Jackson County GaArchives History .....History of Harmony Grove-Commerce, Chapter 17 1949 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 August 22, 2004, 12:48 pm CHAPTER XVII ATHLETICS, SPORTS AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES BASEBALL Baseball Played in Mother-Hubbards A few years after the depot was built, the town men and boys had a baseball ground at the present site of Spencer Park. There were no streets around the park in those days. Occasion-ally a ball was knocked over the rail fence which enclosed Mr. Hood's cornfield. If this should happen today the ball would go into the yards of the Andersons, the Sanders, or the Funeral Home, or down Pine Street. The town men bantered the school boys for a match game and proposed that the town men would play in mother-hubbards, the new style house dress of that day. The match was on and the game opened. Such a flapping and a slipping and a ripping and a tripping was never witnessed as the town men ran the bases and attempted to catch fly balls. The game waxed hot. The school boys finally won the game but the town men had the most fun. It is safe to say that the mother-hubbards were not afterwards fit for house use. This game was unique and unusual. It was probably the only mother-hubbard base-ball game in history. Baseball in the Period, 1875-1883 This was the initial period in which baseball began to supplant cat-ball, town-ball and bull-pen. Baseball clubs were organized in the country communities as well as in the towns, such as Harmony Grove and Jefferson. Match games were played every- Saturday afternoon. Teams took various picturesque names. The "I.X.L.'s" were from Hix in upper Madison County; the "Clippers" from around Nicholson; the "Lone Star" teams from Banks County and the "Pop'n Goes" from Crawford. The crack teams of this section were the Winterville and Crawford teams, who frequently played Harmony Grove. Harmony Grove also played teams from other towns, also country clubs. No masks, gloves or mitts were used. The catcher caught with naked hands. Pitchers were allowed only under hand delivery, which meant that the ball could not be delivered above the waist line. The batter was allowed to call for high, low or waist balls. He was allowed nine balls and four strikes. If he did not strike at the third strike "warning" was called and he was given another strike. Later on the number of balls was reduced to seven and then to five. The curved ball was developed about 1883 and near that same time overhand pitching was allowed. Some of the scores around 1880 were: Winterville 42; Harmony Grove 14; Harmony Grove 97; Lone Star 3. Lone Star then disbanded and joined the Harmony Grove team. The game developed rapidly from 1882 to 1890 and is described in a vivid manner by P. T. Harber in his special article. LAWN TENNIS One interesting thing about the small area known as Williamstown was that in the early days from 1875 to 1895 this land was covered with rather large old field pines which ex-tended up near the Baptist Church. In this old pine forest was located a group of three, or four, large spreading Spanish oaks about what is now the lower end of Scott Street. Under these majestic oaks was furnished a place for the large school boys to spout their oratory and practice speeches, wrestling contests, "tote over the mark" and occasionally a fisticuff. In 1891 the first lawn tennis court was located at this spot under the shade of the spreading oaks. T. C. Hardman, recently returned from college, organized a stock company of ten young professional and business men who would take a share of $1.50, making a total of $15.00 with which a net and four rackets were purchased and enough lime to lay out the court. This corporation, limited, was finally merged into a larger group and the court was moved up to the High School ground and continued at various locations in town. This was the beginning of lawn tennis in Harmony Grove. THE COMMERCE CITY BASEBALL TEAM MEMBER OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA BASEBALL LEAGUE 1919 TO 192I This league was made up of the following teams: Commerce, Cornelia, Buford, Gainesville, Royston and Lavonia. Most of the players were hired by the month. Sometimes professional players were employed and special pitchers were imported at the price of $60.00 to $100.00 a game. The local team was sponsored by a stock company of underwriters who paid in some $2,500.00 to $3,000.00. The proceeds from the game were profitable for awhile but later failed to pay expenses, especially when the team was in the lower bracket. After two seasons the league was disbanded. The team that had the most money led the league. As I remember the Buford team, sponsored by John Allen, with plenty of cash, led the league and probably Gainesville was next. Commerce had some good players, among them as pitchers were Jack Coombs, of Locust Grove, with his wide sweeping curves, and Izzy Marks with his emery ball. They were able to baffle the batters. Vandergriff of Alabama and Carmady were the catchers. Bill Caldwell was the chief fan cheerleader and Uncle John G. H. Pittman was among the enthusiastic spectators. He was always on hand and was an enthusiastic fan. The usual attendance at these games was from 800 to 1,200. This was sometimes referred to as the million dollar league. COMMERCE NEWS, JULY 13, 1945 By Paul T. Harber Publication of The News story, telling how some of Commerce's old-timers pointed out the many worthwhile achievements of the Board of Trade which functioned effectively thirty years or more, has provoked considerable comment relative to the progress of Harmony Grove and young Commerce, which acquired its new name by an act of the General Assembly of Georgia in 1903. According to some of the elder citizens, who are exceedingly proud of their accomplishments in the years ago, Harmony Grove was known far and wide as a leading baseball town with outstanding teams year after year. Pete Grey, the popular one-armed professional, was not in the class with Harmony Grove's one-armed Bob Quillian, whose fast curved balls baffled the leading hitters of Georgia and adjoining states and whose record strike-outs in one nine-inning game was 24. Back in those days, say the old-timers, Harmony Grove met all corners in baseball and generally walked away with the cake. There were Scott Jackson, Jim Gregory, Lint Rhodes, Allen, George, and Branham Rice, Claud Little, John D. Barnett, George Hubbard and others whose baseball skill was equal to professionals. In later years came Cliff Barber, Sam Edwards, John Harber, John Cooper, Stoy Jackson and such outstanding players to maintain the prestige of the new town of Commerce. John Harber was a 400 hitter at Mercer University, a brilliant short stop, who later played league baseball. John Cooper was a star second baseman for Georgia in his college days. Old-timers say that all these players were tops. When an opposing team was considered extra strong, Harmony Grove would get Tas Short, Pete and Sam Wilson, the Porterfield boys, Bob Hogg, Tom David, Guy Boyd, Charley McCurdy, and the Beussee brothers of Athens, Tom Dunn and other noted players from other places, to take places in the line-up. Sometimes 1,500 or more people turned out for the games. Stores and places of business closed for the afternoon when a hot series was being played. Yes, say old-timers, "We inaugurated what is now known as the half-holiday." At Commencement time there were three big days. Everybody in all the territory enjoyed the contests. The new generation permitted baseball to slip away much to the community's disadvantage. Many of the new customs of the years ago have been discarded for new-fangled things that don't amount to much. Even the high school in those days put out excellent teams. There were no 4-H's and Home Economics in those times. Boys played baseball, went swimming in creeks, worked on farms, around warehouses, in the home garden, hauled and cut wood, and kept busy at many things. There were no drug store cowboys, pale-faced ice cream eaters and sandaled babies. That's what the old boys say about the glorious past of this community. Big Barbecues Commerce staged a barbecue that attracted 2,000 or more people from all the surrounding country. It was given in honor of those who gave their trade to Commerce. Let the new generation attempt such an event (after the war) and see how they perform. Big things were undertaken, say the boys born back in the days, before the Spanish-American War. Noted Lecturers Sam Jones, the great evangelist, Tom Watson, the sage of McDuffie, Governor Bob Taylor of Tennessee, the South's noted orator, and fiddler, and other equally famous lecturers and entertainers were brought here under the auspices of the Commerce Lyceum Course. Commerce cooperated with Jefferson to bring William Jennings Bryan to Jackson County. The great commoner spoke at the court house at the county seat. Big things were the order of the day. "What's the score these days" asked the old-timers? Commerce's two banks were established way back when Harmony Grove claimed the Northeastern Banking Company which was organized in 1892. The First National, organized in 1904, just did miss getting in the Harmony Grove record. Those men back there had vision and courage and confidence, declare the men of those days, when gold collar buttons were in style and high-top elastic shoes. The beautiful women wore long-sleeved dresses, long skirts, high button shoes and pompadour hair, but no women on earth surpassed them for beauty. Such banks, such men, such women! "Can the young men of today match the record of their grandfathers? Can the midriff brigade match the grandmothers of yesterday?"-ask the pre-Spanish-American War fold. What's more, Commerce had a modern hospital with a staff of physicians and nurses. Patients came from all over the country around and from distant cities, including Atlanta, for medical attention and surgical operations. Harmony Grove Mill was the product of the real days too. It was home-spun and home-owned, the first cloth coming off the looms in 1894. Don't underrate the men of yesterday who had the courage and vision to start a cotton textile mill fifty-one years ago right here in Harmony Grove. On and on the old-timers go, proudly pointing to yesteryear when men were really he-men. One of the historians said, "Get the date when every church building, bank, mill, store and warehouse was constructed. It will amaze you to learn how many of our present structures were erected prior to 1905." Thus, fellow citizens, there is the challenge. Old-timers expect and hope that the newer generation will carry on in a manner worthy of their forebears, gathering inspiration from those who labored effectively in the days when there were no paved highways, radios, automobiles, picture shows and miscellaneous contraptions characteristic of recent years. A hustling growing, liveable Commerce-the product of North-east Georgia-would be a fitting monument to the memory of those pioneers who built well back in the days prior to and just after the turn of the century. SPORTS AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES Trap Shooting and Hunting Trap shooting had two periods of popular practice as a pastime. It was introduced in Harmony Grove about 1888 and continued for a few years. This sport consisted of shooting clay pigeons thrown from a spring trap. These traps, three in number, were placed some 15 feet in front of the gunman. The pigeon in the trap was released by a string, or wire, and scaled out at about a 30 degree angle to some 50 yards distance. Not knowing which trap would be released, the gunner must be on the alert. Each participant took five or ten shots in turn. After some practice-a good shot could break 18 or more out of 20. This sport was revived again 20 years later when "Polly" Poulain, a sporting cotton buyer, was in his prime. The shooting field was located near a branch in W. A. Quillian's pasture. Occasionally live quails were turned out of a box. Quail hunting has been popular in this section ever since the breech loading shot gun came into use in 1883. In the older days of Harmony Grove it was not unusual for a party of two or three to bag 40 or 50 birds in a days hunt. That was when birds were plentiful and the hunters could find 8 or 10 coveys a day. There was no license required and no limitation to the number bagged. Hunting of other kinds of game was popular. Sometimes big rabbit hunts were planned during Christmas week. A crowd would gather together ten or twelve dogs and kill 75 to 100 rabbits and have a rabbit barbecue. Then the squirrel shooting, 'possum, coon and fox hunting have held their devotees. Of late the fox chase and 'possum hunting seem to have returned with renewed interest. Some of the local boys deal in 'possum dogs and delight in the night ramble for the "old slick tail." Ask Elmer. Fishing, Ponds and Lakes Fishing is an age-old sport as well as a trade. Our citizens through the decades have excelled in the art of decoying the finny tribe. From the days when Joe Eckles, Steve Hawks, John Dale and Dick Eckles, of the old Harmony Grove period, spent days and nights baiting and hooking "suckers," to the present time, fishing has been a popular pastime. Our fishing population has not been one whit behind other sections in claiming the number and size of fish they have caught in times past or in narrating superlative fish tales. Making due allowance for the proverbial fish stories we really have several expert fishermen who know how to decoy the scaley tribe of every kind, all the way from the sluggish catfish to the game rainbow trout. We have among our many expert fisher-men one who enjoys a state wide reputation for his ability to decoy and catch the wily rainbow trout and other smart game fish. T. F. (Tot) Harden is tops. Fish ponds have been common in this section for half a century. About that time the government began to furnish free fish stock for the ponds. Of late years interest in fish ponds has increased. The average size of fish ponds has been enlarged. They are now dignified by the name of lakes. Originally the fish pond covered about an acre or two. Now the lakes cover an area from five to twenty acres. They are on the increase in number and size. For quite awhile swimming pools were popular in Commerce, but now they seem to have lost some of their interest. K. N. Sharp built the first public swimming pool near his home about forty years ago and received good patronage. Later the Wilbanks pool three miles from town was used for several years. Some twelve years ago the city built a concrete pool in Willoughby Park which was very popular for several years but of late has been used only by the young folks and the children. Horseback Riding This exercise is an old custom and has been popular with some in all times. In the Harmony Grove era some young men, with their riding boots and whips, escorted the young ladies in their attractive riding habits, using the side-saddles, and enjoyed a late afternoon canter of a few miles in the country. There seemed to be a subsidence of interest after the auto age arrived. However in the very recent years, business men of means seem to have become enamored of this form of outing. A number of business men of Commerce who are able to own and to feed a saddle horse, either a walker or a three gaiter, find pleasure in riding over the fields and through the woods • and along the streams, whenever they can find an old road or path. This is one of the oldest forms of recreation and pleasure. EQUESTRIAN ROSTER OF COMMERCE Dwight Barber Mose Gordon W. N. Harden Charles M. Sanders R. M. Davidson C. W. Hood, Jr. J. B. Elrod A. D. Bolton Golfing Golfing is a more recent game which has displaced such games as marbles, croquet, midget golf, and lawn tennis. This modern sport is supposed to be especially for professional and business men, as a means of recreation, exercise and diversion. It seems to provide all of these elements. Commerce has for some twenty years had a golf club. The first golf course was located on the Harden farm some four miles from town, but later the club built a more suitable course and a more splendid one on the farm of F. H. Williamson, one and one-half miles out on the Jefferson Highway. This course is said to be one of the best in this section as to beauty and location. The Commerce Golf Club has some excellent players and they occasionally entertain tournaments and match games from neighboring clubs. Commerce Country Club was organized March 1945. J. E. Jarrell, President, L. W. McDonald, Secretary-Treasurer. Dr. Paul T. Scoggins is present President. Following is a list of members: A. D. Bolton L. G. Hardman, Jr. Jim McGill H. F. Bray Joe E. Hardman Richard Nix Charles Castleberry W. H. Hardman W. J. Porter R. M. Davidson Albert Hardy R. F. Powers V. L. Davis James Hope Horace Prickett F. E. Durst Jake Howington A. A. Rogers Martha Ella Gordon J. E. Jarrell Paul T. Scoggins H. R. Harber A. S. Johnson T. J. Syfan Vincent Henderson Hardman Jones F. H. Williamson, Jr. Tommy Hanley L. W. McDonald L. 0. Williams Additional Comments: From HISTORY OF HARMONY GROVE - COMMERCE JACKSON COUNTY, GEORGIA BY THOMAS COLQUITT HARDMAN 1810-1949 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/jackson/history/other/gms165historyo.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 18.0 Kb