Beach Baseball Team From The '20s

scotto

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#1
Thanks To C. Wallace :)
The ball diamond supposedly was moved around a bit back then, I have been told that this photo was taken near the Canal. Does anyone know who any of these players are?:D
 

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scotto

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#2
I received this message about our '20s baseball team, I guess I got some of the facts wrong. I will talk with the donor of the picture and find out who were the other Beach people in it. Thanks to Sid James. :D

Good day;

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sid James and a Beach resident from 1936 to 1952, then again from 1961 to 1966, as well as a graduate of Beach Bungalow School.

With regards to the picture of "a Beach Baseball team from the 20's" there are a few errors in the identification:

It is a team made up of employees from the Hallidays Lumber Company that was located off Maple Avenue in Burlington;
The location is likely the ball diamond located at the Burlington Lion's Club property at the west end of New Street (the Lion's Club is still there, but not sure about the diamond). The ball diamonds on the Beach were located (1) at the Canal in the 50's when I played there, (2) At the school playground and (3) on the west side of the Dynes. There were no trees in close proximity to the bleachers, as seen in this photograph, at any of the Beach diamond locations but there were at the Lion's Club!

The picture is out of the late 1930's or the 1940's.

The person with hands on knees at the left side of the picture was Stan McKenna and the third from the left kneeling was Harold Wilson (my father-in-law), the first name of the fourth from the left kneeling was Arnold and he used to raise chickens and sell eggs door to door in Burlington but my wife can't remember his last name.

Incidentally, I played juvenile ball on the Beach in the 1950's and on the team that won the Ontario Championship in 1953. Some where I have a picture of that team which I will dig out and pass along if you wish so you will have a picture of a bon-a-fide Beach baseball team for the site.

Sid James
 

scotto

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#3
A History Update From Sid.

Good day Scott;

Feel free to post my comments regarding the "20's Ball Team" I expect people would care to have reasonably accurate information regarding Beach history. I am sure you are aware that Fred Briggs is the person to talk to regarding history, he has made a study of it.

I never gave it much thought but I guess what people refer to as "History" I just think of as my youth. I have come to realize that during the 40's and early 50's there were on the order of 37 members of my maternal family (Henderson) living on the Beach, grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins so maybe we are part of the history. Unfortunately my sister, currently the oldest living member of the Henderson clan, is the holder of almost all of the family and Beach activity photographs. I say unfortunately because she resides in B.C. and is loathe to entrust them to Canada Post. I will see what if any further I have kicking around but don't hold much hope.

Hopefully, attached, you will find a picture of the Beaches juvenile ball team that won an Ontario Championship in 1953, not sure if it was all Ontario or just Southern Ontario. Didn't matter. we and the Beach people were proud of the achievement!

Standing, from the left - Pete May (injury reserve) Len Woods, Hank Cotlar, George Reid (manager), Jim Henderson (coach and another Henderson family) Gord Melmer, Eddie Savage
Kneeling from the left - Sid James, Ralph Woods, Jim Pemberton, 'Red' Hannah (bat boy), Dick Shields (pitcher), Bobby Hannah (pitcher) Gord Sherriot, Doug Reid and Frank Nichols.

I identify the pitching staff because you will note that they are dressed in black, while the rest of us are in white/grey. This was to conform with rules of the day that pitchers were not allowed to wear any white to preclude the ball not being in contrast to their dress. Should you elect to post this picture please add my apologies to those in the picture if I have spelled their names wrong, after all it has been 51 years!!

Sid

----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Sid for the update, hopefully he can come up with a few more golden oldies.
Also, I guess we will have to put member Fred Briggs in charge of the history section. :tbu:
Scotto
 

Fred Briggs

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#4
Hi, Sid! Nice to hear from you! Now I see how I got asked to be History Moderator!
Anyway, there are a few corrections to the spellings: Hank Kotlar (with a "K"), Gord Chariot (we pronounced it Sherriot but it should be pronounced Sherrott), and there is no "s" on the end of Nichol.
Anyway, I just have to get access to the pictures your sister has! I'd be willing to pay for Fedex delivery if she would send them to me so I could scan them for the Beach history video. Then you could pick them up from me next time you are down this way. Please talk to her again about this.
 

Fred Briggs

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#5
Wow! This is really embarrassing! I wasn't positive about the spelling of Gord's name, so I tried to verify it. I had to wait till someone called me back, and in the meantime, I took a chance. The call came through later, and I have to correct my own posting! Not only that, but I now seem to have been wrong on 2 of them. (It's really amazing how wrong we often were when we were young and thought we knew everything!) Anyway, they say 2 out of 3 ain't bad, but in this case, it's terrible!
Gord's name is spelled Chiarot, we all called him Shariot, but it should be pronounced Cher-rot, with the emphasis on the "rot".
And surprise, surprise, Hank's name is Kotlarz! The only time I ever heard the "z" was when the store was referred to as Kotlar's!
My apologies to both of them.
 

scotto

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#6
Well Fred, it's still Beach history and I have no idea who most of these people are, luckily you do as I would of got zero out of three. I been here a long time but not as long as you.
I see in the "In The News" section that the picture sent to the Spec by Arlene McKeown is Mike Kotlarz, must be related to Hank?? Also I been told that there are Beach people in the first baseball team, even one who's last name is Briggs, Sid didn't think it was much to do with the Beach. Any ideas??

BTW, I will pay to send Sid's pictures back, just to have a look. :D
 

Fred Briggs

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#7
Yes, I remember that Hank's father was a butcher, so I would presume that Mike is his father. I don't think I was ever in the store which was down near Pemberton's, later Pett's, later ... and on and on .. . and just recently renovated very nicely. Kotlarz's store (groceries, Butcher shop?) is gone and I think a new house has recently been built on the site. Next time I'm on the Beach I'll check the house number. Note the confusion in the Spec article between Kotlarz and Kotlar's!
A couple of the people in the older picture look a little familiar, but I don't know the names. I'll ponder them. The one on the bottom (front) right looks enough like Doug Martin that it might be his father. Ir wouldn't be the first person I have identified because of a family resemblance!
I'm very curious about the information that one of them could be a Briggs. My father (Fred Briggs II) was on the Beach from at least 1927 to 1953, and before he married I understand that he played semi-pro baseball in an industrial league, as a pitcher. I was a big disappointment to him in that I loved football and basketball and hated baseball, and that had been his only game! I also knew of another Briggs family (son Cliff and daughter Lois) on the Beach when I was a boy, although I had never met them until a couple of years ago at the Dynes Reunion. However, if my dad is in that picture, it has to be the one who looks like he might be Doug Martin's Father!
And if I do get Sid's sister's pictures sent down, I might take you up on that offer, but some of them might get distributed to Sid.
 

scotto

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#8
Fred;
I will try to check with member C. Wallace to see if the Briggs in the first picture is somehow related to you, it's not an uncommon name though.
The site of what was Kotlar's is 713 Beach Blvd and yes, there is a new building there now, notice I didn't write house. I have attached a couple of pics to show what it looks like now, maybe I can find an old one of the store.
Scotto
 

Fred Briggs

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#9
Yes, we need a picture of the store as it used to be. In my memory (growing very dim, like the rest of me) it seems to be just north of the castle, next door to it, but on the street. It seems that the old confectionery store - Pemberton's, Petts, Shewfelt's etc., (now nicely renovated), had a building beside it on the south. As I recall that was Bill Ryan's original Drug Store, and after he built the new Drug Store with Soda Fountain at Station 6, just south of the Skyway Canvas, his old store was vacant for awhile and later became a dry cleaner's pickup point for a service in the city. I thought this was where Kotlarz's Butcher Shop/Grocery Store was later, but I may be wrong because I think about that time I moved off the beach. He may have built new further south than where I think I remember. You have the house numbers and I don't.
Meanwhile, I love that aerial photo! It looks too high for the Skyway! Is it from a plane?
 

scotto

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#10
Fred;
I lived for a few years across the street at 712, I remember a couple fires at the old Kotlar's place, then not much being done with it for awhile. It was demolished and sometime later the castle was then built. Check the attached picture which was taken from outside of Ernie's Lunch (Shewfelt's), you can see a lot between the Drycleaners and Kotlar's blury sign.
That aerial photo was taken last summer from a helicopter, there are many of them in the Photo Gallery.
Scotto
 

scotto

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#12
Fred Briggs said:
I have been looking at those helicopter shots since I wrote last.
I have more, but mostly of the canal area. I will be posting them in the next photo album of the Lighthouse and "Pete's" House.

Also, I didn't know that Ryan's Drugstore started at the Drycleaners, now I do. :tbu:
Scotto
 
Dec 1, 2004
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#13
Regarding the Kotlarz family, there were two boys named Hank and Eddie. Hank was the elder of the two and Eddie was my age. I think they did not attend Beach Bungalow school because either they were of secondary school age when they moved to the Beach or they continued to attend their schools in Hamilton.
Also, next to the Kotlarz store was a home built by Mr. Rosart. I think the house is still there if I am interpreting the aerial photos correctly. A few doors south of that was a house owned by Mr. Gulliver (does Gulliver Motors still exist?) who had a daughter named Cheryl (Sherryl?).
 

scotto

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#14
Crawfish;
Thanks for the update, the Rosart house is still there beside what is now the "Castle" and was at one time Kotlarz's place. I think Gulliver Motors has been closed for some time now, were they on Main St. near Parkdale???

Fred;
While we are on this topic again, I checked into the Briggs on the ball team, his name was Tom and no relation to you.
 

Fred Briggs

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#15
Thanks, Scotto. I thought that I should recognize my Dad, even when he was much younger.
After my last post about the Kotlarz name I finally managed to get in touch with Hank Kotlarz. It seems that the family name was, indeed, Kotlarz, but when his father opened the grocery store, he thought Kotlarz's would be too difficult to say, so they dropped the "z" in the family name. That's why there was no "z" on their name when I knew Hank. Apparently, later, after the store closed, they restored the "z", and use it now, again. Now, whether or not they changed it legally, and changed it back legally, or if changing it back was required because they hadn't changed it legally in the first place, I don't know, but Hank said something about having to have his high school records changed, and it was getting so complicated (at I time when I had to rush out for an appointment) that I asked Hank to go to this site and clear up the mystery.
Hank doesn't have internet access so he said he would have his son look after it, and I've been waiting ever since. However, since it has come up again here, I thought I should contribute what I could to clear up the confusion.
I'll leave it to a Kotlarz to provide the last word.
 
Last edited:

scotto

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#16
I have found a photo from 1903 of the Dynes Scoundrels' baseball team at the Hamilton library along with the Dynes Challenge Cup. The paperwork that came with the items shows that it was donated by the Lynch family. John Lynch was a commissioner with the Burlington Beach Commission.
 

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David O'Reilly

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scotto
03-28-2004, 11:44 PM
“Thanks To C. Wallace :)
The ball diamond supposedly was moved around a bit back then, I have been told that this photo was taken near the Canal. Does anyone know who any of these players are?:D
________________________________________
scotto
11-03-2004, 07:40 PM
I received this message about our '20s baseball team, I guess I got some of the facts wrong. I will talk with the donor of the picture and find out who were the other Beach people in it. Thanks to Sid James. :D

Good day;

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sid James and a Beach resident from 1936 to 1952, then again from 1961 to 1966, as well as a graduate of Beach Bungalow School.

With regards to the picture of "a Beach Baseball team from the 20's" there are a few errors in the identification:

It is a team made up of employees from the Hallidays Lumber Company that was located off Maple Avenue in Burlington;
The location is likely the ball diamond located at the Burlington Lion's Club property at the west end of New Street (the Lion's Club is still there, but not sure about the diamond). The ball diamonds on the Beach were located (1) at the Canal in the 50's when I played there, (2) At the school playground and (3) on the west side of the Dynes. There were no trees in close proximity to the bleachers, as seen in this photograph, at any of the Beach diamond locations but there were at the Lion's Club!

The picture is out of the late 1930's or the 1940's.

The person with hands on knees at the left side of the picture was Stan McKenna and the third from the left kneeling was Harold Wilson (my father-in-law), the first name of the fourth from the left kneeling was Arnold and he used to raise chickens and sell eggs door to door in Burlington but my wife can't remember his last name.

Incidentally, I played juvenile ball on the Beach in the 1950's and on the team that won the Ontario Championship in 1953. Some where I have a picture of that team which I will dig out and pass along if you wish so you will have a picture of a bon-a-fide Beach baseball team for the site.

Sid James”

Sid, do you know the names of the baseball leagues that you have refered to here? It would be great if you do so that we could maybe get some history on them.
________________________________________
 

scotto

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Feb 15, 2004
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#18
scotto
03-28-2004, 11:44 PM
"Thanks To C. Wallace :)
The ball diamond supposedly was moved around a bit back then, I have been told that this photo was taken near the Canal. Does anyone know who any of these players are?:D
________________________________________
Sid James"

Sid, do you know the names of the baseball leagues that you have refered to here? It would be great if you do so that we could maybe get some history on them.
________________________________________
David;
Sid was getting on in years when he sent me those comments and that was back in 2004, so I don't know if we will hear from him again.
 
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