the White Sox as a coach and batting practice pitcher . In 1939 during a charity game against the Cubs , Stratton demonstrated that he could still pitch when he took the mound at Comiskey Park . Proceeds raised from the game ( about $ 520,000 in today ’ s dollars ) went to Stratton . He later would go on to play minor league ball but could never regain the form that made him a top-flight major leaguer .
His major league career over , he remained active in around Greenville helping , among other things , to found the local Little League . The 1949 movie “ The Stratton Story ” starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson portrayed his comeback attempt . The film won an Academy Award for best original story and debuted in Greenville .
The museum also features an ode to the Shields Brothers , better known as the Texas Giants , a collection of tall men from Hunt County who toured as a sideshow act with the Barnum & Bailey Circus during the late 1800s .
Of course , the Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum
Audie Murphy ’ s expansive movie career
‘ To Hell and Back ’ tops long list
HANK MURPHY also pays homage to Hunt County ’ s rich history in cotton production , a development that began with the arrival of the railroad in 1881 .
The museum reveals cotton history and sharecropping and machines that played an indispensible role in the cotton compress industry , which boomed in Texas after the Civil War . Ships and railcars were limited in the amount of cotton they could transport . Compresses squeezed down the size of cotton bales , allowing trains and vessels to carry a great deal more of the prized fiber .
The compress in Greenville broke the world record in 1911 and 1912 by producing 2,076 bales in a single day , according to Lanning .
The museum in Greenville also commemorates the nation ’ s military campaigns from the Civil War through the Vietnam War . It exhibits a collection of World War I rifles , a fully automatic machine gun as well as a dimly lighted sandbagged trench where those inside hear exploding shells , the shouts of “ Fix Bayonets !” and shrill whistles signaling an attack .
As the museum sets its sights on 2022 , it intends to offer
Audie Murphy was a complex , inquisitive man who overcame extreme poverty as a child . Deserted by his father , he helped his family by picking cotton and hunting game on the Northeast Texas prairie .
Perhaps best known for his World War II battlefield exploits , he also was a rancher , an author , a songwriter , a poet and an actor .
People from across the United States and all over the world have traveled to Greenville to visit the Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum . A large map there identifies with pins all the cities in the United States and across the planet from which visitors have arrived .
A few of those visitors are movie aficionados , and Murphy ’ s body of work in motion pictures is vast .
“ He was in a lot more ( movies ) than people realize ,” museum director Susan Lanning said of his acting career . Murphy appeared in more than 40 feature films .
After returning from the war , Hollywood had no space on his to-do list .
A conversation with a Hollywood star changed that and cracked open the door to an acting career , according to Lanning .
“ After he came back from the war , he didn ’ t know what he wanted to do . He thought about West Point , but he never finished high school . So he really wasn ’ t sure about that ,” said Lanning .
One day , Murphy met actor James Cagney , and the two got to talking .
10 Greenville Life WINTER 2022