The Negro Leagues were honored at Eastwood Field before Friday’s  Scrappers game with Jamestown. Ted Toles, who played in the historical league was on-hand to sign autographs and share memories from his heyday.  Toles resides in nearby Warren, Ohio.  I got a chance to sneak a couple of questions his way and was amused by some of his answers.  This man can answer a question in great detail.

Toles joined Charlie Caffle’s Warren GC team right out of high school.  In 1946, Toles pitched for the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro Leagues.  Toles later toured the country with the Jackie Robinson All-Stars.  While with Robinson’s All-Star group, Toles shared the fields with Larry Doby and Bill White, two guys who turned their fortunes into successful Major League Baseball careers.  Toles played in the developmental systems for Cleveland, New York (Giants), and Philadelphia and was a standout for the New Castle Minor League team.

I asked Toles how today’s players shape up and was impressed with his answer.  “They are all one-dimensional these days.  Back when I played, you were taught to learn everything, not to just be good at one thing like these guys.  People spent time throwing at a hole in a wall for hours, it helped to hit spots and control the pitches.”

Toles also shared a Jackie Robinson story.  “Jackie was Jackie, and he had an attitude sometimes. He was under contract to play a charity game in Hollywood one year and didn’t feel as though he was getting the money he deserved to play.  Bob Feller went into the locker room and told him he was blowing his chance to get to the majors, but Jackie wouldn’t hear it.  That game was loaded with stars, I remember James Cagney and many celebrities showing up.  But Jackie just wouldn’t come out.  Years later me, Jackie, and Feller were in a room together sharing old times and the story came up.  Jackie denied the whole thing, but me and Feller let him hear it.”