Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 22, 1995                   TAG: 9509220085
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AREA BASEBALL PIONEER DIES

Ralph Richardson, a pioneer of professional baseball in Salem, died Thursday of a stroke.

Richardson, 79, was one of several Salem businessmen who spearheaded the town's move from the Appalachian League to the Carolina League, changing baseball history in the Roanoke Valley forever.

Richardson and the late Jack Dame headed the Salem Athletic Club, which ran the professional baseball franchise from 1955-79. Following the 1967 season, they moved Salem from a short-season summer league that played 70 games to one that had a full schedule of 140 games starting in April.

Richardson, a native of Riner who operated the Green Market in downtown Salem as well as a string of convenience stores throughout the Roanoke Valley, was inducted into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Richardson always stressed the importance of keeping baseball in Salem. He and his group finally sold the club in 1979 to minor-league mogul Larry Schmittou for $18,000, the debts the club owed from the previous season.

Richardson's influence was felt six years later when two other owners from New York - Arthur Hecht and Stan Waldshan - tried to move the franchise to Charleston, W.Va.

With Richardson's friend, Lynchburg owner Calvin Falwell, heading the opposition, the Carolina League refused to approve the move. That forced Hecht and Waldshan to sell the team to its current owner, Kelvin Bowles.

Richardson, who was awarded the Bronze Star and Silver Star for army service in Europe during World War II, was a 1934 Salem High School graduate. He also was a two-time president of the Associated Grocers of Virginia.

Richardson is survived by his wife, Mareta Cook Richardson; daughters Ellen Driscoll, Fran Richardson and Sheryl Richardson, all of Salem, and Cathy Marino of Monmouth Junction, N.J.; and four grandchildren.

Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Oakey's in Salem. Visitation will be Friday and Saturdays from 7-9 p.m. Interment will be private.