All of the books in the Hal Lebovitz Collection were of course owned by Hal Lebovitz, but he wasn't the only person who was in possession of the guides, record books and more.

"PROPERTY OF WILL MCKAY, CLEVELAND LEADER" was stamped on a few of the books. In addition to writing for the Cleveland Leader, McKay served as the first president of the Cleveland Amateur Base Ball Association, elected in January 1910 when the organization was formed.

A stamp of the signature "Ed F. Bang" appears a few times in other books. Bang was sports editor of the Cleveland News for 53 years. Bang was elected the first vice-president of the Cleveland Amateur Base Ball Association in January 1910.

The handwritten signatures of Sam Otis and John Dietrich each appear in a book (of what I have organized so far). Otis was a former sports editor for the Plain Dealer (see his signature in the fourth image below). Dietrich was a member of the Plain Dealer sports staff for 41 years, and was inducted into the Media division of the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.

I'm tweeting my progress with the books using the hashtag #halsbooks, so you can follow that or my account (@nhcheryl). If you're not a Twitterer, you can visit either of those links at any time to see previous messages I've posted.

Below are images of interesting items I came across today.

From a Spalding's minor league baseball guide, 1904:
"We beg to call your attention to the fact that we have established a Base Ball Bureau for the purpose of assisting young players who are ambitious to play professional ball to secure positions with professional teams. We are in touch with all the base ball clubs in the country, and are in receipt of numerous inquiries every year for good young players.
If you will send us your name and address, giving age, height, weight and general qualifications, we will place your name on our record and will take pleasure in bringing the information to the attention of managers seeking new players. This is done without any charge.
Yours truly,
A.G. Spalding & Bros."
(Was it really that simple to get on a professional team???)

An ad from "Reach's Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1905." Did players ever wear these?

Mr. A.J. Reach himself

Former Plain Dealer Sports Editor Sam Otis wrote his name on the cover of this Reach American League guide from 1929.

Photos and diagrams of Municipal Stadium and League Park, from a 1944 baseball media guide.

"Baseball salutes its many players now in Big Game on Uncle Sam's team -- and the others who will follow them!"
(including Bob Feller, pictured at the bottom of the V)

The Hal Lebovitz Collection will be auctioned off, and all proceeds from the sale will go to a foundation in the Lebovitz family name at Lakeland Community College. (The date of the sale, along with other details, will be announced at a later date.) Lebovitz — a former News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal columnist, and longtime sports editor of The Plain Dealer — was inducted into the writer's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. He died in 2005. Learn more about the collection here, here and here.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

I spent most of the day with old books -- the kind that carry a distinctive old smell and slightly dirty your fingertips after holding them for a while.

I was going through the Hal Lebovtiz Collection, which will be auctioned off, and all proceeds from the sale will go to a foundation in the Lebovitz family name at Lakeland Community College. (The date of the sale, along with other details, will be announced at a later date.) Lebovitz — a former News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal columnist, and longtime sports editor of The Plain Dealer — was inducted into the writer's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. He died in 2005.

But before his books can be auctioned, they need to be organized and cataloged.

I've already spent some time organizing books from the last 50 years, but today I started working with books from two centuries ago.

I'll write more later about what I'm learning with this experience, but for now I'm just going to share some images from today's finds.

An ad in the back of "Spalding's Base Ball Guide and Official League Book for 1896"

A picture of the Cleveland Base Ball Club from "Spalding's Base Ball Guide and Official League Book for 1896"

The Cleveland Baseball Club, 1897, from "The Victor 1897 Baseball Guide"

Advertisements in an American League guide from 1905

Ad for Coca-Cola in "Napoleon Lajoie's Official Base Ball Guide" from 1908

Cover of "Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide" from 1911

Image and text honoring Henry Chadwick, "Father of Base Ball." Chadwick served as an editor for several Spalding's before his death in 1908. This tribute appeared in "Spalding's Official Base Ball Record 1909."

A.G. Spalding himself, photographed in 1879

Photo and text honoring Spalding after his death.

Continued text honoring Spalding after his death.

Graph following the 1933 American League pennant race, from the 1934 "Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide." I think the line follows the place each team was in. (Look at those damn Yankees!)

-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

Wednesday the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) will announce an industry-wide electronics recycling initiative.  The Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC) has been grading companies’ takeback programs each year with a Recycling Report Card, which has found that most company takeback programs are underperforming, except in states which have strong laws that require companies to make significant efforts on recycling.

ETBC believes the companies and CEA won’t truly tackle our mounting ewaste problem unless they including various initiatives such as a ban on toxic e-waste being sent overseas, report on collection goals and volumes by each company each year, go beyond complying with state laws, and not allowing any hazardous e-waste to be sent to solid waste (non-hazardous waste) landfills or incinerators for disposal or energy recovery.

Ewaste Background:

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in 2009, the US generated almost 3.2 million tons of e-waste. But only 17.7% of that was collected for recycling. The other 82.3% went to landfills and incinerators, despite the fact that hazardous chemicals in them can leach out of landfills into groundwater and streams, or that burning the plastics in electronics can emit dioxin.

So far, 25 states have passed e-waste recycling laws. To learn more about toxics in electronics and the problem of e-waste visit www.electronicstakeback.com  

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com

For those of you who missed the State of the City address by Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak at a recent chamber of commerce luncheon, I am providing a link to the video that he used to open the presentation.

I think most everyone was impressed, and one couldn't help but think that the hearts of Mentorites swelled with pride as they watched.

To check it out, visit the below link and scroll down to the last line of the page to the "2010 Year in Review" video:

http://cityofmentor.com/live/

-- Betsy Scott, BScott@News-Herald.com