Bob Ewing - Life After Baseball

Life After Baseball

Ewing returned home and agreed to pitch two games for his hometown team, the Wapakoneta Reds. He had just turned forty years old when he took the mound to face the Findlay semi-pro team on May 17, 1913. Five hundred paying fans saw Ewing strike out twelve batters while strolling to a 10 to 0 win. The most important game was to follow, for next up was Wapak's dreaded arch rival, the Botkins Reds.

To turn the pressure up a notch on Botkins, Wapak declared game day to be 'Ewing Day'. As he stepped in for his first at bat, time was called and Ewing was presented with a horn-grip, gold-mounted umbrella engraved "Bob, 1913." The crowd cheered lustily. Ewing struck out. Wapak eked out a 4 to 3 win. It was Long Bob's last local pitching appearance.

After hanging up his baseball spikes, Ewing returned to his off-season occupation of farming. He was an expert horseman as well, raising trotters which competed in races throughout the Midwest. Bob Ewing was elected to two terms as the Auglaize County Sheriff and later ran the Brunswick Cigar Store in Wapak.

Long Bob Ewing died of cancer on June 20, 1947, at age 74.

Nelle, his wife of 42 years, survived him by a quarter-century, becoming something of a celebrity in Wapakoneta. She also remained an avid Reds fan, living to meet Pete Rose and Johnny Bench and to see the dawn of the Big Red Machine dynasty of the 1970s. She attended more than 60 consecutive opening day games before her own death Feb. 15, 1972 at age 91.

Bob and Nelle Ewing are buried in Walnut Hill Cemetery near New Hampshire, Ohio under a common headstone decorated with a baseball and bat.