Saturday, March 28, 2015

THE BOYS FROM WESTSIDE BROWNTOWN COULD PLAY BALL

They were playing championship softball without gloves...
By Rene TorresIn 1941, Brownsville and the entire Valley were consumed with playing softball—the kids from West Brownsville Elementary (today, Russell Elementary) were just as passionate about the game.
With no uniforms, no score board, no fences and with no cries from parents, as none were in sight—the game was a game. There were no white lines marking the infield, but rather old running paths established by the generation of players that came before.
The ward school softball competition was a serious proposition with kids playing for city bragging rights. Because official little baseball in Brownsville did not emerge until the early 1950s—elementary soft-shoe softball and youth playground ball were popular choices for kids of then.
Although football was also part of the elementary curriculum —softball at West Brownsville, was a spring sport that dominated all available space on the playground. According to Jimmy Pace, an old timer today, that made his name playing third for the boys from the Westside said,” softball consumed all the playing area on our playground.”
By the way, Jimmy was a lefty third baseman—but I guess nobody told him that lefties do not play third base, especially without a glove. “We didn’t use gloves, maybe just the catcher and it was not by choice—as these were tough times,” said Jimmy.
Playing fields at West Brownsville were plenty, as then; buildings did not swallow the landscape. From first grade to the fifth grade, each grade level owned their own perfect diamond—a space in the dirt to play each other when time didn’t matter.
As the first graders moved through the seasons and bloomed with every play, their ultimate goal was to make it with the big squad—the major leagues or the fifth grade team that participated in a formal league against other ward schools.
All games were played during school hours so there was always a healthy crowd to support the home team. As kids, teachers and staff lined the foul lines—it was now time for the coach and umpire to take control. Joe Huerta, a former ball player himself, and the school’s custodian would take a break from his regular routine to call balls and strikes—an easier task than usual, since underhand pitching was the standard.
Mrs. Russell was a natural in the classroom and a coach that led her team through a season of brilliant victories and more than justified her boys’ faith in her. No, her college transcript did not show that she had matriculated in baseball 101—but she was a person of strong character and a disciplinarian that got things done, on and off the field.
If you stepped out-of-line, she was a master at using the “board of education.” A piece of an old water hose, recalled one of her students that measured precisely 3 feet. A tool she did not have to use that often, but when she did, it was with much compassion, to deliver a good old fashion spanking.
Under her tutelage—the boys finished the elementary softball competition undefeated and untied, trouncing their arch rivals from Victoria Heights twice and doing the same to the boys from First Ward School (now, Skinner Elementary).
Every team has a big stick, that kid that could hit the ball consistently, for the Westside boys; it was John Clough, who also had a big chest at shortstop. He had the sure-hands like Phil Rizzuto of the Yankees, but unlike Phil, he did it barefooted and without a glove.
Marshall Alford, without a doubt, was the best all around athlete on the team. He could throw the softball; just as he did a football, with accuracy and for long distances. Marshall went on to establish himself as a star football player with the Brownsville Eagles and Baylor Bears.
Every season has to come to an end, for the softball boys of then, it meant graduating to the sixth grade and closing the curtain to a competitive league.
As then, most Brownsville kids would have to transfer to Clearwater Elementary to attend sixth grade—where the crack of the bat and the sounds and sights of baseball were but memories—as the school did not field a formal team.
See you at the park!
Photo: (Front row, l to R: John B. White, outfielder; Billy Dorris, catcher; Wayne Cooper, outfielder; Russell Harwood, outfielder; Malcolm Graham, second base and John Clough, shortstop.
Back Row, l to r: Marshall Alford, outfielder; Junior Dumal, pitcher; Melvin Stovall, outfielder; Walter Fortune, outfielder; Freddie Schmidt, first base; and Jimmy Pace, third base. Not shown Mrs. Russell, principal, and the coach of the team.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I started school at West Brownsville in 1948. Mrs. Russel was still Principal and Joe still called the balls and strikes.

Anonymous said...

When Brownsville was white and prosperous.

Anonymous said...

No Mexicans playing ball back then?

Anonymous said...

AHORA SOMOS MAYORIA Y LO QUE SE HABLA MAS ES ESPANOL. EJEMPLO.BERT OGDEN 'dale gas'.CHARLIE CLARK 'orale'.BURNS 'son buena jente.PAYNE MOTORS'lo que tu quieres'.como puedes ver MONTOYA somos mayoria ahora,los pinches gringos tienen que usar fraces en espanol para vender sus pinches carros.

Anonymous said...

West Brownsville was the first new subdivision to be added to the original township of Brownsville. At the time this photo was taken, most of the folks with decent jobs lived there. The Ricos lived on Palm Blvd. There were a few, but very few Mexicans attending the school at that time. Simply because they did not live in the area service by West Brownsville.

Brownsville was indeed an American city at that time and not a suburb of Matamoros. All business was downtown and all signage was in English.

Brownsville was not run by Anglos as some people suggest, but by Anglos and prosperous Mexican families. The educated and prosperous did indeed run the show, but it was not all Anglo.

Folks can look back and say what a terrible thing that 5% controlled the affairs of the city and the 95% did not. Things have changed and now the 95% does control the affairs of the city and have not done very well at the job. We are the poverty and ignorance capital of this country, thanks to the 95%.

Our public officials are like the scavenger birds in the Walmart parking lot, fighting for scraps of mashed and rotten food. These predictors pray on their own people taking what little they have to pad the pockets of themselves and their compares. They are disgraceful!

West Brownsville was indeed mostly white back in the day, but Brownsville of today is a much worse place for everybody to live than it was back in the bad old days. Today it is a cesspool of corruption, poverty and ignorance. That is real progress wouldn't you say?

Anonymous said...

Oye, Pocho, la palabra es GENTE, no jente...........

Anonymous said...

I thought "Meskins were white",

Anonymous said...

Meskins are brown. Mexico has not had a brown President since Benito Juarez, over a 150 years ago. Since then, the white Mexicans have run the show.

Anonymous said...

Is Da Mayor a "white Meskin".

rita