Telling’s Strollers: 1914 World Amateur Baseball Champions

A little less than a month later, Telling’s Strollers, the winners of the Cleveland city championship, beat a team from Chicago in a three-game series to win the amateur championship of the United States.

How did baseball in Cleveland gain such heights and passion? The roots are based in the Cleveland Amateur Baseball Association (CABA). CABA oversaw all the sandlot teams, going as far as to have the amateurs sign contracts to avoid players from jumping teams throughout the season.1 They also coordinated with the Cleveland Parks Commission to assign fields and worked with the Cleveland Umpires Association to have umpires assigned to all games. CABA worked with over 20 leagues, splitting them into Saturday leagues and Sunday leagues.2 But the most prestigious league was CABA’s Class A Division. By governing all the leagues, CABA created a de facto minor league for the Class A teams, guaranteeing that the best baseball was played in its league. CABA’s strong leadership saw its way through the myriad problems that would have fractured other organizations.

CABA, with the blessing of Cleveland’s Department of Recreation and backed by several wealthy benefactors, was formed in 1910 to oversee all amateur baseball in Cleveland.3 By 1914, an estimated 400-500 teams were governed by CABA.4 The Cleveland Leader called CABA the “world’s premier amateur baseball association.”5

The driving force behind CABA was Clayton Townes, a Cleveland lawyer and a powerful member of the city council.6 He was the perfect person to lead the organization, which needed to navigate Cleveland’s political landscape and engage the Cleveland wealthy. But his vision for amateur baseball went far beyond Cleveland. He was also interested in creating an amateur World Series where Cleveland could test its champion against the best amateur teams in America.

The four primary leagues that CABA governed were simply called Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D. The classes were divided by age for the first five seasons of their existence. Class D was for players under 16. Class C had 16-18-year-old teams. Class B was for 18-21-year-olds and Class A was for players over 21.7 In March 1914, 20 teams planned to play in Class A, which played once a week on Sundays, including two Black teams, the Z-Stars and the Royal Giants.8 Games were free to attend. The number of teams in each league varied from year to year and even during the season as teams folded for varying reasons.

One of the teams that had played in the CABA every year since 1910 was the Strollers. It had won the very first CABA Class A championship in 1910 and was one of the better teams every year since. Going into the 1914 season, the Strollers acquired a sponsor, the Telling Brothers Ice Cream Company. The president of the company, William E. “Bill” Telling, was the driving force in sponsoring the team. Telling’s company was a leader in the dairy industry, being the first company “to pasteurize, develop, and distribute (via home delivery) glass bottled milk, which revolutionized the industry with standards of cleanliness and purity.”9 Not only did he sponsor the Strollers, Telling backed a team in the Class B division (Belle Vernon) and teams in Columbus, Akron, and Youngstown.10

While gaining a sponsor, the Strollers didn’t change their manager, Frank Novario. Nicknamed “Doik” for his love of marbles as a child, Novario became manager of the Strollers in 1912.11 Before Novario, the Strollers had seven different managers predating the formation of CABA.12 Novario was also on CABA’s board of directors.13 A Cleveland native, he was a circulator for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.14

For 1914, Novario built his team around the Schreiner brothers, Dudley and Norman. Dudley played center field and was the Strollers’ leadoff hitter. He was a base-stealing threat who terrorized opposing catchers. An all-around athlete, he also played football for the powerful Canton Professionals. Norman was the team’s captain and a hitting machine in the middle of the Strollers order.

Roy Kirby was named the Strollers shortstop. In 1913, Kirby played in the then minor-league Federal League for the Cleveland Green Sox. He was called the “best shortstop in Cleveland” by the Cleveland Leader.15 A steady fielder, he had some pop in his bat. He often batted behind Dudley Schreiner in the batting lineup.

The two corner outfielders were Art Huge (right field) and Eddie Raus (left field). Joining Norman Schreiner and Kirby in the infield was Joe Krupitzer at second base. Krupitzer turned out to be the Telling’s Strollers best hitter, batting .370 for the season. Veteran George Novak was the Strollers’ third baseman until he broke a finger on his right hand before the season opener on April 26.16 He attempted to play but was batting less than .100 when he was cut from the team. Novario tried a couple of different third basemen before settling on Jimmy Prosser. Prosser wasn’t much of a hitter but he was a fine fielder, committing only two errors during the season.

Novario went through several pitchers before landing on Charley Saxe. Saxe was a Cleveland fireman who had played in the minor leagues since 1910.17 He started the season with the semi-pro Shelby Blues before moving over to the Strollers in June. A hard throwing right-hander, he struck out 68 batters in 13 games for the Strollers while walking 23 and hitting four batters.

Joe Dooley was the Strollers catcher to start the season but left four games into the season to play for the semipro Crestline, Ohio, team. Novario tried three other catchers before signing George Gohr. Gohr started 1914 playing in the minor league Ohio State League, first with Ironton and then with Maysville.18 He was cut from Maysville in July and Novario grabbed him for the Strollers. His bat was a welcome addition to the Strollers lineup. He hit .294 and stole seven bases in 15 games.

Despite Dooley jumping the team, Telling and Novario were able to keep other semipro teams from cherry-picking their best players. One of the worst kept secrets of the CABA was that players were paid in both Class A and Class B leagues. It was a “well known fact that many of the Class A and B players.. .are being paid anywhere from $3 to $5 and some time even $10 per contest,” wrote the Cleveland Leader.19 While paying the players allowed the CABA to keep players from leaving, it created a problem later in the season for the Strollers and nearly derailed their march to city championship.

The season opened on April 26 for the CABA teams. The season started inauspiciously for the Strollers, who lost, 2-1, to the McIntyres at Edgewater Park before a purported crowd of 10,000.20 The loss would be the last for the Strollers in Cleveland until July 26. In that time, they went 11-1 with their lone loss being in Barberton, Ohio, against a local semipro team.21

As the Strollers rolled through their season, there was incredible anticipation for their July 19 game with the Marottas, one of the better teams in CABA’s Class A. An estimated15,000 people jammed into Edge-water Park for the contest.22 The Marottas bolstered their lineup by signing Emil Kalal, a shortstop who had a tryout with Terre Haute of the Central League.23 This was highly unusual because Kalal was a member of the Preisels, another CABA Division A team.24 The game featured everything from dirty tactics to a riot to extra innings. The umpires stopped the game once because spectators were using mirrors to blind batters. Coaches kicked up dirt into infielders’ eyes. Then, in the bottom of ninth, umpire Fred Britton called the Strollers’ Krupitzer out at the plate when he tried to score the winning run on Norman Schreiner’s single. A riot ensued. Six Stroller players and several spectators were taken to the 12th precinct police station when order was restored. The game was halted until the players, after being warned, returned to the field. When the game was restarted, the Marottas scored two runs in the top of the 10th to win 9-7.25

The CABA Division A playoffs began on August 2. The CABA board picked eight teams to participate in the playoffs.26 The big news was that George Sisler, an Akron native off his season at the University of Michigan, was playing for the May Company in the playoffs.27 The Strollers’ first-round opponents were the D.R.K. All-Stars. The Strollers easily beat them two straight games in the best-of-three series. Next up was the White Autos. Again, the Strollers took just two games to eliminate their opponent, putting the team in the city championship.

Through a series of coin flips, Brookside Park Stadium was picked as the place where the Strollers and their opponents, the Street Cleaners, would play.28

Brookside Park Stadium was a natural amphitheater.29 The stands could hold about 1,500 people but the hills around the ballfield could “accommodate nearly 100,000 people.” In preparation for the contest, a large tree behind the backstop was removed and the grass diamond was made over to a “skin diamond of clay.”30 “Not since the Naps made such a gallant but losing fight for the American League pennant in 1908 has such interest been in evidence over a baseball series,” wrote the Cleveland Leader.31 Despite the threat of rain and problems with the street-car system, 40,000-45,000 people turned out to watch the Strollers win the first game, 3-2.32

One item of serious concern for CABA was the amount of money being bet on the games.33 A day before the first game was played, the Cleveland Leader wrote that close to $10,000 had been bet on the first game of the championship series.34 To prevent the bribing of umpires, the names of the umpires were not revealed to the public during the playoffs.35 CABA had one incident during the CABA Class C playoffs when 22 players were arrested from two teams when it was learned that each team had put up $67 with the winner to claim the money.36

For the second game, the “special streetcar service” was promised to handle the throngs.37 The newspapers estimated anywhere from 45,000-80,000 people attended.38 When Saxe was uncharacteristically hit hard, rumors began to circulate that the Strollers had tipped off pitches and that the “players failed to play to win” after losing, 6-1.39 While there was a chance that the Strollers threw the game, the loss probably was due to fact that some of the team was demanding more money and played poorly to make a point when they were denied. The newspapers reported that on the morning of the game, Saxe went to Telling demanding more money than their normal salary for Gohr, Norman Schreiner, Prosser, and himself.40

Due to the accusations, Townes met with the team, Novario, and Telling before the third game.41 At the meeting, everyone denied any wrongdoing. It was “just a misunderstanding,” said Norman Schreiner about the player dissatisfaction.42 In the end, the big news that came out of the meeting was that CABA would employ 50 “counters” to go through Brookside Park and count the number of attendees for Game Three.43

A huge crowd met the players when they took the field on September 20. To handle the crowd, the Cleveland Railway Co. ran 261 trolley cars an hour by Brookside.44 John Bunny, one of the most well-known comedic actors of the time, threw the first pitch.45 The Strollers easily handled the Street Cleaners, 8-3. Saxe pitched a great game, striking out nine and only walking one and hitting another with a pitch. After the game, the Strollers’ Social Club passed the hat and gave Saxe $40.46

The official count for the game was 83,753. But the counters felt they missed about 10% of the crowd so the final number was revised to about 91,000.47 By contrast, at the same time, 2,800 fans watch the Cleveland Naps lose their 95th game of the season at League Park.

 

 

Townes, earlier in the year, had engaged many cities in the midwest to create an amateur World Series.48 Now his plan was coming to fruition. Teams from Kansas City, Louisville, Columbus, Toledo, St. Paul, Omaha, Chicago, and St. Louis had been playing each other and by October, three teams, including the Strollers, were left. It was decided that the St. Louis team would play the Strollers and the winner would take on Chicago in the amateur World Series. The best-of-three series between the St. Louis team, Hellrung & Grimm, and the Strollers was to be played at League Park in Cleveland starting on Saturday, October 3, with the second game to follow the next day. Hellrung & Grimm had a record of 26-3 entering the series.49 Their best player was pitcher Ray Neusel, who had signed with Burlington of the Central Association in July, but was back with the team after the Central Association season closed.50

Before the first game, Townes was called to the Strollers’ locker room to find Saxe, Prosser, and second baseman Jake Young in their street clothes. The players let Townes know they wanted to be paid. Townes refused to address their concerns. Prosser and Saxe left the team while Young got dressed to play. Townes later banned Saxe and Prosser from playing in CABA games.51 The Strollers found themselves without their starting pitcher and third baseman. Novario quickly switched to Joe Belohoubek, who played with the Preisels in the regular season, to pitch the first game. Young, who had taken over second base after Krupitzer was hurt, was moved to third base and Krupitzer took back his job at second. Despite the changes, the Strollers took both games, 6-2 and 3-2, to advance to the amateur World Series.

The rubber game was played at Chicago’s Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) on Sunday, October 18.5. fans attended the finale. Cyrgalis was back on the mound and pitched even better ball than the previous Sunday. He held the Butler Brothers to five hits and two runs as the Strollers took the final game, 3-2. After the last out, Cyrgalis was carried around the park by Cleveland fans who had made the trip to Chicago.

The 1914 season was not an anomaly for Cleveland baseball fans. In 1915, crowd estimates for several games ran anywhere from 60,000 to 115,000 attendees as CABA played most of their big games at Brookside Park. The White Autos, whom the Strollers had beaten in the second round of the 1914 Cleveland playoffs, won the amateur world’s championship in 1915, traveling to San Francisco to seal the championship. Cleveland would continue to support sandlot baseball well into the 1950s.53 

JACK V. MORRIS is the retired head of a large pharmaceutical company’s research library. He splits his time between suburban Philadelphia and coastal Delaware with his wife and is the father of two adult daughters. His baseball biographies have appeared in numerous SABR books including The Team That Forever Changed Baseball and America (1947 Brooklyn Dodgers) and Scandal on the South Side (1919 Chicago White Sox). He is not the Jack Morris of World Series fame but, every once in a great while, wishes he was.

 

Notes

1. “Townes, C.A.B.A. Leader, Accepts Challenge and Declare War on C.U.A,” Cleveland Leader, August 4, 1914, 8.

2. In 1911, the Ohio state legislature declared Sunday baseball legal if it started after noon. Mike Curtin, “No Sunday Baseball, Booze Sales, Rioting…Ohio’s Long History with ‘Blue Laws’,” Columbus Dispatch, April 18, 2023, https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-sunday-baseball-booze-sales-095511056.html, accessed on March 12, 2026.

3. Richard Raponi, “Amateur Baseball at Brookside Park,” Cleveland Center for Public History + Digital Humanities website, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/606, accessed on February 28, 2026.

4. Johnny Lodwick, “Improvements Will Cost Amateurs Many Baseball Diamonds,” Cleveland Leader, February 8, 1914, 2; Carl Whelan, “Amateur Season to be Opened in Style with 400 Teams,” Cleveland Leader, April 26, 1914, 36.

5. Carl Whelan “Novario has Great Squad of Amateur Baseball Tossers,” Cleveland Leader, June 7, 1914, 2.

6. Townes took over the city council seat from his father. In 1924, Townes became mayor of Cleveland under Cleveland’s City Manager Plan. Case Western Reserve website, https://case.edu/ech/articles/t/townes-clayton-c, accessed on March 12, 2026.

7. Starting in 1915, the teams were classified by playing ability rather than age. This was precipitated in 1914 by the fact that every team in Class C were found to have over-age players.

8. The white newspapers noted the Black teams but provided little coverage—at most a box score—unlike the White teams which were featured prominently in the papers. The Z-Stars and Royal Giants were eventually kicked out of the CABA for charging admission fees for their games.

9. Jim Lanese, “William E. Telling—Dairyman and Businessman,” Cleveland Center for Public History + Digital Humanities website, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/606, accessed on February 28, 2026.

10. “Items of Interest to Amateurs Gathered by Johnny Lodwick,” Cleveland Leader, April 5, 1914, 2.

11. “Novario of Sandlots is Dead at 82,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 16, 1964, 32.

12. Johnny Lodwick, “Pilots for Amateur Nines are Much in Demand by Cleveland Amateurs,” Cleveland Leader, March 15, 1914, 2.

13. “Three New Men are Named to Board of C.A.B.A.,” Cleveland Leader, April 8, 1914, 8.

14. “Frank Paul Novario is Doik’s Big Secret,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 26, 1914, 14.

15. “Stars in the Amateur Ranks,” Cleveland Leader, May 1, 1914, 11.

16. “Features of Opening Contests in C.A.B.A.,” Cleveland Press, April 27, 1914, 13.

17. Charles B. Saxe, The Sporting News Contract Card, https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/115889/rec/1, accessed on March 13, 2026.

18. “Catcher Gohr is to Play with Ironton,” Cleveland Press, January 31, 1914, 10; George Gohr, The Sporting News Contract Card, https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/61903/rec/2, accessed on March 13, 2026.

19. Carl Whelan, “Townes Can’t Get Proof That Coin Goes to Amateurs,” Cleveland Leader, June 14, 1914, 2.

20. Carl Whelan, “Blaser Fans 14 Macs but Loses Game,” Cleveland Leader, April 27, 1914, 11.

21. “Barberton Boys Break Even with Cleveland Team,” Akron Evening Times, June 1, 1914, 10.

22. “Riot Halts Ball Game,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20, 1914, 12.

23. Emil Kalal, The Sporting News Contract Card, https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/113735/rec/1, accessed on March 13, 2026.

24. Kalal was sent back to the Preisels after the game. Since the Preisels manager had signed off on the transaction, it was a legal move under CABA’s bylaws.

25. “Victory Goes to Marottas,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20, 1914, 11; “Riot Halts Ball Game,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20, 1914, 12; “Protest May Follow if Kalal Plays on Sunday,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 25, 1914, 3.

26. In addition to the Strollers, the teams were the May Company, Street Cleaners, D.R.K. All-Stars, White Autos, News, Marotta, and Preisels.

27. “Dope On Amateur Games is Upset in Worst Way,” Cleveland Plain Dealer August 3, 1914, 9.

28. “First Championship Game in Stadium at Brookside Park,” Cleveland Press, September 1, 1914, 10.

29. It’s now called Brookside Reservation.

30. Carl Whelan, “Saxe to Oppose Verran,” Cleveland Leader, September 6, 1914, 1.

31. Carl Whelan, “Fortune Wagered on Game,” Cleveland Leader, September 5, 1914, 6.

32. The Plain Dealer was the most conservative of the three Cleveland papers in estimating crowd size throughout the series. The Leader estimated 45,000 people and the Press wrote that 45,00-60,000 attended. “Forty Thousand Persons See Strollers’ Victory,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 7, 1914, 11; Carl Whelan, “Strollers Take Opening Game from Cleaners in 3 to 2 Pitchers’ Duel,” Cleveland Leader, September 7, 1914, 8; “Biggest Crowd in Baseball History Sees First Clash of City Championship Series,” Cleveland Press, September 7, 1914, 1, 8.

33. “Amateur Players Pinched for Betting on Contest,” Cleveland Leader, September 21, 1914, 8.

34. Carl Whelan, “Fortune Wagered on Game.”

35. “C.A.B.A. Officials Can’t Trust Umps,” Cleveland Leader, August 16, 1914, 2.

36. “Amateur Players Pinched for Betting on Contest.”

37. Carl Whelan, “Same Pitchers to Work Again in Title Game,” Cleveland Leader, September 13, 1914, 1.

38. The Plain Dealer was the low estimate at 45,000. The Leader claimed 60,000 and the Press wrote that 85,000 people attended. “Victory Gives Cleaners Chance for City Title,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 14, 1914, 9-10; Cleveland Leader, September 14, 1914, 8; “Verran Stars Cleaners Sweep Tellings to Defeat,” Cleveland Press, September 14, 1914, 10.

39. Carl Whelan, “Four Men to be Dropped by Tellings,” Cleveland Leader, September 15, 1914, 11.

40. Carl Whelan, “Four Men to be Dropped by Tellings.”

41. “Krupitzer to Play Second Base for Telling Strollers in Final Contest,” Cleveland Press, September 14, 1914, 9.

42. “Regular Telling Stroller Team Takes Field Sunday,” Cleveland Press, September 16, 1914, 10.

43. “Clockers to Get Total Present at Amateur Contest,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 16, 1914, 11.

44. “Enormous Crowd Expected at Amateur Title Game,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 20, 1914, 17.

45. Carl Whelan, “Strollers Win Amateur Title of Sixth City,” Cleveland Leader, September 21, 1914, 8.

46. Carl Whelan, “Strollers Win Amateur Title of Sixth City”.

47. “Telling Strollers Execute Comeback and Win City Championship,” Cleveland Press, September 21, 1914, 12.

48. Carl Whelan, “World’s Amateur Series Booked at League Park,” Cleveland Leader, October 1, 1914, 8.

49. Carl Whelan, “St. Louis Baseball Champions Come to Tackle Strollers,” Cleveland Leader, October 3, 1914, 6.

50. Ray Neusel, The Sporting News Contract Card, https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll3/id/155765/rec/4, accessed on March 13, 2026.

51. Carl Whelan, “Saxe is Barred for Asking for Money to Hurl,” Cleveland Leader, October 4, 1914, 1. It was claimed by Prosser that his contract guaranteed him a certain sum for every game but, for the St. Louis series, they were expected to play for free.

52. The game was called, controversially, after the top of the eighth due to darkness after the crowd surged onto the field while the Butler Brothers team was protesting a call.

53. For an excellent review of sandlot baseball in Cleveland, see Richard Raponi, “Amateur Baseball at Brookside Park,” Cleveland Center for Public History + Digital Humanities website, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/606, accessed on February 28, 2026.