Page 64 - SOM Summer 2017

neck of the woods | history

Coos Bay (stock photo)

Son of Rogue Valley settlers, Edward Mensor, Williams was the first player to hit 30 homers America was four short years away from
nicknamed “The Midget,” played three sea- and steal 30 bases in a single season, and for another World War, a conflict that placed
sons in the outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates. a short time was considered a close rival to heavy travel restrictions on citizens; more
Hub Pernell of Applegate broke in as a pitcher Babe Ruth as best player in the junior circuit. importantly, though, the war took able-
with Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers. The flame bodied boys and men away to fight overseas.
throwing hurler they called “Piano Legs” won After the Sawdust Circuit was long gone, pro- When those boys returned, radio had become
four games in 1910 before burning out due to fessional baseball arrived in the region, albeit a firm fixture in American homes. Television
injury in 1912. Happy Smith from the small for inconsistent periods of time. Between wasn’t far away, either.
town of Coquille played a single season across 1970 and 1973, the Oakland Athletics ran a
the country in Brooklyn for the Superbas, a Northwest League team in North Bend-Coos Sadly, baseball had evolved. It was no longer
year before they were renamed the Dodgers. Bay. A few years later, the franchise ended up something you had to travel to anymore. The
in Medford where they were based for the game came to you.
Maybe the best player from the region has an better part of two decades.
argument to the title of greatest player from
the state of Oregon. As a left fielder for the St. Barnstorming circuits on the east coast and
Louis Browns, WWI veteran Ken Williams cut Midwestern United States dissolved earlier.
his teeth in the sandlots of Southern Oregon. Historically, Southern Oregon seems to have
Williams would go on to become a police preferred a more lawless brand of baseball. In
officer and eventual owner of the Owl Club 1937, workers at the Civilian Conservation
bar and billiard club on G Street in downtown Corps camp in Hart Mountain spent their
Grants Pass, but not before playing 15 years Sunday taking on a few of the local touring
of top notch ball in the American League. teams, but this was late for barnstorming.

62 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | summer 2017