Vol. 78, Number 9 -- Thursday, February 3, 2000

Grandpa, Baseball 1904, etc...

The old copper shadow of Earth on the Moon was out Thursday. At a little after 10pm CST the skies cleared in time for the lunar eclipse to show it's full beauty as the shadow of the earth passed over the Full Moon when the Sun, Earth and Moon were aligned in a straight line with each other.

After watching it for some time after the total eclipse, more of the copper color came out. I wtched it through the bare tree limbs of the tree out front of my home. What a sight! Spectacular! Did you get to see it? The last Lunar Eclipse was back in 1996 and the next Lunar Eclipse will be in 2003.

I've been working off and on my Grandpa's baseball scrapbook that started at Friends University in 1904 and goes through his baseball career days with the Austin Senators and St. Louis Browns. He also played some baseball around the Alva, Greensburg area. Will also played for a Minneapolis, Kansas baseball team in 1904. He played on a team that also palyed against an Indian team called "Chilocco Indians." Has any one out there run across any information concerning this Indian team?

Starting in 1904, my Grandpa Will "Bill" McGill was a considerably handsome young man. He (No doubt) probably had a young lady in every baseball port he played. If you or some of your friends and family run across any Surnames that are familiar while reading these old 1904 Newspaper clippings of my Grandpa's, please Email me. I would love to hear from you.

Some of the Surnames you might read in "Grandpa's Baseball Legacy" are McGill, McCully, Jeffries, Rich, Jones, Thompson, Boone, Loomis, Solter, Finger, Smith, Barker, Burton, McCluggage, Brown, etc.

Some other family info about Grandpa Wm. J. "Will" or "Bill" McGill is as follows" McGill, William Jacob was born 29 June 1880, died 29 July 1959, Alva, OK. On 23 March 1910 he married my Grandmother (Warwick, Constance Estella) and they divorced around the 1940s. Around 1945 he remarried Blanche Miller.

His baseball years ranged from 1902 to 1908. Beginning in 1902 & 1903, William "Will" attended Northwestern Normal and was active in sports. By 1904, Will was attending Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He was considered to be a One-man track team, played football and baseball at Friends.

Around 1905 & 1906 he was pitching for the Austin Senators in the South Texas league in Austin, TX. In 1907, Will went to the Big Leagues and played with the St. Louis Browns. In 1908, Will was back in Oklahoma teaching school three miles north of Cherokee and in Woods County. He was also at this time courtin' my grandmother, Constance Estella Warwick, who was also a school teacher in Woods Count, Oklahoma.

From reading through the first few pages of his "Baseball Scrapbook" (the 1904 years) Will McGill was known for his fast, curved balls and struck out many.

I will have Grandpa's 1905 and 1906 Baseball Legacy years next weekend. See you then! Enjoy the little things around you while you have the chance.

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Latest Revision - Monday, November 19, 2001 9:16 PM