Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Football isn’t the only sport to have some professional history in Ironton.

While the Ironton Tanks ruled the semi-pro ranks from 1919 to 1930, minor league baseball preceded pro sports in Ironton beginning in 1912 with the Ironton Orphans.

The Orphans were replaced the nexgt season by the Nailers who Nailers were a minor league baseball team that played in the Mountain States League from 1911-1912 and the Ohio State League from 1913-1915.

Floyd Cornwell, James Frost, Taylor Farrell, Thomas Grieve, Waldo Jackley, Guy McWhorter, John Kendall, Arch Osborne, Michael Whalen, Bill Thompson, Louis Schwab, Alvin Nally and Arthur Long

Cornwell, Frost, McWhorter and Osborne were pitchers. The rest of the staff included Fred Trautman, Kearns and Feldner.

The catchers were Schwab and Jackley, Thompson and Schocky Taylor played first base, Albert McClintock was at second base, Long, Grieve and Cranley were at third base, Whalen and Frank Clouser at third base as well as J.E. Potter, and the outfielders were Kendall, Nally, Farrell, Jap Guhl and Madden.

Jackley had four home runs in a 16-5 win over Hamilton on Sept. 9, 1913.

Osborne and McClintock shared the manager duties.

Jackley, McWhorter, Kendall and Nally were all on the 1914 team.

The other new members were Frank Clouser, Harley Dillinger, Hugh Haggerty, Ed Keating, E. Kelley, A. Long, H. McDaniels, Ostrich, Larry Pezold, James Reams, Smith and Al Tedrow.

Dick Smith managed the 1914 and 1915 Nailers.

Taylor, McDaniels, Reams and Tedrow were the holdovers from the 1914 team that included players such as F. Lavender, Meyers, Roy Shamlin, Nick Stadfelt, Al Tedrow, Fred Ollom, Joe King, John Haddock, Gilmore, Oscar Delotelle, Fred Corbin, Ernest Calbert, Brown, Harding, Henderson, Levi and Perry.

The Ohio State League had teams from Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Frankfort, Hamilton, Lancaster, Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Newark, Piqua and Springfield.

Kentucky members were Lexington, Maysville, Newport and Paris. West Virginia entries were from Huntington and Charleston.

The Orphans also played in the Ohio State League.