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A Decade Of Baseball with the Columbus Merchants by Julian Piercefield |
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1947 SEASON COLUMBUS JR. MERCHANTS
1947
. . . Between the '47 and '48 seasons, Earl Dickey
decided that running the ever increasing size of the Junior Baseball Team
precluded his continuing as the Manager-Coach of the team. He and George
Schaub arranged for the re�organization of the team. Mr. Dickey continued
as head of Junior Baseball With further organizational assistance needed,
he sought and received acceptance of the program as part of the Columbus
Parks and Recreation Dept. in 1962. His love of the game and enjoyment
watching young people play the game led to 17 consecutive years as leader
of the Junior program. For the 1962 program 900-plus boys were signed up
to play. Earlier, in 1957, Mr. Dickey was honored by the League with an
Appreciation Dinner. At this event he was awarded a new car. The Columbus
community, long known for strong leadership, was blessed with the
contributions this man made to baseball recreation in the city. Young men
growing up through his programs were very fortunate. The Red Sox team reorganized to the Jr. Merchants.
The team was a bit late in getting started. Finding a new manager was also
a difficult task. Well known local barber, George Baldwin, also known for
his past baseball play, and more recently by his respected umpiring in the
softball leagues was named manager. Also, only 11 games were scheduled.
The Jr. Merchants Won 7 and Lost 4. As Earl Dickey left the team, so did his son
Kenneth who was the team's leading pitcher the previous two years. Ken
left Columbus for a successful and honored career as a helicopter pilot
and teacher in the USAF. His place as the number one pitcher was taken by
a lanky-young Glen Eckleman. His record for the year was 6 Wins and 3
Losses and did not really represent his pitching prowess. Possessing a
90-mph plus fastball with an excellent breaking ball, his "high hard
one" struck out 87 batters in 67 innings. Currently a WHIP average
(walks + hits, divided by innings pitched = WHIP) of 1.20 is considered to
be very good. Eckleman's WHIP was a cool 0.85! !! Chuck Friedersdorf (of), along with Joe Henney
(1b), Bill Herron (2b), and Julian Piercefield (c) were the top hitters
for the team.
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