ACrank
11-23-2006, 02:18 PM
He just lived ... baseball'
Friends, fans, family remember Negro League star Grace
By Mike Copper
mike.copper@timesnews.com
Stanley Lee was honest in his baseball assessment of Willie Grace. But honest as only a friend of 50 years can be.
Lee was the secretary for the Cleveland Buckeyes when they won the 1945 Negro League World Series. Their starting lineup included Sam Jethroe and Grace.
Jethroe made it into Major League Baseball three years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and was voted the 1950 National League Rookie of the Year. Grace, who died Saturday, did not. But according to Lee, it wasn't because of Grace's skin color.
"I don't think Willie would have made the major leagues," Lee said. "He wasn't a fast runner on the bases or the field, but he could get on base and he could hit a ton. You could count on him hitting that ball."
Lee, 95, moved to Erie during World War II and was reunited with a handful of Buckeyes that included Walter Crosby, Lovell "Big Pitch" Harden, George Jefferson, Jethroe and Grace. From his West Second Street home, he lived a line drive away from Crosby and Grace.
Lee is now the only link left to that baseball history.
Grace, the last of a prominent group of former Negro League players who lived most of their lives in Erie, died at Presque Isle Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was 89.
Calling hours will be held today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Burton Funeral Home, 602 W. 10th St. A service will be held there Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Grace's death follows Crosby's on Sept. 13 at age 85.
Erie resident Fred Rush Jr. watched the Negro League players when his father sat with them in Glenwood League dugouts in the 1950s. Rush considered Grace's death as a sad but inevitable milestone.
"It's not only the passing of a generation, but to a certain extent the end of an era," said Rush. "I remember watching when the first black players came into the major leagues after Jackie Robinson, and now I'm watching them disappear."
"Dad had a full life," Darryl Grace said. "He just lived and ate baseball all the time."
That was evident at numerous baseball conventions Darryl Grace attended. He beamed with pride as his father was approached by the likes of Hall-of-Famers Larry Doby, Ernie Banks and Reggie Jackson.
"As a kid, I thought a lot of his baseball stories were bull, even though he kept a lot of his memorabilia," Darryl Grace said. "After a while, even I could figure it out when all of these great players told my father what he meant to them. They knew who he was."
Ed Heinrich was one of Erie's best homegrown baseball players. Heinrich, who played in the minor leagues for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds, never played with or against Grace.
Patrick Kennedy, Burton Funeral Home consultant, lays out a display of baseball memorabilia in prepartion for the service for Wille Grace. (Jack Hanrahan / Erie Times-News)
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But Heinrich still crossed paths with him for several years.
"I was his mailman down on Front Street in the 1950s," he said. "I had the opportunity to meet him again a couple years back and, of course, the topic of conversation was baseball. We had a group picture taken."
Rick Lopez, a local Negro Leagues historian, did more than snap a photo of Grace. He arranged for a video interview with the former Buckeyes star in the late 1980s.
"I remember when I was a little kid hearing all those stories about the (Negro League) stars on the Pontiacs," he said. "It just piqued my interest as a baseball fan, especially knowing that some of those guys, especially Sam (Jethroe), still lived here."
Lopez's interview with Grace ran on cable access stations for several years. He submitted a shortened version of the video to the Grace family to show as part of services at the funeral home.
Rush expects plenty of well-wishers today and Wednesday.
"He was always talking and always had something to say when he played in the Glenwood League," Rush said. "I always considered him a comedian, but he was a caring man that was involved in all kinds of projects with the bayfront and senior citizens."
Lee, the former Buckeyes secretary, last saw Crosby and Grace when they were honored at an Erie SeaWolves game over the summer as part of Negro League Appreciation Night. He'll be glad to accept future invitations.
But it won't be the same telling baseball stories without Crosby or Grace.
"Now, I'm about the only one left," Lee said.
MIKE COPPER can be reached at 870-1614 or by e-mail.
Willie Grace Career Highlights
Negro League seasons: 1942 Cincinnati; 1942-48 and 1950 Cleveland; 1949 Louisville; 1950 Houston.
Mid-Atlantic League season: 1951 Erie Sailors.
Was a member of the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes team, which won the Negro League World Series. He had a .313 average and hit a home run in the Series against the Homestead Grays.
Named the Buckeyes' most valuable player for the 1946 season.
Hit over .300 three times, including .322 for the Buckeyes in 1948.
Hit .299 with two home runs and 53 RBIs in his only season with the Sailors.
SOURCE: statistics compiled by Rick Lopez
Friends, fans, family remember Negro League star Grace
By Mike Copper
mike.copper@timesnews.com
Stanley Lee was honest in his baseball assessment of Willie Grace. But honest as only a friend of 50 years can be.
Lee was the secretary for the Cleveland Buckeyes when they won the 1945 Negro League World Series. Their starting lineup included Sam Jethroe and Grace.
Jethroe made it into Major League Baseball three years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and was voted the 1950 National League Rookie of the Year. Grace, who died Saturday, did not. But according to Lee, it wasn't because of Grace's skin color.
"I don't think Willie would have made the major leagues," Lee said. "He wasn't a fast runner on the bases or the field, but he could get on base and he could hit a ton. You could count on him hitting that ball."
Lee, 95, moved to Erie during World War II and was reunited with a handful of Buckeyes that included Walter Crosby, Lovell "Big Pitch" Harden, George Jefferson, Jethroe and Grace. From his West Second Street home, he lived a line drive away from Crosby and Grace.
Lee is now the only link left to that baseball history.
Grace, the last of a prominent group of former Negro League players who lived most of their lives in Erie, died at Presque Isle Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was 89.
Calling hours will be held today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Burton Funeral Home, 602 W. 10th St. A service will be held there Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Grace's death follows Crosby's on Sept. 13 at age 85.
Erie resident Fred Rush Jr. watched the Negro League players when his father sat with them in Glenwood League dugouts in the 1950s. Rush considered Grace's death as a sad but inevitable milestone.
"It's not only the passing of a generation, but to a certain extent the end of an era," said Rush. "I remember watching when the first black players came into the major leagues after Jackie Robinson, and now I'm watching them disappear."
"Dad had a full life," Darryl Grace said. "He just lived and ate baseball all the time."
That was evident at numerous baseball conventions Darryl Grace attended. He beamed with pride as his father was approached by the likes of Hall-of-Famers Larry Doby, Ernie Banks and Reggie Jackson.
"As a kid, I thought a lot of his baseball stories were bull, even though he kept a lot of his memorabilia," Darryl Grace said. "After a while, even I could figure it out when all of these great players told my father what he meant to them. They knew who he was."
Ed Heinrich was one of Erie's best homegrown baseball players. Heinrich, who played in the minor leagues for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds, never played with or against Grace.
Patrick Kennedy, Burton Funeral Home consultant, lays out a display of baseball memorabilia in prepartion for the service for Wille Grace. (Jack Hanrahan / Erie Times-News)
Zoom
Buy this Photo
But Heinrich still crossed paths with him for several years.
"I was his mailman down on Front Street in the 1950s," he said. "I had the opportunity to meet him again a couple years back and, of course, the topic of conversation was baseball. We had a group picture taken."
Rick Lopez, a local Negro Leagues historian, did more than snap a photo of Grace. He arranged for a video interview with the former Buckeyes star in the late 1980s.
"I remember when I was a little kid hearing all those stories about the (Negro League) stars on the Pontiacs," he said. "It just piqued my interest as a baseball fan, especially knowing that some of those guys, especially Sam (Jethroe), still lived here."
Lopez's interview with Grace ran on cable access stations for several years. He submitted a shortened version of the video to the Grace family to show as part of services at the funeral home.
Rush expects plenty of well-wishers today and Wednesday.
"He was always talking and always had something to say when he played in the Glenwood League," Rush said. "I always considered him a comedian, but he was a caring man that was involved in all kinds of projects with the bayfront and senior citizens."
Lee, the former Buckeyes secretary, last saw Crosby and Grace when they were honored at an Erie SeaWolves game over the summer as part of Negro League Appreciation Night. He'll be glad to accept future invitations.
But it won't be the same telling baseball stories without Crosby or Grace.
"Now, I'm about the only one left," Lee said.
MIKE COPPER can be reached at 870-1614 or by e-mail.
Willie Grace Career Highlights
Negro League seasons: 1942 Cincinnati; 1942-48 and 1950 Cleveland; 1949 Louisville; 1950 Houston.
Mid-Atlantic League season: 1951 Erie Sailors.
Was a member of the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes team, which won the Negro League World Series. He had a .313 average and hit a home run in the Series against the Homestead Grays.
Named the Buckeyes' most valuable player for the 1946 season.
Hit over .300 three times, including .322 for the Buckeyes in 1948.
Hit .299 with two home runs and 53 RBIs in his only season with the Sailors.
SOURCE: statistics compiled by Rick Lopez