09/15/2026
Carl Peter Jr. and the Baseball History of 143 Rock Street
The home at 143 Rock Street in Fostoria, Ohio, has an unusual connection to the city’s minor-league baseball and downtown business history. The house was built in 1939 by Carl Peter Jr., who only a few years earlier had been involved with Fostoria’s professional minor-league baseball club, the Fostoria Cardinals.
In 1936, Fostoria became home to a Class D minor-league team in the Ohio State League. Known as the Fostoria Cardinals, the club was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals and played its home games at Redbird Park. Historical records list Carl Peter as a pitcher for the 1936 team, finishing the season with a 5–8 record and a 5.59 ERA.
Peter’s connection to Fostoria baseball apparently went beyond playing on the field. A newspaper notice published in the Findlay Morning Republican on March 28, 1936, reported the incorporation of the Fostoria Baseball Company and named Carl Peter Jr., George L. Fink, and Fred Morgan in connection with the new organization. The company appears to have been the local corporation organized to help operate and finance the city’s minor-league club, with surviving stock certificates indicating that local investors could support the team financially.
Carl Peter Jr. was also part of a long-established downtown Fostoria clothing business. The Peter family’s mercantile operation dated back several generations and later became known as Peter Bros. Carl Jr. eventually operated the business with his father, Carl Peter Sr., and later moved the store to the southwest corner of Main and Tiffin streets, where it remained until closing in 1967.
This gives Peter an especially interesting place in Fostoria history. He was not simply a player on the hometown minor-league team; records indicate that he was also involved with the organization behind it while helping continue one of the city’s longstanding downtown businesses.
The Fostoria Cardinals were part of the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor-league system. In 1937, the club became known as the Fostoria Red Birds, continuing its relationship with St. Louis through 1941. Among the players who began their professional careers with Fostoria in 1936 were Johnny Lucadello, who later reached the major leagues, and his brother Tony Lucadello, who later became a prominent Major League Baseball scout.
Just three years after that first Cardinals season, Carl Peter Jr. built his home at 143 Rock Street in 1939. He included a distinctive detail on the house: cardinals carved into its shutters.
Historical details provided by the homeowner.
🚪 Open for tours Friday
📅 Open house Saturday, 11:00 to 1:00
$229,500 · 4 bed · 2 bath · MLS 10013308
Listed by Sara DeHaven, Principal Broker at Goddard Murphy & Co. and Colleen Grossman with Goddard Murphy & co
