The baseball team from the State Industrial School in Kearney. (Nebraska State Historical Society)
KEARNEY — Learn about local baseball history at upcoming event at the Kearney Public Library on Wednesday, June 11.
WHAT: Brown Bag Lecture Series
HOSTED BY: UNK Department of History and Buffalo County Historical Society
TITLE: “Cranks, Kapitalists and Giants: Tales of Early Buffalo County Baseball”
TOPIC: Buffalo County was filled with “baseball cranks” – we call them fans today – at the turn of the century. They cheered on Hall of Fame pitcher Bud Fowler and the Kearney Giants in the 1890s. Later they supported homegrown Major League players such as Shelton’s George Crable and Pleasanton’s Win Noyes. Cranks turned out in droves to cheer on the minor league Kearney Kapitalists from 1910 until 1914, as well as the amateur, school and pick-up games that flourished at ballparks, farm fields and schoolyards throughout the county. Join Nathan Tye as he highlights the baseball stars and teams from Buffalo County’s past.
PRESENTER: Nathan Tye is the associate professor of Nebraska and American West history at UNK, where he’s taught since 2019. He received his doctorate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his research focuses on the lives of migrant laborers, better known as hobos, and their efforts to survive on society’s margins. Tye serves on the boards of several local community museums and cultural organizations, and his research is published in Nebraska History, Annals of Iowa and Willa Cather Review. He also appeared on NBC’s celebrity genealogy program “Who Do You Think You Are?”
TIME: Noon
DATE: Wednesday, June 11
PLACE: Kearney Public Library, 2020 First Ave.
VIDEO: Available on the Kearney Public Library YouTube channel
CONTACT: Nathan Tye, associate history professor, 308.865.8860, tyen@unk.edu
