Eric Douglas, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

'Batter Up, Baseball In Charleston’ Documentary Told Through Oral Histories

“Batter Up: Baseball in Charleston” features a total of 28 voices that were captured over the course of 25 interviews with each person sharing their memories of baseball games at the two parks.

Batter Up, Baseball in Charleston is an audio documentary based on the memories of the people who have attended, and played in, the games over the years.

The documentary is based on oral histories recorded during FestivALL 2018. Twenty eight people sat down for 25 interviews to talk about baseball at Watt Powell Park and the new Power Park. The text of a few of the oral history excerpts are included below.

Stories in the documentary include the very first bat boy at Watt Powell Park with the Charleston Senators, tales of the Charleston Charlies in the 1970s and the advent of the Toastman — where it came from and what it all means.

Batter Up: Baseball in Charleston looked at baseball over five different periods:

Early Baseball
The Charleston Charlies
The Wheelers and Alley Cats
The struggle for a new ballpark
The West Virginia Power

Early Baseball

Watt Powell Park scoreboard dedication – Gov. Okey Patteson, Mayor Carl Andrews, Charleston, West Virginia, 1949, Mrs. Dave Cleland Collection, West Virginia State Archives

Baseball really took off in 1949 when the city of Charleston built Watt Powell Park in Kanawha City. It was named for Walter “Watt” Powell, who managed the Charleston Senators in the 1930s and served on the city council. He convinced the city to build the park, but died shortly before it opened 70 years ago.

The opening game when the senators baseball came back to Charleston, and my dad and the whole family went to the opening game. Hoby Landreth hit a homerun and someone else hit one. Joe Biggs was the manager, Hobie Landrith was only 19 and a great prospect for the Cincinnati Reds. He did make the majors later on. But it was an exciting night. And it was a full house. I mean, we used to draw throngs of people here full stadiums all the time and maybe average 4000 or 5000 people a game. It was it was just great to see the color of the grass. To hear the horse hide meet the hickory and to see all the happenings of that, I fell in love. Harry Wallace

That Marlins team I was speaking of which was a triple A team for the Cardinals. That was like 61 I think and in 64 they won the World Series over the Yankees and several of the guys on that team had been on that Charleston team. Probably the most famous for not only playing but broadcasting was Tim McCarver he was like 19 years old and the catcher for Charleston and he ended up with the Cardinals long for major league career and announcing career and there was a pitcher named Ray Washburn, which was one of their top pitchers for Cardinals for years. And they had a couple infielders named Dal Maxvill and Julián Javier who played for years with the Cardinals. They were all on that Charleston team. Jeff Dent

The Marlins only lasted one year. The owners moved them back to Miami. In 1962, Charleston fielded a new team known as the Charleston Indians. They played for three seasons until Charleston was left without a baseball team in 1964.

The Charleston Charlies

After nearly a decade without a baseball team, baseball returned to Charleston, West Virginia in 1971. The Charleston Charlies were a Triple A affiliate of several teams, but started out with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I spent the year getting an autographed baseball of the Charleston Charlie's team — Bruce Kison, Richie Zisk, Charlie Howard, Renny Stinnett. There's a lot of players on here that played up and down in the major leagues; Gary Kolb. This is all from the 1971 year, yeah, you can see the different color of pens used. May 24 1971, Charleston Charlies versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. You got Hoylman Huffman advertising on it, official scorecard $0.25 cents. And you got the regular programs. There's all kinds of they're interesting to look at from regular season. There's all kinds of ads in there. And there's actually a couple businesses that are still in business, you know, but most of them are long gone. Terry Hess

Dave Parker was playing with the Charlies and they took someone up. And it might have been Al Oliver. I don't know. I don't remember that. But they took somebody big leagues and he got mad and went home. And so when the big shots in Pittsburgh called him and told him to get back down there he said he wasn’t coming. If he played any more ball he was going to play in the big leagues. They said, "Alright. We'll take ya," and he never came back. He played 15 maybe 18 years. Cal Bailey

The Wheelers and Alley Cats

Next-to-last Charleston Alley Cats baseball game at Watt Powell Park, Photograph by Summers, Charleston, West Virginia, August 2003, Dan Summers Collection, West Virginia State Archives

The Charleston Charlies moved to Maine following the 1983 season. After again going without baseball for three years, a new team arrived in Charleston in 1987. Named for the historic riverboats that plied the rivers, the Wheelers were a Single A team. In 1995, the team changed its name to the Alley Cats and continued playing in Watt Powell Park until 2004.

The 90 team, and remember, Dan Wilson was a catcher and probably the most highly touted player, one of the first games he threw someone out at second from his knees. And I said, this guy might work out okay. The 90 season was a lot of fun although I believe that was also the first season of toast man. So not everything great happens in the same year. Phil Kabler

Speaking of the Toastman, he explained the origin story.

So somebody said you are toast. I thought, that’ll cheer because it’s, "You. Are. Toast." And so we just started saying it. And I made a little signs so people would join in. And that was 1991. And by 1992, we were doing it all the time and that's what 1992 is when we're heading back to the playoffs again. In '91 we made the playoffs, '90 we won the championship, swept through the championship started counting down the outs at nine more outs for every game that we had a league we started doing nine more outs all the way down to one. And at one point, the hitting coach from the other team asked the Bat Boy Jason Caufield to come over and get a piece of toast. So I actually handed him around the corner and then went back to my business. Later I said, "What was that all about?" Well, he took it and he threw it in the lap of some guy who had been struggling and said, “Do you want to keep hearing about this. Or are you going to work on your swing?” Rod Blackstone

The Fight for the New Park and Power Park

Watt Powell Park during the Alley Cats period.

In 2003, after more than five decades of baseball, Watt Powell Park was to close its doors for good. The owners of the team wanted to build a new ballpark in Charleston. But not everyone felt the same way. Many had fond memories from the last season and last night at Watt Powell. Others dealt with the fight over the new park.

So I was, I guess, kind of the leader of a vocal group that was advocating for keeping the park where it is. Now, in hindsight, I still in my heart believe that with less money that the old park could have been rehabbed and it could have become a kind of interesting mix of history and new updated facility, you know. But given that, I'm really glad that the new park ended up where it is, you know, in midtown. Because there were some discussions about other locations that would have put it further west. I just can't imagine myself going to ball games driving from Charleston out there to go to a ball game. So I'm glad it ended up where it is, and it is a nice facility. Russ Young

When it came time to play the first game in the new park, some minds were changed.

We were totally against closing down the ballpark. Totally, totally, totally against it until I stepped in to Power Park for the first time. In less than 30 seconds I went, “I was wrong. This is awesome.” You know, things change, you know I missed the nostalgia of Watt Powell of course, but there are so many more pluses now because of Power Park. Danny Boyd

In 2005, safely at home in the new ballpark, the team changed its name to the West Virginia Power. They hoped to represent the entire state, not just the city of Charleston.

For many fans, baseball is the basis for lifelong memories, remembering time with family or friends, special moments watching the game.

Baseball is about the players and the friends you make. I just love the game, the way it's played. I love batting, I love fielding and I love everything about the game. I would rather watch it live than I would on TV because you get the atmosphere of the ballpark and everything. Gene Barker

Batter Up, Baseball in Charleston includes 25 interviews with 28 different people. They took time out of their own schedules to record their interviews. They are (listed in the order the interviews took place):

Alan Fleishman
Terry Haas
Jim Strawn
Phil Kabler
Rod Blackstone
Danny Boyd
Terry O’Fiesh
Mike Shock Jr.
Charles Morris
Russ Young
Danny Jones
Charles Houck
Jeff Dent
Jim Berner
Cal Bailey
Mike Shock Sr.
Robin and Jason Black
Lyle Sattes
Harry A Wallace III
Jim Workman
Gary Kolb/Lisa Hughes
Gene Barker and Karl Priest
Dick Noel
Andy Richardson
Jason Caufield

Each of these complete recordings are housed at the West Virginia Archives and History Library, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History for public access, along with the other oral histories recorded as part of FestivALL.
This project was made possible with support from FestivALL, a city becomes a work of art; The West Virginia Archives and History Library, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History; Ray, Winton and Kelley PLLC; and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Organ music courtesy of Matt Jackfert. Baseball crowd sounds were recorded at Power Park in Charleston, West Virginia. Roxy Todd edited the script and Patrick Stephens mixed the sound.

Memoir Looks At Being Appalachian North of the Mason Dixon Line

The book “Appalachia North” by Matthew Ferrence takes a look at what it means to be from Appalachia and not realize it. He grew up in a part of Pennsylvania that’s part of Appalachia according to the Appalachian Regional Commission, but no one there acknowledged that fact.

Matthew Ferrence describes “Appalachia North” as a geological, cultural and as a personal journey. It’s a memoir.

In the book, he talks about how it wasn’t until when he was a graduate student at West Virginia University that he realized he was Appalachian. His book explores why his family and friends never identified with the region. Ferrence also describes his diagnosis with a brain tumor, which becomes an analogy for the exploration into his roots.

Appalachia North is available through WVU Press. This interview is part of a series of discussions with authors from the region.

'Hillbilly Basketball': Marshall’s Dan D’Antoni Coaches the Style He Learned Growing Up

Dan D’Antoni never got far from his roots, even though basketball took him away from his home in Mullens, West Virginia for nearly 50 years. He continued to be a proud son of the Mountain State while teaching the world about the unique style of basketball that he says came from the courts he grew up on.

He calls that style of play West Virginia basketball or more famously “Hillbilly Ball.” It is the fast break style of play that dominated West Virginia in the 1950s and 60s under famous coaches and players like Jerry West, Hal Greer, Willie Akers and Leo Bird and is now taking over the NBA, much to the credit of Dan’s younger brother Mike D’Antoni — the head coach of the Houston Rockets.

“I always said you had to shoot real fast because first of all the courts were uneven and you might lose your dribble and if you shot it and missed it would go down the side of a hill. So you learned to go real fast, shoot quick and make it because if not you would have to chase it,” he said.

The term “hillbilly” may have negative connotations for some, but D’Antoni said he didn’t buy that.

“This is what Hillbillies look like. We put a team out there that’s efficient. They are clean cut young men who carry themselves well, who represent the basketball program both academically and on the court. This is really what a hillbilly stands for, hardworking, creative, able to accomplish things,” D’Antoni explained.

Dan D’Antoni grew up in Mullens while his dad, the late Lewis D’Antoni, lead the Mullens Runnin Rebels to a state title in 1955.

“As a young kid, Mullens was the Hoosiers before the movie. They won a state title from a very small school, when there were no classifications. They were runners up, they were champions and they were semifinalists the last one being beaten by (Jerry) West. Those were right in my formative years. It was great, the feeling I had and the passion that it gave me to play basketball and all my life I’ve been chasing to repeat the experience,” he said.

Lewis D’Antoni pushed young kids to get out and play basketball in one of the five outdoor courts. He even helped to construct some of the community courts when they were built. The courts became a gathering place for young people and almost a sort of training ground for players that helped Mullens earn seven state titles.

The D’Antoni family contributed to a foundation that’s working to restore the Mullens basketball courts of the D’Antoni’s youth. The West Mullens playground will be dedicated to Lewis D’Antoni, later this year.

W.Va. Farmers and Bottlers Come Together at Summit

West Virginia is home to numerous beverage companies that brew beer, distill spirits and syrups and press cider. The state also boasts farmers who produce fruits and grains those bottlers could use.

The problem is the two groups are often disconnected.

The “Craft: Farm to Bottle Summit” in South Charleston earlier week this aimed to address that gap, bringing the two groups together and helping each understand the other’s needs. The Robert C. Byrd Institute (RCBI) in Huntington organized the summit. More than 100 people attended.

Changes to state laws in recent years have made it easier for bottlers and manufacturers to open new businesses, according to Bill Woodrum, the Director of Entrepreneurship for RCBI.

“The next step we see for that is helping those local bottlers whether it’s anything from kombucha to soft drinks to beer, wine, spirits, to be able to identify local sources for their product,” Woodrum explained.

Alex Duran, assistant operations manager from Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company was excited about the possibilities coming out of the summit.

“For us it’s very important that you use West Virginia first. Not to outcast anybody from the other states, but from our perspective this way it highlights some of the smaller communities in our area,” he said.

Both groups are small and face unique economic restrictions and challenges. They need to simultaneously grow product demand and produce production. It’s tricky and takes coordination. An example from the conference was a farmer just can’t just show up with a ton of strawberries. Brewers need to know weeks in advance when the fruit will be ready so they can plan their production schedule.

Charles Bockway, a reporter who covers the West Virginia beverage industry, said the economic landscape is shifting and becoming more hospitable to small manufacturers and local farmers. The agricultural sector has never thought of bottlers as a potential market, but they are coming to realize the possibilities.

Many at the conference looked to keynote speaker Todd Boera from the Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton, North Carolina for guidance. His brewery has more than doubled in size in the last six years and obtains 97 percent of its supplies from the Appalachian region.

“It’s the hard road, but every time we do something that we just put a whole lot of work into, whether it’s sourcing the ingredient to begin with and then processing that, or maybe it’s some brewing technique — whenever we have, whenever we taste the final product it’s 100 percent worth it because this isn’t a gimmick , it truly creates a better product and it just happens to tell a really cool story at the same time,” Boera explained.

Space Gal Comes Home to West Virginia

West Virginia native Emily Calandrelli goes by the name “The Space Gal” online. She has a passion for space exploration and getting more young people, especially girls, into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, also known as STEM. She recently spoke in Charleston as part of the Higher Education Policy Commission’s Chancellor’s STEM Speaker Series. It was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

This career was never in her plan. Calandrelli said she was going to be an engineer and has degrees from West Virginia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“West Virginia University was the best place I could have ended up at. Everyone there was so welcoming and so supportive and so encouraging of me as a woman in STEM that I could not have done it without their help,” she said.

Calandrelli did well at WVU, earning a 4.0 GPA and she received national scholarships that allowed her to complete a masters program at MIT. Then, she got a call she wasn’t expecting.

“I got the call to be a TV show host. It was a very serendipitous moment for me,” she said. “I wasn’t applying for that, I wasn’t looking for that but they were looking for someone with a background in aerospace engineering and they found me because West Virginia University did a really wonderful job of promoting me and my work so when they went searching for a space gal online, they found me.”

Calandrelli is the executive producer and Emmy-nominated host of FOX’s Xploration Outer Space. She is also a chief correspondent on Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves The World and writer and host of YouTube’shttps://youtu.be/vYYakFC9Fpw”> Spotlight Space, a series from Lockheed Martin.

She said working on those shows has given her opportunities most never get the chance to experience, including weightlessness.

“I think the coolest thing that I’ve ever done in my life as The Space Gal has been riding on the vomit comet which is this plane that is quite literally this 8,000 foot rollercoaster in the sky,” Calandrelli said. The ride lasts for an hour and a half of constantly climbing and descending. It has the name vomit comet for a reason.

“It’s actually how they shot movies like Apollo 13 where the astronauts are floating,” she added. “To this day that’s like the coolest experience I’ve ever had.”

Calandrelli also her position to encourage young people, especially girls, to explore the STEM fields through a series of children’s books for kids ages 6-10 called the Ada Lace Adventure Book Series.

“Ada is this third grader who loves science and technology and goes on adventures with tech and gadgets that she builds herself,” she said. “For the boys and girls who read my books, the message is, it is fun to be curious. It is fun to learn about science and technology. You don’t have to be perfect at it. You can fail and try again and try again until you get it right.”

Calandrelli said it was important for her that the main character, Ada, is from West Virginia.

“Basically, I wanted to create a book that has a female as the lead character who loves STEM, and not just a girl, but a West Virginia girl, leading these adventures,” she said.

Calandrelli sees a shortage of women in the STEM fields, but she sees reason to be hopeful it won’t always be that way.

“When I was in college, in a 50-person class, I would be one of two, maybe three girls,” she said. “Seeing people like Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel and all of these wonderful, strong female character on our screen are certainly changing the game. They are adding this representation that women have never really seen before and it makes me hopeful for the future.”

Blenko Glass Changes to Survive

Transportation and fuel provided the foundation of a large glass industry in central Appalachia at the beginning of the 19th century, but changes to the industry nearly destroyed it. To survive, Blenko Glass in Milton, West Virginia adapted its business.

The factory floor was once the exclusive domain of experienced glass workers. Now Blenko brings the public into the workshop to inspire a new generation of collectors and enthusiasts. Groups register weeks in advance to participate, and the programs typically sell out. On a recent weekend, more than 200 people showed up to create their own glass water bottles.

Kaitlin Jordan making her unique glass bottle at Blenko Glass.

And that leads to a one-of-a-kind experience for participants like Kaitlin Jordan. “It was exciting. I feel like I made a one-of-a-kind Kaitlin Jordan original. I think, honestly, my favorite memory of the day was standing by the furnace watching mom do it with the anticipation that I was about to,” she said.

The art of making glass by hand is nothing new for West Virginians. In fact, the glass industry was once booming across the state, according to Dean Six, the Vice President and General Manager at Blenko Glass. Six said the first glass business was located in the Northern Panhandle and opened in 1813.

The most expensive part of making glass is the fuel needed to produce it. The discovery of natural gas in the state was a huge boost to the glass industry, providing a cleaner, more affordable and more portable fuel source.

Over the years, there have been hundreds of glass manufacturers in the West Virginia, but only a few remain today, including Marble King in Paden City which makes marbles and Wissmach in Paden City. “They’ve been there since 1903 and make flat glass similar to what we do, but they use a mechanized process and ship it all over the world for architects, crafts, stained glass windows,” Six said.

A glass worker at Blenko Glass places a blown water bottle back into the furnace for finishing.

There’s also Davis Glass in Morgantown, which produces glass for lamps. Several individual artisans like Hinkle Glass in Upshur County operate in the state as well.

Blenko Glass went through bankruptcy more than a decade ago. One thing that helped them recover and thrive was doing more outreach events. Today, they have 10 activites a year that target potential glass enthusiasts.

Through online sales and community outreach efforts, Blenko is in the best shape they’ve been in for years. They plan to continue making glass well into the future, Six said.