Ted Williams - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Ted Williams

My brother, Luke, recently shared a story about Ted Williams he heard on WLW, the flagship radio station for the Cincinnati Reds. WLW has broadcasted the Reds since their first game on radio in 1924. I wasn’t around for that game but can vividly recall listening to the Reds games on 50,000 watt WLW as a kid especially the 1961 World Series and while in college during the Big Red Machine era, using one of the first transistor radios.

Luke felt the Ted Williams story might make an interesting blog, so here goes!

Because the Reds were in the National League, we unfortunately seldom had an opportunity to see or listen to the Red Sox star since inter-league play didn’t start until decades later. Williams had three stints in the Major Leagues, split first by WWII then by the Korean War. Each time he came back strong as ever, never losing his hitting touch. In my view, he was the greatest hitter of all time. His 1941 season batting over .400 epitomized an illustrious 19 year career.

Williams was a nineteen-time All-Star, a two-time recipient of the American League Most Valuable Player Award, a six-time AL batting champion, and a two-time Triple Crown winner. He finished his playing career with a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and a 1.116 on-base plus slugging percentage. And of course is a Hall of Famer.

Ted played his sandlot baseball in San Diego signing with the Pacific Coast League’s San Diego Padres in 1936, because his mother wanted him to play close to home. In 1939, he was invited to spring training by the Boston Red Sox, but was 10 days late due to flooding out west delaying the trains until the water subsided. Ted had arranged a $200 bank loan to pay for the trip and a little spending money. His bat was his collateral! An autographed rookie card would also have more than sufficed!

William’s 5 year military career spanning two wars was spent entirely as a pilot for the Marine Corps was almost as stellar as his baseball career. During WWII, he was an instructor pilot who had the best reflexes on record based upon his performance during flight drills. He was stationed in Hawaii and was about to be deployed into the Pacific Theater when the war ended. During his second military stint in the Korean War, he did deploy to Korea and flew 39 successful combat missions. He was the wing man for future astronaut John Glenn, who claimed Williams was the best pilot he knew, while his wife Annie described him as the most profane man she ever met!

Had Williams not lost 5 years of playing time to military service in the prime of his career, he could possibly have broken Babe Ruth’s record of 715 homers, finishing instead with 521. He also could have also lead Boston to more than one World Series, a losing cause in 1946 when he was injured, breaking the Curse of the Bambino decades earlier.

In his retirement after his playing days, Williams kept active in baseball, first as a Red Sox hitting instructor during spring training. Fellow Hall of Famer, Karl Yastrzemski, credits Williams for his three batting championships and 1967 triple crown. Later Williams became the manager of the Washington Senators and was named Manager of the Year in 1969. He was also an expert fisherman and hunter, skills that lead him to become the spokesperson for Sears sporting goods.

Back to WLW for a moment; their 50,000 watt signal was transmitted by an 800’ antenna near Cincinnati pictured here. A local contractor had never built a tower that tall, but had a pyramid design for 400’. So he simply mounted one on top of an inverted version of the other, anchoring the gigantic top heavy tower with guy wires. WLW was designated as one of the 14 clear channel stations across the country, and didn’t have to reduce its power at night like other stations. As a result, WLW and the Reds could be heard in 40 states.

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Split Rail Fences - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Split Rail Fences

As a young kid growing up on the farm, I can just barely recall split rail wooden fences on our farm. They were old, dilapidated , ineffective and soon replaced with wire fencing strung between steel posts. The split rail fence required no post holes or nails, so were easy to build in wooded areas. And since pioneer farmers were always clearing more and more land, logs for the rails were very plentiful. Their usefulness in holding livestock was suspect, plus the wood rotted and needed maintenance. Here’s an interesting article on split rail fences And as a first grader, I can recall learning about honest Abe Lincoln splitting rails on the family farm in Illinois.

The demise of the split rail fencing began in 1868 when barbed wire was invented. Wire fencing provided a significant improvement over split rail fencing, but required many different materials and was labor intensive to install, providing a costly but effective fencing solution. Driving in the posts and stretching the wire fence was hard work and somewhat dangerous if the stretcher gave out especially while stringing barbed wire that would snap back and invariably injure those installing the fence.

Mending fences on the farm to keep the cows and pigs contained was almost a full time job for us. The hogs would tend to root under the fences, while the cows always were stretching their necks over the fence to reach the greener grass on the other side. Many times Dad would get a call early in the morning from a neighbor indicating his livestock had escaped. The worst was when they were roaming the adjacent roads, although fortunately none were ever hit by a car. Eventually, Dad strung barbed wire above the fences to keep the cows from reaching over.

Every field was fenced in so the livestock could be contained in the pasture and kept out of the fields during the growing season. But then after harvesting, the livestock would be let into the various fields since by then the grass in the pasture had been nibbled down to nothing. The cows really seemed contented with their time in the harvested fields, as there were always ears of corn that were missed by the corn picker. But the cows and pigs could literally clean up a 20 acre corn field in about a week, then the herd would be moved to another harvested field. They also chomped down on the emerging alfalfa and clover in the combined wheat and oats fields. The only problem was the green grass would give the cows diarrhea (we had better name for their ailment back then - the sh#@tz!), which needless to say made for quite a mess at milking time!

The larger fields sometimes were divided and planted with two different crops, so to keep the livestock from accessing the part that had not yet been harvested, a temporary electric fence was strung between the two crops. That was always a challenge to get the electricity to the line and to make sure all insulators worked on each fence post otherwise the fence would be grounded and not work. To do so meant the electric fence had to be tested, which amounted to touching the wire and getting a jolt. Never did pee on the charged wire, but was warned many times not to do so! This guy missed the warning.

Not only did each field have a wire fence all the way around, a gate had to be constructed so farm implements could gain access to the field for planting and harvesting and also a way for the livestock to enter and be contained in the field. Those gates were heavy so were very difficult to open, with the hinges rusted and creaky. Some farmers had slatted livestock gates to allow equipment to travel over them but livestock could not as their legs would slip between the metal slats. Dad couldn’t use them because there were times when he wanted the livestock to cross.

Probably the most serious fence breach on the farm occurred after a flood, as we had three spots on the farm where a waterway crossed the outer boundaries. Something Dad called a flood gate was used to keep in the livestock. It was essentially two strands of barb wire strung across the creek with one side tied very securely and the other side tied so that it would breakaway but not be torn by any debris floating down the creek during a flood, which invariable occurred several times each year. While the water was high, the livestock couldn’t get out through those openings, but as soon as the water subsided, Dad was quick to make the repairs, going in with his waders to pull out the two strands of barb wire that were typically embedded downstream along one shoreline among debris that got caught by the barbs. It was a tough job to restring the strands across the creek in the three spots. Here’s a youtube video on a creative design for a flood gate to avoid flood waters from breaking down the fence.

One of the three waterways flowed through neighbor Ben and Carrie Olding’s farm. Because they were older and retired, he always maintained the fence across the ditch and along their property line rather than sharing the expenses similar to other adjacent neighbors. While researching this blog, I actually discovered that the fence line encroached on old Ben and Carrie’s property by about 20’ because the actual property line ran right through the middle of the creek. Probably the line was located there to provide any livestock access to the water from both sides.

The fences bordering neighbors farms were maintained jointly; however, for the fence lines adjacent to the roadway, Dad had to maintain those on his own. He always complained to the local township trustee that they should share in the cost, to no avail! In fact, the township wouldn’t even pay to fix a fence damaged by a vehicle going off the road. Our lane also had a fence on both sides. so the field on the house side of the lane meant the cows had to be driven across the yard and lane into that field 4 times a day before and after each milking. Needless to say, the cows made a mess of the yard and seemed to always poop on the driveway to Mom’s consternation. Eventually Dad figured out another way to get the cows to that field by adding a gate from the adjacent pasture and installing a temporary barbed wire to block the field from the lane and yard. It was always amazing to me how the cows so quickly figured out they could access that field. It’s as if the herd explored the perimeter of the entire pasture exploiting any weak spots to break through and during the process discovered the open gate to the field with the fresh source of food.

Hogs on the other hand simply made their own spot to escape, burrowing under the fence whenever something better to eat was on the other side. For the hog yard itself, we had to literally bury the first row of fencing under the ground to keep them in. I can recall putting hog rings in their noses that must have caused them a pain that prevented them from rooting so much.

Chickens were generally kept inside the coop except when they were young and couldn't fly. There were always a a dozen or so roosters in each brood, so they were allowed to roam free, but not for long as Mom was uncanny at catching them with a long wire looped device, and almost in one motion chopping off the roosters head to put in a pot for supper! Once Dad no longer had livestock on the farm, colorful Banty roosters roamed everywhere and also provided Mom her source of chickens for cooking.

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Tractors - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Tractors

My brother Luke took the above photo of Dad’s old Massey- Ferguson tractor in use by its current owner, whom my brother had worked with and arranged the sale back in 2004. The tractor was about 30 years old when sold, so now at 50, we were both glad to see it still going strong. Note the tractor was pulling a manure spreader, which ironically was why Dad bought the tractor in the first place. He needed something with a front end loader that was lower than a conventional tractor so he could get it into the cow stable to remove the manure, as the ceiling holding up the hay mow above didn’t have much clearance.

The tractor also had the power to pull a multi-bottom plow with ease as well as any other implements we had on the farm at the time. Here’s a photo of Dad removing snow accumulated around the barn after the Blizzard of 1987.

Before the Massey, Dad had a Super 77 Oliver he bought from my uncle Clarence who worked at Streakers Implement in Minster. This photo shows Clarence delivering Dad's new tractor in1954. Also shown is a photo of Dad, his brother Bob, several of my nieces sitting on the tractor. His prior model was an Oliver Model 70 pictured below that Dad purchased 1939 to replace a team of horses performing all the farm work in those days during and before the Great Depression.

Clarence was able to sell tractors to his 6 brothers as well as his 4 brothers-in-law who were farmers, It helped to have a big family! Speaking of brother-in-law, my Mom’s brother Tony worked for John Deere, so Dad always admired John Deere products, but his loyalty to his brother carried the day when it came time to buy new farm equipment. In fact, Tony’s brothers who farmed didn’t even buy John Deere products, but predominantly Allis Chalmers. Tony did have a John Deer painted golf cart in Florida as pictured here.

For the last 40 years, the Lake Loramie Improvement Association has hosted a fall festival that always included many antique tractors as well as other attractions like threshing demonstrations. Here’s a previous blog post about Lake Loramie with more info on the Fall Festival.

Below is a photo of Dad on one of the restored Oliver tractors at the Fall Festival. The owner brought it out to our farm on Dad’s birthday as a surprise. He loved it, as did my wife and son, probably the first and only time either has driven a tractor!

Speaking of our son, he lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan and on the way to his place is an amazing farm implement salvage yard pictured in the aerial photo below. The owner also writes a blog; here’s one entitled How many tractors are too much?

When Mom & Dad visited us in Michigan, we’d check out the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, especially the farm section. Dad had a special memory about every piece of antique equipment on display. Here’s an informative youtube video tour of the exhibit. Check out the local item at the 12:44 mark that shocked Dad when he spied it.

This 1917 Fordson tractor on display at the Henry Ford Museum is the first production model and was given to Luther Burbank by Henry Ford. Burbank pictured below in the middle between Thomas Edison and Henry Ford was a botanist famous for developing over 500 varieties of plants during his 55 year career.

Today’s tractors are amazing machines - I really enjoy following MDPuthoff and Lakeview Farms Twitter accounts for their farming escapades.

Autonomous electric-powered tractors - they're coming!

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Historic Bridge - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Historic Bridge

The New Bremen Historical Society recently posted an article about the so called “Morrison Bridge”, a 160 year old span that provides pedestrian access across the Miami-Erie canal in New Breman. In 1864, it was located at Blackhoof Street over the Auglaize River in Wapakoneta.The bridge represents an early example of the work of David H. Morrison, founder of the Columbia Bridge Works of Dayton, Ohio, and one of the most important bridge engineers and manufacturers in 19th century Ohio. The span is considered among the oldest such cast iron bridges in the United States and is commemorated in the Library of Congress.

My cousin Joan sent the article to me as her brother Joe (pictured left) had been instrumental in relocating and restoring the bridge. Joe grew up along the canal in Minster, moving to New Bremen after getting married in 1975. He coincidently attended a New Bremen Village Council meeting in 1984 where a presentation by Auglaize County Bridge Engineer Dan Bennett caught his attention. The historic bridge was no longer fit for vehicular use and Bennett was presenting to all the local governments in the county hoping the historic span could be relocated and restored as a pedestrian bridge. Cousin Joe took interest and didn't want the bridge to be destroyed, so he purchased it for $650, two times the scrap value at the time.

Joe teamed up with other civic-minded New Bremen residents to form the New Breman Bridge Committee, working with the County, village officials and the local Lions Club to identify the preferred site along the canal. They settled on a spot adjacent to historic Lock One, the highest elevation lock along the canal route. The County had already disassembled the old bridge and agreed to transport the components to New Bremen. The Committee then went to work preparing the site including temporarily draining the canal, pouring the concrete abutments, sand blasting the 1000+ parts, while also narrowing the bridge from 17’ to 8’ to accommodate pedestrian and bike traffic.

Several of the vertical cast iron supports had been replaced with steel plates over the years, so the Committee found a local foundry to cast new iron supports using original supports as a pattern. The actual out-of-pocket cost to purchase and restore the bridge was $3,500, which was funded by donations from the New Bremen residences and businesses. Local contractors graciously volunteered their time and equipment to help assemble the bridge.

When it was finished, several ancestors of David Morrison, the original bridge builder, attended the dedication. The following plaque commemorating the historical significance of the bridge is mounted on a stone pedestal at the foot of the bridge.

Fast forward to 2007, cousin Joe surprisingly noticed the color of the bridge was red compared to the original black. He was shocked and immediately appealed to the Village Council, who had it quickly repainted to the original black according to this article entitled “Red Faced over Bridge in Bremen", while also putting in place provisions to keep it that color forever.

Sadly in 2015, Joe Eilerman passed away at age 64. His obituary, which references his work on the historic bridge restoration, can be accessed at this link. Below is his holy card; RIP cousin Joe.

Joe inspired another of our cousins, Duane Gaier, Sidney Parks & Rec Director, to successfully pursue a grant to move and restore another Auglaise County Morrison bridge pictured above for use as a pedestrial bridge across the canal feeder in Tawawa Park. That work will be completed in 2025 and cost the City $44,000 as described in this News Flash on Sidney’s website. Looks like Duane could use ole Joe’s help restoring this baby!

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Job Change - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Job Change

Yesterday was exactly 50 years ago that I joined Ford Motor Company, an eventful day in my career and in our family’s lives. As newly weds, my wife and I were living in Dayton where she worked as a legal assistant at a Dayton law firm and I worked as an engineer at Frigidaire Division of General Motors. About six months after we were married and a year after I graduated from General Motors Institute, our chief engineer called a meeting one Friday afternoon to inform us our engineering department was being transferred to Harrison Division in Lockport, NY near Buffalo. Our jobs would be moved over the next 6-12 months. Needless to say, that was quite a shock. Eventually it became clear that the transfer was in preparation for the subsequent sale of Frigidaire to White Consolidated, now Electrolux Corporation.

Our choices were to make the move to NY, work for White or quit. Even though it meant significant change in our lives, we took it in stride and promised each other we'd make the most of whatever transpired. That same weekend, around 10:00pm Sunday night while reading the newspaper in bed, my wife noticed a want ad for engineering opportunities at Ford. She showed me the ad and I immediately called the number shown. A fellow by the name of Norm Cordon answered, and after explaining our situation, he invited me to breakfast before work the following morning. Norm was a Ford recruiter who was staying in a local Dayton hotel room over the weekend to respond real time to potential employment enquiries from the ad. GM had four divisions in Dayton, so Ford would routinely send recruiter for the weekend. The timing could not have been better for us.

We met for breakfast the next morning, and after hearing my background, as I had no resume to give him, invited us to Dearborn, the location of Ford’s headquarters, for an interview. Dearborn was much more appealing that Lockport, NY, so off we went the following weekend to check out the area and hold the interviews. I met with several Ford managers on a Saturday afternoon, resulting in an attractive on-the-spot offer. Once returning to work that Monday, I notified my boss that I’d be leaving; however, he and his boss talked me into reconsidering telling me more about the Lockport situation and opportunities a move there would provide. So I called Ford and turned down their offer, anticipating a trip to Lockport to check out that area. But within two hours of my call to Ford, a counter offer was presented that was too good to turn down. Meanwhile, my wife had to share the bad news with the law partners who were very disappointed to see her leave. They had been to our wedding and had become good friends as had several of my co-workers at Frigidaire. We lost the deposit at our apartment, but as it turns out, Ford considered that a moving expense they covered.

So off to Dearborn we moved, but not before buying our first Ford vehicle, a beautiful green Mercury Cyclone. Ford would likely frown on the Corvette I drove at the time. We rented a nice apartment, and met some lifelong friends that first memorable summer around the pool and playing for a winning softball team of fellow apartment dwellers. The new job was going great. But like most of our friends, we were spending every dollar we made, living pay check to pay check. We wanted a house, so saving for a down payment was top priority. My wife worked at a local clothing store (she loved the discounts). Plus we developed a budget to manage our expenses and save for a down payment. After two years, we had enough to buy our first place. Ford had a relationship with local Manufacturers Bank (since acquired by Comerica) offering a significant interest rate discount to Ford employees. Inflation was a whopping 13.4% and mortgage interest rates stood at 8.75% but I seem to recall Manufacturer’s fortunately offering Ford employees 5%. Here’s a past blog about our first home, including the budget we used to save the down payment.

Meanwhile, back at Frigidaire, the transfer to Harrison was underway. The person who took my place was another engineer by the name of Bill Hill, who was a fellow General Motors Institute graduate and a younger fraternity brother of mine. I had recruited him to the fraternity so we were close friends, plus he was about to graduate. Bill and his wife Carol enjoyed their stint in Lockport, as he became the resident expert on an emerging environmental issue at the time; the depletion of the ozone layer over the north and south poles caused by Freon, the air conditioning refrigerant invented by Frigidaire in 1930 that revolutionized refrigeration. Bill contributed immensely to developing and implementing alternate refrigerants that do not deplete the ozone layer. Here’s more on that successful effort.

It would have been challenging to be involved in such a program, but who’s looking back? Just me in every blog I write! Stay tuned, Fish Report readers.

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