By Mary Lou Nahas
For Capital Region Independent Media
“There was no question as to what was the most popular sport [in Oak Hill and Vicinity in the early decades of the 1900]. Hands down, it was baseball,” wrote Mike Hayes in his book “Oak Hill Voices from an American Hamlet.”
It is widely agreed that by the last half of the 19th century, baseball had become the National Pastime. The United States was a little more than 100 years old, and baseball had evolved with the country.
Hugh Elsbree, at age 95, wrote “Baseball in Preston Hollow in the Early 1900s.” He said: “The original team was called the ‘Arapahoes.’ Then for several years the uniforms simply bore the initials ‘PH.’ Finally, they were the ‘Sodbusters.’” He said, that while he couldn’t recall every detail about the beginning, “I do recall clearly how the team came into existence. My grandfather, Willard P. Elsbree, senior partner in the village general store, W.P. Elsbree & Sons, had a major, though unintended role in its founding.”
Hayes wrote that “Oak Hill had a good team in the ‘30s. Originally named the Plowboys, they soon became known simply as the Oak Hill Baseball Team. Although they could play well enough, the team that really drew the crowds and attracted it share of excellent Oak Hill players was the neighboring Preston Hollow Sodbusters.”
According to Elsbree, George Hollenbeck, who lived in Preston Hollow, bought at least some of the uniforms, the bases, homeplate, and a pitcher’s plate, a catcher’s mask, mit and chest protector, a few bats and a couple of baseballs, and an A.G. Spalding scorebook. I think the boys provided their own gloves and shoes, mostly sneakers at first. Only a few wore baseball shoes—then with spikes the first few years.”
This was a real team with backing.
Elsbree said one of his brothers was responsible for the team’s original name. It was the name of a Native American tribe they had read about in one of the books in the library. Members of the team were George Edwards, Ferris and Ford Hagadorn, Delbert Wolfe, Alfred (AP) Hulbert, Bob Dingman, Proctor Scott, Wayland and Willard Elsbree and Clarence Mercer.
Later on, even when most members of the team did not live in Preston Hollow, it was always called the Preston Hollow team in part because home games were always played on “The Flat,” today the Bailey Elsbree Park in Preston Hollow on Route 145.
Hollenbeck continued to act as a sort of general manager for the next two or three years, scheduling games with nearby teams—Oak Hill, Durham, Cornwallville, Medusa, Rensselaerville, Westerlow, Greenville and whatever village had a team. All games were played on Saturday afternoon, the only time the boys on the farms could get away. Sunday games were out of the question.
The Arapahoes filled a huge void in community life: They doubled and tripled the entertainment possibilities for many of the area’s residents.
Hudson Winans was the official scorekeeper for games in Preston Hollow, but seldom, if ever, accompanied the team on the road. Most of the team’s players improved steadily, as did the team’s reputation in the area. The Arapahoes’ first game, which Hollenbeck arranged, was with Durham, known to have a veteran battery in Mel Darling and Roy Bandow. The Durham team won, 8-1. The following Saturday the team went to Durham. They lost again. But they continued to improve.
“At first Mr. Hollenbeck was the nearest to a manager the Arapahoes had. He did not manage the players in game situations. They really managed themselves,” Elsbree said. “Games had to be arranged and terms agree on. Would the visiting team receive a certain percentage of the gate receipts or be given a guaranteed amount? For home games a gatekeeper had to be engaged and an admission price set. (In early games it was either 10 or 15 cents). The players had to be contacted and the manager had to make sure nine would show up on Saturday afternoon and in the case of games away from home have transportation. After Model T Fords made their appearance in the area, the manager would sometimes hire Ivan Mackey to carry players without other rides to a game away from home—for perhaps $3.”
For home games, there were many chores on the Flat on Saturday morning: remove the cow flops, sprinkle lime along the foul lines, set out bases, drive stakes beyond first and third bases to make the lines. If the infield grass got too high, George Edwards would be asked to fetch his father’s team and mowing machine and cut it down.
According to Hayes, “Oak Hill’s best players vied for a spot on the Sodbusters. They attracted huge crowds and many Oak Hill residents made the seven-mile trip to Preston Hollow on Saturday afternoons to see the games. Bob Dingman and Pete Cooke made up the heart of the team. Roy Brandow of Oak Hill, a former catcher for a Durham team, could be found at most games. He was often the umpire.”
“Alfred Burnet played for a while and then became scorekeeper. Alfred Hulbert was an early member of the Preston Hollow team. The Sodbusters’ first baseman was Donald Wade and his older brother Leslie played as well. Both were Oak Hill men,” Hayes wrote.
As the years rolled by and the Sodbusters began to age, Pete Cooke helped develop another Oak Hill baseball team. For a while they played in a field up Schoolhouse Hill Road but later played on land owned by Roy Brandow near the creek and Eagle Bridge across from Howard Poultney’s farm at the intersection of County Route 22 and Clay Hill Road.
Junior Ives told Hayes, “We’d meet at the DeWitt Hotel when we started up in the spring. We’d see where we were going to play and who we’d play. We had a town league, we’d play Alcove, Ravena, and Preston Hollow. They brought in the best players from all over.”
By the late 1950s and early ‘60s the enthusiasm waned as Pete aged and more people began to say home to watch baseball on television. Some Oak Hill men played on teams in the Mountain Top League. Elsbree wrote that paved highways put an end to the baseball era in Preston Hollow and its surroundings because it became easy to drive to big stores and other forms of entertainment. Local farms were gradually abandoned, leaving only a tiny fraction devoted to farming.
However, about that time Little League became active in town; these teams played at the site of the Old Oak Hill Baseball Diamond. Little League managers came to the town meeting asking that the board meet with Mrs. Ada Brandow—owner of the property who lived just up the road and whose late husband Roy had been a community benefactor—to propose buying the property. When approached, Mrs. Brandow agreed to donate 7.53 acres, which had to be used for recreational purposes only for 20 years. The town accepted the deed Oct. 10, 1966. The field was to be called Brandow Memorial Park.
A committee of six men and two women was appointed by the town to plan and conduct recreational activities for youth there. It is still a town park and in fact will be getting a face life this summer.
By 1983, there was a Durham Baseball Commission, which opened the season with seven teams. Dennis Statham was the baseball commissioner. It was announced that the commission would be having games all summer long with teams in the Community Youth League. Teams were sponsored by local businesses such as The Durham Auction Barn, the Zume Flume and Becker Electronics.
Special thanks to Rosie Kuhar at the Rensselaerville Historical Society for sharing Elsbree’s book with me.