good news and beyond: cleveland indians named for socks first mlb origamerican...played here in van buren

right click ' native american spirit ' 2nd window

pic of louis sockalexis from bangor daily news july 27, 2009 article 'penobscots seek recognition of athletes ' about louis + his bro andrew

peoplemaine.com says socks went to st mary's before transferring to holy cross

' Born on Indian Island, October 24, 1871, Sockalexis was the grandson of the Chief of the influential Bear Clan. Even as a boy, his strength was legendary. He could hurl a baseball over 600 feet across the Penobscot River from Indian Island to the Old Town shore, and at the Bangor Race Track, it is said, father and son amused the crowds by pitching an easy game of catch--across the width of the entire oval.

At the urging of a local priest, Sockalexis attended college first at St. Mary's in Van Buren and in 1884-85 at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he batted .444 in two seasons and honed his skills in the summer playing ball in the Trolley League along the coast of Maine. In 1896, his Holy Cross coach moved on and Sockalexis followed, transferring to the famous Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. There, a sharp-eyed scout quickly signed the strapping, 6-foot, 197-pound Sockalexis, against his father's wishes, to the outfield of the old National League's "Cleveland Spiders." '

Saint Mary's College, Van Buren, ca. 1895