BING AND WARREN COUNTY

FRONT ROYAL — During the height of his career in the 1940s, legendary entertainer Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby stepped up to the plate to help the Warren County community build a baseball stadium.

The Warren Heritage Society (WHS) will pay homage to Crosby's contributions with a new exhibit set to run from April 2 to May 31.

“Riding High:75 Years Later” tells the story of Crosby’s connection to Front Royal and his above and beyond efforts for the community’s baseball stadium, said Teresa Henry, president of the WHS board of directors.

“He was in his prime and it was just unheard of for someone of that caliber to come to our little town,” Henry said of a pair of Crosby visits in 1948 and 1950. “He was such a standup guy. He loved the youth and wanted to do whatever he could to help us. That was a pretty amazing contribution.”

Born in 1903, Crosby was first known for his singing voice. His recording career began in October 1926 with “I’ve Got the Girl” and ended with his final recording, “Once In a While,” which was released just before his death in 1977 at age 74. The biggest hit of his career was the holiday classic "White Christmas."

Somewhere along the line, Crosby befriended the late Raymond R. Guest, who lived in Front Royal and served as a Virginia state senator from 1947-53.

“We found documents as far back as 1940 that [Crosby] was in town visiting him. They had a long friendship,” Henry said.

While serving as Grand Marshal for the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Parade in Winchester in the spring of 1948, Crosby stayed with Guest. He learned that the Warren County/Front Royal Recreation Association was ramping up efforts to raise money for a new baseball stadium, to be situated on land the town already owned.

“The way the stories go — looking back in the newspaper articles — he and Raymond talked about it and he wanted to be a part of it. He said he would make an appearance and sing a couple songs. It happened very quickly — there was like a day turnaround,” Henry said, adding that Crosby presented the recreation association a $1,000 check after his performance. “That was the start of it.”

Guest and Crosby stayed in touch and continued to discuss the fundraising efforts, and Guest asked Crosby to return to Front Royal to help.

“He said absolutely he would. He had a premier coming out so it was great timing,” she said, noting that, according to reports, Crosby worked with publicists at Paramount Pictures to bring the premier of “Riding High” to downtown Front Royal’s Park Theater.

The town was not foolin' around when it rolled out the red carpet and pulled out all the stops for an extravaganza it dubbed “Bing Crosby Day” on April 1, 1950.

In addition to the movie premiere, which was free, there was a huge parade and a cake contest where Crosby served as the judge.

“They gave him a 14-foot key to the city that had to be brought in on a trailer and he read from a scroll of all the names of people who had contributed — there were 5,000 people. The scroll was 200-feet long,” Henry said, adding that while many people donated, Crosby’s visit helped the recreation association reach its goal.

“I believe that after they had added everything up, they had just over $12,000 and he put in the rest of the money to bring it to $15,000,” Henry said. “He is really why we got the stadium so quickly. He made it happen.”

During the festivities, the new Bing Crosby Stadium, located on 8th Street, was dedicated and opened, said Joe Petty, executive director of WHS.

“I think they continued to add on to it for the next few years. There are records from April 1950 of high school baseball game scores at Bing Crosby Stadium,” Petty said, adding that it was renovated in 2006.

Henry said that Front Royal continued to celebrate Bing Crosby Day for a few years before the event fizzled out. She said she has not uncovered any documentation to suggest that Crosby himself returned for those events.

The Heritage Society will open for the 2025 season on Wednesday, with its “Riding High” exhibit, which includes scores of pieces of memorabilia and documentation from the original Bing Crosby Day 75 years ago, Petty said.

“Most of the exhibit is very document heavy,” Petty said, noting that it includes a program from the event, along with newspaper clippings, tickets and photographs.

Added Henry, “There are lots of photographs of people swarming him at these events.”

Petty said the “Riding High” movie trailer will be playing at the exhibit, alongside an original movie poster and buttons and ribbons worn on the festive day.

An opening reception for the exhibit is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Summer hours for the Warren Heritage Society, located at 101 Chester St. in Front Royal, are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The historical complex is open from 10 a.m to 7 p.m. on Thursdays.

Henry said that the Heritage Society is hoping to offer other programming around the Bing Crosby exhibit, but details have not been finalized.

Other exhibits planned for the Heritage Society this season include a tribute to fire and rescue and an art show in the fall. The organization plans to bring back its Decades Block Party this summer, Petty said.

WHS will also be seeking a new executive director this year. Executive director since May, Petty recently accepted a new position as town manager for the Town of Front Royal. He said Friday that he has enjoyed his time with the Heritage Society.

“It was just a great opportunity to work in my community with an organization that’s had a strong foundation for over 50 years and that really tells our story,” said Petty. “To be part of that, to work with the staff and our board and the volunteers who come in here who just really care about what we do, our mission, that presentation of our history — it’s truly an honor to be part of it.”

Petty said that the WHS board is “really interested in defining a plan for long-term success. To make sure it’s here for another 50 years,” adding that he will continue his membership with WHS and hopes to volunteer.

Henry described Petty as a multi-talented professional who brought stability to the organization after it had been without a director for a while.

“He really stepped up. He helped build our budget and plan out our events,” she said, noting that he is leaving the organization with a full slate of planned activities and in a position to apply again for state funding next year. “He’s done amazing things for the organization. I’m glad that we have a board that saw the opportunity of what Joe would bring to our organization in hiring him. I couldn't be more proud to call him a friend. I'm so excited for this opportunity for Joe and I’m really excited for the opportunity for our community. This is a really big win for Front Royal.”

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BING CROSBY: SPORTSMAN

Seemingly, there weren’t many things Harry “Bing” Crosby Jr. couldn’t do.

He was an accomplished singer, actor, golfer, golf tournament host, and even a part owner of a pair of World Series-winning Major League Baseball teams.

Beyond the radio, movies, and singing work, Crosby was an avid golfer. His handicap fell to as low as 2 at tone point and he played in both the U.S. and British Amateur Championships and was a 5-time club champion at Lakeside Golf Club in Hollywood, CA.

He began his namesake tournament in 1937 at Rancho Santa Fe, inviting some friends and professional golfers alike to join him. He ponied up $500 of his own as prize money and when the playing was over a clambake ensued, thus the genesis of the tourney’s original name, “Crosby’s Clambake.”

Following a hiatus during World War II, the tournament moved to its current location on California’s Monterey Peninsula in 1947. The tournament has followed a similar format, including many A-list celebrities, and other’s who can foot the entry fee, to play with professionals during the week, making for an interesting intersection of fun and competition for all.

Beyond his love of golf, Crosby also owned a 25% share of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1946 until his death in 1977. He was part of the ownership group during the 1960 and 1971 Pirates’ World Series-winning seasons. The Pirates could use an owner like Bing Crosby now!

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BING AND BASEBALL HISTORY

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Crosby played semipro baseball as a young man, and that enduring love of the game manifested as a $2.25 million buy-in for a 25% stake of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946. (He likely would have become a baseball owner years earlier; 1944 marked the death of baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who steadfastly refused to allow anyone from horse racing, which he considered shady, from getting involved.)

The biggest moment in Crosby's tenure: The Pirates played in the 1960 World Series, which they stretched to a seventh and decisive game. Crosby, who had a knack for attending games that the Pirates lost, considered himself something of a curse on the team, so he skipped Game Seven and asked an employee to make a kinescope (a pre-videotape recording method) of the game. The Pirates won when Bill Mazeroski hit a home run at the very end of what's been nicknamed "The Best Game Ever," and no recordings of it were thought to have survived ... until 2010, when that well-preserved kinescope was found in the wine cellar of Crosby's old estate...

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BING AND THE DETRIOT TIGERS

When people think of Bing Crosby, they might think fondly of the classic film White Christmas, or his golden voice. He was arguably one of the most famous and successful entertainers of his era.

He was also a partial owner of both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Detroit Tigers.

His ownership stake in the Pirates is by far the better known of these two. As recently as 2010 it was found that Crosby — who helped pioneer and popularize making recordings of film — had one of the only recordings of game seven of the 1960 World Series. Crosby had actually asked his assistant to record the game from the TV broadcast, something that simply wasn’t a commonplace practice in 1960.

Crosby’s history as both a fan and integral member of the Pirates organization is a treasure trove of factoids. He purchased stock in the team in the late 40s, and maintained partial ownership into the 1960s. He served as the vice president and owned about 15 percent of the team.

His ownership in Tigers stock is barely a footnote, but on January 10, 1957, the then-commissioner of baseball, Ford Frick, determined that Crosby was allowed to keep his shares in the Detroit Tigers in spite of being a part-owner of the Pirates. According to Crosby’s obituary, his purchase of Tigers shares came after his purchase with the Pirates, and he owned about five percent of the Tigers franchise.

At the time, when Crosby was awaiting judgment from Frick, some suggested he might be forced to sell off stock in one of the teams. Crosby’s brother Larry apparently made it quite clear that if that were the case, Bing would keep his Pirates shares. This evidently became a moot point when Frick ruled in Crosby’s favor.

“Bing has only a token hold in the Detroit club. He made it just to be in on the thing with friends,” was Frick’s statement. Apparently, Crosby’s stock in the Tigers was worth less than $1000, which Frick didn’t feel violated the rule that no one person could own “substantial stock” in more than one major league team.


Interestingly, Crosby’s purchase of Tigers shares came roughly ten years after the 1947 acquisition of Tigers great Hank Greenberg by the Pirates. The Pirates acquired Greenberg for about $35,000, thanks to a snafu involving an old photo of Greenberg in a Yankees uniform that had been taken during the 1943 All-Star War Bond Game, where Greenberg had forgotten his Tigers uniform (he would be wearing an All-Star jersey for the game and hadn’t anticipated needing his team uniform for a public practice, so someone loaned him a Yankees uniform).

The revival of this photo riled up then-Tigers owner Walter Briggs. Rather than promote Greenberg to the general manager role as Greenberg had requested, Briggs sold his contract to Pittsburgh, and its new part owner: Bing Crosby...

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RECALLING BING AND THE PIRATES

The singer-actor-entrepreneur purchased a stake in the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946; years after his death, a pristine recording of what's been called The Best Game Ever — the seventh game of the 1960 World Series — was found in his cellar...

Bing Crosby ranked among the wealthiest entertainers of his era and was an early, highly successful multihyphenate.

The singer-actor-entrepreneur sold a half-billion records; did a string of hit movies withBob Hope; won a best actor Oscar for 1944'sGoing My Way; and in 1948 invested in a "fast freezing" process that paid off handsomely when it became Minute Maid. By the late 1950s, his wealth was estimated at up to $130 million in today's dollars. But the investment that got the most attention was his 1946 purchase of a 25 percent stake in the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The total price for the team was $2.25 million ($29 million today). Crosby always had been interested in baseball (he'd played semipro ball in his youth), but since 1937 he'd owned part of the Del Mar racetrack in Southern California.

At that time, the baseball commissioner was the formidable Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who prohibited anyone involved in what he considered the shady world of horse racing from becoming involved in Major League Baseball. When Landis died in 1944, the door opened for Crosby.

Arguably the biggest effect the singer had on MLB history was in preserving what's been called The Best Game Ever, the seventh game of the 1960 World Series, in which Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a game-ending home run to beat the Yankees 10-9 after the lead had changed four times. Crosby, who had a passionate interest in videotaping -- Ampex, an early tape-recorder manufacturer, was another of his investments -- believed he'd be a jinx to the Pirates since they'd lost a number of games he'd attended, so he arranged for a kinescope (a pre-videotape recording process) of the last game to be made. Crosby died at 74 in 1977, and in 2010 the pristine copy of the NBC broadcast was found in his wine cellar.

"There's no replays or no nothing except the actual play," says 1960 Cy Young Award winner Vernon Law, now 84, who pitched the game's first seven innings for the Pirates. "I could remember every pitch I threw to every hitter. I remember those things like it was yesterday." Nine years after Crosby's death, the team was sold to a group of Pittsburgh businessmen... 

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PHOTOS OF THE DAY: BING AND THE PIRATES

I guess next to horses and golf, baseball was one of Bing's other favorite past times. From 1946 until the end of his life, he was part-owner of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Although he was passionate about his team, he was too nervous to watch the deciding Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, choosing to go to Paris with Kathryn and listen to the game on the radio. Crosby had the NBC telecast of the game recorded on kinescope. The game was one of the most famous in baseball history, capped off by Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run. He apparently viewed the complete film just once, and then stored it in his wine cellar, where it remained undisturbed until it was discovered in December 2009. Here are some pics of Bing and The Pittsburgh Pirates...

BING CROSBY STADIUM

Front Royal has long been known as a baseball town. But until 1950, it provided no formal playing field for its favorite spectator sport. The fifty acres, along Happy Creek, was purchased at $250 an acre.

The Front Royal - Warren County Recreation Association undertook the project of raising funds to develop the stadium. Besides playing fields, the stadium needed a wall, bleachers, dugouts and lighting.

A goal of $10,000 was set for accomplishing all that needed to be done. Local citizens and businesses were invited to purchase bonds in denominations of $10 per bond to finance the project. Fund raising projects were undertaken.

A break for the community and its fund raising efforts came in the spring of 1949, the year Bing Crosby was grand marshal of the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Va. Raymond R. Guest, Sr., a personal friend of the late entertainer, prevailed upon him to make an appearance in Front Royal on behalf of the recreation association.

Mr. Crosby appeared before a sell-out crowd in Warren County High School and during the ensuing year, plans were made for a Bing Crosby Day celebration to benefit the recreation association. Bing Crosby Day, April 1, 1950, drew crowds from everywhere, as Mr. Crosby entertained and captivated the huge audience with his expert blending of friendliness and informality. Highlight of the evening was his rendition of "I feel like I'm on my own soil, when I'm down in Old Front Royal," his own version of "Dear Hearts and Gentle People".

A grateful community named its new stadium in honor of a nationally known Hollywood figure that had taken time and given money to forward one of its dreams.

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