Ball, Bat and Bitumen: A History of Coalfield Baseball in the Appalachian South »

L.M. Sutter is an artist, writer and baseball fan who lives in southwest Virginia.

They emerged from the mines, shook off the coal dust, and stepped onto the diamond. From the early 1900s to the 1950s, baseball games between mine workers were a small-town phenomenon, each team attracting avid and intensely loyal fans. Talented part-time athletes competed at the amateur, semi-pro and professional levels. Equally competitive were the coal company officials, who often brought in ringers, or players of exceptional ability, giving them easier jobs above ground or a padded pay packet.

Based on interviews with surviving players, families of deceased players, and contemporary sources, this thoroughgoing history covers not only teams and leagues but their function within the mining communities of Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. The book features a special section on African-American mining leagues, a coalfield map and photographs.

Introduction 5

1 The Coal Towns 9

2 The Appalachian Pastime 19

3 The Emperor of Baseball 30

4 Tye Harber's War 43

5 The Boys of the Lonesome Pine 49

6 Moonlighting Bearcats 76

7 A Wide-Awake Town 86

8 Fathers and Sons 94

9 Fertile Soil 104

10 Almost Valhalla 113

11 The 1951 Hazard Bombers 128

12 The Choices We Live With 136

13 Bob Bowman 144

14 Vince Pankovits and the Mean Season 153

15 The Old Man of the Mountains 163

16 The Women in the Stands 170

Epilogue 187

Chapter Notes 191

Bibliography 195

Index 199