Chapter 7
Homer Peel
A Shreveport resident and baseball fan his last three decades, a frequent visitor to the ballpark, he was a legendary player -- considered the “Ty Cobb of the Texas League.”
And he was the Shreveport Sports' player-manager in 1939-40, just a few years after he played in the major leagues and in the World Series. Both years he managed the Sports the team was plagued by injuries and finished in fifth place and then seventh.
He was an outfielder for the 1933 World Series champion New York Giants, a .500 Series hitter (1-for-2, a single as a pinch-hitter in Game 3). He was in the majors for five years (two full seasons) and 1933 was his best season -- 84 games, .257 average. He had a total of 100 MLB hits in 186 games and his average was .238.
In 14 Texas League seasons (seven with Houston), he was almost 100 points higher -- .325 -- and eight times batted better than .300, including a league-high .370 in 1937 when, as player-manager, his Fort Worth Cats -- fourth in the regular season -- surged in the postseason and won the TL playoff championship and then the Dixie Series (against the Southern Association champion Little Rock Travelers, four games to one).
He played for 21 seasons (1923-46, around Navy service), seven in the TL as player-manager (Fort Worth, Shreveport and Oklahoma City), followed by four years as a non-playing manager for teams in East and Central Texas.
During World War II, he served in the Navy (chief petty officer in the South Pacific) and his final season as a baseball player was in 1946.
He and his family -- wife Julia and son Skipper (born in 1952) -- became Shreveport residents and, after baseball, he went into the car-sales business, then operated a dry-cleaning business. He owned and operated automobile service stations for a couple of decades.
He briefly was back in baseball in 1972 as groundskeeper for the Shreveport Captains at SPAR Stadium, and for the next 20-plus years was a familiar figure at games and oldtimers baseball reunions.
He was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, the Texas League Hall of Fame (as a player and a manager), and was in the first class of Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum honorees in Shreveport.
During World War II, he served in the Navy (chief petty officer in the South Pacific) and his final season as a baseball player was in 1946.He and his family -- wife Julia and son Skipper (born in 1952) -- became Shreveport residents and, after baseball, he went into the car-sales business, then operated a dry-cleaning business. He owned and operated automobile service stations for a couple of decades.
He briefly was back in baseball in 1972 as groundskeeper for the Shreveport Captains at SPAR Stadium, and for the next 20-plus years was a familiar figure at games and oldtimers baseball reunions.
He was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, the Texas League Hall of Fame (as a player and a manager), and was in the first class of Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum honorees in Shreveport.
He died April 8, 1997, in Shreveport at age 94.
First three photos courtesy of Skip Peel and the Homer Peel Baseball Collection,
LSU-Shreveport Northwest Louisiana Archives.
Last four photos from The Shreveport Times.
