The 1940 SeasoN

1940 VARSITY BASEBALL

No names were available for this picture which was contributed by Mrs. Boyd Fortney.

Steel and Maroon Successful as Baseball Season Gets Underway

Mifflintown

                The season’s opener with Mifflintown unveiled to M.H.S. students a team which has high hopes of clinching the West Shore League Championship.  The local boys copped this contest which featured Bob Rupp’s beautiful slinging 4 - 0.  “Proddy” kept the Juniata boys scoreless, issuing only two hits, while the team backed him with timely, if not heavy, hitting.  The opposing club used two pitchers, neither of whom could find the plate well enough to suppress the giving of free bases on balls.

                Veterans who participated in this initial thrust towards baseball prominence are Bob Norris, starting his third term as a catcher, Bob Rupp, Bill Jacoby, beginning his second at second, “Buzzy” Gher again at shortstop, Les Renard, third year man, and Paul Quigley, second year man.  Of this group, all but Bob Rupp are seniors.  Newcomers in the lineup are “Si” Sadler on third, and “Buzzy” Shuman in right field.  Si showed up exceptionally well in this game.

Marysville

                Coach Fortney unexpectedly started a newcomer to his pitching staff against Marysville, and as usual, he was right.  His choice for mound duty was Mark Werner.  Mark hurled very well up to the sixth stanza, limiting the up-river chaps to two hits and no walks, but in the disastrous sixth, he loaded the bases and had to give way to the reliable “Proddy” Rupp, who saved the game.  Mark, however, looked very good and will no doubt be called on again.  There was a cold wind and although giving plenty of pep to the players was in no way easy on the pitchers’ arms.  Hitting honors for the day went to “Buzzy” Gher who collected two long, extra base blows.  The rest of the team collaborated as can be imagined when thinking of the 12 to 3 score.

New Cumberland

                The Mechanicsburg High School baseball team won its second straight league victory on Tuesday, April 16, when it defeated a strong New Cumberland nine by the margin of 6 to 5 on the latter’s diamond.

                The Wildcats were the first to draw blood when they pushed across a run on a hit, a walk, an error, and a long fly ball in the third inning.  To this the Steel and Maroon added two more in the fourth while their opponents were scoring their first two runs making the score at the end of the fourth inning 3 to 2 in favor of the visiting team.

                The next scoring was done in the sixth inning when the Wildcats added two more runs to their score and the New Cumberland Tigers added one.

                The run which proved to be the deciding one was scored in the seventh by the Wildcats when Bill Biddle doubled, stole third and scored on an error. New Cumberland came within  one run of tying the score in their half of the final inning when they scored two runs.  To make the game sound even more exciting the Tigers had a man on third base and only one out in this inning. 

                Superb pitching was an outstanding factor in this game.  Rupp allowed the home club only four safeties and Dunner and Adams gave the Mechanicsburg club only three hits.

(April 26, 1940 -- The Torch)

Wildcat Nine Completes a Successful Season

                With the season drawing to a close, M.H.S. is running a close second to a strong Lemoyne team in the West Shore League.  The reason for this is the well trained team, the nucleus of which has had one or more years of valuable experience, but there are some new names in our line up such as “Bess” Sadler, our sensational third baseman, “Buzzy” Shuman, playing a good game at the right field position, and, also, Les Reed, who at the beginning of the year showed up remarkably well at first base and now is reliable as a pinch hitter.  The veterans consist of  Bob Rupp, pitcher, Bill Biddle, doing a fine job behind the plate, that top-notch first baseman, Bill Jacoby, “Buzzy” Gher at shortstop, and Les Renard and Elwood Whitacre in the field.

Lemoyne

                The chilly weather brought the M.H.S. baseball team a lot of bad luck on the home diamond when Lemoyne won their sixth straight game with “Red” Rhoads pitching a shutout victory.  Rhoads allowed only two hits and two walks while Bob Rupp gave up only four hits and three walks.

                Lemoyne got the first run of the game in the third inning with a walk, a hit, and an error figuring in the scoring.  Bill Biddle reached first base on an error by Prowell and went on to second on the overthrow.  Biddle advanced to third when “Buzz” Shuman grounded out, but Cline and Gher struck out to end the inning and Biddle was stranded at third.

                The fifth inning was the big inning for the visitors when they scored three runs.  Spangler, the first man up, struck out.  Miller got on base on an error, and Jacobs and Leitzel walked.  Gayman then grounded out pitcher to first, but the runners advanced, and then Prowell tripled and Shughart singled to end the scoring in the game.

                Mechanicsburg tried to close the gap in the last inning on pinch hitter Norris’ single, but he died on base as the game ended.

Boiling Springs

                Mark Werner started and Ege pitched for the Boiling Springs crowd.  Mark had nine strikeouts before being relieved by Jacoby who rang up a total of eight strikeouts in three innings which is a remarkable feat in high school baseball.  The Mechanicsburg bats cracked to the tune of eight hits, one of them being a home run by Bob Reed, while the Springs boys had only four scattered hits.

Camp Hill

                On May 6 the Wildcats traveled to Camp Hill and defeated them five to nothing.  The first inning didn’t bring much fruit, for the teams were evenly matched, but in the third the boys from Mechanicsburg began to nick the southpaw Carter, and they kept on until they ran up a five run lead that they kept until the end of the game.  Outstanding points of the game was a triple by Jacoby and Reed’s consistent hitting.  This game was another example of Mechanicsburg’s undeniable power.

                On May 12, under a scorching sun, the powerful Mechanicsburg nine went into action again against the boys of Camp Hill.  Before the game was far underway it was easily seen that this was a pitching duel between two of the best pitchers in the West Shore League, Carter of  Camp Hill and our own lanky twirler Rupp.  The opposition scored run for run till the end of the ninth inning when “Bess” Sadler cut loose a long triple into left center, Renard got a safe hit, and Jacoby drew an intentional walk.  With the bases loaded, Biddle steps in and fires a sharp single over second base, sending Sadler home with the winning run.

New Cumberland

                Due to the superior pitching of  Bob Rupp, the Wildcats stopped the New Cumberland ball club with no hits, no runs, and allowed only one man to reach first base.  Eleven strikeouts by Rupp spelled the fate of the New Cumberland sluggers with a four to nothing decision.  The entire Cats team were in form, giving Rupp wonderful support and allowed no errors to slip through.

Marysville

                Mark Werner twirled Mechanicsburg to a five to one victory, allowing only five hits and striking out nine men.  Heading the hit column for the day was Les Renard with three for three.  Due to airtight fielding and unsurpassable pitching by the Wildcats, we completely outclassed the Marysville team.  The infield showed up particularly well, holding its own with a minimum of errors.

League Standings

                League standings as of May 22 are as follows:  Lemoyne 8 - 0; M.H.S. 7 - 1; Camp Hill 5 - 5; New Cumberland 5 - 5; Enola 3 - 6; Marysville 3 - 7; Boiling Springs 0 - 7.

Girls Sports:  Baseball Tournament

                Beginning the week of May 13, the annual Girls’ Baseball Tournament was played.  Letters will be awarded to the winners.  The Freshmen and Sophomores played Monday, May 13 after school.  The winner of that game played the juniors on Tuesday.  The victorious class played the seniors on Wednesday.  Anyone in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade gym classes could play in the tournament; however it was not compulsory.

(May 22, 1940 -- The Torch)

Baseball Scores Season Of 1940

Lettermen: Jay Sadler, Les Renard, Bill Jacoby, Bill Biddle, Bob Norris, Bob Rupp, Marlin Gher, Robert Reed, Lloyd Cline, Mark Werner, Elwood Whitacre.  Student manager:  Harry Fahnestock.