Cuyahoga
Falls Baseball
Baseball was apparently the first organized athletic activity promoted
in Cuyahoga Falls. It seems in early times every community had a town
team and each was very active as a part of each community, and exerted
community pride.
The Cuyahoga Falls baseball team was known as the "Subrurba's"
and their home field was in back of the houses on the southwest corner
of Broad Blvd. and Allen Street (now Sixth Street). Broad Blvd ended
where Seventh Street is today and west of that was all farmland.
Cherry Lane, back of the houses on the south side of Broad Blvd.,
ran from Allen Street to Duncan's sandbank. The sandbank was located
on the north side of present Broad Blvd. between what is today Twelfth
and Thirteenth Streets.
Subrurba's home field
The ballpark had a grandstand behind home plate. The entrance was
over Cherry Lane from Allen Street. There were also bleachers at first
and third bases with a fence along the east and north sides of the
field from the grandstand out three hundred feet.
Storky Edafelt, the home team's star pitcher, was a legend in his
own time and the team was highly respected in all district baseball
circles.
The Falls High School also had a baseball team and used the same
field. Although they were not known as "Black Tigers" at
that time they did have total black suits.
Subrurbra Park was removed in 1916 for home development and the
Cuyahoga Falls community grew. With the field gone the baseball team
disbanded.
Prior to 1920
Courtesy
of Taylor Memorial Library
Top
Row: Miles Reid, Ed Ast, Bill Kumkler, Ralph
Gaylord, Tom Osthander
Middle
Row: Roy Wainwright, Ray Jones, Archie
McMahan, Ed Brodie
Front
Row: Lyman Smith, _____, Paul Kunkler
In 1920 the Falls Merchants were organized and played on the East
Side Falls High Field that was located at the corner of what today is
Deming and Curtis Streets.
Jim Brodie an old Subrurbra star third baseman in 1928 organized
the Falls Majestics. Jim owned a home appliance store on Front Street
and sold Majestic Radios. Jim built a grandstand on Harrington Field
on the west side of Oakwood Drive just north of Roosevelt Avenue. The
team played outstanding baseball.
Zoning regulations caused him to move his field to the southeast
corner of Bailey Road and Treap Street on the far east side.
Jim brought some baseball players up here from Georgia to strengthen
his team, then the depression caused him to go out of business in
1935, and the team disbanded.
Another local baseball team of the early 1900's was not a Cuyahoga
Falls team but played their home games within present boundaries of
the city. They were the "Underhill Reds."
Made up of Portage and Northampton Township men, they played in
George Babb's pasture that today would be the southwest corner of
Sackett Avenue and Twentieth Street where McDonald's Hamburgers is
located today.
The line that today is the west line of Twentieth Street was then
the west corporation line of Cuyahoga Falls as well as the west line
of Walter Adam's farm. The fence on this line consisted of Camp
Brothers blemished sewer pipe piled up for about 500 feet. The pasture
was lower than Sackett Street with the home plate on the ball field
about 400 feet south of Sackett and 300 feet west of corporation line.
1B first base mitt from the 20s/30s.
When the Ohio State Highway Department cut the new State Road
through the Babb Farm, it put the baseball field out of operation by
distorting it. The "Reds" moved their field to the south
side of Babb's Lane (now Grant Avenue at Nineteenth Street).
The "Underhill Reds" were a top flight baseball team and
had a large following. The crowd was large enough to eat up two half
bushels of bagged popcorn and tow half bushels of bagged peanuts. Eric
Thompson and Bob Medkeff sold the popcorn and peanuts.
One of the novelties of the team was the bat used by Franz Zizick.
He cut down a hickory tree and made his own bat on his lathe.
Over the years Cuyahoga Falls has had many baseball teams in many
age groups and classes, with many having outstanding records. Several
Falls boys have signed big league contracts. Some of these boys in the
past are
Dain
Clay, Randy Richards, and Jimmy Sams.
This is an early (1922) "Bill Doak" glove
The first softball league in these parts was organized here in
1927. Skip Grome, and ex-Subrurbra star, was appointed umpire-in-chief
by the league officials and then found it necessary to write a set of
rules for operation and play..
Half a baseball field was adopted for playing size with a six inch out seam
mush ball adopted for play. It was rightfully labeled a finger
breaker. National rules for softball were established in 1930.
The league made up of service clubs, churches, business sponsored
teams and the local fireman played on the Falls High Athletic field on
Thomas Court and thrived during the depression days while furnishing
free entertainment for large crowds.
Today there is more opportunity for boys, girls and adults to play
ball in Cuyahoga Falls than the most enthusiastic baseball bugs could
have ever hoped for.
