East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

In May Charleen Jackson contributed this picture of a Pomeroy baseball team from the past and was able to identify her grandfather, Ralph Woody, as being in the photo. Then Lee Koller identified the man wearing the fedora as his grandfather, Harry Kraemer. Then the Garfield County Museum weighed in, also possessing a copy of the photo and the names. Now East Washingtonian subscriber Donner Buchet of Rockville, Md., has contributed a clipping from the Sunday, September 3, 1961, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, of a story by the U-B's Roving Reporter, Vance Orchard.

Orchard had been visiting with Claude (Tog) Buchet, who was a long-time manager of the Pomeroy Grain Growers, and talk turned to what was once a very popular pastime in small towns all across the United States, baseball.

Orchard's story delved into the popularity and the intensely competitive nature of town-team baseball following World War I and in the Roaring Twenties. For example, Pomeroy had a player who had college baseball experience and had come to town to teach, Frank Hall. In an exhibition game, Hall was coaxed away by a traveling team and while playing for them, attracted the attention of a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals. After a spell in the majors, Hall returned to teaching in Pomeroy and at the time of the story, was in the sporting goods department at Erb Hardware in Lewiston.

The picture was taken in 1940, Orchard's story indicated, when the "old team was gathered together to play a game at the Pioneer Picnic against a rival team of 20 years before."

Here's the cutline under the photo: "This aggregation, for the most part, was the last of the 'town teams' to represent Pomeroy in inter-city rivalry in Blue Mountain baseball. It was called together for a pair of games in 1940 against old rivals of the 1920's. Most of these men played in that period. Left to right, front row: Butch Malone, second base; Bert Richardson, third base (former University of Idaho baseball and basketball star); Osa Cannon, outfield; Claude Buchet, catcher; Tommy Malone, substitute catcher and 'Dot' Hull, umpire. Back row, left to right: Harry Kramer, scorekeeper; 'Gas' Smith, outfield; Cecil Mast, outfield; Ray Gimlin, pitcher; 'Ty' Oliver, first base; Frank Hall, shortstop; Vernon Robinson, manager and Ralph Woody, outfield."