Many thanks to Gary Brown for a true Deadball moment. By way of background . . .
In 2006, I stopped with my family in Newcomerstown, Ohio. Because of Cy Young’s connections to that town, I visited the Temperance Tavern Museum. It was there that I learned Cy Young’s former house may or may not still be standing in nearby Peoli, Ohio. Because the rest of my family expressed little interest in spending a few hours trying to track down Cy Young’s former home, it was left for another day for me to go in search of the house. That day came in 2009 when I returned to Peoli in search of Cy Young’s former home. Long story short, I found the house.
My trips to Newcomerstown and Peoli were background for a chapter in my book Deadball, A Metaphysical Baseball Novel, whereby Byron Bennett heads to Newcomerstown in search of Cy Young and ends up finding both his former house and the cemetery where he is interred.
This summer, I received an email from Gary Brown who had seen my posts about Newcomerstown and Cy Young’s house. Mr. Brown informed me he had unearthed a previously unknown photograph of Cy Young taken in front of his house in Peoli and asked if I would be interested in it. Long story short, I was. Without further adieu, here is the picture:
On the back of the photograph is the name Harold E. Thomas, whom Mr. Brown believes is the person to the left of Cy Young in the photograph. Also in the photo is a collie, sitting at the feet of Mr. Young. When I visited the Temperance Tavern Museum in 2006, one of our tour guides told us that people used to stop by Cy Young’s house for a visit and whenever someone took out a camera to take a photograph of Mr. Young, his dog would come running up and pose for the picture as well.
To have found a photograph of Mr. Young, posing with his dog and a visitor in Peoli, Ohio, was truly a Deadball moment. Thank you Mr. Brown.
