A Martinsburg Boy's Memories and Stories from the 1950s

John Bush was raised in Martinsburg and graduated from Central High in 1961. He spent most of his adult life in the Pacific Northwest. He has many memories as a boy in the 1950s that give some insight to the people and culture of Martinsburg in the 1950s. John likes to tell stories and over the years he has repeated the stories of his youth many times. His belief is that those years in Martinsburg influenced him all of his life. Some of the stories are historical in nature, some are colorful, and some are personal. He wishes that you enjoy them.

THE DAY JOE HINISH HIT A BALL OVER THE TALL OAKS AT MEMORIAL PARK

Martinsburg had a volunteer baseball team that belonged to the Blair County Twilight Baseball League which formed after World War II and existed until the early 1960s.

I was told that the early years, between World War II and the Korean war, were its glory days, and Joe Hinish was Martinsburg’s star in the early 1950s. During the week, games were played after the men arrived home from their jobs. Generally, the Martinsburg ball players greeted the opposing players as they arrived in private cars and they even warmed up together.

Games were seven innings long. As a young teenager in the late 1950s, I watched a few games at Memorial Park when the league was on its last legs. Only a handful of fans attended, including the elderly Ray Zook, Pennsylvania Railroad worker Rube Hinish (not Joe’s father) and young teenager Richard Bice. Mr. Zook, whose son was in charge of the park, often fell asleep. Rube always wore his dark blue work clothes, including a small baseball-like matching hat from the Altoona railroad shops.

I was a couple of years older than Richard and a complete baseball nerd, but he seemed more knowledgeable than me about the Twilight League.

The stadium was old but a classic, made entirely of wood and painted gray. The infield was well maintained. Someone always came early, tied down the bases, and brightened the foul lines and the batter’s box. Sometimes kids showed up to help drag the infield and were given a quarter for their efforts.

I was required to eat dinner with my family at 5:30 p.m. sharp and generally the game was on by the time I arrived.

From behind left to center field was a wall made of a red wooden snow fence located at what now is the border between the park and fields between the park and the airport runway. It was only 250 feet down the left field line but rapidly deepened towards center field. Balls were rarely hit all the way to the end of center field, which seemed a mile away to me.

Small brush mixed with thorny, poorly maintained berry bushes extended in a straight line from center field to the right field line. Unique to the park were tall oaks, probably over 100 feet high with limbs that hung over part of right field.

Some of the older players in the late 1950s were the Wagner brothers, Eldie and Beannie, both infielders, and McGraw, pitcher, never shaven and who looked too old to be playing baseball.

Mel Carper caught. Johnny Brumbaugh, infielder/outfielder, was one of the stars. Kenny Schubert, a cousin, played right field and also subbed. Two young players were Johnny Ayers and my cousin Donnie Bush. Eldie and Donnie were backup pitchers. Joe Hinish played first or right field. After the Twilight League folded, Johnny went on to play for Broadtop City for many years.

It seemed to change each year, but teams from Claysburg, Hollidaysburg, Roaring Spring, East Freedom, and Williamsburg were the most common foes. I don’t recall which newspaper published the game results, but standings were printed from time to time and Martinsburg generally was one of the better teams.

Even though the Twilight League was centered in Blair County, Martinsburg played Woodbury, not that far away in Bedford County. Woodbury had a field located on an old lake bed next to the Potter Creek Branch Road just south of town. There were grumblings that the field was nothing more than a cow pasture for pickup and church games.

Mr. Barkman of Barkman Oil was rumored to have paid or given jobs to players from Everett and Bedford to play for Woodbury. The out-of-town men brought in to supplement teams were known as “ringers.”

The game I recall the most was against Woodbury at Memorial Park. Woodbury was in first place and Martinsburg in second. The power hitter for Woodbury, a name forgotten, was believed to be a ringer. He was a big man who batted left and stood out from all the other players. McGraw was pitching and he walked the big man his first two times up. I noticed that the teams yelled at each other in what was generally a relaxed atmosphere at other games.

There were more fans attending this time, but most of the faces were not familiar. Martinsburg was ahead by two runs in the top of sixth when the big man was up with two men on base.

Bice had explained to me earlier in the summer how to tell when old man McGraw was gassed. He stared down toward the lefty with that grizzled, mean face, but he was done. The big man hit a towering fly down the right field line into the oak branches. Most of the fans cheered as the ball dropped out of the branches onto the ground fair. By the time it was retrieved and thrown home, Woodbury had scored three runs and went ahead by one run. Zook woke up, Rube never moved. McGraw started an argument with the ump, yelling that it was a ground-rule double as he was held back by his teammates. To that date I had never heard more than a few comments aimed at the umpires. McGraw was ejected and he sat in the stands behind home plate, yelling at the ump and the Woodbury fans and players for the rest of the game.

Eldie Wagner came in to pitch, but the damage had been done.

In the bottom of the seventh, with one man on and down by a run, Joe Hinish, a left-handed hitter, came to bat. He was a tall but somewhat thin man. There were two outs and the Woodbury players sensed victory. Old man Zook stood up and meekly clapped as Joe strolled to the plate. I yelled out for the first time at any Twilight game “Come on, Joe, show up those Woodbury ringers!” He hit a ball higher than I had ever seen over the tops of the oak tree branches, landing a few feet from the thorny brush in right field. The chalk line had not been extended that far, and I had never seen a ball hit that hard in Martinsburg.

In the twilight, it was hard to see where the ball had landed. The ump called it fair and Joe safely crossed home plate with the winning run. I am not sure why I was so excited, but I was jumping up and down and yelling. Rube stared at me like I was nuts. Mr. Zook was so excited he fell down, and the Woodbury players stormed the umpire, saying the ball was foul. The ump turned his back and headed to his car, game over.