FAST PITCH SOFTBALL AT ST. JAMES IN 1930S AND 40S

There were men's and women's fast pitch softball leagues held in St. James School Yard in the 1930s and 40s. The "field" was gravel, and the left field "fence" was the stage, but spirited games were played nontheless. See story below photo.

PLEASE: Anyone with more photos or stories of these leagues please contact me, Bob Corbett.

Bob and Louise Corbett at games in 1938

The St. James Parish league survived for 15 or more years. There were both men and women's leagues, but no co-ed ball to the best of my knowledge. The games were fast pitch and there were some very tough pitchers. I remember John Garavaglia being one who used an extremely unusual windup. Most used the windmill pitch. His was harder to describe, but he was quick, in the strike zone and had a wicked curve. Art Schmitz was another feared pitcher. He used the windmill and was extremely fast but had control problems. I was just a kid, but the softball league was my business. I had a huge 25 gallon very heavy "crock." My grandmother Corbett and mom helped me make an enormous amount of lemonade. I sold it for five cents a glass, and ran a clean operation, with a special wash bucket to keep my glasses clean. Pitcher Art Schmitz used to come to me after every single inning and drink down three or four glasses, he'd put so much into the inning.

In this 1938 photo Art Schmitz (on the left) and his buddies, Thomas, "Porkey" Conroy and Robert "Bob" Walden are only 18 years old. When Art was pitiching and I was selling lemonade must have been 1946 or 47.
Special thanks to Mary Schmitz, Art's wife, for this photo.

My dad was a great fielder, but not much of a hitter. He played left field and I saw him, and other left fielders, often jump up on the stage, backing toward the end (no school there then) and catch a fly ball before it went into homer territory. The present convent was there, and into the convent yard was a homer. To the north of that was the old school, the shed is still left. That was a bar in those days, and occasionally some of the big hitters hit it onto the school, but the ball would bounce off and still be in play. Right field was wide open. Jack Moser, my uncle, played center field and was known and feared for his arm. When a man was on second or third and a fly ball hit to deep center, the runner know the ball would be caught. The problem was, could he beat Moser's throw to the next base. You knew it would be on the fly, a bullet strike. No too many wanted to test Moser's arm. There were usually four teams in each league, and at times the men's division had 8 teams. The games were all played on Sunday morning, and Father O'Connor was known to parole the grounds looking for players who had skipped mass. That was a no-no and P.J. would bawl out any player caught. It was a great neighborhood activity and created lots of good fellowship. After the games the folks would sit around talking about the games, drinking my lemonade as well. It was lots of fun. Lots of spectators showed up too.

Bob Corbett corbetre@webster.edu

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Bob Corbett corbetre@webster.edu