Edwin A. Sprau, Baseball Enthusiast

In the 1942 Obituary Notebook in the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library is an obituary for Edwin A. Sprau. Mr. Sprau died on June 19, 1942, following a brief illness. He was only 39 years old.  Prior to his death, he was in business with his brother, Emmett Sprau, at the Sprau Grocery on Camp Street. 

For many years Edwin Sprau was active in baseball circles. He was secretary of the Sandusky Baseball Federation, secretary-treasurer of the Northern Ohio Baseball League, and had also been associated with the Firelands Baseball League, the Junior Leagues of Sandusky, and the Church Indoor League.

Hundreds of officials and baseball players from several area baseball teams paid their respects at a memorial service in the Elks Home on the evening of June 22. Funeral services for Edwin A. Sprau took place on Tuesday, with the Rev. Donald Wonders of Grace Episcopal Church officiating. Burial was in Oakland Cemetery. Edwin A. Sprau was survived by his mother, and brothers Walter and Emmett. Edward C. Sprau, Edwin's father and the founder of the family grocery business, had died in 1939.

Pictured below is the E. C. Sprau grocery store around 1908. Edwin A. and Emmitt Sprau are standing in the doorway with their father and other family members.