Baseball in the

Mahoning Valley

While no one is certain of the exact origins of baseball, many think it originated from an early English folk game called stoolball in which one player guarded a target while another player tried to throw a ball and hit the target.  Stoolball may have been played as early as the 11^th century, but by 1901, the National League and American League (which together made up the early Major Baseball League) were governing the sport of baseball as we know it today.

Baseball quickly hit homeruns with the public both nationally, and also locally.  By the 1930’s, Youngstown had up to one hundred uniformed teams.  Teams were formed by all kinds of local organizations, from schools and churches to department stores and funeral homes.  After a strike in 1916, local steel mills tried to improve working and living conditions of their workers by sponsoring employee sports teams.  They bought fields near the mills where the workers could play.

During the 1930’s, the game crossed gender lines and softball became a popular sport for women.  The Mahoning Valley gained a bit of fame when Moyer Manufacturing Company’s Wovenstripes Girls’ Softball Team won local, district, and state championships in 1938.  The Wovenstripes went on to play in the national championship game in Chicago.

As time went on, baseball continued to be a popular sport in the Mahoning Valley.  Players from the 1920s and 1930s formed the Youngstown Baseball Oldtimers’ Association so that they could continue to play with teammates and rivals as they got older.  Today, the Mahoning Valley still enjoys America’s pastime by supporting various local leagues as well as its very own Minor League team, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  The Mahoning Valley has also sent a few players to the Major Leagues including Ken Smith (first basemen for Atlanta Braves from 1981-1983) and Dave Dravecky (pitcher for San Diego Padres from 1982-87 and San Francisco Giants from 1987-1989).  How many famous baseball players can you name?  How many players do you need to make a team? Is baseball played in other countries besides America? Which ones?

The Mahoning Valley Historical Society educates and promotes an interest in the history of the Mahoning Valley by collecting, preserving, and developing material representative of the people who have inhabited the region.

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