Friday, March 1, 2013

26 - Babe Ruth's 60th Home Run

THE ABERDEEN HOTEL,  Aberdeen, North Carolina


Aberdeen street scene circa 1906 (hotel on right)
 
The hotel seed may have been planted somewhere in my genes.  Although none of my family ever voiced any particular interest in hotel life, my father and his sisters more or less grew up in one.  

My grandfather worked for the railway.  He was a conductor, and in those days in the early years of the last century, a conductor's job description included various administrative and office duties.  His sister and her husband owned the Aberdeen Hotel, and as Aberdeen had well under 800 souls at the time, one assumes the hotel facilities were, like most small town hostelries, on the modest side.

The white-frame hotel seen in the distance around 1900

Aberdeen is located approximately in the center of North Carolina in what is known, for obvious reasons, as the Sandhills.  Although on U.S. Highway 1 and serviced by the major North-South railway line, it was never more than a sleepy southern community.  Still, in its earliest years it boasted a plentiful and profitable supply of lumber, and was relatively rich in cotton and tobacco.

(I sometimes enjoy recounting to Parisian friends my cotton-picking days, but am no longer very sure just how long I survived in this arduous adolescent endeavor.  I don't think I lasted as much as a week. )


Uncle Ralph, Aberdeen hotel keeper
 When Great Uncle Ralph died in the flu epidemic of 1918, Aunt Zadie made an impassioned call to her brother, Ernest, who was my grandfather.  In short, she beseeched him to take a leave of absence from the railroad and move his family to Aberdeen to help her manage the hotel.  Which he did.

So my father settled in for several years with his four older sisters, living in an annex to the three-story hotel.   

He rarely spoke of those years, but once towards the end of his life he reminisced with great nostalgia about racing up and down the hotel corridors with his cousin little-Ralph  (who much later became big Ralph after fathering another little Ralph; just as his wife was big Polly after she became the mother of little Polly).  I wasn’t certain, but I think there were tears in Daddy's eyes, as though this were a most cherished memory.

 My father, Norfleet (left), with cousin Ralph (circa 1920).  
The hotel is seen to their right.    Ralph, the only member  
of the family actually born in the hotel, was later thought
to bear a remarkable resemblance to Clark Gable!

  

Norf with Buster Brown haircut 1923
  Daddy talked affectionately about walking with his dad in front of the hotel during the 1927 World Series.  It looked much like those saloon-style structures in the old Saturday westerns.  From the balcony, someone would fill in a chart on a large board as the baseball results came in by telegraph, and townspeople would wait for the scores below.


Granddaddy in later years

 As my grandfather used Morse code in his job on the railroad, he could “hear” the results at the same time as the telegraph operator.  To my father’s great pride, his dad announced to him and to nearby spectators, “Babe Ruth just hit his 60th ... ”  well before the telegraph operator had time to transcribe the information. 

Ruth, called the Home Run King, was the most famous and highest paid baseball player of his generation.  He broke his own record for home runs in one season in the eighth inning of that historic final game of the 1927 season.


 
Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium 1924 (Google photo)

The Aberdeen Hotel suffered a serious fire in 1941.  It was replaced by a brick structure, reopened as the Sandhill Hotel, then in 1942 --the year I was born-- it burned to the ground.  It was never rebuilt.  



The Aberdeen Hotel, the early years  --The hotel's clientele was principally comprised of commercial travelers, including a myriad of tobacco-related businessmen.  Those pod-like things leaning against the ground floor railings are undoubtedly bunches of tobacco leaves, awaiting shipment to the auction markets.


Your input is welcomed:  hotel-musings@hotmail.fr

Next Friday:  "Stompin' at the Savoy ... the London years"

26 comments:

France Forever 24/7 said...

What an interesting family background you have, and yes, I do think you inherited the family's "hotel gene"!

Bill Warner in Detroit said...

Never knew there was an Aberdeen Hotel or the Pleasants connection thereto. Also what about your Uncle Linwood --he must have roamed those halls as well!

Frank Pleasants said...

Thnx for sharing, Cousin Bill! My father's brother, Linwood, was 15 years his senior, had left the nest, and was apparently out sowing his wild oats by this time (before moving back with his parents a few years later.

Delighted to see you are still following my postings.

Joel in Frederickburg, VA said...

Your Uncle Ralph should have gone to Hollywood!

Frank Pleasants said...

to Joel: I agree, but it was his son who looked like Clark Gable!

Richard Pleasants said...

The picture of "Uncle Ralph" looks very very much like his son Ralph (very strong genes).
AND I doubt you made it a week picking cotton.
Dickie

Martin in Amsterdam said...

Again an 'epistolic' treat, I so enjoy your writing style.

Dave in Virginia said...

I've just finished my delightful weekly dip into Hotel Musings and I
must with heavy heart -- guilty even, for I despise nit-picking --
report an egregious error; egregious only because you must not, ever,in publishing, make a mistake with a (shudder) baseball statistic. (I would italicize the word "baseball" if I could, to stress the seriousness of this offense, but this format does not permit that.)
Understand, this pains me, as the friend who has told you
repeatedly that this enterprise of yours deserves, and would thrive
with, publication in print: hardback print, for those true
appreciators (word? maybe) who would love to have a permanent,
touchable record.
Nonetheless, I must point out that it would not have been possible for your father to have noted by simultaneous interpretation of the Morse code that the Babe had hit his record 60th homer during the 1927
World Series, as you report, because, well, that did not happen.
Sporting records for seasons, in baseball or any or American sport,
cannot be achieved in post-season play. Only during the regular
season. Period. No argument permitted. So it could not have happened during the '27 Series, as you report.
And any baseball fan would know that and would wince, instantly.
And I suspect your hotel blog has many such fans, because it is the
sort of brilliant offering of a certain historical nature that would appeal to, shall we say, the baseball-fan generations.
I mention this only for two reasons: (1) I have said before that if you would ever listen to reason and convert this Internet creation into a book, a proper book, it would require almost no editing; except -- except -- for lapses like this. And (2) I love to pronounce on such
things.
Oh, and I also wanted to mention: your father's name was Norfleet? Norfleet Pleasants?? Magnificent.

Frank Pleasants said...

Mea Culpa, Dave! I concede my father (whose full name was Norfleet Adkins Pleasants) may have only quoted his dad as announcing that the Babe had just hit a home run. this being said, fans already knew he had hit 59 up to then that season, and all my internet sources report they were eagerly awaiting that last game to see if he beat his own record.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. the charm of the story to my eyes was the image of posting the scores from the old hotel balcony ... something I had never heard of before.

Don't give up on me, I very much hope to see you again next Friday back in London. You are one of the few friends from my London years left. And I'm sure you won't wish to miss the Ginger Rogers posting in two weeks!

Alice in Scarsdale, NY said...

Again, I am thrilled and fascinated by your blog. I loved seeing the Ritz (Brenda and Fiona too) and this week was happy to see the Aberdeen hotel.

(Little) Polly in Burlington said...

I loved it! Daddy thought he looked like Clark Gable, do not know if anyone else did. The pictures were just great. I have the one of Granddaddy Leach and also another one of him and Mammy Leach and he has on the same outfit.., think it was their wedding picture. Thanks, I am thoroughly enjoying !

Fiona in Redding, CA said...

Frank, you just told the whole world your age!!! Hahahaha!!!!!

Frank Pleasants said...

to Fiona: C'est l'insouciance de l'age!

Jane in Monroe said...

Enjoyed the hotel story very much! One of those funny twists I keep finding in life----I have no photo of my grandfather Ralph... I didn't know any of that history about Uncle Ernest moving into the hotel to help Mammy run the place. My daddy never said one word about his early history. All my stories are sketchy remarks made by
Jeanette or Mammy about those years. I wasn't curious enough in the years past to ask questions when there was anyone left to answer. The obliviousness of youth!

NYC said...

Interesting history and story of early Hotel Days. You surely have the "hotel gene".
Baseball history is serious business but sixty is still sixty.

Chris in Norfolk, England said...

Forget Clark Gable, I think Uncle Ralph is much better looking! The snippets of family history are fascinating. Your cotton picking experience, the bundles of tobacco propped against the hotel railings, not a motor vehicle in sight, what a different world. I hope you expand on this one one day, it is obviously here that the hotel gene entered your DNA. What a great name your father had, Norfleet. The sort of name that would add gravitas to a senator or the sheriff in a wild west movie!

Kasey in Southern Pines said...

I can completely understand your grandfather,and any layman actually, shouting out the record breaking 60th home run. How would he/we know it would not count in a season record keeping. Especially in 1927. It was still his 60th and at that time no one else had done that period. In my mind and in most historians' mind that was a record and it was considered so until Roger Maris hit 61 in 162 games. Babe had 60 in 152 games I think. Don't quote me on the exact numbers, but it was huge!! Imagine just how huge it was considered if the town anxiously awaited the results arriving via Morse Code and being displayed on the balcony of the hotel.

It is a fabulous vision. Thank you so much for it.

Sam in Chicago said...

Very much enjoyed the Aberdeen Hotel posting. Great old photos!

Robert in Australia said...

We're still enjoying the Hotel Musings - keep them coming.

p.s. from Polly in Burlington said...

All of my children read the blog
and were so excited to read about their grandparents of long ago... What fun this has been!

Jen in Sydney said...

Interesting to read about the hotel in Aberdeen and about your family. When living in America we made many trips round the States and actually went through Aberdeen. At the time I wondered how many "Aberdeens” there are in the world. I have visited four of them – North Carolina, Hong Kong, Scotland and New South Wales. I am sure there are plenty of others.

Frank Pleasants said...

Thanks for sharing, Jen. The world is indeed small!

Aberdeen may have been a one-horse town, but it was always located on the main no. 1 highway, so it is not surprising that you would have gone right through.

Frank Pleasants said...

p.s. to Jen: Local folklore has it that around the turn of the century my Grandmother assisted her cousin Mary in naming the town. they took some sort of Atlas and found Aberdeen as the first town listed. Since there were already a number of early settlers hailing from Scotland, they decided to stick with Aberdeen. This is the version I always heard in the family; HOWEVER, there are other "naming the town" stories that do not include my grandmother.

Kasey in Southern Pines said...

I do agree with your friend on one point. Your compilations in a single print would be a wonderful gift to the reading world. I told Dickie he must start saving his money to take me to Paris!!!! I'm dying to visit the esteemed "author of the blog".

Frank Pleasants said...

thnx, Kasey, you will be more than welcome!

Rebecca in Cape Cod said...

How interesting and charming. I love the photo of little Norfleet. Keep up the blog, Frank, it is just wonderful. I hope you have many more readers by now.