This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/XCB.2ACI/669.1 Message Board Post: My grandfather and great uncle possibly were teammates of your grandfather. Robert Calhoun "Shorty" Smith played second base and my great uncle Willie Bert "Shadow" Smith played outfield. Uncle Shadow was the better player - and I've always heard that he would have been a pro player if he was just physically bigger (hence, the nickname "Shadow"). He was also a jockey at the old Shreveport racetrack that was on the state fairgrounds site. Just made a call to my dad - and here's the info we were able to put together. In the late 20's and early 30's, just about every city and town in N. La. had a "semi-pro" team. These were men that held down regular jobs and baseball was their passion. Baseball enjoyed a much greater following in the area at that time than now. Shreveport also had a "semi-pro" team, but he doesn't remember it being a "farm" team, and he doesn't remember any association with Minneapolis. I remember a photo of the Shreveport team from my childhood and Dad is going to try to locate it. Almost everyone except my dad and his brother has passed on and he will try to locate where the photo landed. There's a couple of his cousins that he's going to visit to try to get us some more info. Sadly, Uncle Shadow's greatest fan, his wife Artie, is very elderly and mentally incapcitated - I don't think we'll obtain any information there. Another interesting tidbit - the Shreveport team was also known at one time as the "Wops and Irishmen" - Shorty and Shadow were supposedly the only two Irishmen on the team. You've opened up an avenue that I also would like to research. On my semi-annual trip to Shreveport during the holidays, I'll hit the new Shreve Library and see what I find in the newspaper archives. If we are able to locate the team photo or any mention of your grandfather, I will copy, scan and e-mail what I find. Hoping you keep hitting 'em "high and long" - - -