March 16th, 2010 | Category: zjnz.com
George Leonard Moreland was a member of the Baseball Writers
Association of America(BWAA-1908) representing Pittsburgh. He was born
in England in 1862. He published a history of Baseball called Balldom
in 1914. He died between 1938-47). He had been a Pittsburgh sport
writer for the Pittsburgh Post and became a baseball statistician with
his own bureau. He also had a son named Leonard, and a wife name
Yvette, I think. For ALL his date,yr. & place of death. I can pay $15.
for His date of birth in England would definitely earn a $5. tip.Dear Omnivorous,
The 1920 census lists Moreland as living in Pensyvania, in
Allegheny County, having been born in England. I do not know how to
determine address. Please do ask me if there is anything I can supply
you with, to accomadate your progress. I'm going to try to work the
current publishers angle, if I can. BluestreakFor anyone with the fortitude to work on George Leonard Moreland. One
strategy is to focus on his book, Balldom(1914). It was subsequently
re-published 3 times, 1915,1916,1926. He also published something
called Moreland's Percentage Tables(1913), which is not only still
available from baseball books sellers for $10.00, and interestingly
was self-published by Moreland News Bureau. I know his book Balldom
was also self-published by Moreland News Bureau. Another
stategy is to look at his son, Leonard. The SS death index lists
someone as Leonard Moreland, whose details include: Born:Sept.6,1901,
Died:Dec.,1984, Place of Death:NYC 10011, SS# 089-07-7362, Issued:NY
He was born in PA. Another stategy is his wife, Yvette born in England
around 1881. If I can gather any further data, I'll certainly pass it
on. This is mainly for luciaphile & onmivorous. I hope this helps.
Thank you for your fortitude. BluestreakHi luciaphile!
Thanks a million for tackling George. His book, Balldom,
gives his yr. of birth as 1862. The 1920 federal census lists his
place of birth as first Pennsylvania, but then is lined out, and
England is written above it. His son Leonard is born in Pennsyvania.
His wife is also listed in that census as born in England. There was a
Moreland News bureau in the 1910's, presumably about baseball. An
article in The Sporting News(Dec.15,1938,pp10) listed him among the
original members of the Baseball Writers Association of
America(BWAA)covering the 1908 World Series for a Pittsburgh newpaper.
The same article listed him as alive. A 1947 history of the Pittsburgh
Pirates by Fred Lieb referred to the Moreland book Balldom often, and
referred to George as "the late George Moreland". I have other stuff
I'll post tonight, when I have a moment to write more. Again, thanks
for taking George on. BluestreakBluestreak --
There are two ways to get address:
1. the street names are often written in the margins on the
enumeration sheets; a house number will be next to the person. Census
enumeration sheets track two numbers: the order of the houses on the
sheet (with about 200 per enumeration district) and street number.
2. provide the ED (enumeration district) from the previous census and
I can likely find them in 1920. Here's a Google question with Census
information for my own family:
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=114997
At least we'll get this narrowed down by another 10 years . . .
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GABluestreak --
Either Luciaphile or I are going to find Moreland. The book was ALSO
republished by Horton Publishing in 1989. No clue as to who they are
but they probably wanted to get a great old baseball book back into
print.
Moreland was also apparently THE American League statistician in the
early days. I'm chasing the SABR/baseball research areas to see what
I can find.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
Tribe FanHi bluestreak-ga,
This one is proving very difficult. It might help us if we knew what
sources you've consulted on this one already.
Regards,
luciaphile-galucia,
I will give details on Moreland. The 1920 census gives these
entrys: G L Moreland, 59,born England, 2.wife Yetta(best as I could
make out),39,born England 3. son Leonard, 18, born Pennsyvania, mill
clerk Another source is a book Honus Wagner by Arthur D.
Hittner(1996)pp.18 "George L. Moreland, later a pioneer baseball
historian and statistician, was assembling a ballclub at
Steubenville,Ohio to compete in the fledgling Inter-State League.
W.W.Kerr, then president and principal owner of the Pittsburgh
Pirates, was among Moreland's financial backers." Another source is
Honus Wagner by Dennis Devaleria & Jeanne Burke Devaleria(1995)pp.13
"A few Pittsburgh men joined a group of Ohioans in an effort to form a
new minor league for 1895. George L. Moreland, A Pittsburgh
sportswriter and the secretary of the now-defunct Allegheny County
League, was itching to get into baseball in an official capacity. He
began to beat the drum for the formation of a league and agreed to
own, operate, and manage a club in Steubenville, Ohio. The Inter-State
League would comprise clubs from seven Ohio towns as well as
wheeling,West Virginia." Mr. Moreland also managed Canton in the
Tri-State League in 1890. These are most of my
references that I can find on George Moreland at this time. He is my
oldest search subject. BluestreakHi Omnivorous,
I checked the 1920 census. The only thing that appears in the
margin next to Moreland's name is the number 785. BluestreakIn looking through my library of baseball reference books, I can't
find any memtion of his Moreland News Bureau. I don't know if his
business was either bought out or incorporated into one of the other
baseball information outlets of the day, such as Elias Baseball Bureau
or Howe.Dear Ominvorous,
I just must thank you and luciaphile so very very much for
your fortitude,patience and heart for your continued help on my
behalf. Thank you for the good lead on the present publisher Horton
Publishing. I found out that their address is:Bradford,West
Yorkshire,UK 1991. It came out in Feb.,1989. It's IBSN # is
0-944786-46-4. I will write them(Google.com didn't give an email
address). I will also write to Golden Age Publishing(when I find their
email address). They published his book, Balldom, on CD-Rom, in 2002.
It's IBSN # is:1-59090-055-3. So thank you both so very, very much for
all your help. Moreland is my oldest research subject. One cardinal
virtue to research is follow-through, longevity. I never stop. I take
breaks and come back again & again. BluestreakBluestreak --
No luck with the Baseball Writers Association of America or SABR.
SABR has a question posted in 1997 on its forums asking for historical
information about George and James Moreland, with no apparent
response.
Have you checked the 1930 Census? I'll be at NARA early this week and
could check Moreland for you but would need address/county/state for
him from 1920.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GABluestreak --
I can't swear that we'll get this one nailed down, but I can't
emphasize how much the details are worth. On Moreland, I want to give
you some idea of what I've found (and I know that several other
researchers have been hot on the trail):
1. his book is often mentioned; Arthur Daley (NY Times Sports
Columnist) quotes it as recently as 1945
2. standard biographical references (Marquis Who's Who in America)
routinely ignore baseball figures. They don't even mention Tristram!
Moreland isn't in the 1932-33 Who's Who in America (but neither is
Tris Speaker).
3. The 1914-1916 Book Review Digests don't list his book. That
doesn't mean much, because like the "Who's Who" they ignored important
subjects like baseball.
This is probably the important question: is there any indication of
his baseball statistics agency? Did it get acquired by Sporting News
or one of the majors?
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
|
edit