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Ed Harvey |
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Baseball ∙ Beaver Falls |
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  Not many contemporary Beaver Countians remember when minor league
baseball teams were located in Beaver Falls in the 1940s, but there
really were professional baseball teams here and Ed Harvey was a
leader in brining minor league ball to the county. Harvey started in baseball
in 1915 with the Beaver Falls Independents and the Beaver Falls
Athletics, two outstanding semipro teams that played on the old
Junction Park field. Then he was active with the famous Beaver Falls
Elks teams that won national titles in the Elks League in 1920 and
1921. Championship games in those days were played at Crosley Field
in Cincinnati, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, and the Polo Grounds in New
York. As a promoter, Ed brought major league teams like the
Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates to Beaver Falls for
exhibitions. Games with the famous Homestead Grays were played
before sellout crowds. The same Elks teams played at Idora Park in
Youngstown under the name of Youngstown General Tire and twice
defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. The Elks played in the old
Ohio-Pennsylvania League, which was considered one of the top
semipro circuits in the nation. Ed managed the Jeannette farm
team of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Middle Atlantic League for one
season in the 1930s but the Great Depression ended that venture.
During the 1940s he helped establish the Penn State Professional
League in Beaver Falls with teams sponsored by the Cincinnati Reds,
Boston Bees, Washington Senators, and St Louis Browns. They played
under the lights on the old Beaver Falls High School Field. After a
lifetime devoted to baseball as a player, manager, and promoter, Ed
died in 1969 at age 87. |
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© Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame ∙ Established September 18, 1975 ∙ Email: ∙ Website Credits |
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