Farschman, Ken
| Ken Farschman – (1994) |
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Although Ken Farschman was an outstanding basketball player in the Lorain YMCA “A” League and was named to the All-Star first team in the 1956 St. John Catholic War Veterans Invitational Tournament, his most memorable moments came in baseball during the 1950’s.
Described by his teammates as “scrawny, scrappy, speedy and sinewy,” Farschman continually amazed them with his powerful wrists that could snap the bat into the baseball, propelling it considerable distances. Primarily a second baseman, Ken also was proficient at shortstop and in the outfield.
It all began in 1951 when, as a member of Dean’s All Stars in the Class “F” Hot Stove League, Farschman was instrumental in the team’s drive to the state runner-up flag. Though Ken enjoyed good seasons in 1952 and 1953 with the Lorain Youth Center and Exchange Club teams, they did not lead to championship seasons. A move to St. Michael’s AC in 1954, however, captured the attention of Glenn Bobel, then manager of the Lake Erie Cadets.
Possessors of virtually every title in their age group, the Cadets were a talent-laden team that featured current Sports Hall of Famers Dale Reichert and Carl Hartman. It was late in the 1954 season when the Cadets tangled with St. Michael’s. In the late innings of an 0-0 standoff, the “Farsch” strode to home plate and stroked a long three-run home run that iced the victory for St. Michael’s.
Bobel wasted little time in signing Farschman to a Cadet contract for 1955. The club breezed to the Ohio Hot Stove League Class D championship by defeating the powerful Akron Yankees, 2-1, in the title game.
At Lorain High School during the 1955 and 1956 seasons, Farschman was one of several Cadets leading Coach Tony Misko’s diamond squad to a scintillating 31-2 over-all record and two consecutive Buckeye Conference championships. Upon graduation, Ken enrolled at Bowling Green State University where, as a freshman walk-on in baseball, he was installed at second base in 1957.
That same year, Ken continued to play for Bobel, only now as a member of the strong Lorain Glass nine in the Lorain Class “A” League. Later in 1957, he was picked up by city “A” champion National Tube which competed in the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) tournament. Although hampered by a finger injury, Jim Lawhead Sr. named him his starting second baseman.
The Tubers, managed by Gene Krupp and featuring such prominent local sandlot names such as Hartman, Mize, Pressick, Stough (a fellow LSHOF inductee tonight), Telatnik, Vesling, Mitroff and Ridenour, fell behind Flint, Mich., 3-0, in the championship game when Farschman unloaded a towering 385-foot home run in the fourth inning.
Ken’s blast rattled the Flint pitcher and the Lorain Tubers rolled on with Vesling adding a second homer in the fourth inning, propelling them to a 12-8 victory and the NABF championship.
Shortly after, Detroit Tiger scout Pat Mullin, a onetime Tiger outfield star, arrived in Lorain to sign Farschman and Hartman to minor league contracts. They joined Jim Pressick in Lakeland, Fla., the Tigers’ spring training headquarters. “I saw Ken play in the NABF tournament and liked his actions on the field and at bat,” Mullin said. “With his desire and youth, I felt he could become a fine infielder.”
Following spring training, the three Lorain sandlotters were assigned to the Montgomery, Ala., Rebels in the highly competitive Alabama-Florida League. By the end of May, Ken had made rapid strides at second base and with his torrid bat, the Rebels showed progress with increased attendance. He was tied for the league home run lead with teammate Jim Green, later a major league standout, and included among his clouts a grand slammer and a prodigious blast that carried over the left field scoreboard that local sportswriters estimated exceeded well over 400 feet.
Injuries halted Farschman’s tour with the Rebels, but at the time he was placed on the injured reserve list, Ken was tied for the team lead in triples, was second in home runs, doubles, stolen bases and runs batted in, and he was on the brink of raising his batting average above .300.
Ken returned to Lorain where his injured reserve status allowed him to join the Lorain Wolf Dry Goods team, managed by Jack Wolf, in the Lakewood “A” League that was liberally sprinkled with former minor leaguers. Although the league’s top six pitchers had a combined 1.59 earned run average, Farschman hit .290 and was one of the top 10 hitters in the league.
Professional baseball overtures would come from the Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers, along with the Tigers, and Farschman fully anticipated a return to action in 1959. But when contract negotiations proved unsatisfactory, Ken opted to return to Bowling Green where he earned his BA in Business Administration upon graduation in 1961.
