Hometown Heros

[JLange]

Joe Vosmik was born in Cleveland in 1910 and played for the Indians from 1930-36. By far his best season was 1935 when he led the league with 216 hits, 47 doubles, and 20 triples. He batted .348 that season, and came in third in MVP voting behind Hank Greenberg and Wes Ferrell. I always thought how cool it would be to play professional ball in the town you grew up in. Here he is in the 1936 R322 Goudey Issue, in his last season with Cleveland.

[wolterse]

Fred Tenney was born on Sunday, November 26, 1871, in Georgetown, Massachusetts. Tenney was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on June 16, 1894, with the Boston Beaneaters. With the exception of a brief two-year stint with the Giants (1908-1909), Tenney played his entire career with the Boston Nationals, retiring in 1911 with 2,231 hits and a lifetime .294 average. Tenney died on July 3, 1952 at Massachusetts General Hospital after a long illness. He was interred at Harmony Chapel and Cemetery in Georgetown.

[drcy]

My hometown, Madison Wisconsin, was the hometown of speed skater Eric Heiden and the only person to win two science Nobel Prizes, John Bardeen (both in physics). That might average out to a baseball player.

The Seattle neighborhood were I now live, West Seattle, was hometown of lobotomized actress Frances Farmer. She went to elementary school right near me, then West Seattle High.

[bigtrain]

Two guys from my hometown, Scotch Plains, N.J. "Skeets" Nehemiah was a freshman when I was a senior in high school. My brother played baseball and football with Jeff Hammonds, who played for the Orioles, Brewers and Rockies.

[z28jd]

My hometown is Kearny, NJ, birthplace of Dots Miller. His niece married into my family, so six of my relatives are also related to him. Ownie Carroll used to live in town too, so I have a couple cards of him, as well as Sam Dente.

[GaryPassamonte]

Mount Morris NY- hometown of Ross Barnes, 19th century great.

[bigtrain]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

Mount Morris NY- hometown of Ross Barnes, 19th century great.

Gary,
Somewhere in my collection, I have a picture of a Mt. Morris (high school?) baseball team from 1929.

[kdixon]

My hometown of Hamilton Missouri, birthplace of Zach Wheat. Sorry about the size of some of these pictures, have a new computer trying to get things figured out.

[bigtrain]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

Mount Morris NY- hometown of Ross Barnes, 19th century great.

Gary,
Here is my photo from Mt. Morris, 1929.

Ellensburg, WA - James Ferguson pitched for the Ellensburg Deathdealers in 1891. His son, Lester "Stump" Ferguson, played in the minor leagues for many years with the Kittitas Sluggers (1920), Ellensburg Hawks (1921-26), San Francisco Seals (1926-27), Minneapolis (1928), and Denver (1929-30). His career was cut short by injuries.

The Ferguson family is legendary in Ellensburg. They once held amateur rodeos at their ranch in the teens/twenties. These "Sunday rodeos" were popular events and later became the Ellensburg Rodeo, held every Labor Day weekend since 1923. Stump passed away while training horses at LongAcres Race Track in Renton (ca. 1970).

Unfortunately, no images available. Here's a photo of James' younger brother Ben (co-founder of Ellensburg Rodeo).
http://www.washingtonruralheritage.c...nsburg/id/2921

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by bigtrain

Two guys from my hometown, Scotch Plains, N.J. "Skeets" Nehemiah was a freshman when I was a senior in high school.

I had not thought about Renaldo Nehemiah in years, but I will always have a soft spot for him. I was around 10 or 11 when my father took me to a Nehemiah autograph signing at a local mall here in eastern PA. At the time, Nehemiah was in the football portion of his athletic career. In hindsight, having an autograph session with a 49er with no playing ties to the Philadelphia market was only going to be so successful.

As result, maybe a dozen people showed up for Nehemiah's autograph. Even as a kid, I knew it was a sad turnout. I am sure it had to be a disappointment for Nehemiah to show up for such a small gathering, but he could not have been nicer. Thirty years later, I can still remember him asking me what sports I played and expressing sincere interest in my answers.