me she was related to him. Very closely if I recall. She mentioned a divorce. She also mentioned that he tended to drink a lot, which caused a divorce (zack's) in her family. Sorry I can't recall more, maybe it will come to me.

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12-06-2006, 02:01 PM

Posted By: Jason Lnow I'm hooked on vintage cards... I have two cousins who played major league ball (and in the PCL) in the 30s and 40s...they were brothers named: Lee (Jeep) Handley Gene Handley Lee had the more successful ML career, lasting about 10 years. Actually tied for the NL lead in SBs in 1937, with a whopping 17! and Gene was a very solid all-star caliber secondbagger for the Hollywood Stars of the PCL before making it to the A's for a couple years... I collect anything I can of them, and have so far found several mentions in Baseball Magazine, photos, a handful of cards, including Double Play, Play Ball, Mothers Cookies, and the cards that led me here - the 1949 Bowman PCL. I hope to be putting all this stuff up on a site soon.

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12-06-2006, 02:11 PM

Posted By: MikeOne more - I used to write back and forth (on paper, remember those days?) with the daughter of Jimmie Foxx. Nancy Canaday. She is the daughter of Jimmie's second wife. Jimmie never adopted her. But she said she called him daddy anyway. We exchanged letters for a while. Then I stopped because I didn't want to be a bother. She lives down in the everglades in Florida. I still have her letters. She sent me some original photos of herself with some celebrities. George Bush 1, Willie mays, Ted Williams. etc. etc. A very nice lady. I had attempted to meet her once, but I was somewhat leary of her thinking I was a stalker. So I didn't. But she was very cordial, and friendly. She had a very great sense of humor. I enjoyed receiving her letters.

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12-06-2006, 05:57 PM

Posted By: Judson HamlinPete (who also played under his birth name of Jablonoski) died in the 70's, but his wife, Aldona, was a County Court Judge in Middlesex County (NJ) until she retired in the late 80's, and her portrait now hangs in the new Family Courthouse. She was friends with my father who was also a judge and he introduced me to her and I wa always grateful for that. I gave her a copy of a nice Burke photo (almost the same shot as the '40 Playball) and I remember her looking at it and remarking how she missed his smile.

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12-06-2006, 06:39 PM

Posted By: Brian KoyamaMy friend is the great, great, great, niece of Johnny Evers. She has a bunch of signed balls and even a commemorative watch they gave Johnny Evers way back when.

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12-06-2006, 07:06 PM

Posted By: Kevin CummingsI am friendly with Ed Weyhing, nephew of 19th century pitching star and Louisville, Kentucky native, Gus Weyhing.

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12-06-2006, 07:09 PM

Posted By: whitehseMy cousin married the son of veteran umpire Augie Donatelli. I know he isnt prewar but he sure is vintage. I can still see a pleading Willie Mays kneeling at home plate after being thrown out Begging for a better call in the 73 world series. Augie just stood there and stood by his call!! I believe he retired soon after.

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12-06-2006, 07:39 PM

Posted By: Ken McMillanMy story of a relative is as follows: My great great uncle played center field for the Yankees in the 1921 world series. He was the lead off batter for the Yankees and got a single making him the first Yankee to ever get a hit in a world series. There was a sacrifice bunt to advance him to second base. Babe Ruth singled to score my relative from second base making my uncle the first Yankee to ever score a run in a world series. His was basically an unknown player for the Yanks, but played several years for them. His name was Elmer Miller. The Yankees have been to many world series since then and won many world series, but my relative was literally the start of a dynasty. Or maybe he was in the right place at the right time?

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12-06-2006, 09:39 PM

Posted By: BcDwho have collected for a long time ( you know us guys who have known Knouse for 20+ years ole JC <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> ) remember talking to and buying stuff from Robert Wood,son of Smokey Joe.I was wondering if he were still around actually as he was selling photos and antiques I belive from pre war. Walter Johnson 3 used to come around Willow Grove in the early 80's as well. BcD <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

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12-06-2006, 09:46 PM

Posted By: Al C.risafulliI sold a card once to the grandson of Rip Radcliff. After the Yankees won the pennant in 1939, the American League instituted a rule that prevented teams from trading with the pennant winner. This rule was, essentially, to keep the Yankees from improving even further, after winning 4 World Series in a row. The Detroit Tigers won the pennant in 1940. When Hank Greenberg enlisted in the armed forces, the Tigers paid cash to the Browns for Rip Radcliff, and all the other teams looked the other way. Radcliff, essentially, was the guy responsible for the elimination of the "keep the Yankees down" rule. His grandson knew the story, and through a series of email exchanges talked about his grandfather's friendships with Bill Dickey and Lou Gehrig, among others. Nice guy. I lost his email address, but he was looking for a photo of the 1936 AL all-star team, of which Radcliff was a member. I searched for one at the 2005 National for him, but never found one. -Al

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12-06-2006, 09:56 PM

Posted By: DennyDid some auction dealings with Andy Madec. Turns out Andy works with Ty Cobbs Great Grand son(or maybe Great Great Grand son?) Anyways, I had a good phone conversation with him bout Ty's later life. Very interesting and a nice surprize to boot. Denny Walsh

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12-06-2006, 10:09 PM

Posted By: john/z28jd Ive talked with the great-grandnephew of Larry and Mike Corcoran numerous times and received some,and shared some good info with him.His son is a pretty good college pitcher too,must be in the genes. Ive also talked a few times with the great-grandnephew of Mike Griffin,star centerfielder for Brooklyn and Baltimore in the 1880-90's. He knows an incredible amount of info about Mike and is constantly searching for more. Kevin forgot to mention that the guy he knows is also related to John Weyhing who pitched briefly in the majors from 1888-89

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12-06-2006, 10:35 PM

Posted By: BcDhow's your 2 day old son? <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> BcD <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

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12-06-2006, 11:54 PM

Posted By: davidcyclebackMy great grandfather was the quarterback of the first Michigan State University football team in the 1880s. The team photo is in the MSU Press history of MSU football.

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12-07-2006, 12:40 AM

Posted By: DennyBrian, Dankz for asking... He's doing Grand & He Complete's the Diamond line-up! Denny Walsh

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12-07-2006, 02:14 AM

Posted By: John SA friend of mine who resides in Biloxi called me recently and asked if I had ever heard of Dan Brouthers. My friend, who is a baseball fan, was engaged in a conversation about MLB when the other party informed him that he was the great-grandson of Brouthers.

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12-07-2006, 08:06 AM

Posted By: daryleI have sold cards of John Stone (1934 Goudey) and Benny Tate (1936 WW Gum) to their nephews. Really neat listening to their stories of their uncles stories. Also met some relatives of Candy Cummings at a show in Atlanta. I was doing a show for Donn Jennings and this fellow came up with a very young boy and had the boy to ask me if I had anything of Candy Cummings and then the older fellow asked if I knew who he Candy was. Of course I said yes and told him that very few items of his are around. He (the older fellow) said that they were relatives of his and that the family still had old photos of Candy and items that belonged to Candy in the family. I begged to obtained something, just a photo, but they wouldn't give in. Oh well.......................I tried.

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12-07-2006, 08:33 AM

Posted By: BrianI know a lot of relatives of Frank "Bullet" Miller <img src="/images/wink.gif" height=14 width=14> <img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v739/millerbr/bullet/squires.jpg">

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12-07-2006, 09:14 AM

Posted By: DDMy friend's son's great great grandfather is Walter Johnson. He really resembles him as well.

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12-07-2006, 11:12 AM

Posted By: KennyFriends of Zach Wheat relatives. In response to Mikes comments about Zach's drinking leading to a divorce, Zach's wife died in 1959, the same year he went into the hall of fame. He never remarried and wasn't divorced. I have collected Wheat items for about 25 years.

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12-07-2006, 11:57 AM

Posted By: barrysloateKenny - there was a television show in the 1950's called "This is Your Life" which was hosted by Ralph Edwards. If you are not familiar with it, he would surprise a celebrity by bringing him on stage and would subsequently bring out many people from his past whom he hadn't seen in years. In a 1952 episode, one of the surprised celebrities was Casey Stengel. What is special about the appearance is Edwards invited two of his old baseball buddies, Irish Meusel and Zach Wheat. I remember Zach speaking about playing with Casey in Brooklyn. I think it is safe to say it is the only existing footage of Wheat talking. He would have been 64 and he still looked athletic and had these huge hands, as all ballplayers do. And on the topic of this thread, I bought some memorabilia from the great grandson of Henry Chadwick in 1992, including photographs and Chadwick's portable writing desk. The family actually lived walking distance from my house!

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12-07-2006, 11:58 AM

Posted By: MikeKenny as I said this was a few years ago, so I apologize for any incorrect info. The lady was insistant though, that she was related to him. She was fairly elderly, so I have no reason to beleive she was making the info up. I personally know very little personal of Zach, other than the baseball related info. Sorry for the confusion.

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12-07-2006, 02:49 PM

Posted By: MWheat...we should also include our own Brad Green. To those unfamiliar with his collecting habits (he collects Lefty Grove stuff), he is related to Lefty. I believe his mother was related to Lefty.

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12-07-2006, 03:40 PM

Posted By: kennyBarry, Charles Stengel was from Kansas City and so was Zach Wheat when they were youth. They played together for a town baseball team. After Zach had made it with the Dodgers, he told them he had a buddy back home who was a good player. He got Stengel a tryout with one of baseballs first scouts, I think his name was Sutton. The Dodgers picked him up and he played with Zach for a few years. They always remained very close friends. I would love to see the This is Your Life show with them on it. I imagine most of your knew Casey was a nickname for Stengel and it was because he was from KC.

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12-07-2006, 03:49 PM

Posted By: barrysloateIt was an interesting show. It was filmed just weeks after the 1952 World Series, because not only did Edwards congratulate Stengel for winning it, but Billy Martin was in the audience and Edwards cited the great catch he made to save the series, which was of course in 1952. What is even more interesting is Edwards apologized to the audience because they were supposed to also have on the show the new Yankee phenom Mickey Mantle but he cancelled at the last minute. I'm guessing the Mick was still hung over from the night before. I assumed Casey stood for KC, but kind of forgot where he was from. I bet the Museum of Television in NYC would have a copy of the show.

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12-07-2006, 04:05 PM

Posted By: Bob CI’ve played golf with Roger Craig, the Brooklyn pitcher not the 49er football player. He’s a member at a club I do some consulting for. He found both my name similarity (The Craik’s are the Scottish clan) and my interest in pre war baseball both interesting and amusing at the same time. He is 76, in fantastic shape and a 4 handicapper, a pretty good golfer. I have not seen him this (golf) season. Last year he was helping out the Tigers pitching staff work on their split finger fastballs. He is a great story teller. Told me several years ago, the DBacks asked him to come over and give Randy Johnson some pointers on his split finger fastball during spring training. He said “Well Randy wasn’t really interested in that, so I started teaching the younger players with some noticeable improvement. Finally, one day Randy came over and said, Rodger can you work with me a little?” Rodger paused and with a wry smile said he responded “Randy, I will be glad to help you with your fast ball but I ain’t gonna’ kiss your ass.” That is my story about Roger.

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02-12-2007, 05:38 AM

Posted By: SteveI don't mean to bring up an old thread, but this one caught my eye. Although not prewar, I am close friends with Carlton Willey. Carlton pitched for the Braves and Mets from 1958-1965. Some of his accomplishments include pitching in the '58 World Series against the Yankees, being the first Mets pitcher to hit a grand slam and retiring all three Alou brothers in one inning. Some of my greatest memories are of listening to Carlton talk about playing with Aaron, Spahn, Duke Snider, Casey Stengel and those guys. You throw a name out there, he has a story or two for them. And a lot of them are a riot! Carlton is like a Grandfather to me, I just love him to pieces. The main focus of my collection is his items. As I said, not prewar, but a friendship I am very proud of.

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02-12-2007, 07:10 AM

Posted By: warshawlawWhen I was a kid we had a babysitter for me and my sister who was a retired secretary. One day I was discussing baseball cards with her (I was 11 and obsessed) and she said "I wonder if my uncle Connie's stuff is worth anything?" Turns out she was his niece. Unfortunately, she didn't give me any memorabilia of his.

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02-12-2007, 08:36 AM

Posted By: Dan BrettaSpeaking of Connie Mack I got this 1950 Connie Mack's Golden Jubilee program off of ebay a while back...it contained an interesting story about Mack on the back cover from a Mother to her son. <a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9467/cmackmediumak9.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

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02-12-2007, 06:06 PM

Posted By: PatrickYes, my family member was Ace Stewart, one year with Chicago in 1895. Seems him an Anson had a falling out, can you belive that. Anyway's he played primarly in the Western League, a carrer that was from 1888 - to 1908. He died in 1912 occupation Ball Player. <a href="http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?isbn=0-7864-1003-5" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?isbn=0-7864-1003-5</a>

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02-12-2007, 06:50 PM

Posted By: miamisaulFriends with his daughter Gigi. For the uninformed Guy surrnedered Babe Ruth's homers 713 and 714. I have some nice Bush items, but she has a piece naming Bush, who won 176 games plus 1 more in the Fall Classic, to the Babe Ruth All American Team signed by the Bambino. I believe the year was 1932 or 1933,