The Wilmington morning star., 1946-12-30
In Sports Pan 80.
5rr>'.c: :: 80 81.
BY Roy Cook
BY Roy Cook

Jiggs Powers, Morning Star Columbus County Sports
Correspondent has written the following story on Charlie
Ripple.
Powers has done a marvellous job in keeping the read
es of the Morning Star informed of the athletic events of
Columbus county and We hand over this space to him this
morning.
Big Charlie Ripple. Whitevile ~southpaw who has been
with the Philadelphia Phillies, has been sold outright to the
Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League.
The c%ongenal left-hander has always been plagued bv
a touch of hard luck since trying to make the grade in the
"big-time',. He is undecided whether to stay in baseball,
since the latest turn of events, or retire and give his full
time to the operation of a service station here. in which he
holds a partnership. He stated this morning that every.
thing depended on just what the Indians had to offer for
his services during the coming season, whether or not he
would curtail his baseball career.
Ripple, in the year of 1887, became the youngest play-
err ever to ink an agreement with the st. Louis Cards, by
signing at the age of Is, while still a high school SOPHOMORE
He attended a Card training camp in the years of '38 and
'39, but needed seasoning, played semi-pro ball with the San.
ford Spinners in the Tobacco State League in the ummer
of 1899, with his team winning the N. C. semi-pro tourna.
ment. Lefty" had a record of 10 and 4.
He left Sanford at the middle of the 1910 season to
pitch for Kingstree, S. c., of the Palmetto State League,
and toied there again in the Summer of 1941. During this
season he compiled a record of IL wins against 5 losses,
winning 9 straight contests before he dropped his first
which, incidentally, was a 10 defeat. He pitched for Wake.
Forest College during the Spring of AZ, his Card papers
having been cancelled by Judge Lands.
The Fall of '43 found the big lefty toiling in the ship
yards at Wilmington, and he found his paycheck so lucra-
tive that he temporarily retired from the diamond game.
However, in 1914 he signed with the Phillies and pitched
for their farm club at Wilmington, Delaware. In As, his
wildness kept him from a berth on the Pills, and he was
sent this time to Utica, N. Y, in the Eastern loop where he
won 19-lost 6, and led the league in earned run average.
He was hindered in returning to the Philadelphia team
by being involved in an auto crash, sustaining injuries which
handicapped him. Last season, he had starting assignment
clnched but again hard luck intervened, this time in the
form of a foot infection, developing from a blister, which
kept him out of action for a couple Of months.
Ripple, unable to get in shape again in the northernly
climates, was shipped to Memphis, where he achieved a
record of 10 wins and 4 defeats after July 4th. His team
was beaten in the title round of the Southern Association
p~layoffs. He thought that he would surely overcome the
jnx this season, but news of his sale makes it seem that he
may have to postpone his major league play for at least
another year. The Pacific Coast loop has an A rating.
So Whiteville's star lefty is sitting tight, waiting to
see what the future will hrino