In the Crosley era, Greg Rhodes played shortstop for the Crosley Management Indians of Richmond, Indiana. (Powel Crosley's refrigerators and automobiles were manufactured in Richmond in the 1950s.) He attended his first major league game at Crosley Field in the mid-1950s. Rhodes served as the first director of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened at Great American Ball Park in 2004. He's currently the Cincinnati Reds team historian. He has resided in Cincinnati since 1985, with his wife, Sally Westheimer. Growing up in Syracuse, New York, John Erardi was touted as "the next Frank McCormick." The touter was Erardi's Irish mother, who has a 12-year-old girl was captivated by McCormick's glorious 1937 season for Cincinnati's top farm club of Syracuse. Unlike McCormick, Erardi never made it to Crosley Field, but eventually made it to first base, scooping up throws for the Syracuse Moose All-Stars, Christian Brothers Academy, and later at Annapolis and Murray State University. The "Enquirer" reporter and columnist is a three-time Ohio Sports Writer of the Year, and has won the Associated Press award for best sports feature paper story in the country, and the state AP award for best feature in an Ohio newspaper (:Cincinnati and the Negroe Leagues"). He's the No. 5 starter in a family rotation of wife, Barb, son, Chris, daughter, Gina, and dog, Milkshake.
