http://dabblersjournal.com/2008/04/15/mov-league-1949/ prone to enthusiasms.... Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:00:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://dabblersjournal.com/2008/04/15/mov-league-1949/comment-page-1/#comment-235 Bill England Tue, 13 May 2008 19:42:56 +0000 http://dabblersjournal.com/2008/04/15/mov-league-1949/#comment-235 It’s a pleasure to run across a site like yours. As I read the past emais, it brought back my boyhood memories at Centralia. I was going to Franklin Grade School, which was quite near the old site of Fans Field, home of the Centralia Cubs.(They were also named after a beer, aka Centralia Sterlings, Orphans, etc.) I had all sorts of jobs there, selling popcorn, cushions, etc. My big promotion was when a buddy and me started working the scoreboard. From the stands, the scoreboard looked “cool”, but from the back,It was very primitive working conditions. All that we had to support ourslves was warped long floorboards on a scaffoldling. One guy did the innings inserts and the other worked the switches for balls, strikes and outs lightbulbs. The switches were just common house switches inside a rusty steel box. On rainy days, sparks would fly out of the connections. One afternoon, the scoreboard caught fire and we had to jump off the back scaffoling...it was a wonder that we weren’t injured. My favorite player was Mgr Zeek Bacesa. George Gato was another popular guy (Third Base). When we didnt work, we checked in the younger “Knotholders” kids who sat off the main stands, near third base. (We often could chat with George.) We made 50¢ a game...but to us it was big money...for big memories. -Bill England It’s a pleasure to run across a site like yours.
As I read the past emais, it brought back my boyhood memories at Centralia.
I was going to Franklin Grade School, which was quite near the old site of Fans Field,
home of the Centralia Cubs.(They were also named after a beer, aka Centralia Sterlings, Orphans, etc.) I had all sorts of jobs there, selling popcorn, cushions, etc. My big promotion was when a buddy and me started working the scoreboard. From the stands, the scoreboard looked “cool”, but from the back,It was very primitive working conditions. All that we had to support ourslves was warped long floorboards on a scaffoldling. One guy did the innings inserts and the other worked the switches for balls, strikes and outs lightbulbs. The switches were just common house switches inside a rusty steel box.
On rainy days, sparks would fly out of the connections. One afternoon, the scoreboard caught fire and we had to jump off the back scaffoling…it was a wonder that we weren’t injured.
My favorite player was Mgr Zeek Bacesa. George Gato was another popular guy (Third Base).
When we didnt work, we checked in the younger “Knotholders” kids who sat off the main stands, near third base. (We often could chat with George.) We made 50¢ a game…but to us it was big money…for big memories.
-Bill England

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