In a KOM Newsletter issued today, editor John Hall, author of Majoring in the Minors, the KOM League Remembered, and other books about the minor leagues, related the late Don Gutteridge's connection to the KOM, as well as some personal thoughts about the former Gashouse Gang member who died Sunday at age 96. A big thanks to John for allowing The Turner Report to reprint the remembrance in its entirety.
Don was a great man. It was my privilege to know him and be a guest in his home. He attended the 1996 KOM League reunion with his wife. She has been an invalid for a number of years but Don never put her in a nursing home. I spoke with a home health worker a few months ago who looked after his wife so he could get out of the house a little bit. The boys down at Otto's Cafe, on Broadway, will miss their daily cup of coffee and chats with Don.
Gutteridge's home was a monument to baseball's past. He once gave me a tour of some of his collection. He had a piece of memorabilia that was signed from every major baseball icon from 1900 until the 1960's. To describe the extent of that collection would take far more room than this report is capable of handling.
As a young man the name of Gutteridge was always in the regional news. After the conclusion of each baseball season, in the early 1950's, Gutteridge would join the likes of Cloyd and Kenny Boyer, Mickey Mantle et.al. and they would play games all around the four state area of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. The games weren't hyped, very few fans ever showed, the results never appeared in any newspaper, but these guys still played for the love of the game.
The KOM League might never have gotten off the ground had it not been the proactive role Gutteridge took in order to get the City of Pittsburg to join the KOM League. He promised that he would put in a good word with his boss, the St. Louis Browns, to support the fledgling team at Pittsburg. He also promised the Pittsburg businessman that if they got the Browns to put a team in their town that he would bring his Toledo Mudhens to play an exhibition game there during the All-Star break.
Fate took another turn in Gutteridge's life. He was the player/manager for the 1946 Mudhens. Bobby Doerr was the second baseman for the Boston Red Sox and when he was injured the Sox purchased Gutteridge from the Browns. By the time the 1946 American Association All-Star game was played Gutteridge was in the American League but he saw to it that the promise he had made to the Pittsburg Baseball club was kept.
At the all-star break a train rolled west from Toledo, Ohio loaded down with the Toledo Mudhens minus only those members who made the American Association all-star team. One of the most famous of players who appeared in Pittsburg for the game was the one armed outfielder, Pete Gray. Although it is most likely the Mudhens didn't relish a trip to Pittsburg, Kansas to play a Class D team they came and competed well against their upstart competition. They pulled away to an early lead but it dwindled basically due to an extraordinary performance by Pittsburg's Tom Caciavely. The game went past quitting time and in eleven innings the Class D club had beaten their bigger brothers from the American Association.
In reporting on that contest the Pittsburg Morning Sun told of a silver platter the City of Pittsburg presented the Gutteridge family in absentia. In writing my first book about the KOM League I was aware of that platter. Upon visiting Gutteridge in 1996 I asked him if he ever received that gift. He invited me into his living room and pointed to a a shiny object on his coffee table. There it was. A platter with an inscription thanking Don for bringing professional to Pittsburg, the Keystone of Southeast Kansas.
Since the inception of the KOM League newsletter I made sure Gutteridge always got a copy. He enjoyed reading about the past and always thanked me for them when I'd pass through Pittsburg and call him on the telephone. I always figured I was in his debt. About a decade ago he called me and said that he had something(s) that he didn't need and thought I'd appreciate having. A few days later a large box arrived. It was a treasure trove of baseballs. Most of them were of KOM League vintage and signed by Pittsburg Brownies. However, others were of Major League origin signed by the St. Louis Browns.
In that box of baseballs was one that had multi-colored stitching. The autographs were in relatively good condition and a search was begun to determine the genesis of that ball. The names on that ball included: Wheat, Olson, J. Johnston, Myers, Konetchy, Kilduff, Krueger, Marquard, Lamar, Mamaux, Mitchell, Neis, Cadore, Grimes, Miller, Pfeffer, Sheehan, Smith and Schmandt. By looking at the baseball and the names on it I knew it was of the 1920 era. After a couple of minutes of research I knew what I had and felt as though Gutteridge had parted with something he probably wanted to retain. So, I called him and asked him if he realized what he had included in that box of balls. He said that he knew but still wanted me to have it. What I have and have had for a decade and will have for what time I have remaining is a 1920 autographed baseball from the National League champion, Brooklyn Dodgers. Three of the names on that baseball also hang on the wall of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Namely, Zack Wheat, Rube Marquard Burleigh Grimes.
And now you know part of the rest of the story.
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