The late Ward Goodrich (1925-2008) was employed in minor league baseball from 1959-88, most of the time as a team’s general manager. Goodrich first became involved with the Pioneer League Helena Phillies in the early 1980s, before serving as GM for the Helena Gold Sox (1984-86) and Helena Brewers (1987-88).
During his minor league career, he was part of multiple league championships, including the capital city’s first Pioneer League title, with the 1984 independent Gold Sox.
Ward became close friends with some of the game’s greats, namely MLB Hall of Famers Bobby Doer, Boston Red Sox player and coach; Cincinnati Reds “Big Red Machine” second baseman Joe Morgan; and Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver. In addition to Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell.
But according to Goodrich in a 2004 interview, he told this reporter the highlight of his fascinating life occurred during his first career.
In 1954, an 18-year old, upstart singer (it wasn’t even called “rock and roll” yet) walked into the radio studio where Goodrich was a country music disc jockey in Florida and politely asked, “Have you played my record yet?” To which Goodrich replied “No, we haven’t.” After a brief conversation, the relatively unknown entertainer persuaded the DJ to give his song a spin.
“We played his record for two days and had to install two more phones,” Goodrich told this reporter, in his rhythmic, southern Indiana drawl, 18 years ago. “The third day we had to quit playing it because we couldn’t handle all the phone calls.”
The song was “That’s Alright Mama” and the artist was Elvis Presley, who skyrocketed to national superstardom within the next 18 months.
“Elvis and Colonel Parker stopped by Ocala on their way to Orlando, and when they came back Elvis played in a package show with Farin Young, Ferlin Husky and Ray Price,” related Goodrich. “The other three were paid $650 apiece and Elvis only got $150.
“But Farin told me, ‘We all go first, nobody will follow that kid.’ And when I watched the show, I saw why. He was unbelievable.”
During his captivating career in radio and baseball, Goodrich became friends with country music artists like Hank Williams, Jim Reeves, Young, Marty Robbins, Carl Smith, Jimmy Dickens and Mel Pierce; and baseball’s Paul Richards, Ted Williams, Dave Bristol and Pete Bavasi. He has met folks like Johnny Cash, Hank Aaron and Jeannie Shepherd. Former Helena Brewers manager Dusty Rhoades was one of Ward’s best friends, and he often kept in touch with Ferlin Husky and Charlie Walker.
Goodrich was born in Muncie, Indiana, where he played second base for his high school and American Legion teams. After graduation in 1943 he enlisted in the 10th Mountain Division and fought in World War II in Italy’s Apennine Mountains.
Among our local veterans who served with the 10th Mountain during the war were Harry Reinig and Les Alke. Former presidential candidate Bob Dole was injured on the other side of the mountain from Goodrich’s outfit.
At war’s end, Goodrich returned stateside and his first job was in a radio station in Indianapolis as “a runner.” He started full time doing play-by-play for local basketball games and then from 1948-51 he was a country music DJ at night while attending Butler University. Ward met his future wife Rosella at an Indianapolis 500 race in 1947. The couple had two children— Clint and Darci. Rosie, by the way, is still “chugging along” at 93 years of age.
In 1951, Goodrich relocated to New Orleans where he worked as an all-night country disc jockey. It was there that he booked and met Hank Williams on the Hadacol Caravan Show. Goodrich described the legendary singer as “a mournful soul, but then he never coulda done the songs he did had he not been.
“I partied with Hank one time, and believe me, that was enough,” Goodrich said with a laugh. “He played at an old football stadium in front of 21,000 people. After the show, Hank took me to a French jukebox Johnnie bar, where he continued to drink and sing all night.”
Ward’s next job took him to Amarillo, Texas, where he broadcast minor league baseball play-by-play in the New Mexico-Texas League. Under the pseudonym of “Nervous Ned,” they used to recreate road games in the studio fed from tele-type. In 1953 Goodrich went to Fort Myers, Florida, before spending three years in Ocala, Florida, doing what they called “rag-mop radio.”
In 1959, Ward made the transition to baseball when Calvin Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators and later a part-time resident in Helena, hired him and Rosie to be the general and office managers, respectively, of his Sanford Greyhounds in the Class D Florida State League.
For most of the next 38 years, Goodrich served as the general manager for 15 different minor league baseball clubs. Among the players on those teams were Joe Morgan (San Antonio), and movie and TV star Kurt Russell (Northwest A League).
During his stint as the Gold Sox GM from 1984-86, yours truly (in another life) painted all the signs for the ball club, and Ward and I became close friends for the rest of his life.
In a 1987 interview, Goodrich told the IR that Helena was one his favorites of the 42 different towns he’s lived in, because he sees fewer “stiffheads” running around than in other parts of the country. “People are more relaxed here, they’re not so uptight,” he opined.
After Ward’s retirement, he was able to spend more time pursuing one of his other passions in life — fly-fishing. He said his favorite place to fish is the Greys River near Alpine, Wyoming, but that he feels like he “lost a good friend” since another favorite spot, Copper Creek, was burned out in the 2003 Lincoln-area fires.
“I’ve had a great life,” Goodrich reflected with a twinkle in his eye, four years before his passing, “never a dull moment. I just wish I woulda had Elvis autograph my original Sun Record copies of ‘Ol’ Shep,’ ‘Milkhouse Blues’ and ‘That’s Alright Mama,’ back in ’54.”
Ward died in 2008, at the age of 83.
NOTE: Most of this article first appeared in the Independent Record in 2004.
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