April 27, 1961 — The death of Leo “Sidy” Dovel, 52, on Monday of this week, recalls the pitching deeds of one of the most popular and most effective pitchers in Luray’s long history of baseball, which covers something like 75 years.
“Sidy” Dovel started pitching baseball during the early 1920s, when Luray produced “kid teams” such as West End, East End, Court Street and Campbell Town. He first came into prominence as a young pitcher with ability on the Luray College baseball team in 1926.
During his prime years, “Sidy” Dovel pitched for Luray in the Valley League, for numerous other Valley League towns and for semi-pro teams. He had a try- out with the Washington Senators.
The many great ball games “Sidy” Dovel pitched are too numerous to mention but of all his achievements, perhaps none equalled his great control performance during the season of 1939 when he pitched six consecutive ball games without walking a single batter.
Despite his success and wide reputation in the Shenandoah Valley as a baseball pitcher, “Sidy” Dovel took those things in stride in a humble way.
~ From the public archives of the Page News and Courier
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