Polly McLarry

“In the morning he won a bride . . . and then proceeded to win the ball game, with a couple of home runs, much to the delight of the bride who sat in the stands and cheered his efforts.”1

On the morning of June 19, 1914, Vella Chloa Glasman, an accomplished 22-year-old singer living in Lincoln, Nebraska, informed her parents she was heading out to a local lake beachfront for a day swim.2 Glasman instead boarded a train south, heading to Kansas City, Missouri, with plans to elope. Her soon-to-be husband, Howard McLarry, an infielder for the visiting Louisville Colonels of the American Association, awaited her at the station. After a morning courthouse wedding ceremony, Howard belted two home runs in an afternoon victory against the hometown Blues.3 After the game, Louisville manager Jack Hayden attempted on the telephone to placate Vella’s parents back home, irate upon learning of the wedding. The McLarrys’ whirlwind union sadly ended in divorce less than a year later, with Vella eventually assuming the stage name of Jean Sargent and becoming an early Westinghouse and CBS radio star in Boston and New York.4

Possibly distracted by the budding courtship and union, Howard committed 51 errors for Louisville in the 1914 season.5 So how exactly does a subpar infielder secure a job with the Chicago Cubs the next spring?

The answer is, in the words of 1915 Cubs manager Roger Bresnahan, “Polly can hit!”—McLarry getting the nickname of “Polly” because he owned a pet parrot as a youth.6 True to form, “Polly” McLarry fielded poorly, but also surprisingly hit poorly at the highest level, with a 1-for-25 skid ending his lone full major league season.

McLarry proceeded to spend 14 more years in the minors, even earning the 1918 International League batting title. He later became a hotheaded umpire before eventually selling rural Texas farmland.

Howard Zell McLarry was born on March 25, 1891,7 in Leonard, Texas (60 miles northeast of Dallas), to Samuel (Sam) Walter McLarry, a Kentucky-born oil company agent and later a farmer, and Janet Smith (Wright) McLarry, a Scottish emigrant. Howard was the second of six children.

Prior to his professional baseball days, Howard was coached for a time by local auto man Hubb Diggs, who later also helped develop shortstop Topper Rigney.8 In August 1909, 18-year-old McLarry collected four hits in a victory for a local amateur Bonham squad against McKinney.9

The next summer, McLarry played with the regional semipro champion Longview Cannibals10 managed by the town mayor.11 McLarry had two home runs in a June contest and the “grandstand went wild.”12 However, fielding was not his forte, as the second baseman, “their best hitter,” endured a terrible fielding day with four errors in a July loss.13

McLarry signed his first professional contract with the Austin Senators of the Class B Texas League for 1911. Three weeks into the season, however, manager Dale Gear sent McLarry to the Beeville Orange Growers of the Class D Southwest Texas League.14 Beeville boss Billy Disch soon moved McLarry, standing at 6’1” and weighing 185 pounds, to first base. As a lefty-swinging leadoff hitter, he walloped the “longest-ever” Beeville homer in a July game against Victoria.15 By mid-July, McLarry, “the most feared batter in the league,” was hitting at a .370 clip.16 He slumped down the stretch, ending the season at .283, but led the league with 27 doubles and was acknowledged as “one of the heaviest hitters” in the league.17 Beeville won the second half, then was handed the league pennant when their opponent, Bay City, citing financial losses, refused to play. McLarry played the last week of the season back in Austin with the Senators.

For Austin in 1912, McLarry showed as “the real cheese” at first base, “scooping up everything that came ‘within a mile’ of him—in the heavens above or the earth beneath.”18 He hit .294 in 125 games. In August, Austin sold McLarry and teammate Wiley Taylor to the Chicago White Sox.19 McLarry made two unsuccessful pinch-hitting appearances for the fourth-place White Sox during the first week of September, both at home, in identical 12-4 losses to the Detroit Tigers. In the first appearance, McLarry struck out in his debut on September 2 against Jean Dubuc, the same day two other White Sox first baseman recruits, Babe Borton and Mutz Ens, also debuted. Two days later, McLarry flied out against Ed Willett.

That evening, White Sox manager Jimmy Callahan sent McLarry to the Lincoln Railsplitters (aka the Antelopes) of the Class A Western League.20 McLarry collected seven hits, including two doubles, two triples, and a home run in a late September doubleheader against Topeka.21

During the season’s last week, and like a scene out of the movies, McLarry, the “husky Texan,” won $50 by “thump[ing] the bull sign,” a Bull Durham cigarette advertisement, with a homer.22 He again hit the sign before the season’s end, “pocketing a round one hundred ducats.”23

McLarry hit .361 in his 20 games for Lincoln and soon met Vella Glasman, a singer who had performed solos in local oratorios and contributed occasional poems about local players to the Lincoln Star sports section.24

Lincoln wished to keep the “fence-buster” McLarry for 1913, but White Sox owner Charles Comiskey maintained an option on him.25 However, Chicago allowed it to lapse, so new Topeka Jayhawks manager Gear, McLarry’s boss at Austin in 1912, snatched him up, purchasing him from the Senators to take one of his outfield spots.26 McLarry hit .306 with 48 doubles in 159 games in the Class A Western League but committed a woeful 36 errors in 101 games at second base after Gear moved him into the infield.27 The Lincoln Daily Star noted that although McLarry “plays second base with the characteristic gracefulness of a big tumble bug, he gets away with it.”28 He posted a 26-game hitting streak in August for the sixth-place Jayhawks.29

During the season, the local Topeka Daily Capital also reported about how the local “heavy hitting right fielder” was “very much in love with a pretty little girl” from back home in Leonard (a lady named Grace Deane), who regularly shipped Polly candy and treats.30

In September, the Louisville Colonels, champions of the Class AA American Association, drafted McLarry, prevailing over a competing draft bid sent in by the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League.31

McLarry took over second base for the Colonels in 1914, replacing Rudy Hulswitt. During a June 1914 road trip with Louisville through Kansas City, McLarry jilted his hometown sweetheart and married Glasman, much to the dismay of the bride’s parents. After the wedding ceremony, McLarry then belted two home runs and had a single in the game against the hosting Kansas City Blues.

Four days after the couple tied the knot, Polly was a principal in a huge in-game fight in Milwaukee, which started when he spiked the home catcher at the plate.32

To cap off a memorable fortnight, it was announced on June 30 that McLarry had surreptitiously signed with the St. Louis Terriers of the nascent Federal League. Pitcher Ernie Herbert, a personal friend and former Austin teammate of Polly, had persuaded McLarry back in May to sign a contract for $2,000 with the Terriers.33 McLarry’s Louisville teammate Fred Toney was also ready to sign as soon as McLarry’s test-case contract went through. However, Federal League president James Gilmore demanded that Terrier manager Mordecai Brown void the contract to uphold the upstart league’s recent agreement of avoiding signing players from the American Association.34

McLarry hit .316 in 1914 for the Colonels, but also committed 51 errors over 155 games at second base, registering the lowest fielding percentage (.941) in the league.35 During this time he was listed as an undertaker back in Texas when not playing ball, with the quip being that McLarry “ought to know how to take care of a dead arm.”36

Louisville sold McLarry to the Chicago Cubs in January 1915,37 with Chicago soon sending Claud Derrick to Louisville to complete the deal.38 The Sporting Life lauded the rookie second baseman’s smooth swing as “Joe Jackson all over again.”39

In camp with the Cubs, McLarry was characterized as the “big, ungainly second baseman” who “cannot run, whose fielding is only fair, and whose knowledge of playing second base is exceedingly limited.”40 However, new manager Roger Bresnahan prepared to pin his faith on the youngster.41 Bresnahan intended to start McLarry at second base over Art Phelan, succeeding the recently released Bill Sweeney, but that never truly materialized, partly due to an serious eye infection McLarry suffered near the end of camp.42

McLarry spent the entire 1915 season with the fourth-place Cubs, playing in 39 games (28 starts) in the field at both first and second base, as well as tallying 29 pinch-hitting appearances. A
1-for-25 slide in his final 17 games dropped his final average to .197, and he didn’t play in any of the team’s final 10 contests. McLarry also displayed little power, with but three doubles and one home run over 146 plate appearances. His lone homer occurred on July 31 off Hank Ritter of the New York Giants while subbing for the injured starting first baseman Vic Saier.

In the field, McLarry’s four errors over 178 chances at first base (a .978 fielding percentage) over 18 games garnered McLarry the lowest fielding percentage of any National League first baseman with at least 15 appearances on the season.43

McLarry did have better luck off the diamond. On Friday, August 13, Polly remarried, to Grace Merna Deane, the “pretty little girl” from back home in Texas.44 Polly once again planned for a morning ceremony before a ballgame; however, he lucked out in that the Cubs game in St. Louis was rained out and was thus able to spend the full day with his new bride.

It was claimed that Grace “fell in love with (Polly) because of the dignified way he conducted funerals. For the last seven years she had idolized him.”45 The Cubs did not give McLarry the customary chest of silver as a wedding gift but a nickel-plated set of undertaking tools.46

McLarry was reserved in December by the Cubs for 1916. However, when Joe Tinker became the new manager, he waived McLarry, Bobby Fisher, and Ed Schorr, who all signed with the Los Angeles Angels of the Class AA Pacific Coast League.47 McLarry hit .293 in 168 games for the Angels.

He was traded along with Jim Galloway to the Vernon Tigers in the PCL for Gus Gleichmann in February 1917. His fielding again left something to be desired. The Los Angeles Evening Post-Record was vicious: “The spectacle of a man who thinks he is a first baseman trying to hold down a second base job is becoming the laughingstock of the Vernon ball club on the Pacific coast.”48

He hit .286 in 62 games for Vernon, but, by June, he was given his release to make room for Herb Hunter.49 It was rumored that McLarry would sign with Joe McGinnity’s Butte (Montana) Miners of the Northwestern League,50 but McLarry instead landed with the Shreveport Gassers. Back in the Texas League, he hit .266 in 80 games.

He re-upped with Shreveport for 1918 but was sold in early June for $400 to the Binghamton (New York) Bingoes of the Class AA International League.51 McLarry had a 15-game hitting streak as of late August.52 He hovered over .400 for most of the summer, before claiming the league batting title with a .385 mark over 103 games, also leading the circuit with 26 doubles.

He enlisted in the Army after the 1918 season, but it’s unclear if he actually got into uniform.53 Nonetheless, a nationally syndicated article projected that “big league magnates may be dickering already for Polly McLarry.”54 However, it was also claimed that McLarry “had a rather surly disposition, which worked greatly towards lowering his value as a player.”55

Out of the service by April 1919, McLarry returned to the Bingoes and hit .326. He was sold to the St. Louis Cardinals in February 1920 for Bill Hobbs and cash. St. Louis needed a first sacker, but McLarry didn’t make the cut and was sent to the Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern Association (SA).56 McLarry hit .337 in 148 games for the sixth-place Chickasaws.

Returning to Memphis in 1921 and now playing for new manager Spencer Abbott, McLarry and the Chicks won the SA pennant, before falling in six games to Fort Worth in the Dixie Series.57 McLarry finished the season at .353, good for third in the league, with his 15 home runs second-best. He also drove in 135 runs, leading the league, and had a .990 fielding percentage.58 His season was noted as one of the best ever by a Chicks first baseman, comparing favorably with Jake Daubert’s 1909 and Babe Herman’s 1923 campaigns.59

After the 1921 season, McLarry and Memphis traveled to Cuba to face the Almendares and La Havana squads.60 However, after McLarry’s disappointing 1922 season with Memphis, the Arkansas Democrat reported that McLarry “has expressed himself as desiring a change of scenery, and it is understood that the feeling is mutual.”61

McLarry landed with the Des Moines Boosters of the Western League for 1923 and hit .363, second on the team to Shags Horan’s .411. He planned on returning to Iowa for 1924, but was late in reporting, being slowed up by pneumonia at his home in Leonard.62 Despite a .308 average, he was cut in mid-June, landing less than a week later with the Reading (Pennsylvania) Keystones of the International League, reuniting with Abbott.63 McLarry hit .334 in 88 games for Reading while taking over first base from the departed Dick Hoblitzell. Back with the Keystones for 1925, McLarry led the league with 46 doubles and the team with 14 HRs, five more than Moe Berg.

Reading sold McLarry to the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association prior to the 1926 season.64 The Nashville infield, with Jay Partridge at second, Buck Redfern at shortstop, and McLarry at first set a league record with 182 double plays.65

Polly started 1927 back with the Volunteers. The league suspended him for five days in late April 1927 for arguing with an umpire. McLarry­­ finished the year in the SA with the Atlanta Crackers. He tied for the highest league fielding percentage for first baseman with Ray Schmandt with a .994 mark.66

For 1928, McLarry accepted his first full-time managerial assignment, leading and playing for the Selma (Alabama) Cloverleafs of the reorganized Class B Southwestern League, stocking the squad with multiple Texas players.67 But after the team’s early, poor 18-30 last-place showing, he resigned in June.68 McLarry the player caught on with the Meridian (Mississippi) Mets of the Class D Cotton States League for a spell, but he was released in August.

McLarry the “former umpire-baiter” then performed a “turn-about” and became an official himself.69 Western Association director Dale Gear (McLarry’s first pro manager at Austin) hired McLarry, who then worked in the Western League for 1930.70 McLarry later umpired in the Southern Association from 1933-38.71 An informal poll of league managers in 1933 labeled McLarry as both the best home plate umpire and the worst base umpire.72

The next season, McLarry got wise to Atlanta’s delaying strategies in a July game, compelling “the stalling Crackers to play the last two-thirds of their fifth round (inning) in a blinding rainstorm.”73 In 1936, umpire McLarry knocked loose a tooth of Calvin Griffith, then the secretary of the Chattanooga Lookouts, during a dressing room altercation.74

Two years later, McLarry was fired as a SA umpire for ejecting too many players, with the report alleging he carried “a chip on his shoulder.”75 He was known as “a hot head as a player, trying to umpire in the league. He had more trouble than any umpire in the league, putting out more players.”76

McLarry the arbiter latched on with the American Association in 1939 but was cut after the season. He worked in the Three-I League in 1941 and the Western Association again in 1942, then retired his mask and indicator.

From about 1940 until 1963, McLarry engaged in Texas in both sports and business, including real estate, insurance, farming, and dominoes. The 1940 census showed McLarry living with wife Grace and five-year-old son Dan in Fannin, Texas, where Polly was a real estate and insurance agent. By 1947, and living in Leonard, McLarry sold local farmland and became president of the local softball league.77 He ended up being a top rep for United Farm Agency, a seller of rural real estate in Bonham, winning an award for their Million Dollar Club by 1956.78 He also owned “a 300-acre stock and diversified farm” near Bailey, Texas.79 In 1963, McLarry owned a domino hall in Bonham.80

Grace McLarry, Polly’s wife of 55 years, died in 1970, after serving for years as a proprietor at a Dairy Queen and later as cashier at a school cafeteria lunchroom. In early 1971, Polly married Clara Davis, a beauty salon operator.

Howard “Polly” McLarry died on November 4, 1971, at the age of 80 in Bonham of heart failure and was buried at the Leonard Cemetery.81 McLarry was survived by Clara, son Dan, stepson Mike, three sisters, and three grandchildren.

McLarry was inducted into the Fannin County, Texas, Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.82

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Howard Rosenberg and fact-checked by Terry Bohn.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, StatsCrew.com, and MyHeritage.com.

Notes

1 “Vella Glasman Married,” Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln), June 21, 1914: 3.

2 “Miss Vella Glasman Married to Howard ‘Polly’ McLarry,” Lincoln (Nebraska) Star, June 20, 1914: 3.

3 “A Bride and a Ball Game,” Kansas City Times, June 20, 1914: 8.

4 Howard Fitzpatrick, “Among the Studios,” Boston Sunday Post, September 16, 1928: 15; Howard Fitzpatrick, “Among the Studios,” Boston Sunday Post, October 21, 1928: 52; “About People,” Lincoln Star, July 16, 1929: 14.

5 “Official Fielding Averages of American Association,” Courier-Journal, December 23, 1914: 7.

6 I.E. Sanborn, “Polly McLary (sic), Cub Second Baseman, Was Once a White Sox Recruit,” Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1915: 11.

7 McLarry’s Hall of Fame file claims his birth year is 1892 and incorrectly lists him as Paul Howard McLarry.

8 “Hubb Diggs, Auto Man, Loves to Fan Baseball,” Fort Worth Record-Telegram, February 22, 1919: 7.

9 “Bonham 6, McKinney 5,” Fort Worth Record and Register, August 18, 1909: 6.

10 “Longview’s Mayor Boosts Cannibals,” Wichita Falls (Texas) Times, July 14, 1910: 1. For a history of the Longview Cannibals, please see Jeff Campbell, “Early East Texas Baseball,” Stephan F. Austin University, Center for Regional Heritage Research, 2015, https://www.sfasu.edu/heritagecenter/9649.asp.

11 “Play Ball,” Marshall (Texas) Messenger, June 6, 1910: 1.

12 “Furnished Bait for Cannibals,” Marshall Messenger, June 14, 1910: 1 (listed as McLarey).

13 “Marshall Won by Six to Two,” Marshall Messenger, July 6, 1910: 1 (listed as McClarry).

14 “Rain Bars Games in Texas League,” Austin American-Statesman, May 3, 1911: 3.

15 “McLarry Sewed Up Game for Beeville with Record Home Run,” Houston Post, July 3, 1911: 3.

16 “Beeville Has Some Batters,” Houston Post, July 16, 1911: 22.

17 “Governor Will Throw First Strike Today,” Austin Daily Statesman, April 12, 1912: 3.

18 J.M. Cummings, “Big Thing Begins; Senators Win First,” Austin Daily Statesman, April 13, 1912: 3.

19 “Callahan is Ready to Try New Players,” Inter Ocean (Chicago), August 19, 1912: 5.

20 “Tigers Triumph over White Sox,” Des Moines Register, September 5, 1912: 8.

21 “Seductive Harvest Time,” Nebraska State Journal, September 23, 1912: 3; “Antelope Fighters Massacred Kaws,” Topeka (Kansas) Capital, September 23, 1912: 2.

22 “Notes,” Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily Star, October 5, 1912: 5.

23 “On the Bench,” Topeka State Journal, April 10, 1913: 3.

24 Cutbee, “Baseball Bugology,” Lincoln Daily Star, May 10, 1914: 32.

25 “Sports,” Lincoln Daily Star, September 26, 1912: 6.

26 “Notes,” Topeka Capital, September 23, 1913: 2.

27 “Official Western League Fielding Averages 1913” Topeka Capital, November 29, 1913: 2.

28 “Sporting Review,” Lincoln Daily Star, August 26, 1913: 7.

29 “On the Bench,” Topeka State Journal, August 30, 1913: 3.

30 “Short Stories of Sport,” Topeka Capital, April 9, 1913: 2.

31 “Colonels Get Him,” Topeka State Journal, September 24, 1913: 3.

32 “Ugly Fight on Field in Milwaukee Game,” Lima (Ohio) Morning Star, September 24, 1914: 9; “Sport Marred by Fist Fight” Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) June 24, 1914: 9; “Baseball Row Sounds Riot Call,” Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, September 25, 1914: 3.

33 Harry F. Pierce, “Terriers Start a Three-Game Series in Buffalo Today, Star and Times (St. Louis), May 18, 1914: 8.

34 Harry F. Pierce, “American Association Moguls May Join Federals in War on Forces of Organized Baseball,” Star and Times, June 30, 1914: 11; Harry F. Pierce, “Second Sacker McLarry, Star of A.A. Last Season, Signs Contract with St. Louis Feds,” Star and Times, January 15, 1915: 10.

35 “Official Fielding Averages of American Association,” Courier-Journal, December 23, 1914: 7. Karl Crandall of Indianapolis committed 52 errors, but in more chances, to end up with a fielding percentage of .9414, compared with McLarry’s .9407, although rounded to .941.

36 “News Sport Notes,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Times Leader, August 19, 1915: 4.

37 “Polly McLarry Sold to Chicago,” Wichita (Kansas) Eagle, January 14, 1915: 7.

38 “Derrick to Louisville in Polly M’Larry Trade,” Milwaukee Sentinel, January 22, 1915: 8.

39 “National League Notes,” The Sporting Life, March 13, 1915: 5.

40 Joseph W. Foley, “Cubs’ Chances for Being Pennant Factor Depend on Polly McLarry and Bresnahan,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 2, 1915: 20.

41 Foley, “Cubs’ Chances.”

42 “Baseball,” Evening News (Providence, Rhode Island), April 12, 1915: 3.

43 “National League Fielding Records,” Washington (DC) Herald, November 29, 1915: 11.

44 James Crusinberry, “Wedding Bells Cheer Up Cubs as Rain Falls,” Chicago Tribune, August 14: 1915: 7; “Polly M’Larry is Married Again,” Topeka Capital, August 16, 1915: 2; “Marriage Licenses,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 14, 1915: 9. Birth records show Grace Deane was a week away from her 18th birthday.

45 Crusinberry, “Wedding.”

46 “Notes,” Boston Globe, November 13, 1915: 7.

47 “Axe is Wielded,” Daily Gate City (Keokuk, Iowa), January 11, 1916: 6; The Day Book (Chicago), January 11, 1916: 5.

48 “McLarry After Error Record,” Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, April 14, 1917: 3.

49 “McLarry Loses Job with Vernon Tigers,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 1917: 6.

50 “Butte Makes Best Showing in League for Past Week,” Butte (Montana) Post, June 25, 1917: 12.

51 “Shreveport Player Sold to Binghamton,” (Scranton, Pennsylvania) Tribune, June 5, 1918: 10.

52 Al Munro Elias, “Baseball Dope for the Past Week,” Buffalo (New York) Enquirer, August 31, 1918: 9.

53 “Reading Gets Franchise; Donovan Leads Newark,” Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York), April 12, 1919: 17.

54 “Polly M’Larry Hard Hitter,” Chicago Eagle, January 11, 1919: 8.

55 “Polly McLarry is Still Hitting ‘Em,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 26, 1918: 10.

56 “Introducing New Chick,” Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), March 14, 1920: 31.

57 “Panthers, Led by Joe Pate, Humble Chicks Again and Cop Title,” Wichita Falls Times, September 29, 1921: 10.

58 “Looking Back at the Chicks,” Commercial Appeal, March 11, 1943: 24.

59 “Looking Back at the Chicks.”

60 W.N. Stone, “Dempsey is Fading Out of Limelight,” Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), October 25, 1921: 7.

61 Bob Pigue, “Abolition of Salary Limit Sought by Chicks President; Dobbs to Be in Full Charge,” Arkansas Democrat, November 7, 1922: 7.

62 Sec Taylor, “Mike Howard and Brissler Appear Equal,” Des Moines Register, March 23, 1924: 6.

63 “Polly McLarry Will Join Reading Club,” Des Moines Tribune, June 27, 1924: 19.

64 Blinkey Horn, “Vols Buy Polly McLarry to Take Custody of First Base,” (Nashville) Tennessean, March 16, 1926: 7.

65 Red O’Donnell, “Mihalic, Partridge Work Double Plays on Bombers,” (Nashville) Tennessean, October 28, 1942: 10.

66 Chas H. Miller, “Sturdy Sets Pace for First-Sackers,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, March 2, 1930: 19.

67 “Selma Team of Southeastern League Showing Up Well in Practice,” Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser, March 22, 1928: 13.

68 “M’Larry is Released, Acton Put in Charge,” Selma (Alabama) Times-Journal, June 3, 1928: 1.

69 Wirt Gammon, “Just Between Us Fans,” Chattanooga Daily Times, February 25, 1944: 16.

70 Western League Adds Several New Umpires,” Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), January 29, 1930: 17.

71 “Southern Umpires Has Added Two New Faces,” Knoxville (Tennessee) News-Sentinel, April 2, 1933: 7.

72 Bob Murphy, “Heard on the Sportrola: Polly McLarry,” Knoxville (Tennessee) Journal, May 19, 1933: 11.

73 Blinkey Horn, “McLarry Breaks Up Crackers’ Time-Killing Tactics,” Tennessean, July 2, 1934: 6.

74 “He Argued with Umpire,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 21, 1936: 20.

75 “Wirt Gammon, “Just Between Us Fans,” Chattanooga Times, August 20, 1938: 8.

76 Zipp Newman, “Dusting ‘Em Off,” Birmingham News, April 24, 1951: 22.

77 “Leonard Softball League to Start Monday, Bonham (Texas) Daily Favorite, April 7, 1947: 4.

78 “H. Polly McLarry Wins Merit Award,” Bonham Daily Favorite, October 29, 1956: 2.

79 “Polly McLarry is Named as Agent,” Bonham Daily Favorite, February 5, 1952: 1.

80 “Leonard Domino Hall Burglarized,” Bonham Daily Favorite, June 6, 1963: 1.

81 “McLarry Services are Set Saturday at Leonard Church,” Bonham Daily Favorite, November 5, 1971: 2.

82 John Shaw, “Five to be Inducted into Fannin County’s Sports Hall of Fame,” Bonham Daily Favorite, September 6, 2000: 1.