Our History

By Alan Ford
Star Sports Editor

Baseball in Shelby has been an integral part of the sports scene for most of the past century.
Besides the hundreds of youngsters who play every year for youth and scholastic teams, many others played on the slew of old mill-sponsored clubs when textiles were king in these parts. Those leagues also were the first step for many individuals to go on and find success at the college and even pro levels.

Here are some of the highlights of Shelby’s storied baseball past:
The 1945 Shelby legion squad — coached by “Pop” Simmons and assistant Lloyd Little — won the national title at old Griffith Park in Charlotte.

Shelby Post 82 has six state championships to its credit — in 1942, 1945, 1951, 1957, 1958 and 2001.

Shelby hosted the 1957 and 1958 American Legion Southeast Regionals at the old Sumter Street ballpark. Future big-league catcher and broadcaster Tim McCarver was one of the stars of the 1957 tournament.

Roger McKee, who helped pitch Shelby to the 1942 North Carolina Legion crown, went on to pitch in the major leagues. When the lefthander started for the Philadelphia Phillies on the final day of the 1945 season at Shibe Park in Philly, he put his name in the recordbook as the youngest pitcher to start a major league game in the 20th century. McKee later coached the Post 82 team.

Tom Wright from Shelby was known as a hard-hitting outfielder and went on to become a teammate of the legendary Ted Williams with the Boston Red Sox in the late 1940s.

Bill Champion of Shelby was a standout in high school and Legion in the 1960s and went on to pitch eight years in the major leagues (1968-75) with the Phillies and Brewers.

Norris Hopper, a two-sport star in Shelby who played a season for Post 82, is now an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds.

Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry spent a season as the Shelby American Legion coach in the late 1980s.

Former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Smokey Burgess — who had one time owned the Major League record for career pinch hits — called nearby Forest City home but played his American Legion ball in Shelby in 1942-43.

Shelby was also a stop for many major league players during their minor league days. Such players as future Yankees Fritz Peterson and Jerry Kenney, Lenny Dykstra (Mets and Phillies) and Jose DeLeon (Pirates and Cardinals) spent time playing for the different team incarnations. Such major league players as Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, Otis Nixon, Greg Gagne and Danny Jackson were among the notable players on visiting clubs that played the Shelby minor leaguers.

The site of the regional and World Series, Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium, first opened for play in 1976. It was remodeled in 2002 for the Southeast Regionals before undergoing its present renovation. Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium also hosted the 2004 North Carolina American Legion State Championship Tournament.

Slugger hit first home run over Veterans Field fence
By Emily Killian
Arey Poston has a claim on Veterans Field and local Legion history.
The former Post 82 player was the first to hit a ball out of Veterans Field, but didn’t realize its significance until later, he said.
“We were playing Cherryville. It was the home run that put us ahead in the game,” he said. “It wasn’t a historic moment to me at the time. I was just caught up in the game.”
Poston remembers the exact pitch — a fastball hit over the right field fence over the scoreboard.
Post 82 ended up winning 5-3 in that 1976 game.
Poston’s feat was achieved using an aluminum bat, although it was the first year he and Post 82 had been using aluminum instead of wooden bats, he said.
“With the new bats that they have nowadays it’s not as hard as it was back then,” he said.
But it’s still difficult.
Most high school and Legion fields are shorter than Veterans Field, he said.
“These are pro dimensions,” he said.

1931 squad got Legion baseball started in Shelby
By Alan Ford
The history of American Legion baseball in Shelby covers everything from the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam era, and on up and past the turn of a new century.
Championships, big crowds and future major leaguers have made the sport a big deal in Shelby.
The program has never lost sight of its heritage, however.
The 1931 team in Shelby stands as the first American Legion squad to represent the town and Warren F. Hoyle Post 82. Many folks wouldn’t believe its origin if it weren’t true.
Dr. Buford Martin Jarrett was an avid sportsman at that time. To start an American Legion baseball team, he simply began asking for players in the Sunday School class he taught at First Baptist Church in Shelby to get involved. They did and became the nucleus of the team.
One of those players, R.K. Wilson, in 1965 in The Star, spoke of Dr. Jarrett’s contribution.
“(He) was the whole thing,” Wilson said. “He was the athletic officer, coach, manager and furnished transportation for the boys. There were 10 or 12 boys on the team, including the bat boy.
“Shelby was eliminated by Charlotte that first year, but really started to build up a good team later. They managed to get uniforms from somewhere, used old patched up (base)balls and taped bats.”
In another story from The Star, Jarrett spoke of those early years.
“We played with makeshift (base)balls that were sewn up by Perry Sellers at his shoe shop,” he said with a laugh. “When one would bust a seam, we’d take it to Perry and he’d sew it up and we’d get a lot of play from it, although it was dirty, scarred and hard to hit very far.”
Dr. Jarrett’s daughter, Patricia Jarrett Phifer of Shelby, remembers baseball being a part of her family’s life at that time, as does her sister, Mary Sue Jarrett Wall.
“He attended every baseball game and in the 1940s, we went with them (Post 82) to the World Series,” Patricia said. “In the early ‘30s, he would take his car and dad picked them (the players) up. They’d ride on the running board.
“Dad was an active sportsman. He would get out and walk years before it became popular. He loved to breathe the fresh air.”
Dr. Jarrett wasn’t the only one connected to the American Legion. His wife, Mary Sue Pruett Jarrett – who died five years ago at age 97 – held national office in the American Legion’s women’s auxiliary. She served as the national president of that organization in 1973-74.
“She was very active in veteran’s causes,” Patricia said. “She made visits to the hospital down in Salisbury.”

Champions more than 60 years later
By Alan Ford
In 1945, the world was still at war.
Along with folks from across the American landscape, families in Shelby awaited news on the radio of the latest battle reports from around the world.
Those at home, especially young boys who knew going into the service would be in the future for them if combat continued, sought diversions. At the top of the list was the game of baseball.
For a particular group of young men from Shelby, ages 15 to 17, it would become an unforgettable summer. The adventure would start on June 8 with a doubleheader of practice games that included a bout in Forest City at 4 p.m., then a return home for an 8:15 clash with Cherryville.
It was the start of the Post 82 season. Who knew at the time it would continue all the way through the final week of August?
Yet 34 wins later (against only three losses), the group that would become known as “Simmons’ kids” — after their head coach B.E. “Pop” Simmons — would forever be remembered as the 1945 American Legion National Champions.
The late Bill Weaver, a utility player who would have a lifetime of involvement with American Legion baseball, became the unofficial historian of the team. His comments spoke for all his teammates:
“Looking back, it was a once in a lifetime experience for all of us. After 50 years (now 62), it is still the only national championship won by a team from Shelby. (Yet) Nobody knows what happened to the trophy. We still can’t find it after all these years.
“I would like to tell you that I was a star, but the truth is I was a sub. But I was just glad to be there.”
As a reward for their triumph, the Post 82 team traveled to Detroit, Mich., to tour the Ford Motor Co. and saw a game in the 1945 Major League World Series. Many on the team got to meet and get pictures made with star players such as Tigers’ Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg and the Chicago Cubs’ Andy Pafko.