In the 1950s and 1960s, I remember listening to Chicago White Sox games on the radio regularly with my grandfather. He had an old tube-style radio cabinet in the living room, and he also owned a small transistor radio that he used when he sat on the front lawn. Listening to White Sox games isn’t particularly unique, except that I was living in Greenville, South Carolina at the time. The games were played on a small local radio station, WMRB-1490AM, located in downtown Greenville. Growing up, I sometimes wondered why Chicago games were being broadcast to the Deep South.
My interest was reignited in 2006 when an investor purchased and relocated the Shoeless Joe Jackson home located at 119 East Wilburn Street. Unbeknownst to me, Jackson’s home was located just two blocks from where I attended Crestone Elementary School in 1958-60. Also, my grandfather and I lived less than a mile from East Wilburn Street. Jackson’s home eventually became the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, now located in downtown Greenville. It was placed next to the stadium that houses a Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, Greenville Drive. Once again, I wondered why White Sox games were being broadcast in my hometown. Was Shoeless Joe Jackson’s legacy connected to broadcasts? Were the broadcasts the result of a fan base that had developed around Shoeless Joe? The idea was both interesting and intriguing.
I begin my search by contacting the new owner of the WMRB 1490AM radio. WMRB was purchased by Randy Mathena in 1987 and renamed WPCI. Randy was friendly and responsive to my inquiries, but he was unable to corroborate the White Sox broadcasts. I wrote a letter to the widow of WMRB founder Frank Cope, but received no response. I found a research paper on the history of WPCI Radio written by some students at Furman University. The document was helpful in providing a general history of the
station, but did not mention Chicago White Sox telecasts. I also contacted Arlene Marcley, the curator of the new Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum. She allowed me to put up a sign in the museum requesting information, but there were still no leads.
It was in early 2010 that I found a clue on Facebook. I made a random post on the Greenville, SC Facebook page and received a comment from a Greenville native. He believed that during the days of the Textile Mill baseball league, some factories adopted Major League teams. My contact theorized that Brandon Mills, where Shoeless Joe started, might have adopted the Chicago White Sox. Were the Chicago White Sox broadcasts a result of Shoeless Joe Jackson’s affiliation with the White Sox and his playing time with Brandon Mills of the Textile Baseball League? I was sure I hit the nail on the head.
A quick Google search led me to the book “Textile League Baseball: South Carolina’s Mill Teams, 1880-1955” by Thomas K. Perry. I wrote Mr. Perry a letter about the theory and he emailed me back. Perry wrote, “After we moved from Greenville, Dad would take me fishing on Lake Hartwell. The cabin, owned by my great-uncles, was wonderfully rustic and had no television. On those spring evenings, we listened to White Sox games , and I was intrigued by the performances of Tommy John and his teammates. I remember asking Dad why a Greenville station would broadcast Chicago games, and he said it was because Shoeless Joe played there years ago. Not an official explanation, I know, but Dad grew up in an industrial town in Anderson, South Carolina, so he knew the history of textile sports (he played basketball). I think his explanation is true, although I don’t have official documentation.”
Poor me! Finally, I had confirmation that someone else had heard the broadcasts; but what about the purpose and its origin? I thought Mr. Perry had just written a historical narrative on Textile Mill Leagues. Surely, during all that research, if mill teams had adopted major league teams, he would have found evidence of it. I went back to Randy Mathena at WPCI and shared Perry’s comments with him. This rekindled Randy’s interest and he gave me the phone numbers of Jim Cope, son of former owner Frank.
Cope, and retired WMRB disc jockey Bill Krieger. The hunt was on.
I first phoned Mr. Bill Krieger, who was now in his 80s. We had a nice conversation about the history of the WMRB and the city of Greenville. He said that Frank Cope bought the 1490 AM radio station with the financial backing of Simpson partner of Belk-Simpson Department Stores of Greenville. Cope named the station WMRB by taking the call letters from the phrase “We Make Radio Better”.
Regarding sports broadcasts on the station, Krieger said that WMRB hosted South Carolina Gamecocks football. Frank Cope had also purchased the rights to broadcast “The Masters Golf Tournament” originating in Augusta, Georgia. He confirmed that WMRB became the host for Chicago White Sox baseball telecasts. Krieger said Frank Cope and a local Household Finance business partner negotiated a deal with the Chicago White Sox organization. Household Finance’s corporate headquarters were located in Chicago and they were key sponsors of the White Sox Radio Network. When I asked Krieger if he thought White Sox broadcasts had anything to do with Shoeless Joe Jackson’s fame, he said he didn’t recall Shoeless Joe’s popularity having anything to do with broadcasts. He believed that it was a purely business decision. He also went on to say that Chicago White Sox broadcasts ended in the late 1960s and were eventually replaced by the Atlanta Braves in the early 1970s.
Then I called Jim Cope, Frank Cope’s son. Jim Cope told me that he was about 10 years old when his father bought the radio station. He recalled the Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves radio broadcasts. Without telling him the details of my previous interview with Bill Krieger, I asked Jim to give me the reasons why his father broadcast Chicago White Sox games in Greenville. Jim said that he had no details or knowledge of the conversations around the reasons why the transmissions began. Cope claimed that his father would have based the decision solely on business and how he would benefit the station. I asked Jim if it was possible that Greenville was the home of Shoeless Joe Jackson, and given the popularity of Shoeless Joe, could that have been a factor in the decision? He said that he did not recall any discussions or an atmosphere of popularity of Shoeless Joe during that time. Jim Cope didn’t think Shoeless Joe had anything to do with his father’s decision to take the Sox to the WMRB.
Fully armed with this new information, I began a web search to find a connection between household finances and the Chicago White Sox. I quickly found a blog post by Lee Abrams about baseball play-by-play and other talk. Abrams said, “I remember the transistor under the covers. Bob Elson and Don Wells calling into a Chicago White Sox night game…all the commercials were for ‘Friendly Bob Adams’ with Home Finance. They took you right there. … an indescribable magic that combined tension, joy and a sense of security and warmth that said all was well in life … especially since we have Hoyt Wilhelm warming up in the bullpen.” The Home Finance connection collaborated with Bill Krieger’s 85-year memory and the puzzle was now complete. Barefoot Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox broadcasts in Greenville seemed to be nothing more than an amazing coincidence.
Feeling comfortable that I had carried my research to the end, I tried to document the results of my research. I produced a PowerPoint graphic depicting the history of the 1490AM WMRB radio frequency, now WPCI. After combining the graphic with the interviews and other source files, I sent them to the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and the Greenville Historical Society. They both agreed to catalog my research for the sake of posterity. I also created a poster that now hangs on the wall of the Shoeless Joe
Jackson, and if you take a look at Wikipedia, you’ll find entries on WPCI radio and on the Shoeless Joe Jackson pages. Finally, I framed my chart and presented a copy to WPCI owner Randy Mathena, who proudly hung it on the wall of his radio station’s studio.
This was not a very romantic end to my search, but it seemed to be the facts. Ironically, even though some local listeners falsely surmised that Chicago White Sox broadcasts were the result of Shoeless Joe, this speculation may have inadvertently fueled Shoeless Joe’s popularity. I like the way Thomas Perry summed up this entire journey in an email: “The people at Brandon Mill probably made the connection between Joe Jackson and the White Sox right away as the reason for the broadcasts. And in inimitable business style, the radio station would have no reason to stop this. I guess because it meant more loyal listeners. Rest assured, I’m not going to give up my memories of summer porch conversations with my dad!
Me neither.