Next Up At The Plate, Thomas Edison! - Baseball & History Unveiled

Acknowledgement: I want to dedicate this article to a great friend, Mark Rosche. He was the “Voice Of The Fliers” for over three decades and loved many things, including the Clyde-Green Springs community and sports. He consistently threw his full support and interest into everything Clyde-Green Springs students were doing, even driving to Milan four years ago to listen to me give one of my first tours at the Birthplace. I think Mr. Rosche knew ahead of that visit that I would do well in Milan because he gave me my first CGS News Flier interview earlier that same year, after we beat the Edison Chargers on their home court. Somewhere upstairs, I know Mr. Rosche is reading this article and will grab his iPad to interview Thomas Edison about their shared love of baseball. Fly high, all-star.

This summer, millions across America and the world will be flocking to their nearest ballpark to enjoy “America’s Pastime”: baseball. Baseball has endeared itself to generations of Americans for many reasons, but baseball is a microcosm of life in many ways. Sometimes you get on base, strike out, sometimes you get the “yips” and have an accidental error, and everyone always hopes to get “home”. In many ways, Thomas Edison’s life was like a baseball game. He had a few home runs and strikeouts, and he didn’t always win every game he played in, but he always dusted himself off and got back into the batter’s box. Perhaps it’s no surprise that a mind as tireless as Edison’s found peace in the game's simplicity. He loved the game of baseball, stating in 1927, “Baseball is the greatest of American games. I don’t believe you can find a more ardent follower of baseball than myself, as a day seldom passes when I do not read sporting pages of the newspaper”.

A photo of Alva Bradley II (left) and C.C. Slapnicka (right) signing a contract with Bob Feller (center). The picture on the wall frame is of the original Alva Bradley, from whom Thomas gets his middle name—source: Iowa History Journal.

His bug for baseball was instilled in him long before he was born. What do I mean by that? Thomas Edison’s first connection to baseball can be found in his middle name. When Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11, 1847, he was given the middle name “Alva” in honor of the Edison family friend, Alva Bradley. It was Captain Alva Bradley, a native of Vermillion, Ohio, who recommended that Samuel Edison move to Milan, Ohio, after he fled from Vienna, Ontario, Canada. Captain Bradley lived in the Edison Birthplace before Thomas was born, and he was even engaged to Thomas’s cousin, Ann Dunham, before she passed away. Captain Bradley’s grandson, Alva Bradley II, owned the Cleveland Indians from 1927 to 1946. Under his watch, he brought baseball legends, including Lou Boudreau, Mel Harder, and Bob Lemon, and he even signed the electric arm behind the “Heater From Van Meter”, Bob Feller, to Cleveland. Two years after he sold the team in 1948, the Cleveland Indians won the World Series.

Ty Cobb (left) with Connie Mack (right) and Thomas Edison in Fort Myers, Florida, on March 7, 1927. Source: Thomas Edison National Historic Park.

Around the same time Alva Bradley II purchased the Cleveland Indians in 1927, Thomas Edison was in Fort Myers, Florida, taking batting practice from Ty Cobb. Yes, you just read that sentence correctly. Each year, baseball teams from all across the country briefly relocate their operations to the southern half of the United States to take advantage of the warmer weather for their “Spring Training”. The Philadelphia Athletics, managed by baseball legend Connie Mack, spent their springs in Fort Myers at Terry Field. Edison, who had a home and lab in Fort Myers, often stopped by Terry Field to watch the A’s prepare for the upcoming season.

Edison taking batting practice, with Connie Mack as the catcher and Ty Cobb as the pitcher. Source: Dan Holmes, Vintage Detroit Collection.

Ty Cobb, who by 1927  had terrorized baseball for just over two decades with his blend of efficient hitting and his aggressive baserunning, volunteered to throw batting practice to Edison, who had just recently celebrated his 80th birthday. At first, Thomas did not hit much besides the air in front of him, and Ty Cobb moved from the mound to get closer, hoping that Edison would make contact. In baseball, as in life, all it takes is one good crack of the bat to change how things are going. Thomas finally made contact and lined a comebacker straight back at Cobb, knocking him flat onto the diamond. Amid the laughter, Thomas approached Ty Cobb and said, “Think you can hit them like that when you’re 80?” Cobb laughed and shook hands with Thomas, knowing he had just been “lit up” by the world’s greatest inventor.

A picture of the original Yankee Stadium on April 3, 1923, fifteen days before it would see its first 6,581 Yankee baseball games over its 85 years of operation. Edison’s cement was used in the construction, and it was so tough that it made Yankee Stadium tough to demolish—source: Pete Caldera via the Library of Congress.

Edison didn’t just play his favorite game; he built one of the most hallowed grounds in baseball history, Yankee Stadium. “The House That Ruth Built” was physically built by Edison using his Portland Cement and served as the home of the Yankees from its opening in 1923 until 2008. Creating Yankee Stadium was a gargantuan task, as the Edison Portland Cement Company had to develop 30,000 cubic yards of concrete, made from 45,000 barrels of cement, 30,000 cubic yards of gravel, and 15,000 cubic yards of sand. On Opening Day in 1923, nearly 65,000 fans watched the Yankees take down the Boston Red Sox thanks to a Babe Ruth home run to open the stadium Edison built in style. When they demolished the original Yankee Stadium in 2010, the demolition teams found it incredibly difficult to do because of how tough Edison’s cement was.

A picture of Lizzie Arlington, the first female professional baseball player. She was on the Reading Coal Heavers in 1898 when Thomas Edison filmed their game with the Newark Colts—source: Baseball Reference.

Edison and his film crew were among the first to film a baseball game. In 1898, he and his cameraman William Heise (the first person to film a hockey game) filmed a minor league game between the Reading Coal Heavers and the Newark Colts. In the film, which you can watch via a link from the Library of Congress, a Newark player is walked by a Reading pitcher, followed by a Newark player knocking a hit and running to first. Notably, on the Coal Heavers roster in 1898 was Lizzie Arlington, the first woman to play professional baseball, who came on as a relief pitcher late in a game. In one inning of work, she scattered two hits and allowed a walk, but she gave up no runs despite the threatening runners on the bases.

So, as you and yours head to the turnstiles, grab a hot dog, and sit down to enjoy a baseball game this summer at your local ballpark, realize that you are not so different from Thomas Edison as you may think. Beneath the patents and progress, he too was a kid at heart. Before the lights blazed over the diamond or the scoreboard flickered to life, Thomas Edison sat where you sat with his eyes fixed on the game. He saw beauty in the bat's crack, the chase around the bases, and the hope in every inning. Baseball was his quiet joy, his pause from progress, and maybe, it's our quiet joy too.

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Sources Used and Encouraged for Further Reading

• Baseball Reference. 2022. “Alva Bradley II - Baseball Reference Bullpen.” Baseball Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Alva_Bradley

• Baseball Reference. 2024. “Lizzie Arlington - Baseball Reference Bullpen.” Baseball Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Lizzie_Arlington

• Caldera, Pete. 2023. “Old Yankee Stadium opened its doors 100 years ago today. How should we honor this occasion?” The Record (Woodland Park), April 18, 2023. https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/yankees/2023/04/18/old-yankee-stadium-site-macombs-dam-park-bronx-house-that-ruth-built/70105475007/

• Edison And Ford Winter Estates. 2019. “Baseball at Terry Park - From Edison to Today (Events Canceled).” Edison and Ford Winter Estates. https://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/baseball-at-terry-park-from-edison-to-today/

• Holmes, Dan. 2018. “When Ty Cobb and Thomas Edison met in spring training.” Vintage Detroit Collection. https://www.vintagedetroit.com/ty-cobb-thomas-edison-met-spring-training/?srsltid=AfmBOopOAwFAmnBWD8DvhIm_cSBpOhWLmydta6aAvOQHprlKr7GPE9D6

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Dillon Liskai, a native of Clyde, Ohio, is a Bowling Green State University junior. He is pursuing a degree in Adolescent to Young Adult (AYA) Integrated Social Studies Education, with a specialization in History.

Dillon has served as a tour guide at the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace Museum for the past three years. When not at school or the museum, he enjoys cheering on the Bowling Green Falcons, spending time with friends and family, and exploring local history.

Have a question for Dillon? Reach out via email at dliskai@tomedison.org!