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continued from page 12
Tigers treasures: Balls autographed by Miguel Cabrera, left, and Michael Fulmer, right.
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Frank confirms the number of
Jewish members in the society is sheer
coincidence, not a condition.
“The Jewish camaraderie is not so
much in the ELS as it is outside. Inside
the club, we’re just baseball fans,
regardless of age, religion or color.
However, I’ll see fellow members out-
side the ELS at temple, bar mitzvahs,
weddings, and we talk freely about our
club. I can walk up to someone at Yom
Kippur services and start a conversa-
tion about who the Tigers’ next skip-
per might be.”
Like Bob, Frank has a tremendous
collection of memorabilia, including
Jim Leyland’s jersey from the 2013
All-Star game and the actual on-deck
circle used at the last game played at
Tiger Stadium.
No baseball “club” is successful
without a strong manager and the
Eddie Lake Society is no exception.
Meet Karen Bush, 76, its executive sec-
retary. Her responsibilities have grown
over the years, especially when Joe
Falls’ health prohibited him from run-
ning the club like he used to.
Karen loves her Tigers and she is
a tiger. She runs the society with a
determination that is unmatched
and greatly admired. And she’s been a
baseball fan and purist since birth ...
actually a little before.
She recalls fondly her first Tiger
game in 1941. “My mother was preg-
nant with me. She was 41 and it was
her first pregnancy. She wasn’t around
other pregnant women and was total-
ly unprepared the first time I kicked. I
kicked again, and she turned around
in reaction and bashed the man sitting
in the box seat behind her over the
head with her popcorn.”
Karen was especially close with
the Tigers teams of the mid-1960s. “I
knew all the players and their wives
and they knew me. I was sort of a
semi-official mascot — everybody’s
pesky kid sister. They, and the ’68
Tigers, knew me as ‘Teach’” — a nick-
name honoring her profession at the
time.
J.P. McCarthy talked baseball with
Bush regularly on WJR radio. The
exposure caught Joe Falls’ attention.
“He asked me to the second meeting
ever of the ELS. Did I decide to join?
I never even thought about it one
way or the other. It was baseball,
and that was where I belonged.”
Karen isn’t Jewish but every Jewish
member of the society I spoke with
confirmed affectionately that she is
an honorary Member of the Tribe.
“She keeps the group together,”
Irwin Cohen said. “Without her, I
think the club would have been gone
a long time ago.”
It’s impossible not to wax nostalgic
when you’re introduced to the Eddie
Lake Society members and their pas-
sion for our National Pastime. Their
stories took me back to a more inno-
cent time in baseball history. So much
so, I nearly got out my Royal typewrit-
er to prepare this column.
Hopefully, the Eddie Lake Society
will find a way to survive for many
years to come. As the immortal New
York Yankee Yogi Berra once said, “It
ain’t over till it’s over.” •
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14
October 19 • 2017
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At 5’7, 160 lbs., Edward
“Eddie” Lake was con-
sidered by many to be
too small to play pro ball.
Yet, the scrappy shortstop
hustled his way through 11
Major League seasons from
Eddie Lake
1939 to 1950.
Eddie Lake Society member Irwin
Cohen described Lake as a “nonde-
script player; a back-up player’s back
SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN BASEBALL RESEARCH
Pinehurst Ranch
up.” In his five seasons with
the Tigers (1946-1950), Lake
hit just .229 with 23 homeruns
and 111 RBIs. He was more
adept at walking than hitting.
In the ’46 and ’47 seasons,
Lake combined for 342 base
on balls.
Lake had a career batting
average of .231; hitting 39 homers
with 193 RBIs in 835 games. He died
June 7, 1995, at age 79.