Conch Pride with Ben Harrison

What happens when a musician sails into Key West, finds a stage within 48 hours, and spends the next four decades turning island life into melody and memory? We sit down with Ben Harrison—singer, author, playwright, and local historian—to uncover how music and baseball braided together to shape Key West culture, pride, and identity.

Ben takes us back to late-afternoon sets at the Pier House and long runs at the Bull on Duval Street, then forward to intimate nights in the Key West Theater’s backstage listening room. Along the way, he shares why Elvis cracked his world open, how a Shel Silverstein cover sneaks into his set, and what separates a sturdy song from a good book chapter. The stories are pure Conch: roaming roosters, sirens by Flagler, and a community that always seems to show up when it counts.

The heart of our talk digs into Ben’s new book on the history of Key West baseball. He traces the game’s roots to the 1800s, carried by soldiers and nurtured by a deep connection with Cuba. We explore the 1950s golden era of Key West High School championships, the brief polio pause that sidelined a season, and the small-ball savvy borrowed from Havana’s winter leagues. We honor the Negro Leagues and the Key West Coconuts, noting how segregation hid greatness in the archives while talent kept winning on the field. Hustle, more than anything, emerges as the island’s competitive edge.

Community runs through it all. Ben serves on the Bahama Village Music Program board, a free, all-instruments effort that pairs kids with teachers, turns seniors into mentors, and sends standouts to Berklee each summer. It’s proof that access fuels skill, and skill builds the confidence that keeps culture alive. We close on what success really means: choosing happiness, doing the work you love, and raising a family proud to call themselves Conchs.

If this story hit home, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves baseball or live music, and leave us a quick review so more people can find the show. Your support helps keep these Key West stories alive.

Transcript

Welcome To Conch Country

Joy Nulisch 0:00

Thanks for tuning in to the Conchs of Bring Joy Podcast. I'm your host, Joy Nulisch. I'm a first-generation Kunk raised by a force. What does that add up to? A whole lot of Kunk Pride. And that's what this show is all about. Celebrating the incredible people of Key West and their stories. From every corner of our cunk community. So sit back and relax, cuz. Let's do this thing. Experience the beautiful backcountry of the Florida Keys through an adventure like no other. Our expertly trained crew will take you on the only true sailing excursion in Key West. And snorkel in the Wildlife Refuge. Then settle down with some refreshments and treats before the sunsets. Danger Charters. Adventure awaits. Locals get 30% off. How are we doing, Conch fans? I have a good one for you today. We're talking with Ben Harrison, one of Key West's great storytellers. He's a musician, author, and playwright, and Key West historian. Welcome to the show, Ben.

Ben Harriosn 1:07

Well, I'm thank you very much, Joy, for having me.

Joy Nulisch 1:10

You know, I'm preparing for our conversation today. I started thinking, how long have I known you? And I'm somewhere between 35 and not quite 40 years, but that's a long time.

Ben Harriosn 1:21

It is a long time. And you know, our gallery is is celebrating its 40th year. We opened in 1986. That's when we bought the house and the and the gallery next to it. Uh Ben, baseball, the the first baseball player, lived his first five years on our sailboat. So he was five years old when he moved into the house. And Cole was born here in Key West, uh, at the hospital, but he moved, of course, to the house. So both boys were raised here.

Joy Nulisch 1:49

Yeah, something special about conk kids, I think.

Ben Harriosn 1:52

There you go.

Joy Nulisch 1:53

And 1986, that was a good year. That was a year I graduated from Key West High School.

Ben Harriosn 1:58

It was a good year.

Joy Nulisch 2:00

And congratulations to Ms. Helen on the success. Harrison Gallery, right there on White Street. You gotta check it out for sure. One of Key West great artists and sculptors. So you mentioned Ben. I was going to say that I first knew you as Ben's dad.

Ben Harriosn 2:17

You know, I'm Big Ben, he's little Ben.

Joy Nulisch 2:20

So it wasn't until a couple years later, really, that I realized and learned that you were a musician. And talk to me about what you have going on right now.

Sailing In And Finding The Stage

Ben Harriosn 2:30

Well, I'm playing, I I've played in Key West for a long time. In fact, that's people asked me why we stayed in Key West. We sailed into the harbor of Key West in 1979, and uh we needed to find a bar quickly. Uh two friends happened to be the closest one, and by gosh, they hired me the second day I was in town. And for really the next 15, 16, 20 years, I played nightly on Duvall Street. I played all the way from two friends to Sloppy Joe's, but most of the time I spent playing at the Bull. That was that was before they fixed it up when the fans had two blades.

Joy Nulisch 3:09

Yeah, I was gonna say, you know, Key West has got a lot of hype happening right now. It seems like everybody's saying, oh, the music scene is hot. Well, there's always been music in Key West. Certainly the music festivals in recent years, the songwriters festival, country music, rock and roll festivals, just all kinds of different festivals. Um talk to me about what do you think about the festivals and the music scene back in the day? Because, like you say, you've been playing since the early early 80s, and you dropped a couple of names. What are some of the cool um musicians that you played with back in the day?

Ben Harriosn 3:45

Well, you know, it it it was funny. I was I was playing at the pier house. It was a cushy job. I was on the after deck there, and and it was it was a nice job. And uh we'd we'd taken the the summers were slow back then. And so we decided we'd try to go up uh during the summer up to Cape Cod and see if I can get some work up there. And uh uh so on the way back, you know, we were we were figuring out where I should play here, and I said, you know, Helen, the one place I really want to play in town is the bull. And she went, Oh my god. And uh I I and as fate would have it, we tied up, I swear we tied up, in the afternoon, and that about two hours later, Annie Mulberry, who's a a guitar-playing friend of mine, great entertainer, comes saundering down the pier and says, He had this gruff voice, Ben, Ben, you want to play it to bull? And I said, Yes, I do.

Joy Nulisch 4:41

So, matter of fact, I do.

Duval Street Nights At The Bull

Ben Harriosn 4:42

So I played a six to ten shift there for nine years. You know what? Back then, uh a lot of the entertainers were single. They're just the town was not anywhere near as busy as it is now. It just was not. Uh it was also inexpensive, believe it or not. Uh, our doc rent was $75 a month, and that included water and electricity. But you know, the bull had some really great entertainers. Uh Wendy Sheridan, who was a female. I mean, she could, she could belt it. Danny Mulberry, who was fantastic. Uh, Pat McEwen, uh uh, you know, I could go down a list of five, six, seven, eight people. They were all super talented. And I was really proud to be a uh a member of that group. Uh in fact, I was a little over my head, I felt.

Joy Nulisch 5:32

Just played yourself right right through it and into it and through it, right?

Ben Harriosn 5:36

Okay, yeah.

Joy Nulisch 5:38

And uh look at you now. You've got a big show going on, you've had this winter, you there's still a couple of dates left. Let's talk about the current project.

Ben Harriosn 5:46

I'm playing at the Key West Theater, and this is my third year playing there. It's uh it's a really nice little venue. It's not the big theater. Uh off if you face the Key West Theater, off to the left, there's a little hallway, and it goes into the back, and um there's a 60 seat, they call it the backstage listening room. And it's just it looks like a little nightclub back there. And it's it's the sound system is a bows, and it's it's real nice and crisp. It's a cool thing. It really is. Uh, and I'm I'm playing six shows here this year. I've done four, and I have uh two more coming up on March 5th and March 25th. And so I play about a 90-minute show and I do a lot of Key West. We go from Bumfarto to who's a big baseball fan, uh to all kinds of stuff.

Joy Nulisch 6:34

And it's our original music.

Ben Harriosn 6:36

I you know, I sneak in uh uh occasional cover by someone. Uh this year, my my sort of guest featured cover is uh Shell Silverstein's a boy named Sue.

Joy Nulisch 6:48

Oh, I I love, I love Shell. Um actually, my my great nephew Morgan Son Pablo has recently discovered Shell Silverstein. So we hung out yesterday together and he was reading from his book. So he also has your other book, uh, The Chicken Who What is it, the Rooster Who Loves His Violin?

Ben Harriosn 7:07

That's right.

Joy Nulisch 7:10

So listen, you've been in Key West a long time. Let's settle the debate now. Has it been chickens and roosters running around the streets of Key West always, or is that something new?

Ben Harriosn 7:21

It's always been there. I we I don't remember not having chickens in Key West. Do you?

Key West’s Music Scene Then And Now

Joy Nulisch 7:28

No, it seemed like most of them used to be in cages, though, when I was a kid. That's what I was thinking. I think some of them got out. They used to be fighting roosters back when I was a kid.

Ben Harriosn 7:40

Uh, you know, it was funny. Uh Jack Niles was in too tonight. Uh I do uh sometimes I do. I I played it last time, I don't know whether I'm gonna play it this time or not. It's a song called A Poultry Operetta, and it's about Woodsey Niles and the cockfighting operation up the Keys and how Sheriff Allison Dufour, I call him Sheriff Dewright in the song. And uh, but he raids it, and uh there weren't any fights that night because they were tipped off. And so here Dewright didn't know what to do with all his chickens, so he arrested him and took him downtown to jail, and here he is stuck with 300 fighting cocks.

Joy Nulisch 8:18

I told you he was one of Key West's best storytellers. So you write a lot of your own um songs, writing a song the same process as writing a book.

Ben Harriosn 8:28

Uh you know, yes and no. Uh you got a lot more words in the book. You you're uh I I I give my poet friends trouble. I say they're just lazy songwriters. Uh and uh and of course, writing songs, you you you you're you you don't have to rhyme everything, but it has to have a flow to it that is rather poetic in a way. And uh you you got a lot more latitude in your in your prose in a book. But uh it at the end, you're you're still telling a story, you're still setting a stage, and uh uh you're you're trying to to tell something to your audience.

Joy Nulisch 9:08

Where'd your love for music come from?

Ben Harriosn 9:11

Elvis Presley.

Joy Nulisch 9:13

Ooh.

The Backstage Listening Room Shows

Ben Harriosn 9:14

I I was 14 years old uh when Elvis Presley came out with Heartbreak Hotel. And I mean, I'd never seen anything like that before, never heard anything like that before. And I said, I need a guitar right now. And uh my parents were my dad grew up to sing, and uh so I dad got me a cheap Stella, and I didn't keep that for very long, and he bought me uh finally a a Gibson ES 175, which I still have in night in 1957, and that was a real that was a fine guitar, and I learned to I I knew I wanted to perform and sing back then. We had a little band back in junior high school. At least we had a sense of humor. We called ourselves the Saints.

Joy Nulisch 9:57

Nobody in high school in junior high is a saint.

Ben Harriosn 10:00

No, no, no. This was after the song, you know, when the Saints go marching in. Back then you you named your band after what you could play.

Joy Nulisch 10:08

That's good stuff. And speaking, speaking of kids and our youth, you are a board member of the Bahama Village Music Program. I had Kawana Staphany Ash on my show a couple of weeks ago, and she gave a shout out to the board members and she mentioned your name. Tell me a little bit about that program and why is it important for you as a successful artist to support a program like that and introduce music to the young kids.

Ben Harriosn 10:32

Well, you know, the the program's really uh phenomenal program. We what we try to do is provide music lessons one-on-one, free for anybody who wants to come play. And that's all the instruments. That's drums, flute, guitar, piano, steel drum. There's the the House of Pan, which is uh the steel drum band. You know, music is really good for your mind too. It it just it's it's they've they've proven it, that uh uh it it just gives your mind organization and uh and it's a wonderful thing for children to to learn. And so this is an opportunity for people who don't have the money to have and and for it doesn't make any difference whether you are Bill Gates' daughter or or my daughter, which I don't have, but uh were I to have a daughter that the fact there would be no charge. And what we do is we try to train the students when they come in to be teachers in their senior years. So they go back and teach some of the younger students, and we have more professional players uh uh teach the more advanced students. So it's really a it's a comprehensive program, but it's a good program, and it's a real program too. It's not just babysitting, it's it's teaching.

Joy Nulisch 11:50

You've had send a couple of the kids now to the Berkeley School of Music.

Ben Harriosn 11:54

We send two students to Berkeley every summer on a scholarship, and we pay for the whole for the airline tickets, the the works. And uh so no, it's a and it that's all we do is teach music. There's there's nothing else. That's our sole focus. If anybody has any money they need to donate, the Key West, the Bahama Village Music Program is a wonderful organization. And and as I said, that's all we do is we teach music to kids who want to learn music. And we can always use help, and it's a wonderful program.

Shell Silverstein And Local Originals

Joy Nulisch 12:26

I agree, and I'll be sure to put the code up on the screen so that people can have an easy, easy way to contribute to that. And isn't that one of the beautiful things about Key West? All the stories we could tell about Key West, we need to be sure to talk about the good programs that we have and about a giving and generous community.

Ben Harriosn 12:44

You know, I've been in a kind of a unique situation. Um we sailed in to Key West, so I I was, you know, sort of a member of the water community. And thanks to our children, I've become a I I would have never known Key West the way I know it now had it not been for them in baseball. Uh I I I feel really close to the to uh the comp population here and the baseball guys, and and uh and then with Hel Helen in the gallery, we have a an association with the artistic community, and then with me playing music, I have ends with the with the music community. So we we have a lot of friends. We our tentacles go out quite a quite a bit there into the different uh areas of Key West. And you know, I'll tell you what, I never thought I'd live any place for 40 years. I thought I was gonna travel around and just and uh I we stayed and I had no regrets, and I I I'm happy.

Joy Nulisch 13:39

Home, sweet home, right?

Ben Harriosn 13:41

Sweet home.

Joy Nulisch 13:42

So you mentioned baseball, and you know, so let's let's dive right in. I know you're working on a new project now. Can you can you reveal a little bit, pull back the cover and and share what you're what you're working on?

Chickens, Roosters, And A Poultry Operetta

Writing Songs Versus Writing Books

Ben Harriosn 13:56

I'd love to. Uh I'm working on the history of Key West baseball. And uh I I'm also on the board at the uh uh Art and Historical Society, and uh we were having a meeting and talking about how we could get new members and and new sources of funding, you know, the the same routine that all nonprofits go through, donations. And uh but um I said what we need to do is put a big exhibit on baseball. And um so everybody agreed, and we're going to do that. Uh COVID disrupted a lot of things, uh, and that was one of them. But um so I started Googling, you know, our our our past, and there is so little out there. I realized that somebody needed to to to get into this or it was going to be gone. This is not a project I was actually excited about doing. It uh I knew I what I was getting into, you know, several years at least of work. And uh, but uh, you know, it's it's it's it's it's incredibly interesting. You know, baseball started here probably 1830. Uh I'm for sure it was being played here in 1850. And uh then you sort of follow that train and and because baseball was spread by soldiers. Uh we didn't have any mass communication. The only communication were really newspapers, word of mouth, a little bit of telegraph, and that was it. And so the only way that that uh baseball could possibly have spread as quickly as it did to as many people as it did was through the military, who came to Key West as as early as 1830 to rid the straits of pirates. And uh a porter came down here, uh Commodore Porter, I think was his official title, and came down and and there was uh oh, I think Blackbeard and somebody else. Uh, but they were terrorizing the straits of Florida and he he uh made the straits safe for for commerce. And then in 1850, even more troops came down here because of the strategic location. We were considered the Gibraltar of the Caribbean, and Gibraltar being the entrance of the Mediterranean, which really guarded the Mediterranean. And uh so in 1850 is when the barracks down at the end of White Street uh were built, along with the baseball fields. And so I know there was baseball in 1850, and uh I also am very certain that we we showed Cuba the game. We taught them the game. Now I I I also believe that they came back and showed us how to play it. Um but uh and and to to sort of put this all in a nutshell, uh fast forward to to after World War II, um in 1950, Key West wins five state championships. Five state championships here nobody'd even heard of us in 1950. The golden era. Yep, 1950, nobody even knew we existed. 51 we did not feel a team. And I we did pretty well in 1950, and I'm sitting there going, what in the world happened? I think I found out yesterday.

Joy Nulisch 17:11

Oh really?

Elvis, Guitars, And The First Band

Ben Harriosn 17:12

Yeah, polio. Uh I I I remember now I was a polio pioneer, one of the first to go get the vaccine, the first group of students to go get the vaccine. It was right around 1950, 51, 52 in the air. And they would have outbreaks of it. And if there was an outbreak, they would really shut it down because children were more susceptible to it than than adults. And uh so I I there were no uh no sporting teams, high school teams in 51. So I'm pretty sure it was probably a polio scare because there were cases recorded in the newspaper. Yeah, and then 52 we were good, 53 we won this championship, 54 we should have won it. Then 55, 56, we kind of stumbled in 57, but then 58 and 59, we really came banging through there. I mean, nobody was even playing at the same level we were. But uh, I mean, we were playing at a level just above everybody else. And I think I think it all comes down to our history. Uh, and the fact that we were playing, I mean, the amount of and uh I I think I even asked you about Diamond Ball. Uh that was uh something that was being played pre-World War II and during World War II. It's really sort of a a version of softball.

Joy Nulisch 18:28

And that that was a women's women's teams.

Ben Harriosn 18:31

Well, it was it was mixed.

Joy Nulisch 18:32

Okay. And I alright.

Ben Harriosn 18:34

A little faster, a little harder than than softball was. There was they called baseball fast pitch, and softball was softball. And then diamond ball was kind of just a mixture. You got to kind of mix the rules up the way you wanted to, because they were fast pitch, slow pitch. They kind of the bases were supposed to be 70 instead of 90 feet, but we just decided to make them 90 feet anyhow, and and uh it was just sort of a hybrid.

Joy Nulisch 18:59

Yeah, I can't I can't wait to read all that. When you talk about the girls league, I think I mentioned to you back in the late 70s, early 80s, we had a girls' baseball league. I was in junior high school, I played, and we're starting starting to bring the girls back together, at least on social media, and trying to put a timeline together. We've only found a couple pictures, even from just that far back. So I can't imagine the research you're doing and how you're able to find all of this historical information. What are some of the sources and how many hours have you already invested in this project?

Ben Harriosn 19:35

I I I don't even know as far as hours go. Newspapers.

Joy Nulisch 19:40

Okay, yeah.

Bahama Village Music Program

Ben Harriosn 19:40

Uh the University of Florida digitalized all the keywords, but you know, some years there aren't many papers at all. Some years part of them are destroyed. Uh the uh then there's another service, newspapers.com. They're good because you can put in keywords and you can find out. But I've read, I've gone through I don't know how many newspapers. What I'm doing is uh just uh I I I learned this writing undying love, the story of the crazy count uh that was in the newspapers all over the place. But newspapers really tell the story in sort of the the vernacular of the day. Uh and they're always talking about pitchers weren't pitchers, they were twirlers, and safeties were hits.

Joy Nulisch 20:24

Hang on one second, hang on, let that ambulance that may be on your end, is it? Yeah, no, that's on my end. I live right by the off off of Flagner by the fire station, so you were talking about the newspapers.

Ben Harriosn 20:37

So they they you know, they had the vernacular of the day, and and they also they they were they were funny in that uh they also assumed the reader knew what was going on, which makes it kind of difficult to figure out sometimes what they're talking about, uh, because they were writing about what happened yesterday, and everybody already knew what happened yesterday.

Joy Nulisch 21:00

Yeah, that news travels fast, right? The coconut telegraph.

Ben Harriosn 21:05

So uh the writer always seemed to assume that we knew what he was talking about. But I've what I've done is I I found uh a program called OneNote, uh, which is a Microsoft program, and I can read, so I can read the newspaper articles into uh Word. And and so I'm putting a lot of newspaper articles into the book because they tell the story better than I can. Sure. They they just reflect the times better than I can.

Joy Nulisch 21:35

It is special to go back and read some of the articles. The the sports writers really, I mean, they they were writers and they used every word they had to describe a home run. I've read some of the articles um from Clayton Sterling's pro career when he was playing Pro Bowl in Delane and Carolina, and some of the headlines are just ah, it's like it's fantastic.

Ben Harriosn 22:00

They were always the Key West Nine or the Fort Lauderdale nine. That was how they describe the teams.

Joy Nulisch 22:05

So you had an opportunity last spring to sit at a table with Boog Powell, George Myra, Sam Holland, some of those great guys. You talked about those rosters back in the 50s. What a moment that must have been. Can you share any stories?

Ben Harriosn 22:21

It will, it was, it was phenomenal. And I'm getting, I'm in the book right now. I'm in the the first half of the 1950s. I've finally gotten there. And so what I'm about to go into is uh boog that whole era, the 58, 59 teams. And uh I'm I'm I'm looking forward to it. I'm only a couple days away from that. And I got to interview all of them. I'm gonna re-interview them too, because I interviewed them, I guess it was over a year ago that I met with them for the first time.

Joy Nulisch 22:52

It has been a year ago.

Scholarships, Teaching, And Impact

Ben Harriosn 22:54

And uh it's a shame that George Meyer left us. Uh it really is. I I knew he was not in that good a health, but I didn't think he was gonna go so soon. Uh but uh what a bunch of characters, and I mean the camaraderie that they showed, just the love for each other was it didn't make any difference whether it was Boog Pal or or or uh uh John uh uh McCormick. Uh they all just had this phenomenal camaraderie and uh told told me some you know, just the love they had for each other was was really special. I I uh and it set the stage for for I they were sort of the the culmination of of the 50s and set the stage for the rest of the championships and for the whole attitude, I think. And you know, and and the one question I was sort of trying to to answer in this book is how did we get so good? How did this little island with this few people get so good that homegrown talent when you had places that had much larger populations, much bigger high schools, and I think it was that indomitable Key West spirit that is is this that you know the people who call themselves Conk ha have this toughness, this resilience that to me is is uh it's unique. It really is. I I don't think that you're gonna find that many towns that have as much excitement as Key West has had from uh an historical point of view, from a military point of view. And you know, we were so isolated for so long. Uh in 1910, the population of Miami was 5,471 people. That's all. That was 1910. And so we were just out here in the middle of nowhere with Havana.

Joy Nulisch 24:48

Right.

Weaving Into Key West Communities

Ben Harriosn 24:49

And we were back, you know, and one thing that people don't realize is that uh Flagler's Railroad, which was 1912 to 1935, he had four, three ferries. I'm sorry, three ferries, and each one of them was capable of carrying 30 railroad cars. And those suckers were going back and forth between Havana daily. And you know, the the thought that that Flagler uh built a railroad for the Casan Arenas, oh he he built it for the the raw products that he could get from Cuba. The tobacco, the sugar, and uh and then there were products that I mean Havana had a population of uh well over 150,000, while Key West had a population of 3,000. Uh in uh the early 19 well early 1900s it had more than that, but in the early 1800s it had a population of around 3,000. And so, I mean, we were back and forth, whether it be schooner or ferry or steamship or whatever, just on a daily routine until 1950 when when Castro that took over. And it's hard to imagine how close we were. Really hard to imagine because we're just so we're so distant, right?

Joy Nulisch 25:59

Yeah, it is. Um it's crazy to think of of those times. I saw something recently on social media. People someone had posted a picture of the Cuban missile crisis, uh, the the missiles on the beach, I should say, and and they started asking, Oh, is anybody around? Do you remember that time? And uh, I can't remember who said it, but the she was reflecting on the story and how her dad was was saying, you know, the missiles were pointed at Cuba. And she asked, Well, what's pointing at us? And just reading it off of the phone just like took me back. It took my breath away. And and yeah, certainly close and and crazy times that we're living in now. Thank goodness we have baseball and things and music to uh distract us.

New Project: History Of Key West Baseball

Ben Harriosn 26:46

You know, those two go together in a certain strange way. They've helped us through hard times. Uh I mean, we we we have our political problems now, that's a cinch, but uh the Civil War was much worse. You know, baseball really helped us through that. It's helped us through the World War I and II. You know, our our newest grandson, who's gonna be uh a year old real soon, he's just rocking out, man, to music when they're playing. I find I think I've got one who's got the music gene finally. But it's amazing how instinctive that that music is. That here he would rock out, he can't even speak yet. He's rocking out to to to tunes. Uh and so it was one thing that people could talk about without without acrimony, without uh with with with more joy.

Joy Nulisch 27:42

I love that. I love that the joy of baseball, right? You're a true pro. Led me right to that. We talked a lot about conch baseball and as it relates to Key West High. Our history is is rich, as you said. We had um a lot of local men that played the game outside of the high school, or our black community, Roosevelt Sands, uh Pourtier, these other guys were involved with the Negro Leagues, the Key West Coconuts. What have you learned in your research about that time and that part of our community, those conks that were playing ball?

Soldiers, Cuba, And Early Diamonds

Ben Harriosn 28:18

Well, you know, the the Key West coconuts were good. And uh uh every time they played the Key West twice, they won most of them. They did. Uh and it's sad in a way. Uh it's it's it's uh I think in a way it shows the human perseverance and and this this the human spirit uh just to survive during the Jim Crow period. But uh, you know, because the blacks were so excluded from society, they really had to to to make up their own society. If they couldn't get a loan from a bank, they had to open their own bank. Uh there was still resentment for that uh from the white community. And uh I uh am disappointed in Key West that it didn't integrate sooner than it did. But I'll tell you what, the Negro League, I mean, we had Rocky, we had uh uh Coffee Butler was a second baseman, uh and they were playing baseball just as hard and just as furiously as we were. But I'm having a real hard time finding out much about it because the Key West Citizen printed white news. I've I found a certain number of articles and I read as many books as I can find on it. Uh but the the Negro leagues were unbelievable. I mean, they barnstormed all over the country. Uh, and if they couldn't find a local team that would play them, some local teams didn't want to play black, some did. But they uh there was another team of white players called the House of David, and they were Jewish baseball players, and they didn't cut their hair, and they were rather traditional Jewish, they looked like rabbis, they all look like rabbis there, and so they would play the the the Negro League teams, and then in the winter, all these teams would come down south to Florida and uh and Cuba and play winter ball here. And Cuba was something. I mean, uh Cuba in in during the Prohibition period, it was called the Paris of the Caribbean, and it was uh just wide open, and there was Babe Ruth, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Ty Cobb, all these guys right down there. Uh in and and the casinos and Cuba desegregated in 1900. And so black were treated, they may not have been treated, you know, equally, but it was none of this you go to the back door to get your food. I mean, it was which table would you like, sir? A window table or would you care to sit at the bar? Right. They were they were they were stars down there, and uh, and that's why it was so attractive for them to to play down in uh Cuba. And as a matter of fact, there was a time there when Major League Baseball was feeling the heat because Mexico and Cuba were paying, and uh the players felt better about playing there. And uh the states hadn't integrated, they didn't until 47.

Joy Nulisch 31:14

Yes, speaking of, we have the world baseball classic coming up um in the next couple of weeks, and it'll be interesting to see which team prevails. Of course, the United States team is stacked with talent, but so is the Dominican team, the Mexican team, and we have two conks. I don't know if you you've read this yet, but we have two conks that are part of the world baseball classic. We have Billy Wardlow, who's going to be the equipment manager for the Dominican Republic team. Um and we have Antonio Knowles, who's going to be playing, he's on the roster for the Great Britain team.

Ben Harriosn 31:47

Cool.

Joy Nulisch 31:48

So that that is pretty cool. You mentioned Babe Ruth and I lit up. I'm a Yankee fan. I don't know if you knew that. I'm a New York Yankee fan. And I read that um that Babe Ruth stopped him and his wife Helen, whose wife is named Helen, by the way, um, visited Key West on their way to Cuba. Have you found any articles or pictures? Because I haven't been able to find anything.

Ben Harriosn 32:10

I haven't really found much. I think that he uh uh I'm sure he stopped here. And I think he may have given, and I I'll have to go back and check uh whether I've got this in a newspaper article or not, but I believe he put on a on a on a demonstration here at one point in time. But uh um he he he of course they went down there. The the Cubans outplayed the the American that's because the all Americans were down there in the casinos. Babe Ruth was not a uh teetotal, let's put it that way.

Joy Nulisch 32:45

Yeah, he liked to mix it up and have a good time.

Ben Harriosn 32:48

Yeah, they they uh were at a disadvantage because uh the Cubans knew how to uh yeah, make them play worse.

The 1950s Golden Era And Polio

Joy Nulisch 32:55

Yeah, give him give him some rum and some rice and beans and fill him up. He couldn't even swing the bat.

Ben Harriosn 33:03

So batter Torriente, who uh hit, I think, two or three home runs, and Babe, I think, went 0 for three in one of the games where they were against each other. But uh it it was it was quite a quite a scene. And you know, the Cubans played uh small ball. Uh they weren't really the home run type players that uh that you know Babe Ruth, Boot Pal, and those guys were. They they uh they they liked those double steals and suicide plays.

Joy Nulisch 33:30

And you know I love that kind of baseball.

Ben Harriosn 33:33

Well, and the in the early 50s, uh we played that. We played that perhaps more than we play it now. Uh we were the we, you know, the 53 team was really phenomenal. And the 54 team looked like a cinch to win state, just looked like a shoe-in. We had 11 returning uh lettermen. We had a a great pitcher and in George Lastris, was it? And uh uh it we'd won in 53, we had experience, we had everything, and we just played a horrible game in the final. So here we lose all the players. So we're going into to 1955 with an inexperienced team. All of us they hit like crazy uh in 54, and then they then they hit uh in 55 rather, then they hit like crap in 56, but they still won. And a lot of it was no one out-hustled Key West. And that's the one thing I was getting from a lot of other papers. And you know, the Miami Herald and and the out of out of city papers said, you know, they they beat it, they beat them because they hustled, they out-hustled.

Joy Nulisch 34:44

I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure that'll be my mic drop moment. I'll I'll put some clips together and send it to this current team to keep them going. They're 5-0 right now as we record this. Got a big weekend coming up, but um, we're we're certainly chasing that 12th state championship, and it is all about hustle, right?

Ben Harriosn 35:02

Uh desire. I mean, these these guys are all playing good baseball. Uh, the rest of the state caught up to us. Uh, we didn't get worse, they got better.

Joy Nulisch 35:14

Yeah, say that again. We didn't get worse, they got better. We set the bar. Key West set the bar.

Ben Harriosn 35:20

And still do, and still do.

Joy Nulisch 35:22

Absolutely. So as you're going through this history and learning all that you're learning about the history of baseball in Key West, does it occur to you that your son Ben is on that list and will will be talked about for years and years as one of the great conk players?

Diamond Ball And Girls’ Leagues

Ben Harriosn 35:38

Uh I I I think so. Uh I I uh, you know, both uh Ben played on uh a championship team and he he uh was into baseball more than Cole was. Cole was a good ball player, he played pretty good ball, and he played uh college ball, but Cole was into fishing. Yes. As a matter of fact, he played uh baseball at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. And uh while he was there, one of his papers was how he wanted to start a business uh building spear fishing guns. So you could kind of tell where his heart was. Ben was Ben was baseball, baseball, baseball. And uh he's still baseball, baseball, baseball. And his son's playing.

Joy Nulisch 36:23

He's a baseb he's a baseball dad now.

Ben Harriosn 36:25

He is a baseball dad. And I'll tell you what, there's nothing. There's nothing that those two boys are more proud of than coming from Key West.

Joy Nulisch 36:32

You know, made me cry.

Ben Harriosn 36:34

I swear, there's nothing.

Joy Nulisch 36:36

That's good stuff. It is something to be proud of. That's for sure. Where where'd your love of baseball come from?

Ben Harriosn 36:42

You know, I've never loved the game, I don't think. Okay. I uh I I I tell you baseball is funny, though. I played up till I was 14. I was not a good hitter. But you know, you talk to anybody who's played, any grown-up who's played baseball. Well, I wasn't very good, but it was that one game. Well, I could I could run pretty fast, I could steal some bases, you know. I it's for some reason you think about the good times, you don't think about all the strikeouts.

Joy Nulisch 37:09

And that that's good. That and we can do that, right? Yes, that's what storytelling's all about.

Ben Harriosn 37:14

And and you know, that's what happens when people walk onto a field, uh uh, you know, into the stadiums. They see themselves out on that field back there when they were 14 years old. A little part of their mind does. And uh and they they see themselves out there doing those same things. And and that's what makes it uh such a uh universally uh popular sport. More people had access to it.

Joy Nulisch 37:38

I agree. It it does bring you right back to your childhood and those Friday nights and Saturday out at the wrecks. There's not a care in the world. Once you hit the stands, it's like it's all about baseball and being around the community and cheering for our team.

Ben Harriosn 37:55

There's nothing quite like a conk baseball game. I mean, get out there in a sausage sandwich and uh some fritos and man here you got it.

Joy Nulisch 38:04

That's all a man needs. Speaking of, I haven't seen you and Miss Helen out at the game yet. When are you guys gonna get out there?

Ben Harriosn 38:13

You know, I think we're gonna come out this weekend. I'd like to see it. I I wanted to get out and see the pace game. We listen to it on the radio.

Joy Nulisch 38:20

Hey, and aren't we lucky to have Judd and Rick calling the games for us?

Ben Harriosn 38:24

Oh, I think so. Very much so.

Newspaper Trails And Vernacular

Joy Nulisch 38:26

That is that is pretty special. Well, I would love to see you guys out there. If you do get out there, you know you could find me right behind home plate hanging up the K's with the K crew, turning on the boys. Say again.

Ben Harriosn 38:40

I bet I see you this weekend.

Joy Nulisch 38:41

I I hope you do. You come sit next to me, I'll save you a spot. I'll even buy you a sausage sandwich.

Ben Harriosn 38:46

Hot dog. Well, I tell you what, there we go.

Joy Nulisch 38:50

Hey, I know you got places to go and people to see. I want to ask you one final question to wrap this up. What brings you joy, Ben Harrison?

Ben Harriosn 38:58

You know, happiness. I I've thought about this a lot. Uh as you know, as your children get older, Cole's 35, Ben's 44. Uh, they both have children of their own. So what what and and you read about all this billionaires and what what what is the most important thing? And and that is happiness, I think. And if you're if you're happy s sweeping streets, you are you're you're winning the game. And if you're if you're happy where you live, doing what you're doing, and I think doing what you you you we've got to earn livings. But doing the things that you you like to do, that is so important in giving you happiness and fulfillment. Because if you can find happiness, you've you've done it.

Joy Nulisch 39:45

That that is the absolute measure of success, right?

Ben Harriosn 39:48

Because that bank account doesn't mean doodly squat. Uh uh it all goes in the divorce settlements, anyhow.

Joy Nulisch 39:54

So hey, what would you know about that?

Ben Harriosn 39:58

I don't. I don't have the money for it.

Joy Nulisch 40:03

I'm gonna cut that part out. Hey, listen.

Ben Harriosn 40:06

Helen and I have had a wonderful life here. We've been married 54 years.

Joy Nulisch 40:10

Congratulations. Yeah, I want to get her on the show. You think you could put a good word and I could get her on the show?

Ben Harriosn 40:15

Boy, she's a tough sell, but I'll try my best.

Joy Nulisch 40:18

You tell her I ask, right? And I'll see you guys out at the rec soon. Go conks.

Ben Harriosn 40:23

Jack, Joy, thank you so very much. And I I want to to, before we leave here, uh your your father, stepfather, is George Carey. I'm a big fan. I he's one of my heroes. Uh what he did with that, the classes out there at uh the high school and the the welding classes to build a tiger, the pirate, the conch shell. Like one of my early albums, I have young Ben out by the conch shell holding a sign that says ECRFC, and that stands for Equal Cussing Rights for Children.

Joy Nulisch 40:58

To go get that album.

Ben Harriosn 41:01

He he must have been about eight at the time.

Joy Nulisch 41:04

Another great story to end it on. Thank you so much for mentioning my dad. That means a lot to me. I appreciate you so much.

Ben Harriosn 41:11

He was he was a phenomenal artist.

Joy Nulisch 41:13

I appreciate you.

Ben Harriosn 41:14

A wonderful human being.

Legends At The Table: Boog And More

Joy Nulisch 41:15

I think so too. I think so too. Thank you. Thank you. Experience the beautiful backcountry of the Florida Keys through an adventure like no other. Our expertly trained crew will take you on the only true sailing excursion in Kia West. Pie out through beautiful channels. And snorkel in the Wildlife Refuge. Then settle down with some refreshments and treats before the sunset. Danger Charters, Adventure Awaits. Locals get 30% off. I'm Joy Noodles, and I appreciate you tuning into my podcast. My purpose is to bring joy to my life and the lives of others. If you enjoyed this episode, drop a review, share, and subscribe because there's a lot of good stuff on tech. You can also follow Bringjoy on YouTube and Instagram, or check my website at joynoodless.com. I'll go bring joy to the people in your world. Until next time.