It’s 1971, and 18-year-old Danny Humble is signing on the dotted line with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.
The cutline that came with the photo tells us this star player from Central Greene High School (class of 1971) has just signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs as part of their spring draft. The man beside him is Frank DeMoss, the Chicago scout who has recruited the “former Red Raider star.” Standing behind them are Danny’s parents, John Humble and his wife Bertha Mae of High Street in Waynesburg.
Danny, a formidable pitcher in high school with a stellar no hitter to his credit, will soon leave for Caldwell, Idaho, where he will have a position in the outfield in the Pioneer League.
This newspaper clipping, submitted by Danny’s daughter Danielle Humble Kerr, is a window into that time in the early 1970s when baseball and softball, both slow and fast pitch, were in their glory days in small towns across America. This would change as softball became part of a cultural shift that has made it a world-class game for girls and women. Girls softball became a WPIAL sport in 1972 and caught on fast with girls who grew up watching and cheering as their fathers and brothers played.
“My dad was a star pitcher and utility player at Waynesburg. He played with the Cubs for two years before he got injured,” Danielle remembers. “When Dad came home from the minors, he played softball for a bunch of leagues throughout the county.”
Sports author and Greene County Parks and Recreation Director Bret Moore has captured these seasons and the players who were stars, in Rough and Ungentlemanly Tactics Vol. 2 – 1960-2020.
“I played against Danny and he was one of our best softball players by far,” Bret tells me. “When he was in the rookie leagues for Chicago, he played for the Magic Valley Cowboys and the Caldwell Cubs. Injuries cut his career short, but he came home to dominate the field playing both show and fast-pitch softball and independent baseball. Everybody knew how good he was.”
Danielle was only four when her dad died in 1986 after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. But she grew up with his memory and played softball in middle and high school. In 2010 she and her family, including brother Josh, sister Richelle and daughter Bre, got the “Danny Humble Lives On!” team together at Greene County’s Relay For Life to raise money for the cure.
Part of the fundraising effort included a spaghetti dinner—a real Humble family affair. “All my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents helped that day. All the prep! We made way too much food! I think we raised around $2000.” By the next year, the family switched gears and did a fall Danny Humble Memorial Clay Shoot to help other local families facing cancer or life-threatening injuries. The first shoot supported Jeff Howard’s cancer and Meg Throckmorton’s spine injury. The lesson learned from that first spaghetti dinner was “most profit came from the Chinese auction. That’s why we have them at our clay shoots each year.”
Also present at each fall clay shoot at Hunting Hills in Dilliner is the big sign listing families and individuals who were helped each year, a list now twelve years long. It attracts some of Danny’s oldest friends and many new followers, generating the kind of energy that leads to new ideas to keep Danny’s spirit alive while helping others.
Danielle sends me a photo from the first clay shoot and texts, “Monte Hunnell and Alan Heldreth were friends of dad’s. They loved telling me stories about the good old days. It was extremely moving to see how many of his old friends showed up to support the shoot in his honor.”
The core Humble family unit was photographed together and smiling one last time at the 2022 clay shoot, I learn as we sort through photographs over our smart phones, piecing together the story of families dealing with tragedy, determined to find positivity through it all. “Since this picture was taken we’ve lost my mom Lora Anderson to cancer. Mom passed away August 8, 2023.”
Dreams can come true, but like everything else, it takes time. “We had the clay shoot in 2018 specifically to raise funds to build a Danny Humble Memorial Ball field here in Waynesburg,” Danielle texts. Now that Crawford Field has a grant-funded retaining wall, new concession stand and playground, plans are to “add a new ball field back by the playground. Right now, it’s just a flat area of grass.” The $15,000 raised in 2018 will be used for “benches, a backstop and temporary fencing for the sidelines. That will be the Danny Humble Field.”
One last snapshot from this year’s shoot shows a little more of the girl power that runs through the projects Danielle takes on. Second from the left is longtime supporter and good friend Amy Hopkins. “She has been to every single shoot we have done. This year she received the Woman’s Division Award and here she is on her all girls clay shoot team. It truly takes a village! I couldn’t do these fundraisers or run Smash Fast Pitch without the help of family and friends. I am blessed to have such a great support system. ”