About 1934 E.K. Emig donated 9.5 acres to the Emig Athletic Association. We have been gone from Emigsville since 69’ and just came back in 2003 and I was surprised when I came back to see that the ball field is all turned around. The Emigsville Athletic Association doesn’t own the ball ground anymore, but Manchester Township does. Back when E.K. donated it, it was supposed to stay with the Emigsville Athletic Association.
The men in the town, and the boys… anyone who was interested in baseball brought rakes and shovels and what have ya and we laid out a baseball diamond. Then in 34-35 we had a ball team and the ball team joined the Central York County League. When I first started, I was a bat boy.
We won the championship in 1936. I am sad to say that all the people on the picture and Ham’s? dad is one of them. There are nine men on there that played baseball and we had three bat boys, Jim Snellbaker?, Paul Juleas? and myself. Every one of those people except me has passed away.
Now the teams after the war were as good as any B or C professional teams today. We had really hot professional baseball. The teams that were in the league at that time were Emigsville, York Haven, and Mount Wolf, Manchester, North York, Shiloh, Dover and York New Salem. I played center field for the baseball team from 1938-1953 and I am proud to say that every year I played I was on the all-star team.
Now the old ball field that my dad and Ham’s? dad and other older fellas played in Bill? Shires? field next to the tobacco sheds. It’s in the industrial park now, cause everything now around Emigsville is an industrial park, but back then the ball field was over there. Another fella Harry Hose?, he used to catch for the team, but they weren’t in any league at that time, they played anybody and everybody who came around.
In the summertime we used the ball field for other than baseball. We played croquet, horseshoes, football, tennis and of course later on the Boy Scout building was built.
And every fall was a big time in this town, we used to have an ox roast. They’d hire a guy to come in with an oven and he’d put a steer in it and cook it all night long and then next day why he’d sell it. Then they also had carnivals.
The town always was a happy community as far as I was concerned. It was centered around both churches and the playground.
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