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From the Archives of
The
Middleburg Post

112 Years Ago - 1899

JANUARY
26. 423 births and 222 deaths in Snyder County in 1898.
26. POST begins publication of the tombstone inscriptions from all burial grounds in Snyder county.

FEBRUARY
23. Crissinger's confession of the murder of Daisy Smith.

MARCH
2. POST published a sketch of Old Beaver Furnace at Paxtonville.
13. Corp. Wm. Howell shot a catamount (cougar or lynx) at Campmeeting grounds in Hummel's Wharf.
23. Josephat Walter's barn burned at Middleburg.

APRIL
8. Sunbury News Item printing office sold to Henry W. Snyder.
21. Middleburg Lodge No. 619 F&AM constituted.
29. Contract made for Main Shoe Co., to be located at Middleburg.

MAY
23. Ex-Sheriff Danield Bolender took possession of Middleburg's Central Hotel.

JUNE
8. POST printing office robbed.
16. Death of John Reitz, ex-commissioner of Snyder Co.
18. Memorial record, of Middle-burg Lutheran Church, was presented to the congregation.

JULY
20. Middleburg camping party pitched their tents at Red Bridge Grove.
23. Laying of Corner stone of United Evangelical Church at Hoover's.

AUGUST
2. Contract awarded to Bridge Co. for erection of Richfield bridge.
3. POST publishes second series of Tombstone Inscriptions.
24. Schoch reunion held at Kreamer.

OCTOBER
5. POST published Course of Study adopted by the Middleburg School Board.

Presented by Emily Johnson, VP Snyder County Historical Society and the Simon Snyder of Pennsylvania: Citizen and Governor
1759-1819 exhibition committee

Snyder County Baseball of the Past...

    It took several years after Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in 1839 for the game to make its way to Snyder County, but it appears that students would learn the game and its rules at colleges across the country and bring the sport back to their locales.
    Often playing in a cow pasture or a harvest field, many of the communities in the county had teams during the last decade of the 1800's and the early 1900's. Bats and bases were not always factory made, and gloves and other accourtrements of the game were not available. It was the joy of the game which mattered.
    Games were usually arranged for Saturday afternoons, but many times any picnic, community get-together, or reunion would spawn a friendly game.
    However, soon communities were sponsoring teams from their areas and team managers would arrange schedules for the boys to play against rival teams. In 1906, it is reported that Richfield and Beaver Springs played at the Beaver Springs Centennial. Transportation was often by bicycle or carriage, or stage and at times by train.     The Beaver Springs team had once walked to McAlisterville, a distance of over nine miles, and walked home after the game.
    During the first quarter of a century, the western Snyder County towns of McClure, Beaver Springs, Beavertown, Paxtonville, Middleburg, Kreamer, and Troxelville were quite regular in fielding teams. Even Kissimmee and Middle-creek fielded teams from their small villages at different times.
    In the early 1920's, many of the students at Susquehanna University hailed from cities such as Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and the surrounding coal regions. This meant that SU had excellent summer school teams, including in their baseball program. They would play the local town teams as well as teams from Liverpool, Sunbury, Bucknell, Mansfield Normal, many times beating the opposing teams.

    On the high school level, there is a record of a game in 1894 in which a local team from New Berlin clobbered the Middleburg team by a score of 34-0. Bill Walker, pitcher for the New Berlin team, had a pitch that would start out for the plate, but when swung at, it was way outside. Middleburg batter's could not overcome this new "curve ball" and lost badly.
    The West Branch League was formed in the year 1924 and has fielded teams from Sunbury, New Berlin, Middleburg, Selinsgrove, and other area towns. It became a highly regarded league and in the 1930's, drew crowds numbering over a thousand at a game.
     The Philadelphia A's played in Middleburg in 1932, showing just how much a draw these games brought and adding to the payroll of the teams that would be paying their "amateurs" on the field. Sometimes, big names would be brought in for important games, such as the time around 1930, when opposing teams Middleburg and Beavertown brought in Lefty George from York and Harry Holsclaw from Williamsport to aid their teams in a double header. However, the local pitcher's beat both "stars" from outside the area.
    From 1927 to 1930 the Tri-County League was playing with teams from the local towns. The

league had disbanded during the time of the Depresssion, but revived again with teams from Port Trevorton, Selinsgrove, Middleburg, Paxtonville, Beaver-town, McClure, Bannerville, and others. Port Trevorton was a four-time winner of the league championship. The league was later moved farther south and eventually merged with the West Branch League.
    Since those times, softball has to a great degree replace baseball as the most popular sport among small towns. Middleburg built a stadium adjacent to the Shade Mountain Golf Course, equipped with lights, in 1972 and Selinsgrove followed suit in 1975. During the 70's and early 80's these games were well attended and fielded teams with company sponsorship within Snyder County such as Zechman's Well Drilling, Wood-Mode, Poloron Homes and more.
    In 1948, McClure fielded a Little League baseball team before it became a national trend in the early 1950s. They were the first organized Little League team in Snyder County. Later, teams from other towns joined the Little League franchise and would travel, many time by school bus, from game to game.
    The McClure Little League Stadium has always been a jewel to Snyder County Little League with its manicured lawns, actual dugouts, a fence, and bleachers made a boy's trip to a McClure game very memorable.
     Little League still exists in the county, but now those who are too young to play in these "big boy games" have T-Ball available in various townships in the county. This allows youngsters to enjoy the same game that their forebearers enjoyed for over a hundred years in our county

Some information for this article taken from Snyder County Historical Society Bulletin, 1978, presented by William S. Hermann on May 23, 1978. The Historical Society is located at 30 East Market Street in Middleburg.

The Middleburg baseball team, 1932 Champions of the West Branch League. After the baseball season ended, Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics journeyed to Middleburg and played an exhibition game with the team in this photo, drawing a crowd estimated to be near 10,000.