SCRANTON – Susquehanna County connections are represented in “Baseball Dreams: They Played the Game,” a museum exhibit chronicling the history of northeastern Pennsylvania’s impact on professional baseball.

“Honest” Eddie Murphy is prominent while Harry “Judge” Lumley and Colonel “Bosco” Snover are also mentioned in the exhibit, which opened Friday and remains on display at Everhart Museum through October 12.

“It’s a combination of historic photographs – new printing of historic images, many of which are from the Library of Congress – and some artifacts that are on loan from Keystone College and other lenders,” Everhart Museum executive director Cara Sutherland said.

Six inductees in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. are at the center of the displays. The stories of others who were prominent in baseball history are told along with that of minor league baseball.

Factoryville native Christy Mathewson, part of the original class of Baseball Hall of Famers along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson, is recognized with help from Keystone. Books written by Mathewson are among the items on display.

The other Hall of Famers from northeastern Pennsylvania are Hughie Jennings and Stanley "Bucky" Harris from Pittston, Ed Walsh from Plains Township, Stan Coveleski from Shamokin and Nestor Chylak from Olyphant.

The exhibit also tells the story of Murphy and Jean Marlowe, among others.

Murphy, whose son Edward was a teacher, coach and guidance counselor in the Forest City School District, was born in Hancock, N.Y. in 1891. He moved to Dunmore as a young boy and lived there most of the rest of his life. He died in 1969 in Dunmore.

“Honest” Eddie received his nickname as one of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who was not implicated in the fixing the World Series.

Murphy was 0-for-2 in three games in the 1919 World Series. He batted .486 in 30 games for Chicago that season. During an 11-year career, the outfielder batted .287 in 761 games with the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Scranton’s Marlowe, born Jean Malonoski, was one of the stars of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and is one of the AAGPBL players recognized in the Women in Baseball exhibit in Cooperstown.

A listing of northeastern Pennsylvanians who played Major League Baseball includes Lumley and Snover.

Lumley was born in Forest City in 1880, moved to what is now Johnson City, N.Y. as a child and died in Binghamton, N.Y. in 1938. He played for the Brooklyn Superbas from 1904-1910 and is regarded by baseball historians as the National League Rookie of the Year from 1904, before the award actually existed.

As a rookie, Lumley led the NL in triples (18) and home runs (9).

Lumley’s Major League career ended early following injuries and the death of his wife. He had been player/manager for Brooklyn in 1909, a role he filled in the minor leagues with Binghamton of the New York State League in 1911 and 1912.

During his time with Brooklyn, Lumley batted .274 in 730 games while scoring 300 runs, driving in 305 runs and stealing 110 bases. His best season was 1906 when Lumley ranked third in the NL with a .324 average, stole 35 passes and led the league in slugging percentage.

Snover was born in Hallstead in 1895 and died in Elmira, N.Y. in 1969.

The pitcher made it to the majors with the New York Giants for two games in September of 1919. He pitched well, going 0-1 with a 1.00 earned run average, allowing seven hits and three walks while striking out four in nine innings.

Following his time in the majors, Snover led the Eastern League in wins with 25 for Pittsfield in 1921.

The display also has some more modern touches, including a glove from Abington Heights graduate Cory Spangenberg, who made his Major League Debut with San Diego in September and made the team’s Opening Day roster last week.

The RailRiders will be part of promoting the exhibit throughout the season. Players from the team will conduct meet-and-greet events on Saturday mornings, tentatively set for April 25, May 23, June 27, August 1 and August 22 from 11 a.m. to noon.

At the time of the exhibit's opening, it did not include Rich Thompson. Born in Reading, Thompson graduated high school at Montrose on the way to a career that landed him briefly with the Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays before retiring in 2013.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Mountain View won a showdown for the Lackawanna League boys’ volleyball lead, going to Abington Heights April 7 and pulling out a 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22 victory.

The Eagles improved to 4-0 in the league and dropped Abington Heights to 3-1.

Lucas LaRue led the way with 25 kills, 9 digs and 8 blocks.

Emmet Jodon had 31 assists while Bryan Owens and Keegan Mack each contributed five kills.

“It’s definitely good to get tested, especially to get tested early,” Mountain View coach Dave Breese said. “You find out your weaknesses and what you have to work on.

“You don’t want to find out too late.”

Blue Ridge has bounced back from losing its opener to Mountain View.

The Raiders have won three straight to tie Abington Heights for second place.

Blue Ridge rallied from losing the first two sets and won at Forest City April 6, topping the Foresters, 21-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-11, 16-14.

The Raiders won at home the next night, beating Lackawanna Trail, 25-21, 25-20, 25-15.

In road running, Aaron Griggs from Montrose was the top Susquehanna County finisher in Sunday’s Scranton Half Marathon.

Griggs, 28, was 35th out of 2,445 finishers in a time of 1:26:41.

Dickson City’s Kevin Borrelli won in 1:12:47. Scranton’s Heidi Peoples was the women’s winner and was sixth overall in 1:16:57.

In professional baseball, Ramon Flores hit for the cycle, going 4-for-4, scoring three runs and driving in two Thursday night to help the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders win their International League opener, 8-3, over the Syracuse Chiefs.

Syracuse led, 3-2, until the RailRiders scored three runs each in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings.

The Akron RubberDucks pounded out 17 hits Thursday to spoil the opener for the defending Eastern League champion Binghamton Mets, 14-5.

The Mets led, 5-1, after 4 ½ innings before the RubberDucks broke loose.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins clinched a berth in the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Playoffs by beating their newest rival, topping the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 3-0, Wednesday night in Allentown.

The Penguins extended their playoff-qualifying streak to 13 straight years. That is the longest active streak in the AHL and the sixth-longest in league history.

Kasperi Kapanen, a first-round pick by the parent Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2014 National Hockey League draft, had a goal and an assist in his North American professional debut.

Matt Murray, who was named to the AHL All-Rookie team earlier in the day, had 30 saves for his 12th shutout, moving him within one of the league record.

The Penguins (41-23-3-4) have won at least 40 games for the 10th straight season.

COLLEGE CORNER

Allison Lewis, a freshman from Montrose, is a sprinter and middle distance runner on the West Chester University women’s track and field team.

Lewis finished second in the 800-meter run in 2:23.65 in the Lafayette Invitational, a seven-team event, to open the West Chester outdoor season March 28.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Binghamton Mets have their first homestand of the Eastern League season beginning Thursday.

The Mets play the Harrisburg Senators Thursday at 6:35, Friday at 7:05 and Saturday and Sunday at 1:05. They face the Erie SeaWolves Monday through Wednesday nights, April 20-22.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com and followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

JOHNSON HOLDS OFF HARVICK AT TEXAS

Jimmy Johnson Celebrates His Fifth Texas Cup Win

Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmy Johnson passed Kevin Harvick for the lead on lap 322 of Saturday night’s 334-lap Texas Cup race, then held on for his fifth series win at the track.

“Yeah, I think that the end of the race was nutty,” said Johnson. “I think those last three restarts with the varying tire strategies that were going on; everybody was just driving so hard. Our car didn't handle like it was when we were up front leading, so the first restart we were pretty concerned and made some changes. The second one we got a little better. The third one, our car was really, really good and able to work our way forward.”

Kevin Harvick took the lead early in the race from his teammate and polesitter Kurt Busch, but relinquished it several times to Johnson, who led 128 laps.

There were three late race cautions. Jamie McMurray, who did not pit for tires, was the leader on the first one, but Harvick quickly got by him. Harvick was the leader on the second and third restarts and pulled away for a considerable lead.

Johnson was third on lap 318, behind his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. Three laps later, Johnson got a run on both Earnhardt and Harvick going into turn-1, passing both of them, to become the new leader.

With Johnson out front the real battle was between Harvick and Earnhardt. Harvick’s car bobbled a couple times and Junior was able to get by him briefly. But as the cars approached the finish line, Harvick made a crossover move to grab second.

“I just got behind there, and Jimmie was fast for those last couple laps and got around us,” said Harvick, who also finished second at Texas in November 2014. “I got loose coming off four and I got in the wall and just was trying to hang on to where I needed to be.”

While Earnhardt had a fast car, he did not lead any laps.

“I had the car I anticipated I would have,” he said. “So many pit stops, so many-- a lot of great stops, a lot of good stops that maintained track position. Pit road was pretty cut and dried. We come down, get four tires, there was some opportunities for us to stay out or get two, and you never really fool with that, it's good to be on offense with good rubber under the car all the time. We made some good adjustments. We seemed to have a good pattern of what was working for us and came up short at the end of the race.”

Joey Logano was fourth.

Brad Keselowski finished fifth. He received a commitment line violation on lap 268, after he attempted to pit and hit the pit road cone. He had led 27 laps, but was sent to the rear of the field, and had to work his way back to the front.

Jamie McMurray was sixth, followed by Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex, and Carl Edwards.

Polesitter Kurt Busch led 45 laps during the early stages of the race, lost the handling on his car and finished 14th.

Top-16 Chase contenders: 1. Harvuck-306, 2. Johnson-280, 3. Truex-266, 4. Keselowski-246, 5. Kahne-230, 6. Johnson-216, 7. Earnheart-213, 8. Hamlin-205, 9. Almirola-195, 10. Ragan-194, 11. McMurray-193, 12. Kenseth-189, 13. Gordon-186, 14. Edwards-182, 15. Mears-128, 16. Menard-129.

ERIK JONES GETS FIRST INFINITY RACE

Michigan’s 18-year-old Erik Jones outraced several big name Cup stars on the way to winning the Xfinity Series race at Texas, in his first ninth series start.

Jones outran Sprint Cup stars Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a restart with 25 laps remaining Friday night, to win by nearly two seconds.

The four-time winner in the Truck Series, where Jones races full time, beat Keselowski on the restart after an earlier battle with Earnhardt. Jones even bumped Keselowski from behind, before a crash brought out the caution flag.

“I don't know what to say right now. It's surreal,” Jones said. “We beat Cup guys tonight. That's huge for us."

Jones told reporters after the race that he was frustrated with Earnhardt as he tried to get around him late in the race, figuring the veteran was trying to teach him a little patience.

“I hope he had fun,” Jones said. “I knew we had a blast. Just racing hard with those guys. They've been doing it so long. They know exactly what they're doing. I'm just trying to figure it out.”

Keselowski was second, followed by Earnhardt, Regan Smith, Austin Dillon, Darrell Wallace Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, and Brian Scott.

Top-10 leaders after 6 of 32; 1. T. Dillon-219, 2. C. Buescher-217, 3. Elliott-208, 4. Wallace-204, 5. Reed-197, 6. Smith-197, 7. Sadler-181, 8. Gaughan-176, 9. Scott-169, 10. Suarez-160.

KYLE BUSCH STILL RESTING AT HOME

Kyle Busch continues to rest comfortably in his home in Charlotte, North Carolina before rehabilitating from a compound fracture of the right lower leg and left mid-foot fracture, both injuries resulted from an accident during the February 21 Xfinity Series race at Daytona.

No specific timetable has been announced for Busch’s return to the track; however interim drivers have been confirmed to pilot the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota in the Xfinity Series.

Busch’s teammate Denny Hamlin drove for him in several prior races. will return April 18 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and May 23 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Hamlin is currently running a full season in the Cup Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 11 Toyota and was previously confirmed to run in six XFinity Series events this season in support of other team sponsors. This brings Hamlin’s 2015 XFINITY Series schedule now to 11 events.

In addition, JGR announces that team member Erik Jones will again drive the No. 54 April 24 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, for a total of three race events supporting the No. 54 team.

David Ragan will continue to fill in for Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 18 Sprint Cup Toyota. Ragan’s current race team Front Row Motorsports and sponsor CSX accommodated the move by Ragan and Ragan is expected to return to the team later this season.

Ragan has run eight full seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with 291 career starts. The 29-year-old Georgia native has two career wins, including most recently at Talladega Superspeedway in May of 2013.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Xfinity teams are at Bristol’s bull-ring for the first of two races at the .54-mile high banked, oval. The Trucks do not race again until May 8.

Sat, Apr. 18; Xfinity Series race 7 of 32; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., Apr. 19; Sprint Cup race 8 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: FOX.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup championships did NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly win?

Last Week’s Question: How many children does Jeff Gordon have? Answer. He and his wife Ingrid have two children, a son Leo Benjamin and a a daughter, Ella.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com