. i dnamo 9 _r z;zv --t=lti -2 t-tz Els; i rt? 2 i 2 pnled in to ck trucks tiis.EUR nd A ,,ffree . st s, i? tk bY MY ,i,l q_ EUR W- injury- sti - 1931, the town of Portland was a One rainy day in K.C. in 1930, according mecca of farmers, produce to Tate, the Portland boy with the golden THIE PORTLAND COHNO-FEEDERS, 1931. Gus Hoizhauser owned the general store in Portland and did business with the tiiuckers, railroad men and good baseball been forged by the to gf- l-<0UlS siorno laeed Company. He got the company to buy uniforms for local men who had a passionate love for baseball. ayers. . px wo consecu 1ve ou ings or ansas op rrow, rom to right: Howard Holzhauser, Mat Neal, Boss Perkeson, Adolph Holzhauser, and Albert Holzhauser. Bottom . Commerce reigned in the town of City in order to placate the owner of the row: ?Gus Holzhauser, Lawrence Tate, Dick Holzhauser, Royal Tate, Stanley Holzhauser, and little Richard Hoizhauser. The Pogtlandhipeetgng both passenger tear;1. 1? Fam! lelSl9d Oflly two years, but went 18 and 2 in 1931, Photo courtesy of Royal Tate, an reig on ai road 'f major eague scou was coming Two general stores and a hotel to - accomodate salesmen graced the sloping at Priest Field and the old Callaway teams in Calloway county, ,l1""?k?ddmm 1 fl, .. l? "welch hel man Played with Meke?e end two rants}; ws ra ?r lm an ?ga play bam Says the black league ywe the Weill I oleredlwa . . - i back as mg as She ear remember- She Years with me Tweedlee Jefferson Cilliyt Ang $31* a b?l?V?d dw?rS1?? {mm ee e?ai`a Says that the team was al"?lmd in the early which was managed by Claude McClure, mw?hnesxgligllgeglseggi ggiigil? had a ,3 We elld lasted until Amefiean Legion ball and I played nine years oi hardb all with .s t..i look eve? in the lete H0 mon Tebbellewere elem to Swing lhe eat defies the According le 'lownball "1?loked p$StmQ? atm Of. a %l?rm?d it i FI :,ni i_i_ ii tl Wan up feel g??d after the and the Place 1 3yG OU IH HY Hway Bagl-IB if - ill other to was The Tebbetts Blue pan g` th - i aspects of American life, Was still alive, so Jays had been organized i? 1940, by Relph beifllnih mgamzf tt gy Say ab?" ?-ii 5 black teams like the Fulton Buffaloes Huflmeelell mel] carrier with truckji,; eemlleled mer ellee egelnel other eleek Them during 1 0 0 lgger i 'el' 6 teams Mexico, me Wee to keep the league souls, - I - 1:-le ll, Jefferson City, and Moberly. PeI'tl?ulelYlY when sas Wee Feltlenedr which 1 l=l''e il` Brown elves a nod, confluent in the prevented teams from traveling to the that om Qnonn have tion own ilel: lee 'ei l'lel el he ge?e"ellY . . A - Le - 'lttf asttl Wm- he Says agam In face the only team . After the War is when Frm? no ret lrltasttl ii,gneere er ill; Elie r? looking bunon I on-m?t like those gates Ensornor, }'qor noone, U, Louisvi slammed at my back." eams aroun ven uzzy nndarm andkcagle glut tlotplay egtei?lwogk The 1947 Tebrtoetts lzatqll MQHS by Salph i-luffroastter, a Local black players who might have had g00lZl1ilml1S?l' of Poftliliilglil whose l1;lCl(iS were an on wee en S. ac OWH, Ol' all mail carrier wit a truc . USG 9 TUC 0 l'3l"lSP0l' l'0fTl OWN 0 Own pro~talent were also barred pretty much H10- ETS, BVBII ll Came ay OH Mokane, Tebbetts, or Chamois, just to during World War Il, but teams Were few, and 985 WHS After the from the minor leagues, according to the the team. (Howard Holzhausef, a name few, had a team, a sponsor and a war, townneli teams started up again and the Turner brothers supplied the Browns, Como-feeder, was already playing with . following, . truck, Top row, from left to Pat Flasuoaul, Edg?lf Ralph I Lois Brown says she remembers that I In Portland, the youthful enclave was Howard Holzhausef. Middle Flow: Charles Floors, unidentified, two players "from the old tenmf Tebbets also had one of the best fields by the owner of a general store, Ginn Burre, Don Jones. Front row: W.G. Link, Harold Turner, Herb Stoll, Raymond Bagby ond Edward Brown, wont around. it didn't need too much river sand . Gus l-Iolzhauser, than in his late 30s, who Fritze Burre, Chester Turner, Ffaflk Buff?l. Pll0t0 of Chester away for a couple of weeks and must have to level lt, claims Turner, who says crowds by virtue of a thriving business with the St. Tu mer, been trying out for the minor leagues." of people of more sometimes turned Louis CornofFeed Company, was able to - Following the departure of the two local to Fitch tgle ay; ploy. The sans paig procure uni orms. players there was "big talk," says Lois, 0 Cell Holzhauser himself held down the since thumbs were still down on blacks The gate, like most townball revenue position of third base for the team that `owner ofthe team was looking to make onto Play bell elsewhere -- Tate with playing in the minors, The two Fulton from ticket sales, was split 60-40, with the became known as the Portland some money," Tate recalls, M0kel?e and Tellbelilis and With players returned to Fulton, she says, to blggef Bild going to the home team. "He said he didn't want to pitch the CIW team ri Tele finish their ball-playing days, Supporters, usually children, wives and Royal Tate was left fielder and a river But the manager told him to anyhow, rle "Tl1e team d1Sli>e?deEURl alltl d1dH't play Another player for tho Butlnions who would follow the team to man who married Holzheusers daughter. go just 3}it1;}g Ways when Somothing gnymore gfteir ?ny brotlnir args the second might have noon good onongh to play Eldon, gielninn, Iberia Tate still lives in Portland on a Corps of popped in his nrmyi aselnen 19 . olne o- ers wen on ball, says Brown'5 wife, was Arnold Ray an even e, ere an ou ie er Engineers, Denslou- Because of his arm injury, Holzhauter to Pley for Tebbelle ann Mekene-" McBride. His son Bake McBride nin make couldn't se the pitchers head. HG Says father--in--law urlqanipulated eventually from league fields, the tl ?febbetts tgafriland all of the company into buying the uniforms. rosters, Still, with the corno-feeders, .a fee lemon as een rec St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia 0Wll a Hams gra ua gave way "They were hot," he says, but the remembers that the pitcher who always Nature. The footprluts of Sunday's Phillies, site also recalls ono-nrmod American legion ball and, eventually, high uniforms transformed a eonglomeration of wore the K.C. uniform and threw an lem0?ede?S1Pi?1?EUR fans were blolgrn away pitcher who threw whistling fastball tor school teams. boys into an organized overhand curvebell eoutolassed three annotations eso, and the nelo is now the Buffaloes, Herman Johnson, rno The pride of reboots, backstop and on, team, the members of loeoarne we were used to." efld players celled him has been paved over. A house sits on the fell? Tate Yecalls- "The bottom just dropped out of is there to el ball Winford Brown cherishes his connection mound. More than anything, The players donned the gray, Another player of memorable talenton Sells- to all of these players, but perhaps more to Turner says, the reason the teams faded suits and Went out most the Corndfeeders was a Nelhmg left but memorlos, say the Raymond "Big who could knoolr was because 'fwe got old and had other Sundays between Easter and October to a ontonor, Lnwronoo Tate, Rgya1's orotler. two surviving Corno-feeders, who non out gf any park things to now flat l10ll0W Heel? Eagle which they Tate, if recognized by scouts, had a ?cca$10?allY travel tf) Busch Stadium ffl? 3 "Bagby was a sucker for curveballsf the feminisce. Theywill had l01' 3 dl3m01ld f0l' an legitimate crack at the majors. The Cardinal game- And Brown claims. And one time, aftr Bagby dI`0p what they are doing and talk for outfield. they Wellt GH the road. 19--year-old catcher always threw fron the Sami? the Fulton Buffaloes, 3 black had gone over to play with the Jefferson h0lf1'S if they have an interested listener, "Every little town had a ball team. And squatting position, and few riyal players team, that Was known for its offenslve City Mohawks in 1946, Brown found which makes on wonder. Did all these the communlty would follow everywhere noo enough confidence in their own sped prowess- himself on the mound facing his former teams play that well or are these men they went. The majority of our ball team to nttompt to steal second while Tate? Power on the Buffaloes was provided el throw him nothing but romanticizing, padding their batting would travel ln a 'stralght' truck to other brother played oenind the plate. most often oy the Bagby. i curveballs, 1 struok 1nm,ont,?? averages, adding 30 feet to their arms, two towns, or when we played Chamois, we The outfielder, Stanley brothers, Lincoln, Harper, Cietus and Lois Brown adds, torn mo that steps to a 90--ioot sprint? would ferry across the river and the other who also lives in Raymond. It was _Rayrnond Bagby that hurt him for yooysy ff UW 1 team would pick US up," Tate Says. describes Lawrence Tate's famous aI'1 by Skled Om field in 3 game against the In the '30s, other teams such as Reform gal? if 3 Sag? Bl a 3 at el reel The Cornofeeders gelled naturally and lining up his thumb to his ear and Co?no-fogdersh th me I ft and reooetts, were inane up or to- and gfgyedemlgjigjzigui have at least immediately as an extension of earlier releasing a cocked forearm like a looed ven UUE 8 Wes feg BF 17-year-olds who would later join the adolescent get-togetherteams, which had oryow_ -- fielder, Stanley Holzhauser says he was Sowioo, como home, and I-onow their ?0iZh3?Se{` Says, 00l1ld thl'0W conformed less to the deny exigency of "You tour about reflexes, root gaglped llnleit?hal (Ely- "As soon oisltne devotion to . a 3, work. had to duck or dive out of the way, orle 3 Wee 1 new 1 was Selle all JUS In 1936 and 1937, Edgar Garrett1931, the team was unreckoned with would got it right between tho eyes] turned around and started running. I dove ownoo tho gonom] Store in Reform, Sta,-tod osum by most other ball clubs in the townoall Stanley Holzhauser claims ne bimstf fleld fence sol the ball, and his own team. oan?ott=s oino played in the his mromt in Callaway, Cole, Montgomery and would novo mano ono of tho igrnnon threw ll as fe? as I EUR0l1ld? Calwood and Red Star area. One of the But when he describes his nloliity to mt Osgae The WGH 18 Rickey Cardinal farm clubs if it hadn dliuciftguigame mg from griltbase ballplayers was Vince Boone. Boone Wicked ourvcbau Raymond ell OS - been for competition from some futur hopped from one ball team to the next, His ?t - . - One iecells?rlntoi eilnieb baseball g,.o3tS_ But he Says it was th The outfield fel??dmfPort1and, townbon ooyool- muon-otos the notwork of ?p1th?t? I mt agains IBB an aan]. young catcher alone On Portland {gm 0 auser cons] 3, Sing I had el Pitcher by the name of who was good enough to play major lague fence- Douglas, basebau The throw to the plate is said to have cut v_ i ?hlEUR?t1gl?l]l??lnll?l?St?it is . rrt.* fa ml The demise of the team came snoolly- (mf me gel dug because he was Just as It me with 8 tm ic rin to it 'ust tv he Saw me after that Bagby likely to throw behind you. ea accused me of having a ball in my Tate, who says he was one ofthe best legis Bm Holahauser Sars a hitters on the team, maintained a batting on .im?hEUR? it was hot hfiked Portlaud won the game- But it might- iif Roy Dixon. Most teams, he says, practiced. ain $,,130 nl r?ndcd emhe? and an l,t on weeknights and scored each weekend Hy pitcher for the Buffaloes. i ame "It took some time and some Lawrence Tale aseba Camel (me . . Tate Sa summer tiny in Portland as he was The Buffaloes also beat with regularity lee lee it too Portland toom hadn't found eelehlne the bl"eeZe? Say S?m?i"g me F"ll?" Anglers and Claude Wests company name to arc across the back of must have hit him," his brother says West Wonders, the two white teams Another como-teeoer second oseten Fulton. its uniforms, it would have probably been 2 . . known simply as the Holzhauser ball team. The WY Brown tells ll>> more The Fulton Buffaloes traded uniforms bearing merchants names tor Seven out of 11 players claimed the name an ck that same ear was to be held from the American Legion uniforms in 1946, The club was known for no powerful of tho ubiquitous Portland tannly, 3 Tellbelte ?al1?l??>>nart1?glarlr fleet elle? nlffers. Top row, from left to right; Winford Brown en, James Pittman, ono of them was Adolph Holzhnuser._Hts The Portland baseball team at the Well- He Yemembefe thore were Seme Flaymond Bradford, unidentified, unidentified, William c, McDonald, curveball had 8 spot HIC fielding nine players, themau good bauplayeradown there' Cornell Pasley 8Tld IOWZ Lyons, American Association Kansas City Blues town's supply of ballplayers These teams dlfleree from the Portland Lawson, Jack McBride, Cletus Bagby and Peter Norman, Not pictured is and before that on the St. Paul minor practice during the week and play mzher gaubh iginoneos Raymond Bagby_ Photo Courtesy of Wmford and Brown- league team. The hurler returned to towns was exhausted. 10115- . . Portland, though, after he suffered ia Royal Tate and Stanley Holzhausezvent Wlfe, LOIS, who used to go out to the games ;f .