Charles Arthur Vance was born March 4, 1891, in Orient, Iowa. His father was Albert Theophilus Vance, a farmer, and his mother, Sara Elizabeth; He was their fifth child. When he was young, they moved to a farm in Pleasant Hill Township. Located in Webster County, Nebraska. Webster County is very near the Kansas state line. Vance attended high school but made his baseball reputation pitching for a semi-pro team…
Burleigh Arland Grimes was born on August 18, 1893, in Emerald, Wisconsin. He was the first child of Cecil Grimes and his wife, Ruth. Cecil was a farmer and a former day laborer. His wife was the daughter of a former Wisconsin legislator. Cecil managed the Clear Lake Yellow Jackets and taught his son to play the game early in life. Burleigh also boxed as a child. Later they moved…
I never saw him play. He died 2 months and 2 days after I was born. But from the time I first knew about his exploits on a ballfield, he was who I wanted to be like. In many ways we had the same type of youth. I was put in foster care at 10. He went to a home at age 7. Only difference was he was considered incorrigible,…