SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY

RICHARD OSTROM

AN INTERVIEW SUBMITTED
THE HISTORY

TO

DEPARTMENT

FOR PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

BY

DAVID

FOX

ZELIENOPLE, PENNSYLVANIA
NOVEMBER L994

Could you discuss the Northeastern Baseball Progran in
Penneylvania?

Sure the Northeastern Baseball Association is part of

Northeastern School District,
School District,

which is now the Riverside

comprised of Franklin , Marion, and North

Sewickley Townships. The program started back in the early
1960's with Little

League Baseballr and as

the kids
progressed Little League became Pony League and Colt League.
I started coaching one of the original Little League teams,
and the first year we won the championship game. I stayed
in Little League for several years, and when my sons became
of age f coached them through Little League, Ponyr Ernd Colt.
fn 1978 ue formed the American Legion Team. At that
point it became the Riverside School District, and that
became the Riverside American Legion. f coached the
American Legion for about eight years. The second year I
coached I became the commissioner of the Riverside Athletic
Association. I was in that position for two years. I uas
also in the Riverside League and that was becoming a little
bit of a problem. So after the second year of being in
charge, I just rnaintained the Riverside Baseball teams
because it took so much of my time.
During my tenure, f vas in charge of all the baseball
teamsr plus we had three Midget Football teams. So it uas
almost a year round project.
What that entailed was just overseeing everything.
Such as overseeing operations, uniting committees, getting
the field ready for baseball season, organiz|ng uniforms,

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making sure everybody got a

uniform. Uniforms had to

be

replaced every second year. Beyond thatr rr€ had All-Star
teams that I vas responsible for setting up tournaments.

We

had a Women's Baseball Association, rhich was a pretty good

association, which helped us. They donated money which
helped our cause. We received funds from different
committees to help manicure the field r put up fences,
painting, and accumulating the equipment to help us in the
years getting started.
In taking this position did you feel that you uere
doing good for the connunity b1t helping the youth ln
baseball?

definitely, because at that time the kids were what
were important. That was our main concern. ft was really
fun. A Iot of hard work. A lot of people complaining,
because you can't satisfy everybody. You struggled a lot
and did whatever you thought was right. It was a good time,
and it was a good organization. We kept our heads above
Oh

water.

find tine, nou that you're out of itr to go vies
baseball ganea fron the youth?
We11, rarely anymore. Althou9h, my youngest daughter
played softball so f follosed her all the way through, My
oldest granddaughter is in the program now. So I try to get
to as many games as I can.
Do you

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vlev lt as Anericats past tine?
That's my sport; baseball.

Do you

Is there anything that really attracted you to it?
Only because I played from the time I was thirteen
until I was eighteen. The I started coaching in Beaver
Fal1s what was then what they called the Knee-high League,
rhich rras a combination of the Pony and Colt Leagues. I
coached for them for about three years until Northeastern
started their program, So I actually coached, except for
one year , for that league.
You sere Conmissloner then also?
Yes.

Did you vier the Ken Burns special on I{QED about
baseball?
No.

It seened to be a reird tlne becauEe of the baseball
strike ln professional baseball. I rant to knor hoe you
felt about the strike anong the professional teans?
I realize that because unions are unionsr Etrld with
management in there, therers going to be problems. f think
this is getting a little carried avay, not l sides problems or whatever. f can't see them taking this
away from the fans, The fans are what made them. This
really unfair and I hope that they get it resolved through

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the winter.
Do you

feel that the youth rl11 aee it as a negative

against baseball.?
I don't believe so. I just know that the kids love
baseba1l, and if they are going to pursue it as a career
this certainly is not going to stop them.

feel that the organization helps pull the
community together having Little League?
I don't know if it pulls the community together. I
guess what you do is make new friends and new enemies,
because it is lilce anything in competition, You're going to
have people hate each other, but yet a Iot of
friendships start. If you get a winning program going it
will have the tendency to pull a lot of people together.
Do you

tlhat is your nost menorable nonent of that tine?
There are several things. I guess when f go bacl< to my
last year of coaching at Beaver Falls I coached the colt
League team. There were six Colt League teams in Western
Pennsylvania. The Knee-high teams got the A11-Star teams
together and decided to have a series of the six teams. The
winner would go onto Los Angeles for the national final.
f coached the Beaver Falls team, and it had people like
Joe Namath, Loyd Gillinghamr ?Ild Ted Candracki. These are
names that went on to play college football, and became A11
Americans or Honorable Mention A11 Americans.

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got to the finals and played South Suburban or
Pittsburgh. It was a round robin of three games. The best
of the three games rron the championship.
The first game we vonr on€ to nothing. We had five
player that also played for the Beaver Fal1s American Legion
Team. Theyr Ers a coincidence, played in the Beaver County
Championship Playoff Games. That Saturday we were going to
ptay South Suburban Again. Beaver Falls also had a
championship game. The coach for Beaver Falls had priority
over mae, and took four of the five best players. He left
me with Namath. He was the pitcher. That really damaged
our team. But Joe pitched a one hitter, and he faced a
major leaguer to be in Sam MacDonell, who ended up pitching
for the Cleveland Indians and other teams. Sam Pitched a no
hitter and we ended up losing, one to nothing.
We had to play the third game and final game on
Sunday. Beaver FAlls happened to win on Saturday and they
had to play again on Sunday. So it got dorrn to where I had
the same situation. f had one good player, and the rest
sere actually bench warmers. We lost that game, one to
nothing. Both MacDovell and Namath pitched again that day.
That team went to California and ended up being the runners
up in that series. We lost a great opportunity.
f guess thatrs one of my memorable moments.. The next
one wourd be the first year that Northeastern started r w€
won the first championship over Franklin-Marion. They had
previously started before us in Little League. They had
experienced kids, and ue did not have experienced kids.
We

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We

ended

been the best

had

a

1ot of

up winning the championship, and that may have
coaching job I have done in my life.

f just

kids who did not know how to play basebaIl.

rere the ages?
Ten, eleven, and twelve.

What

the Colt League?
No, the Colt League were all sixteen years old.
The only other big memory in the eight years of
coaching the American Legion, is that we won a
championship. It takes a lot to win an American Legion
Championship. We're dealing with a lot of older kids that
will move on into college and so forth. Two kids ended up
getting drafted. After they went to college they ended up
playing in the Minor Leagues.
Even

The transcript of this intervier is going to be in the

Slippery Rock University Library in our archives for other
people to see from nor until eternity. So is there anything
you vant to say flnally about baseball?
Wel1, I had said that baseball is my favorite sport. f
think that it is the most exciting sport there is. There's
not a 1ot of action continualry like in hockey or football,
but when there is action it is spontaneous. when there's a
play at the plater or a f1y ball, or your tie is up at third
and he tries to score and the catcher bloc} the ball comes in and it's just "Bang! Bang!", and everybody

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has to do everything right.
baseball so great.

f think that's what

makes