By Pauline Masson –
History has taken baseball for granted in the formation of the city, but no worries.
A few weeks run through old newspapers reveals 100 summers when weekly baseball games pulled the town together for an afternoon – and eventually an evening – of hometown oneness when everybody was rooting for the home team.
Out of Pacific’s myriad baseball leagues from the late 1920s to 2025 came several minor league players, one major leaguer and one of the most successful college women’s softball coaches of all time.
Thanks to the love of America’s favorite game, eager athletes in the 1900s kept the town of Pacific on baseball scoreboards across the Meramec Valley and into St. Louis County as far as Valley Park, Ellisville and Chesterfield.
Hundreds of teams and thousands of boys to men played in an array of leagues: the American Legion League, Meramec Valley League, Franklin County League, PHS High School baseball, Pacific Adult League, Little League and the Khoury League.
What turned me on to historic baseball was this past year of researching local history in old newspapers.
I was not looking for baseball. I was looking for stories on historic buildings, families and events. And these stories about baseball kept popping up. I mean real, sports page style play-by-play write ups of local baseball games, with big plays by local greats, along with game stats for both the home team and the opponents, often on the front page. Every at bat, run, hit, pass and error was reported. You really got to see what those athletes could do.
Meramec Valley League / Franklin County League
Don Brocato recalled that as a youngster he could see a baseball game in Pacific every Sunday in the spring and summer.
“But these weren’t kids,” Mr. Brocato said.”There were pretty well grown when they joined these leagues. And they got to be pretty well known.”
These teams were part and parcel of community life that captured the imagination of the local newspaper editor, turning him into a sports writer. And as Mr. Brocato said, the players garnered a glimmer of home town fame.
One name that kept appearing in the 1930s was Faszold. Four Faszold brothers played baseball for Pacific in the Meramec Valley League and Franklin County League. – Barney, William, Sylvester and John. In almost every game there were two of them in the lineup, more often there were three – on rare occasions all four.
Barney seems to have garnered the most news print. He played center field, but he was heck of a hitter and made first page headlines as a pitcher. If the manager was absent for any reason Barney was assigned as manager. In June 1935 MVL game, with three Faszold’s on the lineup Barney, Bill and John, Pacific defeated Catawissa 21 to 9.
The wonder of how the town responded to these athletes was great reading.
“Barney Faszold came through in great style as he pinch-hitter for Olmstead in the sixth inning with the bases loaded, doubled to deep center on which three runs scored,” the Pacific Transcript reported. “Skeets Leber relieved pitcher Johnny Hoch in the third inning with four-run handicap and chalks himself up a victory by letting but one run cross home plate.”
The Faszolds even had a girl soft ball player in the family. Susie Faszold went on to play minor league softball for Kutis in St. Louis. She lives in Enid, Oklahoma. Her nephew P.J. gave me her number so I called her.
“What was it like, all that attention?” I asked her.
“It didn’t seem like such a big thing,” she said. “We just drove into St. Louis, played a game and came home.”
The MVL was not kid’s baseball. Barney Faszold was born in December 1913 so in the summer of 1935 he was 21 years old. Everybody on the team looked about his age. Barney and his team mates faced teams from Allenton, Chesterfield, Ellisville, Eureka, Gray Summit, Grover, and Valley Park. Home games were played at Beachamp’s Ball Park on the bank of the Meramec off South First Street.
Art Lewis played on this team, and so did Bob Klinger. Klinger was really from Allenton but he was often in the Pacific Meramec Valley League lineup. He graduated to minor league baseball with the St.Louis Cardinal’s farm club and later played big league baseball for eleven years, eight with Pittsburgh Pirates and three with the Boston Red Sox. After he retired, he moved his family here and made his home in Pacific.
Art Lewis, who earned legendary status as star ball player and had a local ball park named for him, played on this team. And so did Bob Klinger. Klinger was really from Allenton but he was often in the Pacific Meramec Valley League and Franklin County League lineups. He graduated to minor league baseball with the St. Louis Cardinal’s farm club and later played big league baseball for eleven years. He was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1938, where he won 12 games and lost only five in his first season, earning the attention of sports writers who dubbed him “one of the better freshmen pitchers of the season.” Klinger played eight years with the Pittsburgh Pirates and three with the Boston Red Sox. After he retired, he moved his family here and made his home in Pacific.
American Legion Junior Baseball was started in 1922.
In the 1930s American Legion posts organized baseball teams for boys 15 through 18 in eight cities in our area. Pacific, New Haven, St. Clair, Sullivan, Union, Washington, Herman, and Wentzville, all had Legion teams. They played ten games in the regular season from the last week in April through July 1. Games were rotated from city to city and the local sports writer was at every game. Amerlcan Legion games were also played at Beachamp’s Ball Park.
Legion Baseball got a lot of attention from Big League owners because it served as a quasi farm club to give boys a grounding in the sport before they were old enough, or confident enough, to try out for minor league teams.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that “29 of the 50 players selected for the 1948 major league All-Star game played on July 12 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis are American Legion Junior League baseball graduates”
In April 1949, twenty-seven boys tried out for the Pacific American Legion team, which was one of 14,531 Legion teams reporting to National American Legion headquarters.
In June 1951, with the Pacific Legion team in first place, the Cleveland Indians invited Pacific Legion players to try out for the Indians farm club. Dale Thornton, John Pullin, Ed Parrett, and Miles Bay made the trip to Ballwin to play for the big league recruiters.
Transcript editor/sports writer was so enthralled, in a Sept. 27, 1957 game in the Tri-State Championship matches where Pacific competed against Normandy, he ballyhooed the Pacific team.“ To see these young men play together against such worthy opponents has been a real treat, and their games outshine any in the major leagues now in progress.”
Today Legion baseball continues to fill newspaper sports pages.
Khoury League
A big event in the history of baseball in Pacific was in 1955 when George Khoury came to Pacific saying he wanted to bring a program that would enable all boys to play baseball. His visit energized a veritable land rush of boys, parents, city leaders and local businesses to introduce Pacific to a new organization of youth baseball, the Khoury League.
The fathers and businessmen joined forces to secure the property for a ball field at the end of South Fifth Street. It’s still there today. Art Muehler and David Wells were able to borrow bleachers from a seasonal field in Festus. They drove there in the spring to pick them up and bring them to Pacific and took them back when the season ended.
George Khoury, the man whose wife Dorothy started Khoury Leagues, was a rich businessman who had time on his hands and who never met anyone he couldn’t talk to. He decided to help her. They had already started more than a thousand Khoury Leagues in Missouri and Illinois when George showed up in Pacific. I think there are about 45,000 Khoury Leagues today.
The newspaper ballyhooed the news that George Khoury was coming to Pacific and organized a meeting with parents and boys between seven and fifteen who wanted to play. The town took to the idea, as they say, like hot dogs and apple pie.
On Sunday, October 1, 1956 the new Khoury Park, through the combined physical efforts of many men and the use of some ponderous machinery work of grading and smoothing, the new park and it’s three diamonds has been completed.
Khoury League Baseball was everything Dorothy Khoury dreamed of and more.
Linda Wells, a five-sport athlete, college softball coach and Olympic softball coach, got her start in the Pacific Khoury League, actually before the Khoury League. She once described her youth here as following her brothers around, carrying equipment with the hope of getting an occasional at bat, and “always looking for another game.” In January, she was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, her ninth Hall of Fame posting.
Ms. Wells doesn’t recall whether her father David Wells met with George Khoury. She was only 12 when Khoury came to Pacific but her brother Kenneth recalled seeing his father and the youth baseball organizer together..
Local lore tells us that David Wells actively worked to establish a Khoury League in Pacific that recruited teams for both boys and girls baseball. What really appealed to Mr. Wells was that he had two daughters, Linda and Martha. who were such strong multi-sport players they often landed on boys baseball teams.
“Dad was looking for any opportunity for girls to play against girls because he didn’t want us to play on boys’ teams,” Ms. Wells said.
Thanks to Mr. Wells efforts, throughout after the late 1950s girls softball was part of Khoury League games in Pacific.
Ed Titter, who now lives in Union, recalls the early Khoury League summers here. He played on the Rau Rexall Drugs team and Citizens Bank team. He remembers playing at the Khoury League field and he said they also played at the High School field, current day Pacific Intermediate (PI).
The Khoury League organized all star games for the strong players, who played their games at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Ed Titter’s main position was pitcher and he also played shortstop. He said that in one of the All Star games he played in they put him in the outfield because he was left handed.
In the 1950s Pacific High School also added baseball which gave young athletes a chance to play. Ed Titter was on the 1959 team where he gained recognition as a strong relief pitcher.
Modern youth baseball, descendant of the Khoury League continues under the auspices of the Pacific Youth Association (PYA). The PYA has had ebbs and flows of team participation over time but is currently actively working to maintain Pacific’s youth baseball legacy. PYA president Matt Gerling said he, vice president Bill Strothkamp, and other coaches are working to rebuild the Pacific youth baseball to what it once was.
PYA Officers strive to maintain the PYA field (the former Khoury League Field), and recruit teams, coaches, and sponsors to field baseball and softball games for Pacific boys and girls. They bring a modern approach to management and recruiting.
The PYA maintains an Internet web page that offers Training Leagues (T-Ball) for players ages 4 – 6 that are just starting the games of baseball and softball; Machine pitch leagues for players 7 – 8 that have a basic understanding, but are continuing to learn and develop; the Challenger baseball League; and Adult Softball Leagues for players 18 and over (Men’s and Coed)
The PYA web page reports that recruitment the 2025 season is underway and will continue until March 1, 2025. To register players or coaches online go to – www.pyaballpark.com. You can also find information on the PYA Facebook page at Pacific Youth Association-PYA.
