By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
In my neverending quest to learn some more about the state of Kentucky, I read constantly about the subject, often having three to four books going. That’s in addition to magazine and Internet articles, occasional podcasts, and communicating with knowledgeable friends and associates.
Here are some of the latest Kentucky tidbits I’ve discovered and would like to share:
• I came across an article in The Kentucky Explorer about Kentuckian Woody Fryman. He was a pitcher in the major leagues for eighteen seasons, including a stint with the Reds. Woody grew up in Fleming County on a tobacco farm, and he remained all his life a farmer at heart. Woody told interviewer Donald Curtis in a 1988 interview, “Farming was and is my first love, baseball is second.”
Woodie Fryman Topp’s baseball card (Photo from Steve Flairty)
He finished his baseball career with a record of 141-155 and a respectable earned run average of 3.77. He helped the Montreal Expos and Detroit Tigers get to post-season play. He was traded by the Expos to the Reds, but during the 1977 season, announced his retirement from the Reds and left for his farm in Fleming County.
According to Curtis’s article, Woody couldn’t get along with Sparky Anderson, the Hall of Fame manager, who later found success with the Detroit Tigers. The pitcher’s retirement was short-lived, however, and he returned to baseball with the Chicago Cubs in 1978. One more stop took him to the Expos again, and he stayed until 1983, when, he said, his “arm popped” during the year.
It was back to Ewing, in Fleming County, and farm life again. Sadly, Woody died in 2011 after suffering from Alzheimer’s. He is buried in the beautiful Elizaville Cemetery, in Fleming County, where the body of Franklin Sousley, known as one of the iconic American soldier flagbearers at Iwo Jima is also buried.
Note that with the 1970 Topps Phillies baseball card for Fryman, his first name is spelled “Woodie” rather than “Woody.”
• Dr. Nathaniel Burger Shaler, born in Newport in 1841, according to Jack Wessling, became “the most popular professor at Harvard University in the 19th century.” He also served as the state geologist of Kentucky in the 1800s. There is much more about him in Paul Tenkotte’s February 3, 2020, article in the Northern Kentucky Tribune. It’s good reading.
• The “wily” coyote seems to be somewhat attracted to our state and possibly growing in number. Writer and hunter Mark Reese, a resident of Estill County, includes a chapter on coyotes in his new book, A Life’s Journey Outdoors, and recounts several confrontations while hunting with his dogs.
Additionally, a few of my neighbors in Woodford County told me that they saw coyotes in our area. I keep my eyes open for them but don’t recall seeing any.
“Generally, they are not a threat to humans, but they have been known to attack free-roaming or staked pets,” said Reese.
• In what some Americans might note as a “not bad for a Kentucky boy” fact, Arthur Krock can rightfully take his place as “one of the great figures of journalism,” stated the New York Times at his death in 1974. Born in 1886 in Glasgow, Kentucky, Krock spent 60 years as a reporter, editor, and columnist.
Early in his career, Krock reported for the Louisville Herald, but later gained great renown working at the New York Times. He won four Pulitzer Prizes in his chosen field, and in 1970, was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his lofty career work.
Pamela Draper with her book, Cramped in a Crookle (Photo provided)
• Pamela Draper, a Lexington educator, is proud of her children’s book, Cramped in a Crookle, which she published right before Covid-19 hit.
The book, she explained, is “illustrated by an incredibly gifted artist, Sophia Hines Schumaker. My passion for children’s books began at the onset of parenthood and our firstborn was but a toddler when this script met the page. Cramped in a Crookle targets children ages zero to eight and consists of 64 colorful pages in a nine by twelve landscaped aqueous soft touch covered book.”
Besides the colorful pics and fun, rhythmic prose, Pamela’s book has a great message: Be courageous and willing to step out of your personal safety zone… then follow your dreams!
Get your copy by visiting her website www.pdraper.com.
