Jerry Suess and Myron Stallsmith grew up playing baseball and it remains in their blood


Jerry Suess and Myron Stallsmith grew up playing baseball and it remains in their blood

By John Bassetti | sports@vindy.com

Both wore similar uniforms for a while, both had short pro stints, then both had careers with area school districts. That’s a glimpse of the lives of Jerry Suess and Myron Stallsmith, former teammates in the once-viable Youngstown Class AA baseball league.

Both are still serious about the sport, whether it’s as a spectator or potential participant.

Suess, now 81, gets his fill of Yankees, Indians and Pirates games via the tube.

Stallsmith, 78, has stayed involved via a more hands-on role.

Neither dwells on rehashing the glory days, unless prompted.

JERRY Suess

In the mid-50s, Suess was with the Boardman A.C. traveling team when he was asked to play for Home Club to replace Ted Vestal, who had been called into military service.

“Ted played third base, but he pitched [his last games before leaving], so, the first couple games I played at third,” Suess said of his AA indoctrination before being called to pitch a few games later.

“There was a little bit of a stink when I went in to pitch because they didn’t think Vestal was a pitcher — and I was taking his place.”

That was midseason. After that summer, the 23-year-old Suess got the opportunity to sign with a Kansas City A’s minor league affiliate in Plainview, Texas.

However, while preparing for his first spring training appearance, Suess tore cartilage in his right knee.

During his first two years under contract as a Class B player, Suess sat home rehabbing. That inactivity gradually dropped his status to Class C, then Class D.

When Jerry finally got a chance to play in his third year, he pitched against a Class B team and won.

But because the organization was paying younger guys more money, they were kept, and Suess was released.

“Because I started in Class B before the injury, I could have possibly moved up if I’d have played well my first year,“ Suess said of his scuttled opportunity.

He then came back and played with Home Club again until he was 37.

In 1955, Suess was picked up by McKelvey’s for a tournament. Of its three straight appearances in the NABF event, the Ray Sweeney-managed McKelvey’s team won the national crown that year, 15-3, with Jerry pitching against a Cleveland entry in the championship game at Shady Run Field.

“The bulk of the roster was McKelvey’s players, but they picked up about four extras for the tournament,” Suess said.

“I had a fast ball, curve and changeup and I had good control,” Jerry said. “I was known for some strikeouts, but I usually tried to get batters to hit the ball and let my fielders play.”

During several of the right-handed pitcher’s seasons, Stallsmith was Home Club’s second baseman.

At Baldwin-Wallace College, Suess played four years of basketball and four baseball. The Boardman High graduate’s big game in college was a one-hitter against Alliance College. “I struck out 20,” he said.

Before its consolidation with North Lima, Suess taught school at Greenford for six years, during which time he coached basketball and baseball.

“Our basketball team won two Inter-County League championships,” said Jerry, who then went to Jackson-Milton.

“I went to Jackson-Milton for a year before their driver’s training program was dropped, so I worked at Crestview the next year. After the levy finally passed, the Jackson-Milton superintendent called and asked if I wanted to come back and I did. I coached freshman basketball for four years and taught driver’s training and finished with 25 years at Jackson-Milton.”

Suess coached his two sons, Jerry and David, when they played for Lenhart Towing in the Uptown Little League. Jerry’s son, Jerry, now 55, coached a couple of Jackson-Milton’s eighth-grade championship basketball seasons.

One of Suess’ gripes about today’s major leaguers is that they don’t play with injuries as much as they once did.

“Today, they go on the DL for 15 days, then come back. Plus, there are too many specialists; they’ve got a pitcher for every inning.”

“We’d pitch nine innings and didn’t worry about somebody coming in to take our place. We’d get mad if someone did. Now, if they go 5-6 innings, that’s all they’re supposed to do, I guess. But I wouldn’t trade what I went through, except money-wise — that’s about it.”

Suess had a right shoulder replacement in 2000 and likewise for his knees: right in 1993 and left in 1997.

“Injuries catch up with you after a while. The right shoulder was my pitching arm, so I guess that’s from throwing too many balls,” he said.

Suess, who took pride in being a better-than-average fielder when on the mound, remembered Frank Susor as one of his favorite umpires at the time.

“He called a good game,” Suess said of Susor, a former minor-league ump. “If he gave you the outside corner to start [the game with], he’d be consistent with it. You had an idea of what you could do or couldn’t do. He stood out as an umpire for me.”

Myron Stallsmith

Stallsmith recalled the AA League as a melting pot of talent.

“There were a number of good teams, including Cherol’s and Home Club and some of the players had been around a while,” Stallsmith said of outfielder Paul Berkholtz.

“From what I knew, he was great, a heck of a ballplayer during the WWII days.”

Along with Suess, Myron, usually the second baseman, also shared the field with players such as third baseman Wally Ford, shortstop Steve Garvey, first baseman Ed Strauss, outfielder Pat DiCicco and catcher Dick Testa.

“We had a good time with those guys,” Stallsmith said of the camaraderie. “There were some good players, some good games and some good fields. It was just a nice time.”

Myron later went to slow pitch, a form of the game that he considers beneficial.

“Some kids would learn a lot about playing defense if they’d play more slow pitch because the ball’s hit all the time and somebody has to make a defensive play. Somebody has to handle the ball, so it’s a great way to learn to play. Hitting is just getting up and banging the ball.”

Myron played at Ohio University, where he has a record for most career triples (9) and the distinction of going error-less in 100 chances during his senior season.

“I didn’t happen to boot any, so it came out nice,” he said meekly of his glue-glove fielding.

In the spring of 1959, OU won the MAC title and made the NCAA tournament.

That summer, after his eligibility was exhausted, Stallsmith signed to play in the Philadelphia Phillies’ rookie league in Halifax. “It was nice to play ball and get a paycheck,” Myron said of the experience. “I didn’t get rich, but it was fun to play ball under those circumstances.”

He then returned to OU to finish his schooling.

Like Suess, Stallsmith gave his views on baseball over the years, especially from the perspective as a longtime athletic director at Poland High.

“I think there are a lot more kids involved now. There are more defined leagues; I don’t think we had so many. Now, kids play organized ball at 7-8 years old. Kids are ready to play at a higher level because they’re getting such a great start.”

When Stallsmith arrived at Poland, it didn’t have an athletic director, but, once he became A.D., he spent 46 of his 49 years in that capacity, as well as an industrial arts instructor and coach.

“I never missed a paycheck in 49 years, so I count that as a successful system to be in with a lot of good people,” he said.

Now, to augment golf and booster club activities, Stallsmith is considering baseball again.

“I never joined the Baseball Oldtimers, but I’m thinking about trying,” he said of prodding from his next-door neighbor, Tom Morella, who was Poland’s first baseball coach. “He’s a [Oldtimers] member who has been trying to get me to join. I might see if the old game still goes.”

Myron also stays close to the game by watching his grandson, Hunter Snyder, an athlete at Springfield Local.

“He’ll be a senior this year and I’m looking for him to have a nice year,” Myron said of Snyder, a catcher. “He just finished up Class B and will play baseball this fall with the Midwest Pelicans out of Kent.”

When Myron became A.D., Poland didn’t have baseball, so he first coached track, football and basketball for a few years, then convinced the board of education to approve baseball. That’s when Morella was named the school’s first coach.

The advent of girls softball necessitated adjustments.

“We had no locker room for them, so they had to dress in the girls’ physical education room. But it turned out to be a very worthwhile endeavor and has been a bonanza for the girls. Now they’re very successful and go on to earn scholarships for athletics,” he said.

Stallsmith admits that, as a raw player in his youth, he didn’t know any more about baseball than kids today, but, at least players in Myron’s era had the benefit of solid fundamentals.

“In high school baseball, it seems like they need to work on bunting,” he said. “A lot of kids don’t understand proper technique and I think that’s one of biggest things I notice. In Class B, I don’t think they have enough time to devote to teaching. Coaches expect kids from high school to have the fundamentals down. The smaller schools don’t have time to teach and their coaches are hoping they’ll learn it in summer ball. It’s hard to find time to both practice and play.”

The same problem applies to hitting.

“Kids have a terrible time with the curveball, but even big-leaguers don’t hit it, so I don’t think that’s being taught enough,” Stallsmith said.

“The higher you go, the more velocity the pitches have. If [a major leaguer] hits .250, he can play. It’s a hard thing to do because pitching is so much better than it used to be.”

The last sore spot observed by Stallsmith is control.

“A lot of kids have trouble with control because they try to throw a curve, but it ends up in the dirt,” he said. “I’ve noticed that because my grandson is always digging the ball out of the dirt. They have a hard time throwing the ball for strikes. If you throw hitters a fastball, they’ll hit it, but the great equalizer is the curve because hitters don’t get to practice hitting the curve.”

Maybe the good old days aren’t so bad.

By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

» Accept
» Learn More