ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607050135
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: NARROWS
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS |STAFF WRITER
It was July 17, 1946, nearly 50 years ago. The New River Rebels minor league baseball team stood in first place in the Appalachian League, earning the right to face the all stars from the league's other seven squads in a midseason showdown.
The Rebels won that all-star game 9-8 on their home field in Narrows - a sign of things to come. In its first year as an organization, New River went 83-40, won the regular-season championship, and then took the Appalachian League championship series for the pennant.
Shannon Hardwick led the '46 Rebels on the mound with a 24-3 record that included a 19-game win streak, and a 3.53 earned run average. Hardwick, who still lives in Blacksburg, did more than pitch for the Rebels. He was also the team founder.
"I was interested in being in professional baseball so I went to Columbus, Ohio, after I got out of the Navy in November of 1945," Hardwick recalled. "The national baseball association was meeting there and I applied for the franchise and was successful in getting it for the New River Valley. A group of us incorporated, and I served as the business manager for the first three years before taking over the Bluefield franchise in 1951."
Hardwick and Harry Bushkar of Roanoke both said that first season with the Rebels is one they remember fondly.
"Occasionally I wish I was a little younger so I could get out there and play again," said the 71-year-old Bushkar, who played shortstop for the Rebels in '46. "Overall we were far and away the best team in the league. Now sometimes I sit back and reminisce, looking at the old pictures and thinking about where all the guys are now.
"There sure are some great memories ... but when you're winning there always is."
Those memories were recently rekindled by Narrows native Mark Perkins, an admitted sports buff who began compiling statistics, gathering pictures and studying the history of the Rebels 12 years ago.
"Back in 1984, I was going to school at New River [Community College] and I got talking to some older people in Narrows, where I grew up, and they told me there used to be a minor league team here," Perkins said. "I looked into it then and started gathering information. Then a few months ago, I dug up more stuff and got more in depth this time."
Perkins has not only compiled the individual and team statistics for the Rebels from 1946-50, their only years of existence, but also has assembled other trivia items as well. For example, the cost of admission? Sixty cents. Popcorn and a coke? Fifteen cents. And the average player's salary? Ninety dollars per month.
The Rebels played on Ragsdale Field, then and now the Narrows High School football stadium, with home plate where the scoreboard stands today. The player/manager for the first three years was Jack Crosswhite, a man still admired by former members of the team.
"Jack Crosswhite was one of the best," said Mel King, the Rebels' catcher from 1948-50. "He could have managed in the big leagues. He really knew his baseball."
For his contributions to baseball in the area as a manager of the old Salem team in the Appalachian League, Crosswhite was named posthumously to the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame.
New River didn't fare quite as well in its second year in the league and went 64-60, placing third during the regular season. But despite finishing third, the Rebels went on to defeat Bluefield in a best-of-five series 3-1 and then dropped Pulaski in a best-of-seven playoff series 4-2.
The Rebels were again led on the mound by Hardwick, while outfielder Ralph Davis led the league in doubles (35), triples (17) and runs batted in (137). An indication of the team's support was the 39,596 fans who attended New River's 62 games at Ragsdale Field.
Unfortunately, more than fan support was needed to keep the minor league team in operation. When the Rebels' success diminished from 1948-50, local corporate sponsorship that had helped carry the ballclub in the early years also began to dry up. Other teams in the league had major league affiliations, but New River, which today would have been known as a co-op team, had none. That contributed to the decline.
"There was a lot of independent teams at that time and New River was one of them," Perkins explained. "They'd get two or three players from several major league teams but the last couple of years there was no stability with the Rebels and the team wasn't doing well [in the field]."
After a dismal 31-95 showing and last-place finish in 1950, the New River Rebels collapsed.
"Even though it didn't last too long there are some great memories," Hardwick said. "When I get to thinking about it I go to my wife's scrapbook - she's got it all."
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. The New River Rebels (above) went 83-40 in 1946 enby CNBroute to the Appalachian League pennant. 2. Harry Bushkar (left)
played shortstop for the Rebels in '46.