First signs of minor league baseball in Marion
As spring training heats up for major league teams in Florida and Arizona, let’s take a quick dive into how the Marion Mets trained and prepared for their inaugural season in 1965.
Marion Mets Newsletter – Issue 21
“We’re going to have a good summer,” Hank Kelly said as he walked around the ballpark, inspecting the diamond before stepping inside the clubhouse to examine the dressing area.
The facilities impressed the New York Mets employee. His new residence for the next four months impressed him more. “People are most friendly and helpful,” said the young, bespectacled St. John’s University graduate, who had recently arrived in Marion with his wife and 16-month-old daughter.
Kelly began working three years earlier, 1962, with the Mets during the team’s inaugural major league season. Now, in the spring of ‘65, New York’s National League club had sent him to Southwest Virginia to manage the business affairs – keep the books, manager season ticket sales and so forth – of another startup team, the Marion Mets, the newest entry into the Class D Appalachian League.
Walking with Kelly was Pete Pavlick, a 39-year-old ex-ballplayer who days earlier was hired from father’s and brother’s construction company to skipper the Marion squad. Pavlick, a former minor leaguer who began his pro playing career in nearby Bristol, Virginia, made it clear to the newspaper reporter walking alongside him what his role was with the team.
“I came here to win ball games and develop players,” said Pavlick before tipping his hand to where he stood on the delicate balance of those two ideals. “My first consideration will be to give every youngster an opportunity to play and go places in baseball.”
As Kelly and Pavlick surveyed the grounds, they also were awaiting the arrival of players the New York parent club was sending their way. It would be a mixture of picks from the just-completed amateur draft and young men that Mets scouts discovered on the high school and college ballfields. About 50 were expected to arrive in Marion for two weeks of late-spring training just before the scheduled season opener.
Outfielder Kenneth Williamson made it to Marion first. The outfielder, who also played a little at catcher, joined Kelly and Pavlick in the locker room during their inspections. Soon thereafter, more players trickled in. The club’s first team photo showed Pavlick and Williamson along with Richard Jenkins, Curtis Brown, Jeremiah Davidson, Jimmy Young, J. Arissilo, David Rounds, Jim McAndrew, Donald Carmichael, Gary Rollins, Charles Garnett, David Hayes, Robert Johnstone, James Jenkins, Ronald Burchfield, Steve Smith, Gary Strom, Tommy Patchen and Louis Williams, all dressed in hand-me-down uniforms from the parent club. Most of the unis featured blue pinstripes and had “Mets'' scripted in blue with orange trim across the chest while a few others read “New York.” Some still had the New York World’s Fair patch on the left sleeve.
Keeping to his word to give everyone a shot, Pavlick quickly had his players on the “velvety carpet of Marion Stadium. (That’s how the Smyth County News described the new sod installed by volunteers.) The skipper “worked his lads hard this week,” the county newspaper reported, “stressing everything that’s in the book – batting, running, cutoff plays, signals – and what have you.”
Pavlick, an infielder in his playing days, spent a lot of time with the pitchers, too. He worked with Johnstone, a Toronto, Canada, native, on developing and adding a curveball and changeup to the zipping fastball the 19-year-old had been breezing past batters on the sandlots. When Mets’ scout George Begley signed him, Johnstone was working for an insurance company. He signed to play for the Mets because he believed “there was more opportunity,” he said, in baseball compared with insurance.
The buzz around the Mets hummed louder and louder as more players arrived and prepared for the season. Local baseball enthusiasts learned a lot about Johnstone and three other Baby Mets, as they were often called, after they walked into the Smyth County News office for a sit-down interview days before the season started.
“The business manager said you wanted to see us,” one player, following Henry Kelly’s instructions, said as they entered.
They sat “in the only four chairs available,” Howard Imboden wrote in the newspaper, “and we began to question them.”
Readers learned that Louis Williams came to Marion from Baltimore, where he played baseball at Patterson Park High School, and that he liked basketball and speedy cars. (Williams would soon become the answer to a Marion Mets trivia question that I’ll get to soon in another newsletter story.)
Ken Williamson, the early bird, was there answering questions, too, such as:
Married or single?
Single, the 19-year-old replied. (The Smyth County News was bent on informing women in town about the marital status of the newly minted Mets.)
Any hobbies?
Swimming and playing baseball and football.
The other baseballer fielding softball questions was 17-year-old catcher Donny Carmichael from Mobile, Alabama, the same town as the New York Mets scout who signed him, former big leaguer Eddie Stanky.
Stanky, who spent 11 years playing for several teams in the majors, served as the Mets’ farm director in 1965. He visited Marion for nearly a week during the team’s inaugural training. In addition to examining the ballplayers his club had sent to town, Stanky met with a group of supporters at Hotel Lincoln, many of whom had sacrificed many hours to make minor league baseball a reality in Marion. He praised the town’s efforts, including season ticket sales, and set high expectations for the club.
After two weeks of training and chatting with newspaper reporters and fans, the players were eager for the scheduled opener on Thursday, June 24 in Tennessee against the Johnson City Yankees. But first, Pavlick had some sorting out to do, with his lineup and pitching rotation. The Tuesday night before the opener, the skipper put his players through a seven-inning intrasquad game. The next night, they scrimmaged a full nine innings, with no pitcher lasting more than three innings on the mound.
Then, it was on to Johnson City.
Pavlick had his line-up set. Jim Jenkins, the 5-10 lefty, would start on the mound, and Lou Williamson would be his catcher. Pavlick placed Jerry Davidson at first, Curtis Brown at second, Frank Pickens at third, Steve Smith at shortstop, Ted Williamson in left field, Dave Rounds in center and Richard Jenkins in right.
But, as I’ve written in this newsletter a few times, that lineup and the much-anticipated inaugural Marion Mets game would have to wait one more night. Too much rain splattered on the Johnson City ballpark throughout the day Thursday, and the game was pushed to 7:30 Friday night. (Weather was a frequent thread throughout the ‘65 Mets season; 11 games were postponed by rain.)
Marion lost that first game, 9-6, to the Yankees, but the team went on to have a satisfying season, one that was full of ups (they held first place for several days), a few downs (they were no-hit once in their own ballpark) and plenty of excitement for team and fans alike. The Mets remained in the Appy League race through most of the two-and-a-half-month season before tailing off in August. Much of that can be attributed to players like Jim McAndrew getting the opportunity to advance in New York’s minor league system. (McAndrew was one of nine Marion Mets from the 1965 season who played in the majors. A few others you may have heard of were Nolan Ryan and Jim Bibby.)
The Marion Mets finished their inaugural season with a winning record 37-33 record and brought nearly 30,000 fans to tiny Marion Stadium during the short season, from mind-June to the end of August. That attendance number was the second highest in the Appy League that year and affirmed what many had been saying all along when attempting to lure a team to Smyth County.
Marion, Virginia, was a baseball town!
And, just like Hank Kelly predicted, the Baby Mets and everyone who worked to make the team a reality, and especially those who cheered them on, had a really “good summer.”
In addition to researching the Marion Mets, I’m interested in semi-pro baseball teams that played in the region, such as the Marion Cuckoos/Bucks, Saltville Alkalies, Damascus Beavers, Abingdon Blues and so forth. I’m especially interested in the ballparks where those teams played. We know where the Marion and Saltville teams played, but does anyone know specifically where games were played in Tattle Branch? (See below) If so, let me know at chadoz97@gmail.com. Bonus points if you send photos of the area.
Another interesting tidbit – at least for me – that I found in the 1965 Smyth County News is this ad promoting upcoming Baltimore Orioles games to be broadcast on WMEV in Marion. I’ve always wondered if Marion Mets games were ever aired on local radio during the team’s 12 years here. Again, if you know, send me a note at chadoz97@gmail.com.
That’s all for now. If you have a story to share about the Marion Mets, I’d love to talk with you. You can reach me at chadoz97@gmail.com. (Wow, I’m asking for a lot of emails this week!) Also, if you see something I missed or simply got wrong, send me a note.
Don’t forget to Connect with Marion Mets on Facebook.