Wheeling’s Baseball Oddities

During the early twentieth century, baseball was indeed America’s game. And Wheeling loved baseball more than most American towns.

It was perhaps the most popular form of entertainment in that long ago era before the internet, before cable TV, even before motion pictures were established. Baseball was the Netflix of 1915.

And it was an immersive experience. Sure, people listened to games on the radio, but nothing beat hopping on a street car to Fulton or Wheeling Island or Martins Ferry to watch local professional semi-professional, industrial, and amateur teams play the beloved national game, while chowing down on hot dogs and peanuts, sweating profusely, cultivating a sunburn, maybe even skipping school.

There was never a shortage of fans. But opponents were sometimes hard to find, especially unfamiliar ones.

So it was not uncommon for teams to call other teams out in the newspaper to challenge them to baseball showdowns at a given place and time under penalty of being accused of cowardice. Of course, where there’s a demand, entrepreneurial creatives are bound to test out a product to satisfy it.

Such was the origin of baseball “barnstorming.”

And sometimes, weirder was better. Read More