“I am grateful for having played with and against some of the greatest players of the 1940s.” This quote best summarizes the attitude Joe Neumann brought to the great game of softball. Joe Neumann began his career at Audubon Playground with the Vagabonds in 1936. In 1940 and 1942, they switched to Hillborn Stadium and locked horns with Fewer Boilers, Lil Coals, and the Brown Bombers. Like many of his era, World War II interrupted his playing days. From 1943 to 1946 he fought with the Army artillery in North Africa, France, and Germany. He resumed his softball career in 1946 when he and the Hub Vagabonds won the Wells Park championships in 1946 and 1947. In 1947 he was selected as an All Star and Most Valuable Player in the Wells Park Industrial League while playing with Northwestern Railroad. 1949 saw Neumann playing with the Vagabonds at Wells Park and with Spalter Finance at Northtown. In 1951 Neumann joined Alderman Fleck playing at Hanlon Stadium and with Alderman Freeman, winning championships at Hanlon Park and Clarendon Park respectively. Joe Neumann ended his career in 1962 playing with a team from the Post Office. Primarily a short center and shortstop, Neumann also played second base and in the outfield. He batted third on all of his teams and ended his career with a .380 plus batting average and notched 125 homeruns. Neumann remembers as a highlight of his career a fifteen run victory over Moose Skowron and Kool Vent Awnings. Joe Neumann is retired from the Post Office. He and his wife Lorraine have three children – Joe, Kathy, and Margaret, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
