ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
BASEBALL IN PENNSYLVANIA

1. Student's Name Catina Odom
2. Subject's Name Sam Jethroe
3. Subject's Background
a. date and place of birth
Mississippi
b. Present address

c . Present Occupation
4. Date of Interview

October 2, 1921

Jackson ,

Owner of Jethroe's Bar

November

27,

1994

5. General Comments: Before I began to actually write out
different questions that I could ask Mr. Jethroe, I was pretty
apprehensive on what I was going to say. Although I'm sure there
were several other questions that I could have asked, I think
that the ones that I came up with were pretty good.
Mr. Jethroe was very easy to talk to, and seemed to enjoy
talking with me about his past baseball career. He seemed to be
extremely proud of his a ccomplishments while playing ball and I
truly enjoyed the time that I was able to spend with him.

----------------------------------------------------------------DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE

Catina:

For the record, can you state your name and your age?

Jethroe:

Sam Jethroe 71 um 73 years old

Catina:

Ok, and what is your current occupation, current
occupation?

J ethroe:

I operate a bar, J ethroe' s Bar.

Catina:

And what aspect of baseball have you been affiliated
with in the past? Did you play or did you umpire or
what did y ou do?

Jethroe:

When I finished playing I came back and a little with
the boys around here, [ Erie], in the semi-pros ball.

Catina:

Ok, was that also called the Minor Leagues?

Jethroe :

No, that was just the Glenwood League, the Glenwood
League that they had around here and I played while I
lived here.

Catina:

Ok, and what was the name of the team that you played
for?

Jethroe:

I played for the Cola Beer and I played with West
Springfield.

Catina:

Ok, Can you briefl y rell how you became interested in
basebal 1.

Jethroe:

Oh well, well I just liked to play baseball and I just
came around and started to playing it.
Nothing in
general, nobody did nothing to get me interested in i t ,
I just started palying it.

Catina:

Ok, so would you say that you had an inspiration or
somebody you liked to see playing or that ...

Jethroe:

I liked to see a lot of the kids play.
I talk to a lot
of the kids now that is playing softball, but they
can ' t get no where playing softball.
The way they're
given that money out in baseball, I don't know, if they
had any talent to play they should be playing baseball.

Catina:

What positions did you play?

Jethroe:

Centerfield .

Catina:

Centerfield, ok, was that the only postion or did
you . . .

Jethroe:

No, no around here th a t's all I played.
Around, around
before I went into the major leafues I played catcher
and different positions, but when I went into the major
league , just centerfield.

Catina:

Ok, did you also play in another league before you went
into the league around here, [Glenwood Leag u e).

Jethroe:

Oh, where?

Catina:

Did you play for the Negro League too?

Jethroe:

Yes, I played for the Cleveland Buckeyes in the Negro
League.

Catina:

And what position did you play?

Jethroe :

Centerfield.

Catina:

Centerfield with them too .
Ok, would you say that was
your favorite position or would you have rather played
something else?

Jethroe:

No, no as I came to the Buckeyes I came as a catcher
But they saw that I ran pretty fast, so they put me in
the outfield.

Around here no I played in my home town.

Catina:

Alright, would you say that baseball was popular around
and in the community at the time that you played?

Jethroe:

Yeah, baseball has always been popular around
everywhere.

Catina:

Can you approximate the years that you played b a ll?

Jethroe:

In where? I played from 1942 to 1948 with the Cleveland
Buckeyes, that's in the Negro League . Then I played
from forty-eight to forty-nine with the Montre a l
Royals, that's triple A, a Brooklyn Dodge r s
organization.
See the Dodgers brought me from the
Negro League and sent me to Montreal, then the Braves
brought me from Montreal and I went up with them and I
was Rookie of the year in 1950 .

Catina:

Ok, let's see.
In your opinion why was the Negro
League formed or the leagues around here .

Jethroe:

Well I couldn't answer that because the Negro League
went way beyond the time that I went in to play.
They
went way beyond that you know.
How they organized,
that's beyond me.

Catina:

Can you tell me, like one of your most memorable
experiences with the Negro League and then with the
Glenwood League around here .

Jethroe:

The Glenwood League, the Glenwood League , well
experiences that I had with the Glenwood League, well
we never had too much to be experienced about, we just
played.
We never won the championship in the Glenwood
League.
Then with the Cleveland Buckeyes, my most
memorable experience, we won the championship.
We beat
the Homestead Grays for the world championship in the
Negro League in 1945.
So that made me remember that.

Catina:

Ok, would you like to comment on the recent baseball
strike that happened this summer?

Jethroe:

Well that's an instance where both of them trying to
get their point over.
The owners want a salary cap,
the players don't want it.
To me, I think that there
has to be some conclusion, ending, (what I intend to
say), because salaries are escalating way up high.
When I first went into the Major League, the starting
salary was $5000, which was pretty fair money back then
in 1950, But now it has grown tremendously higher, so
we'll see who wins out.

Catina:

Do you have any favorite players that you played with
around the area that you really enjoyed playing with?

Jethroe:

In the Negro League, I have one player here, the rest
of them died that lived here.
Willie Grace.
He and
I played on the same team in the Negro League.

Catina:

And is he from the community, Erie community?

Jethroe:

He lives here.
He's here now, he stays down on Front
Street, and we go off to car shows every once and a
while Sometimes together, sometimes different car
shows.

Catina:

When you stopped playing ball, did you stop because
you no longer wanted to play?

Jethroe:

I stopped because I got too old.

Catina:

Too old.

Jethroe:

Age will make you stop doing anything.

Catina:

That's the truth, that is the truth.
Ok, and just out
of curiosity, when you were playing were you playing
for fun, or were you actually, were you making your
living, your living playing ball?

Jethroe:

When? When I played? I made my living.
That was my
living, because sometimes I would play, I'd go to Cuba,
Venezuela, Puerto Rico.
I'd play in the Winter time
you know.
Stay here in the Summer and playing there
in the Winter.

Catina:

Wow!

Jethroe:

That's where my living was made,

Catina:

Was it pretty sufficient in taking care of your family?

Jethroe:

Yeah, taking care of my family and buying a house and
all.

Catina:

Ok, I think that's about all that I have to ask you.
Would you have anything else that you would like to
comment on or tell me about?

Jethroe:

No, in general,
doing this.

Catina:

I also have a copy of your card,

Jethroe:

Oh, yes they have a number of different cards out.
This is Ted Williams who puts these cards out.

Catina:

I don't know, would you say that what they say about
you being the fastest in the League?

Jethroe:

Oh yeah.
Then, well, I ran pretty fast.
They
considered, some considered I was the fasted man in the
league.
I led the league in stolen bases, I ran pretty
good.

Catina:

Ok, and would you say that your most prominent years
was during the, while in the Negro League or when you
came back here to play in the Glenwood League?

in baseball.

I just hope that you pass the grade for

[baseball].

Jethroe:

Well, I did it in both leagues you know. I led the
league in stolen bases in the Negro League and the
Major League and in the National League ...

Catina:

So you were pretty fast?

Jethroe:

And in Cuban League.

Catina:

Alright, you were just well rounded and a balance , ...
you were good in all of them .

Jethroe:

That's what I was noted for,

Catina:

Do you remember what your batting averag e was?
best batting a ve rage during a season.

Jethroe:

Well I bat, in the Major Leagues, I batted my first
year, what made me rookie of the year. I batted 280,
led the league in stolen bases, hit 18 home runs, and
scored 100 runs.

Catina:

Ok, that's all that I have to ask you for the time
being.
I thank you for your time.

Jethroe:

Thank you,

Catina:

Thank you.

Jethroe:

Ok, alright.

enjoyable.

stealing bases.
Your