Visiting T206 Players to say "Hello"

[Tim Kindler]

I was on a website talking about Major Leaguer Grave Sites a few months ago, and then saw a video on Hall Of Famer Addie Joss which mentioned his gravesite. This gave me an idea about visiting a few grave sites just to "visit" players who had T206 cards. I thought about how cool it would have been to talk to them about their playing games like in the book "The Glory of Their Times". Well. since they have all passed, I thought the best next thing would be to visit their gravesites, say hello and thank them for their playing history.

I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and my oldest daughter is a Nurse in Toledo, Ohio where Joss is buried. So last month when I visited her to take her out to dinner, I brought along his T206 cards that I have and told her that we were going on a baseball adventure. She loves baseball as well, so she was game. We drove downtown Toledo and found Joss's grave from the video and took a few pictures of his grave with my cards next to it.

I decided to kinda make these gravesite adventures part of my collecting hobby. I started doing research, especially on the players from the T206 set in Indiana and the states closest to me such as Ohio and Michigan. I found several players from the T206 set buried in each of these states, including 2 more that I can visit this spring when I visit my daughter in Toledo- Topsy Hartsel is buried in the same cemetery as Joss, and fellow Hall of Famer Roger Bresnahan in another Toledo cemetery.

I also just returned from a short trip with my son, Tyrus (yes, named after Cobb) who was on Spring Break from Purdue Engineering, to Florida to New Smyrna Beach to get some ocean time and play disc golf. So before we left, I looked up that area and found 2 gravesites for us to visit and further this adventure. Both of them were in Daytona Beach about a 25 min, drive from the ocean where we were staying. The first one was Hall of Famer Napoleon Lajoie. His headstone is a really nice one, and I believe his children are on it as well.
The other one, at the same cemetery, was of Fred Merkle, but his gravestone is a tragic one. For those unfamiliar with the story, Merkle was blamed for a series of events causing the 1908 New York Giants to lose the pennant to the Cubs. The event was named the "Merkle Boner" or Bone Headed play of Merkle for a bad baserunning decision he made in a crucial game against the Cubs. Even though he was called "Out" under weird circumstances with the Cubs' second baseman Johnny Evers, and the Giants could have overcome this mistake with other wins, he was blamed for the Giants ultimately losing the pennant. I recommend reading up on the whole story of the Merkle Boner for yourself if you don't know it. Anyways, Merkle played 16 seasons in the majors, had a nice career with over 1,500 hits, and is even part of the International Minor League Hall of Fame, he was never able to get past his rookie mistake early on in his career with the Giants. When he died in 1957 at the age of 67, he was buried without a headstone in an unmarked grave with his parents' graves behind him. He didn't want a gravestone because he was afraid vandals would have a chance to put "Bonehead" on his tombstone. You would think that after over 65 years, somebody in the family or some organization would have put up a proper headstone by now, but sadly, it is still unmarked. If one was put up today, hopefully the anger towards him would be long gone, but I guess you never know. So my son and I took a picture of where he is buried in his unmarked place with his 2 T206 cards as a tribute to him.

Enjoy the pics. (Full disclosure: the T206 cards at Joss's site are the real deal, the 3 at Lajoie's and 2 at Merkle's are just copies of my cards.... Didn't want them to come up missing from my vacation motel or anything!)

Please feel free to add to this thread if you have pics of T206 or other deceased players' gravesites.
Tim Kindler

[jp1216]

Nice post Tim.

OT: I tried looking up who the Lamoureux people were on the Lajoie stone. He didn't have his own children. Lillian was his niece? Lillian was married to Dolor? Odd combination to share a site with. The other two are long gone - yet must not have been buried there.

[ushojh1]

very cool!

[Jay Wolt]

I've visited Eddie Plank's gravesite at Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg
several times, though have never taken a picture

[Tim Kindler]

Jon,
I wondered the same thing on who the other 2 were on the headstone????
Those two would be gone by now as well, so I do wonder where they were buried?

John, Thanks!

Jay, I have been to Gettysburg twice and my favorite place to eat was Gettysburg Eddies..... Great food and atmosphere. I never thought of this idea before when I visited, so I will need to go back and visit his gravesite the next time. Of course, I will have to make a photocopy of his T206 to keep up my new hobby because I certainly can't afford a T206 Plank!

Tim Kindler

[Jay Wolt]

Tim the restaurant Gettysburg Eddies faces the soldiers cemetery across the street
Farther back is Evergreen cemetery where the civilians like Plank are buried.

Across from Gettysburg college is a house that Eddie owned w/ the PA historical marker.
& down the road a bit is another marker of Eddie's car dealership

[maniac_73]

Morbidly cool lol. I actually live near Hal Chase's burial site and have been meaning to check it out one day.

[frankbmd]

Still looking for the grave of "Large Ass"

[Tim Kindler]

Frank.....
I have lots of relatives with "large ass" burial sites...... LOL, kidding of course.

But for real, according to findagrave.com, Buck Herzog is buried in Denton Cemetery in Denton, Maryland.

Jay, thanks for the tips on my next visit to Gettysburg.

[Kawika]

Cool thread. Following the Baltimore National in 2012 I deked up to Gettysburg and was the beneficiary of an amazing battlefield tour conducted by the immortal Jay Wolt and was treated by same to a burger and a Dr Pepper at good ol' Gettysburg Eddie's. From there I shot up to Lewisburg with the goal of seeing Christy Mathewson's grave at the cemetery hard by the Bucknell campus. Poked around the school and the town, my imagination in overdrive at the idea of Matty traipsing about the environs a century prior. One of my best baseball adventures ever.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, Moose McCormick, Big Six's contemporary at Bucknell, teammate on the NY Giants and a fellow T206er, also is buried in the Lewisburg Cemetery.

[Jay Wolt]

David that was a great day we had & I remember you were also heading to Matty's gravesite.

[samosa4u]

I would like to play baseball with my white friends, black friends, Asian friends, etc., over Cap Anson's grave !!!

[HexsHeroes]

.
Buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, located in Lansing Michigan.
.
Unfortunately missed having his own T206 card by a couple of years but does has a few pieces of old cardboard including T207, Cracker Jack, T222, etc.

[kkkkandp]

Not a T-206 guy, but certainly a pre-war player and a local (Manahawkin/Beach Haven, NJ) hero...

[hammertime]

Here are some I've visited over the years.

[Yoda]

Fred Merkle deserves a proper burial and headstone. Anybody can make a mistake.

[Vintage Vern]

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[J-Yo]

I actually do this too! I have about 10 I’ve been to


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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

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[J-Yo]

Jimmy Collins


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[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by Tim Kindler

I was on a website talking about Major Leaguer Grave Sites a few months ago, and then saw a video on Hall Of Famer Addie Joss which mentioned his gravesite. This gave me an idea about visiting a few grave sites just to "visit" players who had T206 cards.

I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and my oldest daughter is a Nurse in Toledo, Ohio where Joss is buried. So last month when I visited her to take her out to dinner, I brought along his T206 cards that I have and told her that we were going on a baseball adventure.

If you get back to Toledo, make the trip to Livonia. It's about 40 minutes away. Ed Cicotte is buried at Parklawn Cemetery. He spent the last years of his life living on a farm and trying to live a clean life - per an interview in 1965.

[hammertime]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

If you get back to Toledo, make the trip to Livonia. It's about 40 minutes away. Ed Cicotte is buried at Parklawn Cemetery. He spent the last years of his life living on a farm and trying to live a clean life - per an interview in 1965.

Roger Bresnahan is buried in Toledo as well.

[J-Yo]

Originally Posted by J-Yo

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Bill Dinneen


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[Zach Wheat]

Neat topic, enjoyed the pics.

[Tim Kindler]

I am really enjoying the experiences, pictures, and thoughts by everyone in this thread on these historical experiences in cemeteries. Thanks to some fellow members for the advice and locations of future ideas for gravesite visits!
Tim Kindler

[J-Yo]

Slim Caldwell, not a T206 guy but close enough


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[J-Yo]

To summarize all my photos:

I live in western NY so some of the ones I took are within an hour.

Hooks Wiltse is buried on a hill in a cemetery directly across from Syracuse University, I really liked the message on his grave, “Gentle and Kind.”

I also went to his hometown where they have a little league complex named after him.

Bill Dinneen is buried in the dying city of Utica NY. It was depressing to see his grave in the condition it was, needs a good cleaning. I wanted to clean it but I know you need to use certain chemicals otherwise you could harm the stone.

Jimmy Collins is buried in an Irish only cemetery outside of Buffalo. Was a little difficult to find since many of the graves looked similar.

The rest I took going on family trips, it drives my wife a little crazy “we’re going to see dead people again!?”

Connie Mack and Ira Thomas are buried in the same cemetery north of Philadelphia.

Chief Bender is buried in an active cemetery where there were a lot of people running/riding bikes.

Wild Bill Donovan also buried in Philly, in the Irish part. Found it interesting that he was buried with maybe 4 strangers, not sure of the relationship.

Christy Mathewson, buried right next to his college, Bucknell. What I didn’t realize was Moose McCormick is buried in the same cemetery so I’ll have to go back.

Slim Caldwell was buried in a town on the NY PA border, extremely rural area.

I too was in the Daytona cemetery to see Nap Lojoie a few weeks ago so that caught my attention.

I wanted to see Smoky Joe Wood as I was in the area (Scranton PA shoutout to fellow The Office fans). It looks like he’s buried on private property and you’d have to cut through someone’s yard. I’ll have to do more research.

Anyone interested just use baseball reference you can sort burials by state, and find a grave helps you locate the exact spot.

I’ll for sure be adding more as I visit!


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[J-Yo]

Hooks Wiltse plaque at little league complex named after him


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