From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Memories of Gloversville’s Glovers Park.
Podcast "Two Minutes"
Historians Episode #280 this Friday, August 23, 2019, Bob with stories from The Mohawk Valley
Thanks to contributions from author Dave Northrup and Gilbertsville (N.Y.) historian Leigh Eckmair, the 2019 Historians Podcast fund drive now stands at $2,840, 71% of the yearly goal of $4,000. Can we make it to $2,900 by next week? It’s easy to contribute online. www.gofundme.com/2019-the-historians To donate by mail, make out a check to Bob Cudmore and send to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, N.Y. 12302.
Gloversville’s boys of summer—memories of Glovers Park
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, 11-20-2004
Phil Spencer, the WENT play-by-play announcer for the 1950 Gloversville Glovers minor league baseball team, went on to be a broadcasting executive, owner of WCSS in Amsterdam for many years. Bob Sise, a pitcher for the Canadian-American League Glovers, became an attorney and a judge, rising to the rank of Chief Administrative Judge of the New York State Unified Court System. Another pitcher, left-hander John Coakley, married a Gloversville girl and left baseball to work at General Electric.Glovers Park, where these boys of summer played their home games, was at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Route 30A, now the site of a Wal-Mart. The paint department occupies the space where home plate used to be.One of the catchers who used to crouch behind that home plate in 1950, Jack McKeon, was from New Jersey. After leaving Gloversville, McKeon ended up as a coach and manager for major league baseball. In 2003, at the age of 72, McKeon led the Florida Marlins to a World Series championship.McKeon and other baseball veterans will return December 19th for a sports card show and banquet at the Johnstown Moose Club, organized by Gloversville sports promoter Mike Hauser as fundraisers for the Fulton-Montgomery Sports Historical Society and the Fulton County YMCA. Hauser wants to honor all Fulton and Montgomery county residents who played at any level of professional baseball at the gathering. He can be reached at 773-3027.Spencer came to Gloversville in 1949 and worked at WENT until he was drafted into military service before the 1951 season, the final season for the Glovers, a farm team for the hapless St. Louis Browns.Spencer said he and McKeon were friends: “We were both single back in those days and the girls were always hanging around the ballplayers.”Spencer has fond memories of the last hurrah of the Glovers: “Gloversville had like a hundred glove factories. There were good crowds at the games. Television came in and they started putting baseball on TV so minor leagues weren’t drawing the people that they used to.” John Coakley grew up in Washington where he was batboy for the visiting teams at Washington Senators home games, working with legends like Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams.Coakley, who came to Gloversville to play ball, has fond memories of McKeon: “I was a left-handed pitcher and when he warmed me up he made me feel like I was Whitey Ford. I knew I wasn’t Whitey Ford but that’s the kind of motivator he was. “And also he was instrumental in my joining the Catholic Church. When I came to Gloversville, I was a Protestant. He took me to mass one Sunday and I was quite impressed and I said, ‘Jack I really like it but I don’t understand the rites.’ And he taught me the signals and then I joined the church.”While attending mass with McKeon, Coakley met Joan McCarthy, who would become Coakley’s wife for 36 years until her death from breast cancer.In 1951, Coakley hurt his arm. He went to work for General Electric in Schenectady and stayed at GE for 35 years. According to David Pietrusza’s book “Baseball’s Canadian American League,” Glovers Park needed work in 1937 when the local team started using the facility. Even though baseball had been played there as far back as 1898, the park’s outfield was a muddy hayfield and the original fences were snow fences. Lights were installed in 1940 and the park was overhauled in 1948. In 1950, an orange and black color scheme was adopted for the scoreboard. The facility was torn down in the mid-1960s and the park’s light towers were taken down in the 1970s.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019-From The Historians Podcast Archives- Episode 126, August 26, 2016-Christopher Kelly talks about the Romans, Garibaldi, Mussolini and more in discussing his book with Stuart Laycock, “Italy Invades: How the Italians Conquered the World.”
Thursday, August 22, 2019-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette- Model train at Caroga Lake
Episode 280
Friday, August 23, 2019-Bob Cudmore has stories about the 1957 Mohawk Indian encampment in Fort Hunter, how Amsterdam’s wealthy Sanford family inspired a 1938 motion picture starring Katharine Hepburn and how a florist, a rabbi and a judge in the Mohawk Valley were known for their speaking abilities.
Jason Subik Mid-Morning Program 9-10 Monday thru Thursday on WCSS Radio Amsterdam, posted as a video Podcast on The Historians Watch Live on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jason.subik
Monday, August 19, 2019
The Schoharie County Historical Society and the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley (ASSV) have announced a celebration of all things cats, Catstock, a day of peace, love and whiskers, set for Saturday, August 24, 2019 from 10 am to dusk at the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie.
Held on the heels of the 50th Anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Catstock 2019 will feature live performances by area bands throughout the day, plus food vendors, local artisans, informational booths, purveyors of cat and pet themed items, face painting, children’s games and activities, raffles and more.
The musical lineup for Catstock 2019 will include performances by Glowing Bug & Friends from 11 am to noon, The Lousy Sloughters from 12 noon to 1 pm, Rural Felicity & Uncle Billy’s Balladeers from 1 to 2 pm, Pat Fowler & Co. from 2 to 3 pm, WoodchuckWood from 3 to 4 pm, Just For Fun – JFF from 4 to 5 pm and Climb to Glory from 6 to 8 pm. https://theoldstonefort.org/
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