Little League Teams Complete Season; Will Choose All-Star Players
The Harold Mercer Little League finished its
18-game season in late June. Shortly after that,
a playoff schedule was begun to pick outstand
ing players for the All-Star team. This team,
to be coached by Bob Purkey of Firestone Rec
reation and Sam Fowler of the Optimist Club,
will compete with other All-Star teams in the
Gastonia area, in quest of a trip to the national
Little League games at Williamsport, Pa., in
late summer.
The four teams of the Little League named
for the plant general manager here, won 13
games of the 18 they played this season.
Boys of the Harold Mercer league are num
bered among more than a million youngsters 9
to 12 years old who participated in Little
League play.
Little League baseball began in Williamsport,
Pa., in 1939. Originally, there were three teams
with 12 boys on each. At present there are al
most 20,000 teams in the major leagues, with
usually 15 on a team. There are also minor
leagues and farm teams.
Little League baseball, in addition to U.S.
teams (including those in Alaska and Hawaii),
now boasts regular schedules in Canada, the
Canal Zone, Cuba, England, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Puerto
Rico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Venezuela.
Besides the Little Leagues, there are Teener
Ball, Babe Ruth Leagues for older youngsters,
and American Legion baseball, which engages
more than a million teen-agers each year.
Firestone Recreation director Ralph Johnson
notes that in all cases, the aim is the same—
getting boys off to the right start.
Says Mr. Johnson: “Little Leagues are not de
signed primarily for developing professional
players. They supply a wholesome means for
the expenditure of energy. The program in Gas
tonia has shown that Little League baseball
brings families and neighbors closer together.”
©
FIRESTONE—Row 1, from left: Ron
nie Sluman, Pete Crawford, Roger
Hawkins (balboy), Larry Walls, Billy
Grant, Tim Reynolds, Robbie Lineberg-
er, Bruce Guffey. Row 2: Dennis Mit
chell, Mike Conrad, Keith Fulghum,
Jimmy Keenum, Billy Bates, W. L.
Broome, Johnnie Hendrix, Thurston
Brackett, Mike Lunsford.
OPTIMIST CLUB—Row I, from left:
Ray Hawkins, Harold Bradley, Carl
Beaver, Jackie Morris. Jerry Aber
nathy. Row 2: Donald Spencer, Mike
Phillips, David Waters, Larry Bradley,
Steve Anthony, Steve Smith, Harold
Turner. The Optimist Club team is this
year's league champions. Firestone's
team was runner-up.
UNITY BAPTIST CHURCH—Row 1,
from left; Tommy Todd, Mike Johnson,
Steve Colbertson, Leonard Short, Steve
Little, Waldo Franks. Row 2: Ronnie
Cooper, Eddie Nolen, Bobby Brown,
Johnnie Baker, Jimmy Brown, Mike
Sosebee.
SUNRISE DAIRY—Row 1, from left:
David McAbee, David Wallace, Gerald
Tate, Richard Yearwood, Pal Morris,
Phil Emmett, Chip Emmett. Row 2:
Max Buchanan, A1 Little, Freddie Hols-
cher, Gerald Bivens, Arthur Barber, Ed
Rankin, Billy Devoes, Paul Short.
J. Roscoe Mauney,
A Retiree
Funeral for J. Roscoe Mauney,
Sge 66, was held at Firestone
Wesleyan Methodist Church, and
burial was in Hollywood ceme-
tery, June 18.
Mr. Mauney retired from Fire
stone Textiles in March last
year, after almost 50 years’ em
ployment at spinning, carding
and weaving in North Carolina
textile mills.
Survivors include his wife,
Hassie Jolly Mauney of the
home at 305 South Vance street;
two daughters, Mrs. Ernest Bak-
of Gastonia, and Mrs. Bob
Martin of Charleston, W. Va.;
two sons, Ernest and James
Mauney of Gastonia; a sister,
Mrs. Fred Richards of Gastonia;
two brothers, Mack and Marion
Mauney of Toano, Va.; and eight
grandchildren.
Two of the sons are employed
here — James, in Spinning;
Ernest, in Twisting.
Funeral for Will Osborn was
held June 25 at Tabernacle Bap
tist Church on North York
Street, Gastonia, and burial was
in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Mr. Osborn was 57 years old.
He had worked in the Ware
house here since May of 1947.
JULY, 1959
PAGE 3
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Tomato Patch ‘Grew’
Time-Ripened Penny
Howard E. Carson’s tomato patch on Pisgah
Church road yielded an Indianhead penny this
season. While setting out plants, the Shop elec
trician unearthed the encrusted coin, carried it
home to his father, Ralph Carson. The elder Car
son, a plant guard here, did some scraping and
polishing in order to establish the date of 1884,
The year in which the piece of money was
coined recalled the closing days of the adminis
tration of Chester Alan Arthur, “The Gentlemaix
Boss,” as 21st President of the United States;
and Grover Cleveland's defeat of James G. Blaine
for a trip from Buffalo to the White House 74
years ago.
☆
☆
☆
Plant guard Ralph Carson holds the Indianhead
and reviews a chapter in American history, sug
gested by the year in which the one-cent piece
was minted.