Schuylkill County has a storied history in professional baseball.
In fact, when you watch games today, you will likely see some coal region influence.
Schuylkill County Baseball Stars
Sure, we’ve had some standout players in pro baseball over the years.
Jack Quinn, of Mahanoy City and Pottsville, of the Philadelphia Athletics held the record for oldest player to hit a home run from the late 1920s all the way until 2006.
Several players from the area won championships with the Athletics, too. In fact, when they were in Philadelphia, the A’s seemed to have a talent pipeline into Schuylkill County.
In addition to those title-winning players, the coal region also produced some innovators and some characters, too.
Did you know the man who first thought of stretching a tarp over the infield was from Shenandoah? And the guy who first started using a radar gun to track pitch speed hailed from Ringtown. He also had another major innovation that’s used in ballparks around the world to this day.
There’s even a story about an umpire from Ashland who used to get involved in fights with players to break up arguments on the field.
We’ve gathered some of the best coal region baseball stories we know and put them all into one pack. Click or tap on each card to learn more about each Schuylkill County baseball star (Yes, one of them is from Gratz.). Check them out but don’t eat the gum:
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