Episode 33: Stepping Up to the Plate and Into the Ring

The craze for baseball hit Cleveland in the 1860s, and is reflected in telegraph operator William Manning's diaries. He and his cousins played baseball among themselves. The Cathedral Sodality Club that they belonged to formed a team, as did their father, Thomas Manning's, iron foundry. William Manning also mentioned attending several Forest City Baseball Club games. Cleveland's baseball team was a fully professional team and charter members of the American League, by the time that Irish Americans Jack Graney and Steve O'Neill joined the team in 1908 and 1911, respectively. Both were members of the 1920 World Championship team, and Graney went on to become the team's radio broadcaster. Boxing rivaled baseball in popularity, however, and Cleveland's Johnny Kilbane rose to national prominence as world featherweight champion from 1912-1923.