Wakeman’s Red Caps - -enduring legend
By JOE CAMPBELL
C-T Sports Writer
WAKEMAN – They played baseball with an unmatched fervor - with an unmatched love for the game.
And they played with imagination - which became a polished brand of "super’’ semi-professionalism.
"They" were the Red Caps - perhaps the area’s best semi-pro teams in the 1930s and 40s.
They were the best because they attracted the best: "We got players – the best players – from Elyria and Lorain, from Amherst and Birmingham and even from Norwalk and Bellevue,’’ claimed Clarence Bailey, who served as the Red Cap business manager.
And during the Red Caps’ glory seasons which began 35 years ago, Bailey stated, "we could beat anything Elyria or Lorain had."
Bailey, still of Wakeman, also claimed he was a Red Cap field manager at one time.
"Several different managers kept things going," he said.
The most dynamic was the late Gus [Scuttie"] Scutt – "the real moving force behind the team," according to Bailey.
Lloyd Buckley, now of Wellington, was the Red Cap manager during the glory era of 1937–42 and the late Don Wasem was the playing manager until 1948.
"Wasem [who lived in Birmingham] was also our most consistent pitcher," Bailey recalled. "And Chuck Bement [now of Wakeman] was our second best."
Deb Young of Amherst and Al Thomas of Lorain also hurled for Red Cap glory teams.
"Fred Bartlome [of Vermilion] was our catcher," Bailey continued, "our one and only catcher. He caught for us for years and years.’’
Elyria’s Joe Yarsa and "Tiny" Schriner [of Amherst] "were our real good hitters," Bailey appraised. Yarsa hit .333 and Schriner .336 in 1937. "They could have went and played in the big leagues, easily," continued Bailey. "But they just played for the fun of it—like everyone else."
"We played because we like baseball," added Buckley. "We didn’t do it because we thought it was something we could get money for. It was all a lot of fun."
BUT WHY DID THEY COME?
If the players wanted "fun" surely they could have found it with a team closer to home.
What the Red Cap players found at Wakeman was an imaginative brand of semi- professionalism, or, perhaps, super-semi-professionalism which was unparalleled elsewhere.
The reason why Red Cap baseball was unmatched locally? Perhaps because the team was patterned after the professional leagues. As business manager Bailey related, "We tried to do everything in Wakeman like it was done in the big leagues.
Everything."
The Red Caps, a part of the Wakeman Baseball Club which was founded in 1889, had a big league personality and a big – time pocket book.
He was Charles Clark, corn seed millionaire in Wakeman and, "there wasn’t a better fan in Northern Ohio," Birmingham’s Lowell Wasem [Don’s brother] said.
"He was our Godfather," added Bailey. "Whenever we needed money, Clark would provide it.
"Everyone thought he was paying for everything, but actually the [Wakeman] Club would sign a note and pay off our debts to him during the season."
THE RED CAPS were constantly seeking talent and several players were lured from the Joppa Rd. [Erie County] teams.
"Joppa was a farm team to Wakeman, so to speak," Red Cap Fritz Gerber said. "If we looked good with Joppa, we could move up and play for the Red Caps.
"That’s what I did and Don Wasem also got his start at Joppa."
Joppa games were played "on a plenty rough field" at a corner of Joppa and Darrow Roads in Erie County, according to Gerber. "We only had two baseballs a game and if somebody fouled one into the woods that was behind the field, everyone would stop and look for it."
Moving to Red Cap Park from Joppa Road was probably much like a jump from the minor leagues to the majors.
It was as Gerber said, "real incentive to know that you would be playing at Wakeman."
Red Caps Park could seat nearly 2,000 in stands stretching from first base, behind the backstop and to third base. It had a professional – like outfield fence which was eight feet high and measured 270 feet [left], 400 feet [center] and 280 feet [right].
And at one time, the imaginative Red Caps were one innovation ahead of the pros.
LIGHTS were installed at Wakeman in 1935 - four years before the Indians.
"For a while, we had one of the two lighted fields in the whole state," Bailey recalled. "We even used night baseballs. They had white stitching instead of red and silver stamping so the hitters could see it better."
And how good were the lights?
"They weren’t anything like they have today," Buckley admitted. "But they were real good for back then."
And they were "real good’’ for attracting fans and top notch players, too.
"The lights were a real novelty to everyone," Bartlome said. "I can remember tourists stopping by just to see what was going on."
"They were a big attraction," added Buckley. "Every good player from all around wanted to play for us because we had the lights."
"A lot of guys would be proud to just sit on the bench and say they played under the lights with Wakeman," said Gerber.
"It was quite a thrill, quite a thrill playing under those lights," Bartlome admitted.
And those statements probably best explain why the Red Caps became "super" semi-pros.
"That’s right," Bartlome continued, "We really had some neat teams back then."
ONE OF THE BEST, he said, was "the one we had in 1937."
The Red Caps of 35 years ago, clad in new pinstripes, finished 19-13 against the best semi-pro teams from Cleveland, Akron, Toledo and Columbus. Only local teams such as the Wellington Red Hats and Elyria Merchants managed to schedule Wakeman that year.
One of the top attractions in 1937 were the Ethiopian Clowns, an all-black traveling troupe, sponsored by Abe Saperstein, who later founded the Harlem Globetrotters.
THE CLOWNS’ first Wakeman appearance was on June 16, 1937 when 2,200 fans packed Red Cap Park. [Census figures reveal that 552 persons populated Wakeman at the time.]
"There were so many people in town that night," Bartlome recalled, "that they were parking in the streets, on lawns, everywhere.’’
Business manager Bailey claimed to even " had to turn some people away."
And not all of those who paid the 25-cents admission found seats. "They were standing clear down the left and right field foul lines," Buckley said. "And we were all pretty nervous before the game because of the crown."
The Clowns "played us in clown suits," Bailey remembered, "and clowned around all through the game" – and even clowned to a 5-1 win.
The Clowns then became a twice-a year tradition at Wakeman and in 1938 Satchel Paige came with them.
"He was a very, very tough man to hit," [under] stated Gerber.
In fact, the Red Caps managed three hits off the Hall of Famer, "and I had two of them," Buckley said proudly.
"When I faced him in the bottom of the ninth," Gerber continued, "he had just two others guys on the field with him - a catcher and a short fielder.
"And he didn’t even need that many. He would ask you where you wanted it [the pitch] and it would come in like a bullet right where you called for it. He had pinpoint control."
"THE REALLY GOOD" Red Caps teams continued into the early 1940s, Gerber claimed.
"But then, said Buckley, "we didn’t get together at all."
"War pressure" closed Red Cap Park in 1942, Gus Scutt revealed in a memo to Bailey.
"And practically all the guys that played for us were in the [Second World] War," Buckley said.
When it was over, the Red Cap legacy had been altered - the "super" semi-pro sensation had faded. Some of the "glory-year" Red Caps "just didn’t want to play any more," according to Bailey. "They had other interests.
"There were other lighted fields after the war and interest in Wakeman didn’t seem to be what it used to be."
The 1000-a-game turnout at Red Cap Park dwindled to "around 500," Bailey said.
And "Godfather" Clark had died.
"Some of the players got together, though, and kicked in $100 each to get the team back on its feet in the ‘40s," said Buckley.
Sadly, it wasn’t enough. No amount of money could restore the "super" fervor. In fact, money contributed greatly to its demise.
"Everybody wanted to get paid for playing and we just couldn’t make it," Buckley explained. "The guys didn’t play for the fun of it like we did before.
"In other words, now some of them wanted salaried contracts and we just couldn’t swing it."
The Red Caps played their best game on Wednesday night Sept. 5, 1948.
Soon after, Red Cap Park was razed.
"We tore everything down," said Buckley, "and sold it to Ehrhardt’s of Cleveland."
The end? Not quite. As evidenced by this Red Cap recap taken from the memories of those who knew the team best, the "super-semi" saga has yet to demise. For sure, the Wakeman Red Caps - unique as their lights, peerless as their talent - are a legendary fixture in area baseball lore. ……