AN ORAL HISTORY OR BASEBALL

GEORGE

L.

LANGE JR.

SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY
NOVEMBER

22, 1994

This interview was conducted with ttr. Sid Snyder
of Slippery Rock, Pennsyl-vania. The interviewer
was George L. Lange Jr., a student in t.he Department
of History at the Slippery Rock University.
The interview was conducted on October A7, 1,994.

Interviewer-Mr. Snyder, are you a native of Slippery Rock?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, I am. I was born in Slippery Rock on July 1-, L932.
Do you want to know where?
Interviewer-Yes, sir.
Mr. Snyder-I was born on Franklin Street, don't recaIl address
exactly, but it was on Franklin Street. When I was one year
o1d I moved to Center Street and I lived at Center Street tiII
1-946 which woul-d make me fifteen years ol-d and then moved
across street, oD Center Street, and lived there until 1950
until- I lef t f or t.he service.
Interviewer-Is your family from this area also?
Mr. Snyder-My grandad moved here with my Dad at what is commonly
known as Walton's farm on 173 approximately two miles out of
town, in the twenties. They came from Clarion County.
Interviewer-Mr. Snyder, can you recalI your first experiences with
baseball?

Mr. Snyder-Yes, I do, the first experience, which I mentioned
before, would be in 1940. The spring or mid-summer of L940
and it was American Legion baseba1I. It was run by Coach
Thompson and Coach Hennick. Coach Hennick was the baseball
coach at the college and Coach Thompson was the footballcoach. I referred to Mr. Boyer, he was quite a bit older,
he graduated in 1-940.
Interviewer-From high school?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, from the high school in 1-940. Coach Thompson said
something to me because I had an interest in baseball and a
gIove. So I went up, but basically I playedvery litt1e in'40

and'4!, being eight or nine years old, but j-t was American
Legion bal-l and they put me in if they felt the pitcher could
not get the ball over the p1ate. I wasn't allowed to swing at
it. r could field a 1ittIe, but was playing with guys who were
oIder, who were graduating in those years.
Interviewer-Was there anything in the way of Little League
programs?

Mr. Snyder-Nothing in the way of Little l-,eague, absolutely nothing.
Interviewer-What effecL did World War Two have on baseball in the
area?

Mr. Snyder-We11, in Slippery Rock here, baseball just stopped.
Almost all the guys went to the service , if they didn't get
drafted, which most of them did, they enl-isted. So baseball
basicall-y stopped, as far as here was concerned. There was
no baseball in the area.
Interviewer-What was your involvement with baseball at Slippery
Rock High School?

Mr. Snyder-We got involved in baseball at Slippery Rock High School

basically, what happened, was all the guys came back from the
service. And I don't know that I had an interest, with the war
and all, but when they came back they got baseball going
again, so we got in the Petroleum Va11ey League played out at
Branston. And it was Mr. Boyer that I remember, although a 1ot
of the war guys, Mr. Knox and Mr. Schaeffer and all these
gentlemen came back and I had the opportunity, sti11 being a
young man, those guys, being four or five years older than me

got to go out and play a 1itt1e bit for them. Although f was
just a fill-in player a1so. After that Mr. Boyer started up
American Legion again, approximately. . .the Petroleum Valley
League l-asted about three years, from '45-'47, they played
two years in Branston and one in Harrisvj-I1e...and Mr. Boyer
in '47 got the American Legi-on going. And at that time we
talked to Coach Smiley, Robert Smiley, who was our basketbal-I
coach in about 1,946 about starting a baseball team.
Interviewer-This was at the high school?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, this was at the high school. So, we started playing
baseball at Slippery Rock High School around 1947 or '48 I am
not sure of those two years. Along with it we had American
Legion baseball run by Mr. Boyer for two or three years. He
was also playing and running Slippery Rock in the American
Legion.

Interviewer-Can you recaI1 how many boys played on the high school
team at that time?

of the high school boys played
on t.he American Legion team. They were allowed to play untilthey were nineteen or twenty, the ruIes, I think, were changed
afterwards. I think it was to Iet some of the guys graduat.ed
to play and such.
Interviewer-How many on the high school team?
Mr. Snyder-We had enough to play. I can remember we'd have a
pitcher playing in the outfield or something like that. We
had enough to play and I think the whole time we didn't t.ake

Mr. Snyder-Basically wasn't too

many

a bus, we took two cars. Mr. Smiley drove one of them and one
of the parents to drive the other one and run the high school
program. Money was very limited in those days. Things reaI1y

hadn't started up again after the war.
fnterviewer-Where dld you play your games at?
Mr. Snyder-We played out home games at the Slippery Rock College
basebal-I fie1d. Same place that the college did, up on their
fieId.
Interviewer-Cou1d you describe or teII me a little about the
relationship between the high school teams and the state
college at that time?
Mr. Snyder-Ya, well Slippery Rock was a state teachers college
even. And our relationship at that time...we went to the same
school-s, same buildings, we were just part of the co11ege.
Our teachers were their teachers, when you look back and see
that Bob Smil-ey ended up coaching at the college and Doc
E1den, who was a shop teacher, taught at the college al-so.
And Joe Frazier and Holt and Peters and all out teachers
basically were paid by Slippery Rock State Teachers College
and Slippery Rock Area School- District.
Interviewer-Did you play with or practice with the college teams?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, we did, more so maybe i-n basketball than baseball
because baseball was very limited. They were only here for a
littIe bit. And we played in the spring not so much in the
faII like, well they played spring and fal-I. It was very
limited, the college would

Ieave, get out in the middle of may and we were going to go on
so we'd practice a 1ittIe bit with them but our big
association with them was in basketball. They were here allwinter and so were we.
Interviewer-While you were still

in any

in high school, were you involved

summer leagues?

Mr. Snyder-Yes, we had the high school team going with Mr. Smiley,
then we got the Junior County League started and we talked
to N.Kerr Thompson, I can remember going up and knocking on
his door, he was a giant of a man, we knew him from shop class
and the different student teaching. I can remember a story, it
was a fifty pound anvil, he put his Iittle finger in and held
it. out. He was a tremendous man, loved sports tremendously. We
went up and knocked on his door, and said we were trying to
get a ,funior League team going and would he coach us? He said
y€s, and for the next couple of years, Coach Thompson, who was
getting quite elderly at that time, I'rl not sure what his age
was. He was eIder1y, I imagine sixty-five or seventy, he had
retired from co11ege, but he ran our team for about two years
then in the 'Junior County I-,eague.
Interviewer-What were those years?

Mr. Snyder-Those would be '48 and '49 my sophmore and junior years.
Interviewer-When did you graduate from high school?

Mr. Snyder-I graduated in 1950.
Interviewer-Your l-ast year of summer ball was?
Mr. Snyder-My last year of summer baseball was l-950. I player

baII, but my Dad said I should do something e1se, so I
did have a job. But I sti11 played summer ba11. At that time
Mr. Thompson didn't run it, the high school coach Bob Smiley
went to the college in'52, so high school baseball only
lasted until about '51. So when Bob went to the coIlege, our
baseball still went or, even though the high school didn't
through the 'Junior l-,eague. It went on until 1,952
Interviewer-So, after you graduated, Lhe high school team
summer

.

disbanded?

Mr. Snyder-The whole team dissolved, high school baseball- was
stopped for the time being. It wasn't recognJ-zed as far as
the high school- was concerned.
Interviewer-Were you more of a club team?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, we were like a club team, you'd have to say. Bob
Smiley was the basketball coach and wasn't paid to coach
baseball. But we'd take off, they'd 1et us out of school a
half hour early to go to the different schools we played.
Local- schools, some were Sandy Lake and Eau Claire,
Harrisville and Grove Cj-ty.
Interviewer-These were high schools in the region?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, they were high schools in the region. We played a
basical-Iy recognized league, but there was not championship.
Interviewer-In light of the fact that you didn't have the high
school's support, how did you boys fund the team?
Mr. Snyder-We used our baseballs and bats from the .funior County
league. Our uniforms didn't have Slippery Rock High School-

or, we just used our own equipment. It. was a way to get
baseball games in while school was sti11 going on, before
school was out was what it was al-I about..
Interviewer-During this period of t.ime Mr. Snyder, did you
fol1ow professional baseball?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, I did, I was int,erested in all sports and I
think more so in baseball because I got a start, there. I
can remember about that time, I went to school, laying
in front of the radios, w€ dj-dn't have televisions. TV
didn't come in until 1947 or '48, so we'd Iay in front of
radios and listen to the games. I can remember we had a local
pool ha1I here in Slippery Rock above the A&P on the main
drag in Sl-ippery Rock alongside the t,heatre on South Main
Street. We'd go in there, we weren't big enough so we'd
hardly hit the ba11s around. The gentleman that ownedd j-t,
I was a good friend of his son, Steve Klinger. So he'd let us
up there and we'd list.en to the games while we were fooling
around on the pool tables.
Interviewer-Did you listen to t.he Cleveland Indians and t.he
Pittsburgh Pirates?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, the Indians or the Pirates, whatever was on. If it.
was the game of the day back then it could be the Detroit.
Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, dt that time some
of us picked out...I think I was a Boston Red Sox.-.I was a
Ted V'Iil1iams man and my good friend, just, to be different,
he was a St. Louis Cardj-na] fan, he was a St,an Musial man.

ir

picked out heros, until Kiner came along to the Pirates
and Cleveland got Bobby Fe11er and Bob Lemon and some of the
pitchers they got over there. We'd just pick out a team and
follow it, the loyalty wasn't there as I guess j-t is today.
We rea1ly didn't go to many games, no one coul-d afford it.
fnterviewer-Did you ever get to Cleveland Stadium or Forbes Field?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, I got chances, several chances in my high school
days because my Dad owned t.he bus company in town and t.hey
would get busloads up and I would get the opportunit.y, it was
relat,ively easy for me to go. Just cost a ticket, and there
We

was always an extra seat on the bus. I was to Cleveland,

Lakefront, Forbes Field hundreds of times.
Interviewer-Did you have any favorite players? Anyone whom you
f ollowed particularly?
Mr. Snyder-I think we st.arted going more, when in my high school
days I got. playing, basically we stuck with the local guys.
It's hard to name them, f think Frankie Gustine, t.hird base
and EIby Fletcher played first base for them and some of the
pitchers. Yd, we'd fo1low them and basically get their games,
with their

names on them and such. And everybody followed

time. Seems if I don't
know for sure, or just seen it so many times. But the last
game he played was in Pittsburgh. Many don't know his last
game was in Pittsburgh.
Interviewer-For the Boston Braves, right?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, for the Bost,on Braves, right here. I think it was
Babe Ruth cause he played some in my

t.here he hit his last home run.

Interviewer-His last home run?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, his l-ast. home run in Pittsburgh, and I can't tetl
you what year it was.
Interviewer-Could you say, or in your opinion, was the best.
professional baseball player you ever saw j-n person?
Mr. Snyder-In person, I'd have t,o say the one I fee1...I did see
Stan Musial and my hero, Ted Williams p1ay, buL I'd have
to say Hank Aaron or Wi11ie Mays would have to be. I galess
f seen them a Iot more than I seen Ted Williams or Stan
Musial play, cause they were wrapping up in t,he '40's. Ted
did come back a little after the war, but he left for the
Korean, too, and Stan was wrapping it up. But the guys I
got to watch from t,he beginning would be Hank Aaron and
Wi11j-e Mays.

Interviewer-Was baseball , dt that. t.ime, the most. popular
professional sport?
Mr. Snyder-DefineLly. I mean we'd watch professional footba11,
but at. t,hat time ten games was all they played. Maybe two
spring games and ten games and then we'd folIow the Steelers.
But baseba11, that was your long season in the summers when
you had a Iot of time to follow it, yes.
Interviewer-Following your return from service in the Korean War,
when did you become involved in baseball again?
Mr. Snyder-A 1ot of us came back in 1954, I spent three years,
eleven mont,hs and one day in the U.S. Nawy. We came back in

'54 and I got back in August and being the end of the season
there was no baseball in Slippery Rock whatsoever. But some of
t.he guys that had played baseball, at the time I had played
and were two or three years behind me now, didn't go to Korea
and they were playing down in Harlansburg and I'm not sure
what league was down there, but I know Dave Duncan and Bill
Beatty and Bill Renick were playing for Harlansburg because
t.here just wasn't enough guys here. A11 the guys who graduated
in '51 and graduated in '52 ended up j-n t.he service and those
of '53 were sophmores. They didn't go and on top of that they
went to Slippery Rock Universj-ty which helped them from going
to the service at the time. So they were playing and Har1ansburg when we got back so two of us went down there. DeWitt
Maxwe1l, who got out. two days before me. f was supposed to get
ouL earlier but didn't. He and f were interested in baseball
so we went down there. I think he got to pinch hit. one time
and I had taken up pitching a little bit and warmed up a
couple of times, but never got in a ball games down t,here,
of course with August the season was over a couple of weeks
after we got back. So we talked that winter with DeWitt
MaxweII, who went. to work at Cooper's and Bill Renick, who
was working for his Dad, and I was working for my Dad, and
got this idea t,o get the Junior League going again. We were
on the edge, t,hey lowered it from twenty-one or something
like that. Twent,y-one and you could play there so it was the
County League that was coming around. So we decided and got

in t.he County League the next year, whj-ch would be 1955.
Interviewer-Was it the Slippery Rock County Team?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, it was the Slippery Rock County Team, yes it was.
Interviewer-Where did you play your games?
Mr. Snyder-We played our g'ames at Slippery Rock Co11ege. At t.hat.
tj-me it would be Slippery Rock State Teachers College- I
believe they changed their name around '49 or '50. So it was
Slippery Rock St.ate College and we playedd up on their fie1d.
They were good t.o us, we had a working relationship with them.
Basically, our coaches Bob Smiley was at. the college and Pop
Stuart who was also at the coI1ege, and Bill McKay was also
at the colIege, were the guys we had. So, w€ didn't have too
much of a problem. I believe Wally Rose came soon after that
and he became college coach and he wanted us to play up t.here
too. A11 the guys were interested in baseball and all these
young men then had come back so we got it going in l-955.
Interviewer-So the County League started in 1955. How long did
you play with the County League team?
Mr. Snyder-We11, we were talking about that, t,he other day, and
it seemed like forever, but it wasn't. We think we played
until 1"973.
I

nt.erviewe r - Cont inuous 1y?

Mr. Snyder-Yes, continuously from 1955 to 1,973, about eighteen
years.
Interviewer-What. ro1es, what capacities did you fill
On and

off the fieId.

with the

t.eam?

Mr. Snyder-Basical1y, I prett.y much got so, even though we had
several managers at this time, one time we had my brot.herin-Iaw Chuck Garing, and at another time we had one of the
coaches at the high school, when the high school started
back up again. I can't think of his name right now, doen,t
even ring a be11. But him, and some years we didn't have
anybody so I'd just pretty much take over and our lat,er
years about 1-958 to L973 we had a coach that. came up from
Saxonburg. Name of Charlie Lang.
Interviewer-I like the last name.
Mr. Snyder-Yes, Charlie Lang and he, yd, came up from Saxonburg
the last five years of basebaIl, although the last three
years we played in Harrisville.
Interviewer-So the Slippery Rock entry, specifically Slippery Rock
when did they stop playing?
Mr. Snyder-I think about L970 would be the last year we played in
Slippery Rock and that was partly because the college got
bigger and we couldn't get the field. They put soccer up there
now is soccer. They turned it into soccer and so, we had to
get permission from the co1lege. They put a fence around the
field, but we could get in. I think our relationship with the
cotlege wasn't. .in more than one aspect though. I mean, some
of the games, people got a 1itt1e rowdy, some of the guys
would bring beer in, which the college didn't want. on the
fie]d, some college people, word got around. I think we got
a littIe older and didn't take care of the field like it

should have been taken care of, at all,

so I mean, iL was a
two way street. It. wasn't. strict.ly, 1zou t.hink about it now,
but our working relationship with the college wasn't like it.
was and it was their field.
Interviewer-What was the age of most of the players and were you a
continuous group?

Mr. Snyder-Pretty

much

continuous group, we had about ten or twelve

guys who would be almost, continuous. Guys would come and go

and so on and so forth. But I can prett,y much name the guys

with it right a1ong. Frankie Augustino played
third base, and Bill Renick played short.stop, and Calderon
played second base and Eddy Maxwell was at first base, Dewitt
Maxwel-I played left field, center fielder was Tommy Bavard
and right fielder was Ted Hollihan and Bill Merkle, myself
and Red Davis did much of the pit,ching for the biggest part
who were

of the years.
Interviewer-Did your association extend beyond the baseball field?
You were all young men with famiIies...
Mr. Snyder-Yes, our association, we. Of course Bill Renick was my
brother-in-Iaw at the time although he ended up divorcing my
sister. But our relationship was more so that that and we'd
always get toget.her and have parties and so on and so forth,
so it was more than just on the baseball fie1d. At the same
tj-me I should add that we played basketball up ti11 L971, in
the

YMCA

League in Butler, so we had a winter and summer

sport..

Interviewer-Was the county team followed by the community?

Mr. Snyder-The community was rea11y involved in it, here in
Slippery Rock, f or about. t.en years. Basically we st,arted
it up, we'd go around to the businesses and try to pick
up money. But we had enough support. up at. the baseball
field, the Slippery Rock College field that we'd pass the
hat and pick up enough money to pay for the baseballs and
bats and even buy new uniforms. We got a couple of new sets
of uniforms. We had better support than most of the county
teams. Slippery Rock seemed to have a real good interest in
it. We had volunteer umps, and we always thought. our umpj-res
were better than their home umpires. Anyways, f Lhink the
League said, about 1,965, the Butler County League said we'd
have to use paid umpires so t.hey st.arted sending them out.
I think we were paying each umpire ten or twelve dollars a
game, but the support was good enough that passing the hat
we'd take up enough money to pay the umpires and buy our
equipment.

Interviewer-Did the players bring their families to the games?
Mr. Snyder-We did, at home games especially. My wife and my two
daughters and all the ot,her guys were married. My two children
one born in'57, one born in'59, yd, they'd go up there.
They'd come to the ball game and run around up there. Most

of the guys took t.heir families, not too much t,o away games,
usually at home games.

I

i.

li
ld

i,

Interviewer-Was there anyone who you played with or in the league
who went on

to play professionally or a baseball career

beyond

the Count.y League?
Mr. Snyder-The guys that played with us...Bi11 Renick, he went. up
for a month, that was in 7957 , he went to the minor leagues.
He went to the Dodger training camp and he had went there
because a friend we had who was with the Dodgers. Name was
John Jantzee. John...Bil1 was a tremendous athlete, basketball
basebal-l and footbalI.
Interviewer-Mr. Jantzee was a player with the Dodgers?
Mr. Snyder-He was a player with the Dodger organization. He played
just happened to have the misfortune to be with the Dodgers.
He was a pitcher and he won t.went,y games, w€ think great now,
for Los Angeles, Montreal, and Houston.
Interviewer-The Triple-A t.eams?
Mr. Snyder-Yes they were the Triple-A teams at the time. He won
twenty for Houston one year and Los Angeles one year, but
the Dodgers had Don Newcome, Preacher Roe and Jantzee never
got a chance to come up. He lost favor with them trying t.o
help organize a unj-on. And that was part of it. Guys like
Bill Renick went and spent a couple of weeks there and was
assigned to Class D ball and made twenty-five dollars a month
or something like that. It was impossible to even consider
living

on.

Interviewer-So he was the only player to have an opportunity
play professionallY?

t.o

Mr. Snyder-Yes, he was the only one I believe who played with us
that woul-d have an opportunity, although several guys in our
league, who played in the league had played in the minor
Ieagues and came back and played in the county leagues.
Interviewer-Did any of them play major league ba11, that you
were aware of?

Mr. Snyder-A couple who played with us in our league. Ronnie
Kline from around Calgary, played with one of the teams in
Butler, I think Herman's, and played for Calgary High School
and another team later one, f or ,.Tackson Center. He and
another, Gary Peters, went with the Chicago White Sox. He
played eight or nine years.
Interviewer-Mr. Snyder, when did the involvemenL with the County
I-,eague begin to wane and what is it currenL status? Is there
any longer a team in Slippery Rock?
Mr. Snyder-No, there is no team in Slippery Rock any longer. I
think they did come back for a few years in the '80s. When
they got started back up again...it started to wane, the
guys were getting ol-der and j.n 1973 our last year, '73 or
'74, I'm not sure. After about twenty years, w€ had moved
to Harrisville and a Iot of our guys had left, Charlie
I-,ang and others . It was not as popular there, so some guys
came

to us from around...we had Chuck Cyphar from

Marwood

and wane Geesher from Marwood and Mickey Deal from st.

Quinlans and Ron Lumley from Herman and Barney Banes came
back from the Tri-County League to catch for us. About all

that was l-eft was myself and Bill Merkle and Bill Renick and
Frank Augustino and maybe DeWitt Maxwell out of our original
group. Some of the guys had left the area to work elsewhere
so teams were falling apart everywhere. The young guys I guess
I should say although Little l-,eague baseball is great and
Midget baseball is great and the young guys don't seem to be
as interested in what was required t.o maintain a team. In
Harrisville we noticed that's why some of the other guys came.
A11 the young guys, I don't want to name names, thought all
you did was hit the baseball and play games. They didn't
realize you had to raise money and buy bats and balls and go
out in the field and chase the bal-l-s some of the time for the
other guys and throw it in there. AIl they wanted to do was
go up there and take their swings and go 1ay down or go
somewhere e1se. I don't know whether you could say l-,itt1e
League basebalL ruined it or whatever, but as we know the
league is no longer in existance, so something is happening
to it. I don't want to say what ruined it all, but to me
that's what happened to ruin it. They had everything done for
them. Little League, Midgets, or whatever it would be and
did everything for t.hem. They no longer realized there was
more to it that standing up there with a bat, hitting a baseball and playing games.
Interviewer-Is there currentl-y a team at the high school?
Mr. Snyder-Yes, there is.
Interviewer-An American Legion

team?

Mr. Snyder-No, there is not, we ran a Legion team, some guys came
to us, sons of guys we had played with. Bil-l's son Michael
Renick came , so Bill and ,John 'Jantzee got the American Legion
going. Again, here in Slippery Rock, w€ had a good Legion,
willing to pay the bill and keep it going. I started helping
our. Then Bill got busy and those guys were juniors in high
school when we got it going and in about two years it sort of
waned, too. It fe1l apart and for about two years we had
Legion going again and then there didn't seem to be any
interest at al-I.
fnterviewer-Finally, Mr. Snyder, what has the game of baseball
meant to you, your family and your community? What, if anything, has the game lost and what do you see in baseball's
future?

Mr. Snyder-The game to me...I don't know. The competitiveness,
the friendships. Joe Kantz, Bill Renick and I play golf
Thursdays and Saturdays, and woul-d be playing today...John
Jantzee had to go away for a few days.

Interviewer-I should mention, iL is a beautiful- faII day and Mr.
Snyder was kind enough to forgo a round of golf and it is
appreciated.

Mr. Snyder-Anyway, to my famiIy...I had two daughters and I'm
sure they,re both loveIy girls, but my wife wouldn't state
this this way...but, I thought it was good for me, the
responsibility of raising a family and being lucky enough
to live in a area like this to help support it. My wife

t.hinks maybe I donated to much time to baseball and was too
interested 1n the game, but at the same time I feel we

benefited from it. In my business and in my mental sense
playing sports as long as I did and now lucky that I'm
pretty healthy at sixty-two. I play golf, I play in two
Ieagues out here, the Slippery Rock Men's League plays on
Mondays and Wednesdays night and tonight I'm going bowling
I do that. So I think that sports, well, you keep on going.
The baseball stopped in '73 but we didn't stop. We started
up a church softball league, I don't know for how many years
after '73, so we kept with softball. We had church softballgoing four, five, ot six years and at the same time we
started our Slippery Rock Men's League, with our course out
at Shamrock.
fnterviewer-Most of these associations, which developed into
others, came about through baseball?
Mr. Snyder- Yes, they developed from baseball. We sti1l play
golf , Bill Renick and .fantzee, guys that played, Nick
Calderone.

Interviewer-Men that you also grew up withZ

Mr. Snyder-Yes, grew up with. Associated in high school, the baseball and we're stiI1 around here. And since 1951, go1f. So we
have twenty there, ot twenty-four out at the golf course.
Interviewer-Where does baseball go from here?
Mr. Snyder-I don't think basebal-I, beyond high school, we'11 see
again. My opinion, I was out this summer, I have a nephew

that's involved in Little League and I see T-BaII and Littl-e
League, got several- in between that, and like we said stillhave the high school. But., I don't. think anyone will organize
there's no p1ace. I see there is some small Tri-County League
down there, about four teams, down around Butler. A lit.t1e
legion is going on, but instead of North-South Divisions,
they only have on division. I'd like to see baseball get
started up again, I'd like to see the kids. But in my opinion
I don't think they'd ever get baseball organized beyond high
school.

Interviewer-Do you have an opinion as to what is the reason behind

this decline of interest in the sport?
Mr. Snyder-I think that they kids have too much to do. f got a
granddaughter now, she's got everything and she's only three
years old. I think Lhe kids today have too many other things
that basebal-l- would be more like work, not like play. We were
lucky to get a car, or giet three cars, to get to away games.
They all have cars now, almost automatic, a kid sixteen years
oldgets a car. I don't know if it's girls orwhat, we weren't
that much interested in gir1s. Heck, w€ thought baseball was
bet.ter than girls. In my opinion, I don'L think the kids are
going to put forth the necessary effort to keep organized
ball going. Like I said before, too much may be done for them,
in T-BalI, Little League, high school, legion, too much is
done for them. There's no desire, maybe they play so long
they are washed out.

a

Interviewer-What do you mean by "washed out", Mr. Snyder.
Mr. Snyder-Some of my friends that I associate with in the golf
leagues and bowling leagues and so fort.h...I

noticed them
doing everything for the kids, from T-BaII at six or seven,
t.hrough the Little Leagues, they're twelve of thirteen and
go into high school with everything done for them. There's no
energy, no desire. I think they've had al-l- there is to do,
they've decided they'd had enough of it. We were 1ucky, we
didn't get started until later and did it all ourselves and
I think that's where it's falling apart. Everything is being
done for the kids and there's no desire, just mentally out
of it.
Interviewer-Thank you very much Mr. Snyder for your time and
patience. I truly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.