Nebraska Minor League Baseball
Nebraska State League
Columbus 1910

In 1910 Columbus was one of the charter teams in the Nebraska State League. They were a first division club for the entire year and gave Fremont a run for their money towards the end of the season. They finished the year in second place, 4 ½ games out of first.

Columbus is a good example of the type of dialog that occurred in 1910 over Sunday baseball. The discussion started with a meeting at the Congregational Church on April 29th. According to the Columbus paper, about 50 men attended the meeting. It was estimated that about 15 were against Sunday baseball and the rest were in favor of Sunday ball. Rev. Wm Dibble of the Congregational church, D Roush of the First Methodist Church and Wm. Hackerman of the German Methodist Church represented the clergy and President Dan Schram represented the baseball club.

The club indicated that they located the baseball park in a less than ideal area so that the crowd and noise would not impact any of the residential areas of the town. County attorney Hensley was not opposed to playing baseball on Sunday. By the end of the meeting it was concluded that Sunday ball would not face organized opposition. As a result the Nebraska State League scheduled Sunday games for Columbus.

Joe Dolan was named manager of the team for 1910. The Baltimore native played in the majors from 1896 through 1901. He played in the infield for Louisville and Philadelphia in the National League. He settled in Omaha and died in 1938.

Roster:
First base was split between Joe Dolan and Copple with the former playing in 64 games and the latter in 38. Joe had a long career in organized baseball. He was born in Baltimore but got his start in Omaha in 1894. He played in the National League with Louisville and Philadelphia and in the American League with Philadelphia Athletics. He settled in Omaha in 1902 and played for Pa Rourkes team from 1903-1907. He then played in Des Moines and Winston Salem before coming to Columbus for the 1910 season. He settled in Omaha after his playing career. Copple came to Columbus after a stint in the Illinois Missouri League. Dolan averaged .251 and Copple averaged .222

Second base was mainly played by Littlejohn He played in 82 games and averaged .266. E. Brown 17 games , Scanlon 13 games.

Third base was held down by Malum. He played in 110 games and averaged .175 for the year.

Eddie Brown was at short stop for Columbus. He played in 105 games and averaged .245.

Catcher Agnew played in 93 games, most of them at catcher. He averaged .301, second on the team.

The outfield for Columbus saw a lot of gardeners during the year. The regulars included Martin Chittick who played in 109 games and averaged .248. Ray Halley played in 29 games and averaged .303. Frank Badura (32 games .219) and C. Brown (58 games, .230) at least averaged above .200.

Moxie Meixell started the year in the Illinois Missouri League with Beardstown. The Lake Crystal MN native played in 16 games for Columbus and averaged .160. He became a regular for Columbus in 1911. Moved to the Western League with Sioux City at the end of the 1911 season and had a cup of coffee with the Cleveland Naps in 1912. He then bounced around the minors with stints in New Orleans, Flint, Evansville, Newport and Fargo.

John Corbett played in 11 games and averaged .148. He Played in the Iowa League from 1904 through 1907, the Central Association in 1908 and the Illinois Missouri league in 1909.

James Scanlon played most of the season with Beardstown in the Illinois Missouri League. He played 17 games for Columbus and averaged .337. He played for Omaha in 1912.

Others included , Tighe, Kelly and Pasha, , none of whom averaged over .200.

Pitchers:
J. Sindelar was from Howell Nebraska. He was well known in semi-pro circles. In 1909 he was a pitcher for Stanton. He held Pa Rourkes's western league team to one run during an exhibition game. That led many people to predict a long pro career for the flinger. He was 17-11 and had 148 k's for the Columbus franchise.

Paul Kissel was 20-13 with 134 k's.
Bovee was their third pitcher in the rotation and managed a 13-14 with 149 k's.

Nebraska State League Results 1910

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