TREMONT BASEBALL HISTORY – 3 PLAYERS TO BIG LEAGUES
From the early nineteen hundreds to the early 1940s, Tremont had some of the finest baseball teams in the eastern part of the country. In the early 1900’s they had such players as Lewis Kreis, Harvey Kreis, Harvey Loeb, Sam Mack, Joe Cosgrove, Chennney Monahan, Lloyd Fisher, Batch Cleary, Butch Osman and Joe Fittery. It meant nothing to those men to work a hard day’s work in the mines and then walk home just to practice or play a game. Their mode of transportation those days was a horse and Tally-Ho. Later they came more modern and had automobiles to travel. They talk today about a pitcher getting tired after five or six innings. During Tremont’s early baseball fame, Harvey Loeb once pitched a doubleheader and won both games; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Another time Tremont played a twenty-one inning game with Tower City and Leslie Harner pitched the whole game, winning three to two.
Later Tremont played in the Twin County South Anthracite, Central Pennsylvania, and Lebanon Valley leagues and was one of the finest semi-pro teams in Pennsylvania. They traveled to Brooklyn four or five times to play the Boswicks, Bay Park Way and Cedar Hurst. They played the National and American Colored league teams and they also beat the Philadelphia Phillies two to one at Tremont. They had good talent in Tremont at that time, three of our local men having made the big league, Earl “Sparky” Adams, Roy “Boom” Zimmerman and Fred Stiely. They also had players like Gaymon Adams, Harold Kalb, Lamar Grumbine, Lolly Kock, Len Hatter, Frank Morgan, Ralph Morgan, Marlin Miller, Joe Zerbe, Harry Leonhard, Joe Troutman, and Art Seiger. They also had celebrated talent like Chick Fullis from the Phillies, Carr Smith from the Washington Senators, Emil Roy from the [Philadelphia] Athletics, and Sparky Adams from the Chicago Cubs. They also had Pete Grey, the one-armed player.
Tremont had one of the finest ball fields in the State. It was well-kept by John H. Adams and Lawrence Focht who were the grounds keepers. In addition, they had one of the finest lighting systems that could be had by any team. They gave Tremont and Schuylkill County good baseball until World War II when many of our young players were taken into the service. It was during World War II that the lighting system was sold to Lansdale, near Philadelphia.
Donaldson had a successful baseball team for many years. In 1928 they had the best record, winning twenty-three games out of twenty-seven. They nosed out the Champions, St. Clair of the South Anthracite League. Len Hatter was the leading pitcher, winning eight out of eleven games and Harry Troutman who won five games without a defeat.
Among the players who played that year for Donaldson were Eddie Morgan, short stop; second base; Tommy Maher; center field, Mutchler; right field; Stanley Fox; short stop, Buyon Adams; third base, Gus Hatter.
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This article appeared in the Centennial Edition of the Pine Grove Press Herald, September 1, 1977, and was obtained via Newspapers.com.
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[African American]