When they played baseball at SU

[Orangeyes]

As a kid I used to attend Syracuse University baseball games at Lew Carr Field on Lancaster Ave. They were a damn good baseball team. Ted Kleinhans was the coach. In 1961 he guided them to the College World Series in Omaha Nebraska. Yes, Syracuse was that good.

One of the stars in the 60's was first baseman Pete DeSilva who played his high school ball at Nottingham. I was at a regional game when a $cout from the Cubs signed him on the field after they had lost. Ted Kleinhans was so upset that he screamed at the $cout and said, "You promised you wouldn't bother any of my underclassmen." Pete was only a sophomore.

SU had a number of players who distinguished themselves well in the major leagues.

Jim Konstanty was a top-notch major league relief pitcher. In 1950 he was named the National Leagues Most Valuable Player as a part of the pennant winning Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids." He played for 5 big league teams including the Cincinnati Reds who signed him. Konstanty also played basketball for Syracuse and earned a bachelor of science degree. To date he is still the only relief pitcher to ever win the NL MVP award.

Dave Giusti had the longest major league career of any Orangeman. Guisti played for 17 years starting out with the Houston Colt 45's in 1962 and finishing with the Chicago Cubs in 1977. At SU he was a starting pitcher on that 1961 College World Series team.

In 1969, Pittsburgh Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh converted Dave into a relief pitcher. Giusti used a sinking palm ball to baffle hitters for years to come. In the 1971 World Series Dave appeared in three games earning a save in game four. For the season he had 30 saves and was awarded The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award. In 1973 he was a National League All Star and pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning for the winning team.

Billy Connors a pitcher for SU, played for the Cubs & Mets and was a pitching coach for 5 different teams including two stints with the New York Yankees.

Henry "Dutch" Dotterer a catcher, played in the majors for five years. He started with Cincy, was traded to KC but was left unprotected and was picked up by the expansion Washington Senators. He finished his career playing for the Syracuse Chiefs.

Ed Barnowski was signed by the Baltimore Oriole's in 1963. He compiled a 48-18 minor league record, twice recording an era under 2.00. In 1966 he won 17 of his 25 starts for Rochester of the International League. He was called up for the pennant stretch. The parent Oriole's had a stacked pitching staff which included Dave McNally, Jim Palmer and Wally Bunker. The O's went on to win the World Series in 1966.

Mike Barlow, who stood 6-6 and also played basketball at SU, started out with the St. Louis Cards organization and played for four different big league teams over seven seasons. His son Chris played for 3 seasons with the Montreal Expos.

Vic Hanson was a tremendously gifted athlete from Watertown, NY. At SU he played baseball, basketball and football. Hanson is the only player in history to be enshrined in both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1960) and the College Football Hall of Fame (1973).
He was signed to play for the New York Yankees.

Reaves Baysinger played three sports and coached two at SU. In 1927 he was the freshman basketball coach and led the team to a 23-0 season. He was the head football coach here from 1947-48 but had an undistingushed 4-14 record.

Eddie Brown, an outfielder, debuted with the New York Giants in 1920, his final major league appearence was in 1928 with the Boston Braves.

Hi Church played for the Brooklyn Galdiators in 1890. Lou Bruce played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1904. Cy Vorhees debuted with the Phillies in 1902. Rip Coleman pitched for the Yankees in 1955 and finished with Baltimore in 1960.

Other notbale players were shortstop's Bucky Winters and John DeFrancisco the state senator.

There are a number of other former SU baseball players who played in the major leagues.

Here is a nice bio of Coach Kleinhans

 

[BlackKnight76]

I wish we still had baseball.

 

[Orangeyes]

1910 tobacco LG silk S21 Syracuse University Baseball


Syracuse fielded a team in baseball from 1870 through 1921, and again from 1923 to 1972, when the team was disbanded. The Orangemen appeared in the 1961 College World Series, and were eliminated by Oklahoma State. The 1961 team entered the College World Series in Omaha with a 16-3 record. In their first game they defeated Northern Colorado 12-5, but were defeated in their next game 12-9 by Oklahoma State. They then defeated Western Michigan 6-0, before being eliminated by eventual tournament runner-up Oklahoma State 8-0. The 1961 SU baseball team included two future major league pitchers, Dave Guisti and Billy Connors.The team also included four members of the 1959 NCAA championship football team: Dave Sarette, Billy Canon, Dick Easterly, and Bob Lelli. In the 1961 College World Series, Sarette was named to the all-tournament team as the third baseman. In 1964 the US Olympics held a demonstration baseball game, which included Syracuse all-star outfielder, Herby"speedo"Hamlett. The USA team beat Japan 6-2 for the gold.

Syracuse played their home games on Lew Carr Field, named after the Orangemen's coach from 1910-1942. The field was situated behind Manley Field House, where the lacrosse practice fields are today. At the height of the sport's popularity, often more than 1,000 fans attended the games.
During the cold winter months, the team practiced in an old barn adjacent to Manley. There was a batting cage made of nets and some artificial mounds for pitchers to throw batting practice, but not much else. The only heating was a big space heater inside. There was no way to work on fielding or baserunning, nor could the pitchers realistically throw live pitches to batters.

Many students, alumni, citizens and other baseball enthusiasts in the area are in favor of an NCAA team being formed on campus.

Workers used horses to grade the “Old Oval,” circa 1880s; the baseball field was located in this area, on the south side of today’s Quad. "Old Row" trio and "Old Oval" photos courtesy of SU Archives

Even if the college did try to start a varsity NCAA team, the athletic budget is a difficult barrier to overcome. In a Sept. 12, 2006, story that appeared in The Daily Orange, Michael Wasylenko, current chairman of the Athletic Policy Board, said Title IX and Syracuse's athletic budget is still a major crutch. "If we added a men's sport, we'd have to get rid of a men's sport," Wasylenko said in the article. "And that's probably not a good idea."

Steve Owens, the head baseball coach at neighboring LeMoyne College said in a March 2007 article of The Daily Orange, "Without question, you could be successful in this part of the country," Owens said. "I know money is a big issue at a lot of places, but just talking about the game itself, I see no reason why baseball couldn't be a great fit at Syracuse."

The sport is currently played at the club level and the team is part of the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA). It was established in 1979 and has been successful in tournaments.

From Wikipedia

Syracuse University Baseball Players Who Made it to the Major Leagues

Author Stephen Crane, pictured in the bottom middle, played baseball for SU in 1891. Read the piece below

Syracuse and a Civil War masterpiece

 

[Orangeyes]

The certificate below belongs to a friend who played baseball, basketball and football at SU. Later in life Mert Raynor was a biking enthusiast and participated in many competitive races. He also liked to play golf but he wasn't very good at it. After carrying a 17 handicap he decided he'd either get a whole lot better or drop the sport entirely. He set up a camera inside a barn and taught himself so well that today he is a near scratch golfer.

Ben Scwartzwalder recruited him as a quarterback. On his visit they took him into the locker room where Jim Brown was standing barechested. Shortly thereafter Mert called his mother and said, "Mom, I don't know why they are recruiting me?"

 

[sutomcat]

Good stuff OE.

When SU and Pitt join the ACC, Syracuse will be the only school in the ACC that does not play baseball. Perhaps with the additional revenue joining the ACC, SU will bring baseball back.

There is another option besides dropping a men's sport and replacing it with baseball. They could add two sports, men's baseball and another women's sport. Women's golf is a logical choice. The ACC has 9 teams that play women's golf, including BC and Maryland.

Trivia Question:

Q. Who is the last player from Syracuse who played major league baseball?

Hint: he played another sport during his time on the hill...

I will provide the answer later today.

A. Will Pennyfeather was a WR on the SU football team. Played baseball in the summer while in college, was signed by the Pirates after his time at SU and made it all the way to the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was later traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the California Angels for Eduardo Perez, son of Orangeyes fave Tony Perez. Perez would play in the major leagues for 14 years.

You could look it up

 

[Orangeyes]

Here is Lew Carr the man they named Syracuse's baseball field for

Here is an historical profile of Lew

 

[br801]

Tremendous posts, Orangeyes. Thank you.

 

[sutomcat]

Here is Lew Carr the man they named Syracuse's baseball field for

Here is an historical profile of Lew

I wonder if Harlan "Gotch" Carr was related to Lew? He was also from Union Springs, born in 1903. Could have have been Gotch's father or uncle?

Gotch was a great athlete at SU who starred on the football and basketball teams in the late 1920s.

Gotch Carr bio

 

[Orangeyes]

I wonder if Harlan "Gotch" Carr was related to Lew? He was also from Union Springs, born in 1903. Could have have been Gotch's father or uncle?

Gotch was a great athlete at SU who starred on the football and basketball teams in the late 1920s.

Gotch Carr bio

Did he own "Gotch Carrs Warren Grill"?

 

[sutomcat]

Did he own "Gotch Carrs Warren Grill"?

Yes, he did before he died in 1970.

 

[retro44]

I have a s.u. baseball jersey I won at an auction this year that is recent. It was framed and at the time I didn't realize that the bottom of the jersey was trimmed to fit in the picture frame.

I am going to have it hemmed and will be wearing it to games.Also have a hockey jersey also.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

I got a lot of flak during my time at SU for constantly saying I would trade our lacrosse program, history and all, for an equally dominant baseball or men's ice hockey program in a heartbeat.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I have a s.u. baseball jersey I won at an auction this year that is recent. It was framed and at the time I didn't realize that the bottom of the jersey was trimmed to fit in the picture frame.

I am going to have it hemmed and will be wearing it to games.Also have a hockey jersey also.

Any chance you can post photos of those?

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I got a lot of flak during my time at SU for constantly saying I would trade our lacrosse program, history and all, for an equally dominant baseball or men's ice hockey program in a heartbeat.

Really. I understand you quantifying it by saying equally dominant, but LAX is Cuse. I went to Oswego, so I definitely understand about the hockey. Would be nice to see Cuse figure it out.

 

[Orangeyes]

The Main Reasons to Add Syracuse Baseball

 

[TexanMark]

Really nice thread...found this from TNIAAM article.