Lakewood Lore

Resident was in the stands as Wamby made diamond history

Baseball has been a cherished chunk of Elmer Meinke's 91 years.

After all, how many Lakewoodites can say they were there -- at League park on Oct. 10, 1920 -- when Indians second baseman Bill Wamby made the only unassisted triple play in World Series history.

"It was a warm, beautiful fall day, with the sky blue and the sun shining for the fifth game in the series between the Indians and the Brooklyn Dodgers," remembers Meinke, who was 22 at the time.

"I rode a streetcar part way to the park, which was at Lexington and East 66th, and then walked the last mile or so. After the memorable triple play, a packed house clapped and hollered so long and loud that Wamby had to come back out on the field and doff his hat to the crowd."

How did it actually happen? Well, in the fifth inning of that fifth game, with two Dodgers on base -- one on first and the other on second -- Wamby stabbed a line drive, stepped on second base before the runner heading for third could duck back, and then tagged out the other Dodger running from first to second on the pitch.

For Meinke, it was to become an unforgettable memory, that game. Not only because of the triple play, but also because, in the same game, Indians outfielder Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in a World Series, and Indians pitcher Jim Bagby hit the first World Series home run by a pitcher.

Suffice to say, Cleveland, after winning the fifth game, 8-1, then went on to cop the series and take the world championship crown.

At the end of his big league career, Wamby, whose real name was William Adolph Wambsganss, came to Lakewood where he managed amateur teams. Until his death in 1985 at age 91, he lived in a home he bought on Elbur Avenue.

In Wamby's later years, Meinke saw him frequently, as did Lakewood librarian Marilyn Laquatra.

"Wamby was a delightful man -- a well read, regular patron of our library," Laquatra recalled.

Meinke, who recollects the famed second baseman as "a fine gentleman at all times," himself became a lover of the game of baseball when he was a school boy who couldn't see the blackboard. While Meinke was recovering from his sixth eye operation in his teens, a fellow patient in Lakeside Hospital read him the sports pages, thus kindling his interest.

Miraculously, Meinke's very difficult cataract surgery was successful. "Today I still drive and still see fly balls," boast the nonagenarian.

While he made his livelihood through the years at various jobs in local manufacturing firms, Meinke's heart was always where he could hear the crack of the bat.

He joined the Cleveland Scorers Association in 1922 and tabulated the scores for both amateur hardball and softball in the area for 64 years.

In the mid-1930s he worked the first amateur softball game played under lights. Four years ago, he was named to the Greater Cleveland Slow Pitch Hall of Fame.

He and Marie, his wife of 69 years, moved to Lakewood's Sloane Avenue from the Near West Side in 1955. They reared a son and a daughter, both of whom are no longer living. Today the couple live in the Elmwood home of granddaughter, Carolee McDonough.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post May 3, 1990. Reprinted with permission.

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