ASHLAND — A baseball field at Cahn Grove Park along Ninth Street in Ashland will now be known as Roseboro Field, named after Ashland-native baseball star John Roseboro Jr.
City officials, extended Roseboro family and residents gathered Thursday to unveil a bronze-plated plaque and sign placed at a newly paved entrance off Eighth Street to honor the Ashland-native baseball star.
“This ceremony, today, is a perfect example of the warm, generous and giving spirit that the city of Ashland conveys,” said Tony Roseboro, John’s nephew.
He thanked officials and everyone gathered for the honor, which he said might top all the honors his uncle received throughout his life.
Roseboro, of Columbus, was joined by his son, Alex, a 2008 graduate of Ashland University, and a couple other members of his immediate family.
“I have fond memories of coming to Ashland,” he said. “I love this city.”
The renaming of the field is the latest in a series of updates the city has made at Cahn Grove Park, which serves as one of the city’s Ashland Youth Baseball and Softball Association home fields.
Joe Reep, the youth baseball league’s president, expressed gratitude to the city’s willingness to invest in young people who used the Roseboro diamond for around 50 games this summer.
“I shared Roseboro’s story with my son, who is also a catcher. He thought it was pretty cool that someone from Ashland made it to the majors. But he’s still a Guardians fan,” he said, laughing.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said dedicating the ball field is for the city’s young people.
“This field will be played on by generations to come in our city — and we want them to always notice, not only the name, but the wonderful story of one of Ashland’s very own who went on to achieve national and worldwide fame in the world of baseball,” Miller said.
John Roseboro’s story
Roseboro was born in Ashland on May 13, 1933. He became an athletic star through high school in the 50s, where classmates voted him as “Most Valuable Player” for leading the varsity football squad in scoring nine touchdowns.
He also played basketball and baseball, but his basketball career ended after breaking his leg during his sophomore year of football season.
In baseball, he earned three varsity letters as an outfielder, relief pitcher and catcher. In 1950, he was a lead hitter, with a .588 batting average. He graduated from AHS in 1951, enrolling at Central State University in Wilberforce that fall.
By 1952, as a freshman in college, he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent. Both Cleveland and Philadelphia squads scouted him.
He spent the rest of the 50s playing in the minor leagues, playing for Sheboygan, Great Falls, military service ball in Germany, Pueblo and Cedar Rapids and Montreal.
He made his big league debut on June 14, 1957 for the Dodgers against St. Louis. He was 24. It was on this team he served as backup to Roy Campanella. A car accident paralyzed Campenalla from the shoulders down, bumping Roseboro to lead catcher.
During the 1958 season, Roseboro batted .271 with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs. That year he also earned his first of four All-Star Game selections.
In 1959, Roseboro came alive — catching two no-hitters for pitcher Sandy Koufax and helping lead the team to the National League pennant. He also led the league’s catchers in both putouts and baserunners caught stealing.
Roseboro went on to play in four World Series during his 14-year MLB career, playing mostly for the L.A. Dodgers, but playing in 1968-69 for the Minnesota Twins. He hit grand slams in 1960 and 1963. He also hit a three-run homer during the Dodgers’ World Series 4-0 sweep over the Yankees.
The ’59 Dodger team became the first team in history to come from seventh place to first in one season. The World Series that year against the Chicago White Sox drew the largest crowd in history, too.
He earned the Gold Glove award in 1961 and again in 1966, leading the league in ‘66 with a career-high 903 putouts while finishing second to Joe Torre in fielding percentage.
He ended his career with the Washington Senators, his last MLB game being Aug. 11, 1970, and later served as a coach for the Angels and Dodgers.
The ‘Marichal’ incident
In 1984, Roseboro was an inaugural inductee of the Ashland County Sports Hall of Fame.
The local honor came six years following the publication of “Glory Days with the Dodgers and Other Days with Others,” an autobiography written with Bill Libby.
Roseboro spent the first chapter of the book discussing an Aug. 22, 1965 incident for which he’s most known: Battle of the Candlestick, or the Marichal incident.
The thing I’m remembered best for is the Juan Marichal incident. It’s too bad, because a ballplayer would like to be remembered for something better than a bloody brawl …
John Roseboro in opening chapter of “Glory days”
The bench-clearing brawl at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park between rival teams resulted in Giants pitcher Juan Marichal hitting Roseboro in the head with a bat, ripping open his skin and causing a two-inch gash above the left eye in need of 14 stitches.
Tension had built for a few innings, as pitchers Marichal and Sandy Koufax threw awfully close to batters. Then, instead of Koufax throwing near Marichal, Roseboro, when throwing a ball back to Koufax during a Marichal at-bat, whizzed one close to Marichal’s ear.
He didn’t like that. He came out of his stance, fists clenched, and swung at Roseboro’s head.
The incident has been remembered as one of the most violent on-field brawls in sports history. The Giants won that game, but the Dodgers ended up winning the series, clinching a National League pennant that catapulted the team to a World Series win against the Minnesota Twins.
Marichal ended up being suspended and fined with a hefty fee levied by MLB. He also paid Roseboro a $7,000 settlement later, outside of court. The incident meant he failed to get elected on his first two ballots to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
But later on, Roseboro and Marichal reconciled, and became friends. Roseboro lobbied to get Marichal inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. Marichal served as one of Roseboro’s pallbearers at Roseboro’s funeral in 2002.
