Author: Kevin Wirthwein
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Walter Dilbeck, Evansville Baseball and Veterans Day
Although the title of my first book prominently calls out a “Global Disaster”, referring to Dilbeck’s attempt to form a third Major League, this man was really a hero in many ways. I may have been a little harsh in my book’s title, but any objective observer would say things did not go well in…
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Happy Birthday to Steel Arm Tyler – Evansville’s Major League record holder
His nine victories with the Memphis Red Sox in 1925 are the most by a 17 year-old pitcher in Major League baseball history. https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=tyler01ste Born in Evansville in 1907, he began his professional pitching career at the young age of 15. William “Steel Arm” Tyler was considered the greatest black pitcher in baseball during his…
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The Continuing Story of Wee Willie
My second book has gone to print, so I’m back with more of what didn’t make my first book (see Books section). I devoted a short piece in my first book to this young phenom, who pitched a no-hitter for the Evansville Hoosiers at the age of 15 in storied old League Park on Louisiana…
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Cotton – Fame by a Few Inches
The NCAA Division I Basketball Championship is over. So, this will be my final entry about Evansville baseball and prominent college basketball players. Charles Francis “Cotton” Nash was a Kentucky basketball legend along the lines of Corky Withrow, but unlike Corky he plied his college hoops trade at the summit. Like former Evansville Brave Ralph…
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Black Ball in Evansville: Diamonds in the Shadows 1900-1960s.
Now Available. Don’t Miss It. While researching my first baseball in Evansville book I knew I had to write another on the subject. I urge baseball lovers to step up to the plate for another taste of baseball in the Pocket City from Evansville’s own M.T. Publishing Company. This topic is one I couldn’t wait…
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Corky – The Long Road
Another in the winter series of basketball stars who played baseball in Evansville. This one is a little longer because there’s a lot to tell. As the 1956 season was nearing an end, a sports story started with a single Evansville player at bat. Evansville’s professional baseball teams had a history of spawning stories from…
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Ralph Beard – The Last At Bat
Another in a series of basketball stars who took to the diamond in Evansville. After St. Louis University won the 1948 NIT at Madison Square Garden, Ralph Beard and the Adolph Rupp-led Kentucky Wildcats captured the NCAA Championship at the same venue. Later that summer Beard added an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1948 London…
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Hank Raymonds – Who Knew?
Third in a series of basketball stars who also played baseball in Evansville, following Frank Schwitz and Clarence Kraft. In March of 1948 the St. Louis University Billikens won the National Invitation Tournament college basketball crown at Madison Square Garden over NYU behind the play of “Easy” Ed Macauley, their All America big man. Arguments…
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Big Boy Kraft – The Wonder from the Y
Second in a series honoring players who went from the hardwood to the diamond, joining Frank Schwitz. A largely unknown story of baseball in 1910 featured an Evansville River Rat who went to bat just one time. It was what this player achieved after that brief and unsuccessful plate appearance that makes it newsworthy. The…
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Frank Schwitz – Coach
To kick off high school and college basketball season I’ll begin a series on minor leaguers who went from the hardwood to the diamond at Bosse Field. I’ll begin with a hometown boy, Frank Schwitz. The 18-year-old was signed right out of Central High School by Evansville Braves manager Bob Coleman as a pitcher in…