In April 1920, the Brownswood Bulletin began projecting great things for the communities two hometown colleges, Howard Payne and Daniel Baker.  Both, it noted, had rich traditions of turning out graduates of the highest caliber, not to mention fielding athletic teams that kept local interest high in both schools. For the coming football season, the newspaper edited lauded about Daniel Baker College hiring a coach with “a record of great triumphs on the football field.” Coach Sylvester Paulus must have had no idea the paper was referring to him and even less idea that he was walking into a ..read more

Veering from minor league baseball for a moment…             Eddie Hasha was small in stature. In fact, he had various nicknames, “Shrimp” being one. The freckled-faced boy who at 20 years old was described as being the size of a child half his age probably could have been a jockey. Eddie split his time growing up between his parents’ various homes in downtown Waco and the Hasha Ranch on the near the McClellan County line a few miles north of town. It’s likely he spent his share of time on the back of a horse. But Eddie fell in love with a ..read more

Texas sports a long history of great baseball team names. Whether you’re looking in the low- level minor leagues at the turn of the 20th century or independent teams of the present day, you’ll can usually find a name to give you a chuckle in most any era. From the Casketmakers of Texarkana to the Parasites of Paris and the Boosters of Bonham, unique team nicknames abound in the Lone Star State. Many are simply named for animals that roar, bombers that bomb, or the oil industry that gushes. But no list of Texas baseball teams names would be complete without considering those related to agricult ..read more

“We’ve Got Your Number” It’s not a stretch to say, from a historical perspective, Paris and Corsicana have a lot in common. Both came into being shortly after Texas gained independence; both became seats of their respective counties; and both lumbered along with a couple of thousand residents until the railroad arrived by 1880. At that point, each city’s population steadily grew — one city growing faster during a decade followed by the other taking the advantage a decade later. Throughout the decades, Paris and Corsicana have played important roles in the military. Paris had Camp Maxey, while ..read more

To the average Lamar County resident, not to mention to those who don’t particularly care, it might come as a surprise that Paris has a rich history of professional baseball. Beginning in 1896 when the Texas League’s Sherman franchise relocated to Paris just a dozen games into the season, the city has been home to 23 professional baseball teams. Along the way, the various clubs experienced some success. From 1921 and 1925, the Paris Snappers, Grays, and North Stars captured four league championships in the Texas-Oklahoma and East Texas Leagues. A lot of good ballplayers passed through Paris in ..read more

When the Texas League left Paris after the 1904 season, it by no means signaled the end of professional baseball in Lamar County. From 1905 until 1957, Paris was home to many teams playing in circuits like the North Texas League, the Sooner State League, and the Western Association. For several years beginning in 1912, Paris placed a team in the Texas-Oklahoma League. Playing under the names “Boosters” and “Snappers,” the teams played quite well, although no particularly memorable names are found on the rosters; that is, with the exception of one. It won’t be found in any record books and it’s ..read more

When I first barreled headlong into researching the lives of minor league ballplayers from the 19th century who played at least a game or two in Paris, I attacked the internet without any genealogy skills. In fact, I really didn’t think about genealogy at all; after all, I was just researching old ballplayers. Their off-field lives were of little interest. Of course, it didn’t take long to realize that where these ballplayers came from and where they eventually went was just as much a part of their stories as how many home runs they hit. In short order, I subscribed to all the genealogy websit ..read more

   In the past 145 years, nearly 4,000 professional baseball players have been born in Texas. Most never made the big leagues, and many only had a sniff of life in the minors. Even with Texas’ vast geography dwarfing most of the lower forty-eight states, with so much rural and undeveloped acreage, the larger cities of Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio claim a large percentage of Texas’ native professional ballplayers. But, many communities and settlements ranging from those large enough to host junior colleges to those never exceeding a population of 500 lay claim to a profes ..read more

As a researcher of obscure Texas League characters, I wish I could write of a great debate about the true identity of “Countryman,” as he is listed in the 1896 Texas League record books. Some sources suggest he was Ellis Countryman, a pitcher from the Eastern Iowa League a year earlier. In Marshall D. Wright’s comprehensive “The Texas League in Baseball: 1888-1958,” however, he is noted as Elmer Countryman. Both Ellis and Elmer came from the same area of the country, and both were born around 1870, so a case of mistaken identity is entirely understandable. Unfortunately, no debate exists, as n ..read more

Pete Weckbecker spent four seasons as a player-manager in the Texas League, but one day generated a controversy that haunted, if not destroyed, his baseball future. Weckbecker was born in 1869 in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Peter was the fifth of six children of German immigrants George and Maggie Weckbecker, who arrived in the U.S. a decade before start of the Civil War. George worked as a molder, and most likely supported the Union war effort when hostilities broke out. While early baseball had been popular in the northern states before the Civil War, when troop ..read more