Baseball

Baseball: an essential part of the McCauslin family history

Dad's photo from the 1945 League Champions poster of the Hoosier Beer Baseball team

Thanks I think to Mom we have lots of memorabilia from Dad's playing days.  Baseball was part of the fabric of our lives growing up.  We played, watched, listened, talked baseball at the family table.  Dad taught us how to catch, we played street ball, Danny played on the St. Joseph Grade School team which Dad coached and I kept score.  We all learned to keep score following Mom's example.  We rooted for both Chicago teams, Cubs and White Sox, and Mom and Dad went to Chicago for a game at either Comiskey or Wrigley.  In the 1950's it was the White Sox who had the most attention from us.  In 1959 they were contenders and I brought home a little black kitten with white paws who could only be named White Sox.  In September I was campused my first month in college (Rosary College in Chicago) for breaking quiet hour by running from my room crying, "they won!, they won!", on the night the Sox clinched the American League pennant.

But the love of baseball was also part of Dad's father's and uncle's lives.  Grandpa Buck is fondly remembered by his grandchildren in Cassopolis for his ball playing and umpiring.  And his brother Charles was very much involved in amateur baseball.  Here is what he said about previous time in the US when he came from London, Ontario, to visit cousins in Detroit in 1917.

Dated May 16, 1917

McCauslin Charles, Accompanied by "copied .... records"

London, Ont. Can., Age 35, Male, Single, steel maker, Read: Eng.

Irish, Canada, London, Ont. Can.

Mother, Annie, 197 Queens Ave,. London, Ont. Can.

Been to US before: yes, 1894 to 1909, Where: playing baseball all over

Name of relative to join there: Detroit, Mich, Cousin, J.M. Burns, 1325 Howard St.

(Next heading unreadable)

Height: 5' 71/2 ", Complexion?: med., Hair, br., Eyes, br., Distinguishing Marks?: none

Unreadable heading: Detroit, Mich., 5/14/17, C.P.

The next generation: John William McCauslin

Dad was a member of the South Bend Central High School baseball team in 1929 and in shown in the back row of this photo from the South Bend Tribune in 1979 and saved by my Mom.  It was a love they shared throughout their lives together and brought us up to love, too.  Dad played as an adult for two teams, the amateur Conservative Life team and the semi-pro Hoosier Beer.  Mom was the official scorekeeper for the Conservative Life team which was sponsored by the insurance company's East Side agent, Mr. Burckhart.  And all the documents from their playing history were kept in a file they saved, "Conservative Life Baseball-1939-1940."

Guys from the South Bend Central HS team continued to play together as young adults during the 1930's and in 1940 the Conservative Life Team won the Indiana State Championship of the American Baseball Congress and went on to play in the national title series in Battle Creek, Michigan in September where they were eliminated in the 6th of 7 rounds by the eventual champion, Birmingham Paper Company team. Conservative Life was tied with three other teams. These are pictures Mom took of the team (her photo albums were filled with photos of the team, but these are a few of the ones I kept).

I can identify some but not all of the players shown here either in Kokomo or Battle Creek:

in uniforms in the front row in the middle are Danny Farley and Jake Doran.  In the middle row are Ed Norris, Bob Callaway, John McCauslin and some I cannot identify (which is true of the whole back row).

Pictured here are Dan Farley, John McCauslin, Jake Doran and Bob Callaway on the steps of Ted and Helen Turnock's home on Campau.

Here is the club's stationary with Dad listed as Business Manager.  On the back are the team's expenses for 1937 in Dad's handwriting are the expenses for his car used for "business purposes."  

From the The ABC News, Vol. II, Chicago, October, 1940, No. 3, are the Indiana Region final standings showing South Bend (Conservative Life Ins. A.A.) coming out on top and qualifying for Nationals and the final standings from the National in Battle Creek, MI.

Speaking of scorekeeping, one of Mom's favorite stories about the baseball years is this one: at the 1940 Kokomo state finals, she was seated on the bench with the team as their scorekeeper.  The umpire came over and said she, a woman, could not be on the bench but should be seated off field.  Mom said she should be allowed to stay where she was because she was the Conservative Live official scorekeeper.  All the guys stood in a circle behind her but said nothing.  The umpire walked away finally and she stayed. 

Here is her summary of the team's 1940 stats through the last game in Battle Creek when the eventual champion Birmingham Paper beat them 6-1 in the fifth round.  Just look at who led in the batting averages!

The photographer of the 1940 Amateur Baseball Congress World Series in Battle Creek, Michigan was a very famous Life photographer, W. Eugene Smith.  So far my search for his photos of the 1940 Series has not been successful.  You can view his most famous photos at the International Center of Photography: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/w-eugene-smith?all/all/all/all/0