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| Dalton Moats |
No one clued me in to the fact that once a book is published that author would not have any time to write. Keeping up with events and appearances has cut drastically into my research, not to mention my blogging! But it has given me a chance to meet folks excited about the history of baseball in Alabama, and that is a wonderful thing.
A good friend recently gave me advice, "Keep throwin fastballs if they work, dawg" and I have to admit could not agree more.
SUMMER BOOK TOUR
This week begins my summer book tour, and I am so excited!
BIRMINGHAM
HUNTSVILLE
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The very next day, Saturday June 20th, I am headed to Huntsville, where I will be talkin baseball and meetin/greetin folks at Harrison Brothers Hardware, the oldest hardware store in the state.
Harrison Brothers have a lot of cool Alabama-centric gifts and products as well as a fabulous selection of books and food. I am really looking forward to shopping there along with meeting everyone!
MONTGOMERY
On a more local note, I will be among the writers in Montgomery at New South Bookstore, on Saturday, August 15th for their Local Authors fair. Located downtown, just blocks from old "Whisky Avenue", a location that makes a couple important appearances in the book. I think it is exciting to be bringing awareness of the history back to where it actually happened.
In the fall I have been asked to speak at Alabama State University, where I hope to highlight the many famous stars who played baseball at the old ballpark on their campus, such as Rube Foster, Satchel Paige and Willie Mays. Their original baseball stadium has many features still extant and they are worth preserving and appreciating as links to the players who appeared there.
Also this fall, I have an appearance at the Goat Hill Gift Shop at the Alabama State Capitol building scheduled, where I will speak about baseball history for the Montgomery Historical Society. I am very excited about this and have a great respect for all the folks at the MHS.
Mention that you saw this blog and I will have a special gift for you!
RESEARCH NOTES
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| 1920 Palmist ad in Montgomery |
The census rolls were written by the enumerators, aka census-takers, by hand and in cursive. All those hand-written lists were later digitized at varying levels of blurriness. The enumerators did not ask how to spell names, simply wrote them as they heard them spoken, leading to some strange typos. Also, some census-takers were much better with penmanship than others, making it more interesting to try to pick the letters in a very fancy alphabet soup.
SURPrISE!!!!
Reading the Census Roll for 1920 was very illuminating, offering clues to ballplayers names and addresses as well as their professed occupations and relatives. Several players were found listed as railroad workers and store clerks, a few important individuals homes were located. However, what struck me the most was a racial quirk I found happening in town that noone ever talks about.
1920 was the last census that included race in its query without asking the person themselves. The census enumerators were given free judgement on determining race for the individuals they interviewed, they didn't ask just "eyeballed" it. The choices were few, basically it was White, Black, Mulatto, Hebrew, or Asian.
The surprise, for me, came in the locations of many "Mulatto" families, the outdated and distasteful catchall phrase for mixed racial heritage was a very frequently recurring notation in Montgomery census info. I expected there to be streets and neighborhoods in town that were "white" and "black", and there were.
Yet, I was not prepared for the fact that between these streets and neighborhoods of strict racial makeup, there was often a mixed racial area filled with "Mulatto" families. I didn't count them, but the frequency was surprising, particularly considering many enumerators often simply put "Black" instead of even trying to discern a non-white persons race. Finding these areas between white and Black streets, especially noting the frequency of them, was not quite what I expected, but maybe I should have. In spite of its reputation, folks all across Alabama have spent a long time interacting to build communities together, no matter what backgrounds were involved.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES
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Also in the works is a folio collection of the rare images that were acquired for the book. Many are colorized, though the book didn't include the colorization on the interior pages, just on the cover. There are also quite a few that didn't make it into the book, due to space requirements. I expect this to be ready in the fourth quarter of the year, its an impressive set of photos!
A new set of Dr. Miraculous baseball cards will be available by the end of the summer, including huge stars and rare images of local greats. The last set was gone in just hours, make sure to watch for this one, its a keeper!
For fans who crave more info, I have been putting short vids up on my Instagram page, a few have also been posted on X/Twitter or on my youtube channel, which is also a good spot if you like butt-kickin Alabama-local hard rock music! Let me know in the comments if you are finding the vids in the wild or if I should post them here!
This fall I am determined to get the podcast machine cranked up for deeper dives into baseball topics. Stay tuned for more info on this!
I am also planning a series of Ask-Me-Anythings on X/Twitter and possibly Reddit, I will keep ya'll posted on that as well as it develops.
HISTORY TIME!
Parnell was a young hurler who would go on to fame with the Boston Red Sox after starring on this wartime flyers club while in the service.
Mel Parnell, a lean lefty with a strong fastball, later led the American League in Wins in 1949 as a member of the Red Sox and was twice a MLB All Star for Boston. Mel is a legendary Red Sox hurler, who still holds the franchise records for wins by a lefty starter.
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| 1940's Cramton Bowl baseball game |
How great was he? He is mentioned in the "Talkin Baseball" song by Terry Cashman!
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| Mel Parnell with Boston |
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