Charles J. Strobel, Father of Baseball in Toledo

Charles J. Strobel was born in Kenton, Ohio in 1864, to Gottlieb and Mary Strobel. As an adult Charles J. Strobel lived in Toledo, where he was a noted promoter of baseball and entertainment. The Toledo Mud Hens website provides this information about Charles J. Strobel:

Charles J. Strobel brought the stability necessary for Toledo baseball to be a legitimate proposition. He bought the Toledo team in 1896. During his tenure of 11 years he established a popular downtown location for play, the Mud Hens nick name, entered Toledo in the competitive American Association, and won a couple of championships along the way. During Strobel’s time, baseball in Toledo matured and became a tradition.

Historian John Husman wrote in his book BASEBALL IN TOLEDO, that we should probably call Charles J. Strobel the "Father of Toledo Baseball" for all of his hard work in developing the sport of baseball in Toledo.

After having been stricken with spinal meningitis, Charles J. Strobel passed away on June 5, 1915. An obituary for Charles J. Strobel appeared in the June 9, 1915 issue of the Sandusky Register. The article stated that on Tuesday morning, June 8, a funeral service took place at the Elks Club in Toledo. At the funeral service, several musical numbers were heard, including Bach's Aria in G Minor, Ase's Death, Lead Kindly Light, and I Shall Meet Him Face to Face. Forty members of the Toledo Musicians Union escorted Mr. Strobel's coffin to Union Station.

The Register reported that impressive funeral services were held for Mr. Strobel at Oakland Cemetery on Tuesday afternoon, June 8, 1915, under the auspices of the Sandusky Elks Club. The New York Central train brought the remains of Charles J. Strobel to Sandusky. Several Toledo lodge members escorted the casket. Members of the Sandusky Elks Club greeted the train, and then there was a funeral procession from the train depot to Oakland Cemetery. Charles J. Strobel is buried next to his wife, Anna Barbara Strobel, in the North Ridge Section of Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Mrs. Strobel was a sister in law to Voltaire Scott, the Sandusky hotelier who brought the Boy With the Boot statue to Sandusky. Voltaire Scott's wife Eva, and Mrs. Charles J. Strobel were both the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Schweinfurth, according to their death records, found at Family Search Labs.