
Biography
McEwen was born to Thomas B. McEwen and Annie Owen in Memphis, TN,1 , but moved with his family to Pine Bluff, AR, at some point before 18802 . From 1886-1888, McEwen played baseball with a local Pine Bluff team, later heading to Cincinnati to play with an amateur team known as the Indians3 . In the fall of 1889, McEwen went to Atlanta, GA, and helped organize a baseball team there. The following year, he played left field for the team.
In 1905, McEwen married Elizabeth Whitelaw in Cleveland, OH1 . He lived in Cleveland for most of the year of his life, working as a telegraph operator.
Excerpts
"W. E. McEwen, who cultivates the left field for the [Atlanta] team, is a Memphian by birth, but began his baseball career in Arkansas as a member of the famous Pine Bluff Arkansas Reds. That team floated the state championship pennant in ’86, ’87 and ’88. From Pine Bluff, McEwen went to Cincinnati, where he became a member of the crack amateur team –the Indians. He came to Atlanta last fall, and was one of the organizers of the New Atlantas."4