T206 Southern Leaguer Bill Cranston

[T206Collector]

Thank you. This is helpful information. I also just realized he crossed the space for a middle name out on his draft card — he never used a middle name on any of the other documents I have found for him, so that lines up as well.

I also very much appreciate the Simpson’s reference. If Monty Burns had his way, his starting pitcher on the company softball team would have been Mordecai Brown!

I’ll see what I can find out about Bartlett Hayward, and if they had a company baseball team. Preliminarily your guidance on stashing himself there to avoid going to war makes sense — during World War I, the company made munitions, ship propellers, and other material for the United States and its allies. It made millions of artillery shells and the artillery fuzes for them (9.6 million shells in World War I). It designed new fuze models and designed improved processes for making those shells. In short, it would’ve been the best place for Bill to work to avoid fighting in the war!