An undated (probably c. 1951) photograph of the Valley View American Legion baseball team. Valley View, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
The photo was found on a Tribute Page for Jack Hepler at the S. R. Rothermel Funeral Home. Jack was born January 3, 1931 and died on July 3, 2020.
None of the individuals pictured are identified, but one is apparently Jack Hepler of Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, who was a minor league baseball player in the St. Louis Cardinal’s organization in 1950. Hepler appears in various photos of Gratz area baseball teams, some of which have been published on this blog.
Jack Hepler‘s minor league baseball stats can be found at Baseball Reference.
Can any reader supply the names of the individuals in the photo? A number key is given below for assistance.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
The Legion baseball team was the very first team for Valley View, Legion post 575. The photograph is from 1947. The players are 1-Wayne Artz; 2-Kermit Wiest; 3-Jack Hepler; 4-Ross Blyler; 5-Robert Buffington; 6-Don Hopple; 7- Sam Starr; 8-Forrest Kissinger; 9-Jacob (Checky) Rissinger; 10-Forrest Herb; 11-Bruce Huntsinger; 12- Robert Troutman; 13-Ray Knorr; 14-Lee Kessler; 15-Robert Miller; 16-Daniel Runkle. The team was coached by Eddie Zeigler. Jack Hepler pitched most of the games, and played the outfield when he wasn’t pitching. This team won the South Schuylkill championship but then lost to St. Clair in the Schuylkill County playoffs.
Forrest Herb played 1st, Huntsinger and Buffington played 2nd, Artz played 3rd, Hopple and sometimes Knorr caught. Blyler was shortstop. Troutman played left, Huntsinger played center when not at 2nd, and right field was either Hepler or Wiest. Runkle or Kessler pitched if Hepler didn’t, and Kessler played the outfield. There was a lot of switching around of positions. This info was provided by Forrest Herb.
This in reference to your article 7/20/20. My name is Don Hopple and I played on this team.I played for the legion team in 1947,1948 and 1950. Gratz had their own team in 1949. If you have any questions you can reach me at 570-274-4769. If I don’t answer please leave a message and I’ll return your call
Don Hopple #7 is my father. If you have any other information that you’d like to add, I’m sure that my dad could offer you some interesting information. My name is Debra Hopple Geise and you can reach me by email or on Facebook. Thank you for the information!