Sitting
left to right:
Henry M. Koevenig, pitcher; Danny McNeil, right field;
Frank McCuniff, 3rd base; (man in center with hat) Frank
Tuller, a team booster with good lungs who riled opposing
pitchers and batters; Art Harrington, shortstop; Earl
Farr, pitcher and George Schultz, catcher
Standing, back row, left to right:
Frank Hangartner, left field; Fred Thoma, 2nd base; Fred
O'Boy, 1st base; Andrew Schuler, pitcher & center
field; Andy Siekmeier, 3rd base.
Hangartner, Thoma, Koevenig, Harrington and Schultz still
live here. Schuler, McNeil and Tuller are dead. O'Boy,
former deputy sheriff of Winneshiek county, now lives in
St. Paul. Earl Farr is a train dispatcher for the
Milwaukee road at Miles City, Mont. McCuniff operates a
poultry farm near Los Angeles. Whereabouts of Siekmeier
is unknown.
Famous First Team Also Had a
Reputation
Through the courtesy of the Mason
City Globe-Gazette we are privileged to reprint the
following story and picture which appeared in that
publication last week. It concerns another famous
baseball team that brought fame to Postville when that
sport was flourishing in many of the towns in
northeastern Iowa.
Time erases from memory some of the activities that
loomed big in a community a generation or more ago, and
it is to recall them to readers of today that we are
pleased to publish them. In recalling happenings of 50 to
60 years ago, there are bound to be some inaccuraciees,
but we believe those who supplied the facts for the story
have made an honest effort to achieve accuracy. We are
reminded of the newspaper that sent three reporters to
the acene of an accident to get the story. All three
wrote different versions of what had transpired. Here's
the story as it appeared in the Globe-Gazette
and we hope our readers get the same "bang" out
of it as we did when we read it:
Old-time baseball teams may be a thing of the past, but
they nevertheless provide living memories to sports fans
who remember "way back then" the boys with the
handlebar mustaches cavorted on the diamond for glory and
sizable purses.
Recently we carried a story about the Phil Sheridans, a
famous Postville club which competed about 1885. The
picture revived memories, arguments and discussions among
the fans who had seen the club compete. Here we present
the story of another old-time club which made history -
The Postville Famous Firsts.
This club followed the Phil Sheridans by a few years, and
gained its reputation mainly between 1896 and 1900.
During that interim, the team lost but a single contest
each year, playing all comers and road teams which in
thise days traveled out of Chicago.
Many of the members are still living in North Iowa and
Northeast Iowa. A national cigar company, hearing of the
club's record, named a cigar after them which was sold
throughout the midwest.
There was one particular game which made the
"Famous" title stick. It seems the club had
been knocking off some pretty fair teams with side purses
of $500 to $750, put up by backers in the various towns.
Hawkeye, over on the west edge of Fayette county, had a
crackerjack outfit that was going hot at the time, and a
match was arranged to be played for a $500 purse at the
county fair at West Union. The game created such interest
and drew such an immense crowd, that all other activities
at the fair had to be called off while the game was
played.
Hank Koevenig, Postville's left-hander, got tangled up in
a pitching duel with "Rusty" Owen, manager of
the Dubuque league team, whom Hawkeye had imported for
the fracas. The game moved along, scoreless, until the
13th inning. In the last half of that frame things began
to happen.
Frank Hangartner, Postville left fielder, looped a ball
over third base which skidded over the near outfield and
disappeared. The old hidden ball gags were commonly
employed by all players in those olden days, and
Hangartner, on first, saw the shortstop fumble around for
the ball, and finally scooted for second. The same thing
happened going to third, and finally, Hangartner took a
chance on going home.
He made it, and the Famous Firsts won the game, 1-0.
Later, players and fans combed the sector and found the
ball had rolled into a gopher hole and was lying there
flush with the ground.
They didn't use a new ball with every foul back then, and
the old ball after 13 innings of use was about the color
of the earth and the Hawkeye shortstop simply couldn't
see it.
Later on, high school lads were enrolled in the Famous
Firsts, and some got to the big leagues. There was
"Slats" Gregg who became part owner of the
Dubuque Three-I league team and later went to the St.
Louis Cardinals. Art Nehf, who became quite a flinger
with the New York Giants, when up to the big show along
with Gregg. Gregg's father passed awy and he gave up
baseball before long so he could assume his dad's
business in Postville.
~Postville Herald, Wednesday, September 19, 1945
(article & photo)
~transcribed by S. Ferrall
Note: The date of the photo was not
given.
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