Almost anything and everything is on the internet today. Baseball America lists 62 former LSU baseball players who got at least a cup of coffee in the majors. As I looked over the list I saw that the third name was Orie Kerlin of Homer, who played fromo 1910 to 1915 for the Pittsburgh Rebels. When I went to Homer in 1950 I was told that Mr. Kerlin had been a major leaguer but I never interviewed him. He would have been a good subject for my sports column in the Guardian-Journal.
Baseball was important in Homer for a number of years, as the Homer Oilers competed in the Big Eight semi-pro league with teams from Minden, Ruston, Farmerville, Bernice, Farmerville and Bastrop. Teams were composed of local men and college players. Homer relied heavily on LSU but at times had players from Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor, La. Tech, Southern State, and Centenary. Homer's largest crowd was one night when we pitched the nephew of Dizzy Dean. We defeated Farmerville 2-0 and Dean pitched a two-hit shutout.
Games were played Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during the summer. I was official scorekeeper and in addition coached and managed an American Legion team, which played Monday and Wednesday nights. It was not unusual to see major league scouts at the games.
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