8-24-08Click to choose year:
The season opened with the following team officers in place: Aberdeen: L.F. McMillan, president and GM; Duluth: M.E. Olson, president and Ken Blackman, GM; Eau Claire: R.B. Bezanson, president and Don Dicker, GM; Fargo-Moorhead: Loren Oliver, president and Jack O'Connor, GM; Grand Forks: Parm Lystad, president and Jack O'Connor, GM; St. Cloud: W.A. Daniel, president and Frank Farrington, GM; Sioux Falls: Ken Guenthner, president and GM; Superior: Clyde Thomas, president and William Berg, GM. The league president was Herman White and the Executive Secretary was Hal Totten.
5-5-53: Umpires of the league had an all-day meeting in St. Cloud with Jim Tobin the National Association umpire supervisor and League Executive Secretary Totten. There were four new umpires hired for the season.
5-6-53: A crowd of 10,213, one of the largest opening day turnouts ever to witness a class C game, jammed Barnett Field in Fargo to see the Twins begin their 1953 campaign with a 12-3 victory over Sioux Falls.
5-7-53: Last year's home run champ, Frank Gravino hit two round-trippers which made 3 in the first 2 games.
5-14-53: St. Cloud and Fargo-Moorhead each took the early lead in the standings with 5-0 records.
5-19-53: Duluth left 19 men on base during a game for a league record.
5-21-53: The St. Cloud Rox stole home twice in a game against Grand Forks which they won 7-4. Bob Beier swiped home in the 3rd inning and Ozzie Virgil made it in the 6th.
5-22-53: Fargo-Moorhead had the best record, at the start of a season, in league history. The Twins had won the first 5 games, then after one loss, they won the next 6 straight.
A single in the 7th inning by Aberdeen's Tito Francona was the only hit off John Kudoba (St. Cloud) when the Rox beat the
Pheasants 6-0. He walked only one and St. Cloud committed 2 errors.
5-28-53: Fargo-Moorhead's fast start placed them on top of the league's standings with a 14-4 record. However, St. Cloud
was only one-half game behind at 14-6. Duluth (13-6) was in third.
5-30-53: Billy Strange of Aberdeen set a league mark taking 6 walks in one game.
6-4-53: Fargo-Moorhead turned a triple play in the first inning of a game against St. Cloud. Second baseman Santo Luberio took a liner off the bat of Bob Schultz, threw to shortstop Joe Camacho at second base for the second out and the relay to first baseman Ray Mendoza completed the triple killing.
6-11-53: Fargo-Moorhead's (25-6) lead lengthened to 4 ½ games over Duluth (20-10).
A Fargo crowd of 3,814 paid to see the Fargo-Moorhead Twins defeat St. Cloud 7-1.
6-12-53: Tom Rea (Sioux Falls) walked 17 men to set a league mark. He also threw 11 wild pitches which also set that record. In addition, Duluth and Sioux Falls walked a combined record total of 28.
6-14-53: By a vote of the teams, the league rejected an attempt to increase the veteran player limit from 6 to 8. The following rules remained in effect: 1) Each team is permitted not more than 6 "veterans", 2) each club must have at least 2 rookies and 3) they are allowed only 8 "limited service" men.
6-18-53: Fargo-Moorhead (30-9) extended their lead to 3 ½ games over Duluth (26-12).
Eau Claire GM Rand Bezanson informed the team's fans that if attendance did not pick up the city may lose the team, which was in last place.
6-53: The Milwaukee Braves won an exhibition game at Eau Claire against the Bears 13-11. The major league team lost a catcher, Paul Burris, due to a fractured elbow suffered in a collision at home plate in the 4thinning. Braves' coach Bucky Walters pitched the last 5 innings to get the win and their utility player, Jim Pendleton, played right, center and shortstop.
6-24-53: Grand Forks manager Carl Hosler was dismissed. It was his first season as the pilot of the Chiefs. He had played in the league with St. Cloud, Fargo-Moorhead and Duluth. His temporary replacement was catcher Frank Calo.
7-6-53: League President Herman White, who held that post since 1935, announced his resignation. He has had conflicts over the operation of the league with Hal Totten the executive secretary. In a letter to the club's directors, he stated: "Because of the last two paragraphs of your executive secretary's July 1 bulletin to you, I feel it impossible for me to give any further service or advise to the affairs of the Northern League." Totten was a baseball announcer in Chicago for many years and manager of a radio station in Keokuk, IA, before he was elected president of the Three-I league for 1952. Named to the newly-created post of executive secretary of the league last fall, he combined the operation of the two loops from headquarters in Cedar Rapids, IA. In the bulletin referred to by White, Totten had declared he was "disgusted" with what he called a "campaign of vilification" conducted by the "president of this league against this office." Reportedly, the two also disagreed over the assignment of umpires. White was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association.
7-8-53: Fargo-Moorhead beat Duluth 3-1 with all of the runs unearned. The Twins scored their 3 in the first on 2 errors by catcher Bernie Gerl and the Dukes' scored their run in the 5thinning on a wild pitch.
7-9-53: Fargo-Moorhead (43-18) increased their lead over Duluth (38-21) to 4 games.
The Twins' Frank Gravino hit his 33rd home run during a 23-3 victory over Duluth. He had 32 in all of 1952.
7-10-53: Grand Forks' left-hander Ed Sandy came into a 9th inning, 2-out, bases loaded, 5-2 game. On the first pitch, Superior's Ronnie Orlandi popped up to end the contest and seal the victory for the Chiefs.
7-13-53: In the league's All-Star Game, Fargo-Moorhead beat the Stars 8-4 in Fargo. The Twins got to pitcher Roy Coombs (Sioux Falls) for 5 runs in the 6th inning on 3 doubles, a single and a 3-run home run by Bob Melton. Tito Francona homered for the All-Stars. The attendance was a record 12,500.
The sports editor of the Moorhead Daily News, Mitchell Rukivina, made the charge that he was threatened by Jack O'Connor, the business manager of the Twins, and forced to leave the field before the All-Star game. Rukuvina said that O'Connor was making a reprisal for his recent criticism of manager Zeke Bunura who did not remove a pitcher after he had walked 14 batters. O'Connor denied the charges.
During the day of the All-Star game, the league's teams held a 3-hour special meeting to consider President Herman White's recent resignation. The directors voted 5-3 to refuse his resignation and then made it unanimous. After the vote, Executive Secretary Hal Totten submitted his resignation which was accepted by the directors. Totten had been appointed to relieve White of much of the detail work connected with his office, however, the two disagreed often on matters regarding the operation of the league. "There is no personal bad feeling between myself and White," Totten said after the meeting. "He challenged and I was beaten, just as in any sport. I wish Herman all the luck in the world, and also the continued success of the Northern." White, who was active in community affairs in his home town of Eau Claire, said he would give up his civic work as much as possible to devote more time to the league, serving both as president and secretary. He said that Barney Neary, his former aide for 15 years, again would be his assistant.
Loel Schrader, of the Grand Forks Herald, was elected president of the Northern League Baseball Writers Association succeeding Frank Farrington of the St. Cloud Daily Times.
7-16-53: Fargo-Moorhead (47-19) took a 6-game lead over Duluth (40-24).
In an attempt to change their luck, last-place Eau Claire staged a second season opener including all of the regular opening-day ceremonies. But, in the "re-opener", they lost 8-6 to Sioux Falls.
7-17-53: In the first game of a double-header, Grand Forks pitcher Bert Ostby beat the Duluth Dukes 1-0 on a one-hitter. He won the game himself by executing a squeeze bunt in the 9thinning. In the 2ndgame, he came into the game in the 7th(final inning) with the bases loaded, two outs and struck out Pete Kousagan for the save.
7-21-55: Grand Forks pitcher Larry Mielke was called back into the Air Force when it was discovered that his service time had been miscalculated. He had to serve another 15 days.
7-23-53: Fargo-Moorhead lengthened their lead to 7 games with a 42-20 record. Duluth was in 2ndwith a 44-28 record.
7-25-53: Ray Seif (Fargo-Moorhead) pitched 7 innings of shutout ball over Duluth, but barely survived late inning rallies to win 7-5.
7-27-53: The Sioux Falls' infield made 7 errors in a game against Superior, but the team won 10-2. Shortstop Chico Fernandez and third baseman Gary Sondermeyer each made 3. The Canaries turned 5 double plays - all with Fernandez' participation.
7-28-53: Frank Gravino hit his 38th home run in a 9-3 victory over Eau Claire.
John Fitzgerald set a St. Cloud Rox' record with 16 strike outs in a game vs. Grand Forks.
7-30-53: First place Fargo-Moorhead (58-21) held an 11 ½ games lead over Duluth (47-33).
8-53: Roger Maras [later changed to "Maris"] was elected the Rookie of the Year for the league. He collected 12 of the possible 20 votes.
Steve Gerkin was granted his request for a release from Duluth so he could play for Alexandria, a western Minnesota semi-pro team managed by a Dukes' former manager Russ Rolandson.
8-2-53: Hank Majeski, who was a Cleveland infielder and began his career in Eau Claire in 1935, was honored in a special ceremony at the Bears' park for his election to the Eau Claire Baseball Hall of Fame.
Frank Gravino hit his 39th home run in a game against Aberdeen.
8-6-53: Fargo-Moorhead (61-24) held a 10-game lead over Duluth (51-34).
8-12-53: Grand Forks' Burt Ostby pitched his second one-hit game this season when he beat Duluth 4-1.
8-13-53: Charlie Wrinn (Eau Claire) pitched a one-hit victory over Sioux Falls 2-0. The only hit was by Wayne Cummings.
8-17-53: The day after Al Seif lost a game to Duluth 9-8, he made a mop-up appearance in a 21-7 loss. Seif threw 2 wild pitches close to the head of the Dukes' Pete Kousagan who charged the mound and fought with the hurler. A free-for-all followed which required 4 policemen and 15 minutes to break up.
8-20-53: With the season nearing it's end, Fargo-Moorhead (74-28) all but wrapped up the pennant. They were leading
Duluth (58-40) by 17 games.
8-21-53: Ed Sandy (Grand Forks) pitched and won both halves of a double header (7 innings each) vs. Eau Claire 3-2 and
3-0. He allowed 6 hits in the first game and 5 safeties in the second.
8-22-53: John Fitzgerald (St. Cloud) pitched one-hit baseball for 10 innings against Grand Forks. In the 11th, the Chiefs got a double and a single. Then a Rox' error plated the only run, in the game, as Fitzgerald was tagged with the loss.
8-23-53: Fargo-Moorhead outfielder Ken Braeseke suffered a skull fracture in the first inning of a game against Eau Claire. He was hit in the head by a pitched ball from Bears' starter Chuck Wrinn.
8-24-53: Fargo-Moorhead became the first league club to reach 100,000 in attendance.
8-27-53: Fargo-Moorhead clinched the league's pennant by being 18 games in front of second- place Duluth. It was the earliest date for a clincher in league history.
8-31-53: Frank Gravino broke two league records when he hit his 49th home run vs. St. Cloud. It was also his 163rd RBI. Both records had been previously held by Jamestown's Cal Lahman since 1936.
9-1-53: John Brandreth of Eau Claire pitched 17 2/3 innings in a 3-2 loss to Superior. His performance set a league record for innings pitched in one game.
9-3-53: Fargo-Moorhead (84-35) was 14 ½ games ahead of Duluth (68-50).
Aberdeen defeated F-M at home 10-7. The Twins had rallied to tie the score at 7-7 after 7 innings, but the Pheasants regained the lead at 10-7 in the 8th thanks to Tim Hastings triple. He also homered in the game. Roger Maris drove in 2 runs for F-M with a single.
9-53: It was announced that Winnipeg would return with a team in the league for 1954. They had last fielded a team in 1942 and had acquired the Sioux Falls franchise who had no available ball park after 1953.
The league also decided to amend the rule that allows home teams to keep all of their gate revenue. Next season, visiting teams would get 10 cents for each admission with a $50 guarantee. Seven "booster" games would be allowed each club when the visitors would receive $100 and the league $35.
Fargo-Moorhead's final record was 86-39 which was 13 games over Duluth.
Santo Luberto won the batting crown with an .361 average.
Ray Seif (F-M) had a 2.52 ERA to lead the league and won 20 games. Don Nace (F-M) also won 20 games.
In the playoffs, the Twins beat St. Cloud and Duluth defeated Aberdeen both by a count of 2 games to 0 games. F-M won the finals 3 games to 2 games over Duluth.
League President Herman White proposed a drastic realignment for the circuit. He suggested the establishment of a Red
River Valley League and another separate circuit with "the eastern cities of the present Northern League as a nucleus."
Making up the latter group would be Eau Claire, Superior, Duluth, St. Cloud, with LaCrosse, Rochester. Madison and
Winona also possibilities. The Red River group would be Winnipeg, Brandon, Fargo-Moorhead, Bismarck, Grand Forks,
Aberdeen and possibly Williston, Austin or the return of Sioux Falls. "This would not invade any of the present territory of
the Wisconsin State League. If the State League ceased operations, however, cities like Green Bay and Wausau would be
in line for top consideration," White said. He mentioned he had heard reports that teams at the southern end of the
Wisconsin State League would find it difficult to operate next year. He declared that he had always believed that clubs in
the Northern and Wisc. State leagues, which are able to continue operations, could be realigned to "a great deal of
advantage." "It is my belief", he stated, "that clubs in Fond du Lac, Janesville and Sheyboygan would have very small
opportunity to operate at a profit in view of the tremendous statewide spirit emphasized in favor of the Milwaukee Braves.
It is pretty hard to sell the public a ton of enthusiasm for an operation in close proximity to a major league show." Before
such a realignment could be accomplished the clubs involved would have to work out a basis of membership. "It will
require the work of someone versed in professional baseball operations to set up the proposal as the greater work or
beginning of such a realignment," White continued. "It will require work being done in the very near future if such
realignment is to be accomplished in time for the preparation of schedules and other matters for the 1954 season. I surely
believe that the plan has merit and good prospects for success."
Club officers for the 1954 season were: Aberdeen - Pete Bradbury, president and GM; Duluth - M.E. Olson, president and Ken Blackman, GM; Eau Claire - R.B. Bezanson, president and Ed Bastian, GM; Fargo-Moorhead - Loren Oliver, president and Jack O'Connor, GM; Grand Forks - Ed Shields, president and J.C. Holte, GM; St. Cloud - W.A. Daniels, president and Frank Farrington, GM; Superior - Tom Fleming, president and W.S. Hahn, GM; Winnipeg - Mark Danzker, president. The league president continued to be Herman White.
Ken Blackman, the GM of Duluth, states that the Dukes have the largest scorebook in the minors at 36 pages. Last year the
score book was the same size and the print run of 35,000 was sold out before the end of the playoffs. This years will be
printed in several editions and include a mineograph insert giving statistical information.
5-4-54: In an interview prior to Duluth's home opener, the Reds GM Gabe Paul, stated; "The Class A player of a couple of
decades ago probably wouldn't be of Class C caliber now. "
Early May, 1954: Only 5 of the first 32 scheduled games were played due to snow, rain and cold weather. Aberdeen and Winnipeg had all of their first five games postponed. Snow ranging up to 5 inches hit parts of Minnesota, South and North Dakota. By mid-May the league was considering extending the season two weeks beyond September 6 to make up all of the postponements. Superior, unable to play their home opener, finally designated a game at Duluth on May 10 as their inaugural.
In Winnipeg's opener, they used the last ball that was in play when the city lost their franchise in 1942, as the ball for their ceremonial first pitch.
5-5-54: Pat O'Keefe of Winnipeg hit 3 home runs to help his team beat Aberdeen 10-2.
5-8-54: Fargo-Moorhead had 16 hits and was led by first baseman Leroy Irby. He hit a grand-slam in the 14-3 victory over Aberdeen.
5-12-54: Pat O'Keefe was 6-for-6 against Fargo-Moorhead. He hit 3 singles, 1 double and 2 home runs in a 26-14 loss. Frank Gravino had 3 home runs for the Twins.
5-14-54: Four Duluth pitchers combined to walk 18 Aberdeen batters and give up 8 hits for a 12-5 loss.
Superior manager and catcher, Walt Novick, had 3 consecutive home runs to help his team beat Fargo-Moorhead 11-10.
5-20-54: St. Cloud held the early lead, in the standings, with an 11-2 record. Duluth (8-6) is 3 ½ games behind and Fargo-Moorhead (8-7) is 4 down.
5-25-54: Winnipeg lost their second baseman, Sam Hernandez, to a broken leg when he slide into first base against Duluth.
5-27-54: Grand Forks pitcher Burt Ostby will not play the rest of the season due to a broken knee cap caused by a line drive off the bat of Superior's Dick Anderson.
5-54: Forty games were rained or snowed out in the first month of the season with only 79 of 119 played.
Superior lost their GM, W. S. Hahn, as he resigned. Team President Tom Fleming will handle his duties temporarily.
6-3-54: The St. Cloud Rox (19-5) continued in 1stplace 5 games in front of Duluth (15-11) and 6 ½ ahead of Superior.
6-9-54: Oscar Khederian resigned as the Duluth Dukes' manager after his team lost 7 of 8 games. Dick Wade, who had not managed since 1934, took charge of the team.
6-10-54: Grand Forks fired manager Virl Minnis and replaced him with Frank Calo who had managed them the last 2 months of 1953 and had recently returned as a player.
6-10-54: Jim "Mudcat" Grant (Fargo-Moorhead) scattered 6 hits for a 13-0 shutout over Grand Forks, who had just changed managers from Virl Minnis to Frank Calo. Minnis continued as a player on the team.
6-14-54: Fargo-Moorhead shortstop, John Skorunski, had 4 errors in a game vs. Winnipeg which the Twins lost 1-0.
6-16-54: Jack Wigley (St. Cloud) hit a triple during a game at Duluth but was called out 30 minutes later. After his hit, the umpires called time due to intense fog. After play resumed, the Dukes protested that he had missed first base and the umpires agreed.
Across the state line, the fog messed with the first game of a double-header between Eau Claire and Superior as it was delayed 1 hour and 35 minutes and finally called in the 7thinning. The 2nd game was postponed.
6-54: Don Rosburg, who had been cut by Winnipeg earlier in the season, won his first 4 games pitching for Aberdeen.
6-17-54: St. Cloud (30-10) was in first place over second-place Superior (23-20) by 8 ½ games.
6-20-54: Down 7-3, Eau Claire came back to score 9 runs with 2 out in the 9th inning in a game against Duluth. They won 12-7.
6-23-54: The giveaway to fans at the game in St. Cloud was a glass of milk. It was Dairy Night sponsored by the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce.
6-24-54: Dick Barnhart of St. Cloud was leading the league in hitting with a .382 average. Bill Hain (Aberdeen) at .379, Andre Rogers (St. Cloud) with .365 and Johnny Goryl (Eau Claire) at .362 followed. Bill Smith (Winnipeg), with a record of 4-0 and George Smith (St. Cloud) at 3-0 led the pitchers. Ron Mahrt (St. Cloud) and Reg Pitrie (Aberdeen) also were pitching well with 6-1 records.
St. Cloud (33-13) had a 6 ½ game lead over Fargo-Moorhead (28-21). Close behind in third was Superior (27-23).
Danny Litwhiler became the player-manager of the Duluth Dukes. In his initial game, he hit 2 home runs and a single to lead his team to a 15-9 victory over Aberdeen. Earlier in the season, Litwhiler had been fired as manager of the Jamestown team in the PONY League.
6-26-54: Mudcat Grant (Fargo-Moorhead) pitched his 3rd successive shutout with an 8-0 win over the Dukes in front of 3,301 fans which was Duluth's largest crowd this season.
6-27-54: Grand Forks' Bill Robertson equaled a league record by hitting 4 extra-base hits. He slammed 2 home runs and 2 doubles in a game vs. Grand Forks. He had 8 RBI.
6-29-54: Chester Dickey of Grand Forks pitched a 2-0 seven inning no-hitter over St. Cloud.
7-54: It was reported in "The Sporting News" that the American Association was "looking" at Winnipeg for a future franchise.
7-1-54: St. Cloud (36-18) was in first place by 5 ½ games ahead of Fargo-Moorhead (32-25).
High winds up to 35 mph, in Aberdeen, helped produce 6 home runs in a game with Superior. The Blues' Frank Seastrand hit 2 with one being a grand slam. Another slam, by the Pheasants' George Blash, gave the home team the victory 12-11.
7-4-54: Winnipeg's Leverett Spencer pitched both 7-inning games of a double header winning 10-0 and 5-1 over Grand Forks.
7-8-54: St. Cloud led the league by 3 ½ games with a 40-23 record. Fargo-Moorhead (38-28) was in second.
Loren Oliver Jr., the son of the Fargo-Moorhead's team president, completed his first start for the club with a victory 3-1 over St. Cloud.
7-54: Billy Joe Moore, who was sentenced in 1948 to a 15-year term in prison for burglary, got a 60-day parole in order to play for the Grand Forks Chiefs. After enjoying only fair success on the field (.202, 2 HR, 14 RBI), he ran into a backstop screen while chasing a pop foul and suffered a knee injury that ended his chances to stay with the team. Grand Forks officials then called the prison warden and told him to send someone for Moore. The warden told them he had complete faith in their parolee and asked that he be placed on a train back to Okla. Moore returned immediately and told the warden: "I'm sorry I didn't make good." Due to time off for good behavior, he was scheduled to be released in May 1955, at which time he wanted to try out for another pro team. Last season, while playing for the prison team, he hit 46 home runs, drove in 109 runs and hit .390 in 67 games. [He did play another year in pro ball, in 1956, in the Georgia State League].
7-12-54: In the league All Star game, the All Stars beat St. Cloud 13-2 which was the most one-sided game in the 12-year history of the event. The Stars scored 6 runs in the 1st inning when 12 batters went to the plate and had a total of 15 hits in the game. Bill Hain (Aberdeen), Dick Anderson (Superior) and Pedro Cardenal (Duluth) hit home runs for the Stars. The game attracted only 2,555 fans which was the smallest turnout in the series.
In a meeting of the league's team officials, Fargo-Moorhead's proposal for a split season in 1954 was voted down 7-1.
"The Sporting News" ran a story on two former college stars who played for the Duluth Dukes in 1954. Ken Bawek, a catcher who played for Iowa State in the Big Seven and led that conference in hitting for 1953 and Bobby Robertson, from the University of Indiana, who led the Big Ten in hitting for 1953, were highlighted. Bawek had been hampered most of '54 with a knee injury and was scheduled for surgery after the season. Still he was hitting close to .300 and had a fair number of RBI. Robertson was hitting out of the number 4 or 5 slots in the Dukes' line up, but manager Danny Litwhiler was attempting to iron out a hitch in his swing.
7-15-54: St. Cloud (43-25) held a 4 games lead over Fargo-Moorhead (41-31).
7-17-54: Dave Roberts set an Aberdeen club record when he hit his 23rd and 24th home runs, of the season, against Eau Claire. His homers topped Jake Crawford's former record of 23.
7-18-54: Frank Gravino hit 3 home runs in consecutive plate appearances in a game against St. Cloud which Fargo-Moorhead won 22-12.
7-21-54: Fargo-Moorhead beat the Eau Claire Bears 4-3 on a wild pitch and 3 errors. They had no RBI.
Winnipeg's Bill Silverthorne was hit by 2 pitched balls in one inning (the first) setting a league mark during a game in Superior. Blues' pitcher Don Johnson was the culprit as he allowed 7 runs in that inning and took the 12-7 loss.
7-22-54: Fargo-Moorhead (50-33) overtook St. Cloud (45-30) for first place.
7-25-54: Player-manager Danny Litwhiler of Duluth hit 3 home runs to lead his team to a 14-8 victory over Aberdeen.
7-26-54: Johnny Goryl led the league in hitting with a .343 record. Bill Robertson (.341) of Eau Claire was second and Willie Kirkland (.340) of St. Cloud was third. Len Wile (Winnipeg) led the pitchers with a 9-2 record. Mudcat Grant was 13-3 and Bill Smith (Winnipeg) was 11-3.
7-28-54: Willie Kirkland came up with the bases loaded against Fargo-Moorhead and hit the first pitch he saw out of the park - but just foul. On the next pitch, he again it out and this time, it was fair. It was his third grand slam of the season.
7-29-54: St. Cloud regained the league lead with a 51-32 record. They were .007 percentage points in front of Fargo-Moorhead (54-35).
Ronnie Mahrt (St. Cloud) pitched a one-hitter against Grand Forks. The Chiefs' only hit was from player-manager Frank Calo in the 1st inning. He walked 2 in his 15th complete game of the season.
8-1-54: Jim Aiello of Grand Forks pitched both ends of a double header against Eau Claire with victories in both - 5-2 and 3-1.
8-2-54: Eau Claire catcher Bill Wright was suspended indefinitely by league President White after he knocked over umpire Arnold Tippery during an argument in game one of the August 1 double header.
8-8-54: Grand Forks' catcher Gerald Keaneman, who had recently returned from military service, hit for the cycle against Winnipeg in a 8-6 victory.
8-10-54: St. Cloud lost to the Minneapolis Millers 10-6 in an exhibition game before 3,010 at St. Cloud. Rox pitchers gave up only 4 hits, but walked 10.
8-12-54: St. Cloud (60-38) continued in first place by ½ game over Fargo-Moorhead (63-42).
8-54: In meetings of all organized baseball leagues, Aberdeen President Pete Bradbury suggested that when a major league club sends a player to a minor league team, with whom they have a working agreement, that they should pay all expenses incurred by the minor league club for the handling of that player such as travel, meals and salary.
League umpire Russ Fisher was named by the National Association's umpire supervisor, Jim Tobin, to work a double-elimination U.S. Air Force world-wide tournement scheduled to open at Scott Field, Ill. on September 13.
8-13-54: Willie Kirkland set a St. Cloud club record when he hit his 22nd home run in a 6-3 victory over Fargo-Moorhead.
8-16-54: Mudcat Grant was chosen as the league's rookie of the year with the largest voting margin in the 7 years of the award. He received 67 votes to Bill Robertson's 20.
Gene Schiller's 25-game hitting streak came to an end in a game against Fargo-Moorhead. Schiller played for the Eau Claire Bears.
8-19-54: St. Cloud was in first place with a 64-42 record 2 games in front of Fargo-Moorhead (66-48).
8-22-54: A streak was ended by a 2-run home run in Aberdeen by the Goldeyes' Howard O'Flynn. Since August 16, there had been 10 home runs hit at Aberdeen's Municipal Park - all without men on base.
8-23-54: Two league pitchers appeared in both games of double headers. Mike Santoro (Duluth) started in game one for a 2-1 victory and relived in the night cap for another win by 8-7. Also, Don Edinger (Eau Claire) got the victory in his team's game one 4-3 and then achieved a save in game two, won by the Bears 3-2.
8-26-54: Fargo-Moorhead (74-49) took over first place by 4 ½ games from St. Cloud (66-50).
8-29-54: Frank Gravino set a league mark with his 51st, 52nd and 53rd home runs during a double header vs. Grand Forks. Mudcat Grant won his 20th game which was the first time a rookie had accomplished that feat.
9-2-54: Fargo-Moorhead (82-51) continued to lead the league over St. Cloud (73-53) by 5 ½ games.
9-4-54: Fargo-Moorhead clinched the pennant with a shut out by Pete Peerenboom over Aberdeen. In games, the next two days, they were shut out by the Pheasants 2-0 and 1-0.
9-4-54: Frank Gravino was named the league's MVP for the 2nd straight year.
9-6-54: Cold and rainy weather forced the cancellation of a double header on the closing day of the season in Winnipeg. It prevented the club from posting a new league attendance record held by Fargo-Moorhead in 1953 of 108,622. The Goldeyes finished the season at 108,081.
Final standings showed Fargo Moorhead (85-55) finishing 4 games ahead of second-place St. Cloud (76-54).
Willie Kirkland won the batting championship with a .360 average. Ron Mahrt (St C) had the best ERA of 2.84 and Mudcat Grant won 21 games.
Mucat Grant, who finished at 21-5, could not participate in the league playoffs because of bursitis in his arm.
In the playoff finals, F-M beat Eau Claire 3 games to 0.
10-54: League President Herman White, a member of the minor league's executive committee (with Frank Shaughnessy of
the International League and Tommy Richardson of the Eastern) held a one-day meeting to consider changes in the
Major-Minor Agreement and the National Association Agreement. in Columbus, Ohio.
The league's clubs started the season with the following officers:
Aberdeen - Pete Bradbury, president and R.N. Kyburz, GM; Duluth - M.E. Olson, president and Ken Blackman, GM; Eau Claire - R.B. Bezanson, president and Dean Ewing, GM; Fargo-Moorhead - Loren Oliver, president and Jack O'Connor, GM; Grand Forks - Hilary Wilson, president and J.C. Holte, GM; St. Cloud - (Dr.) P.L. Halenbeck, president and Jas Nierengarten, GM; Superior - Tom Fleming, president and GM; Winnipeg - Mark Danzker, president and Terry Hind, GM. The league president was Herman White.
The league used a staggered start to their season when 4 teams played on April 27, 2 others on April 28 and the remaining 2 on April 30.
After two seasons of no radio play-by-play, Superior had their games broadcast over WEBC with Dennus Murphy as the announcer.
Bob Junkert, who had done play-by-play of Eau Claire games, was named sports director of WDSM in Duluth-Superior and did the Dukes' games in 1955.
4-27-55: Fargo-Moorhead drew 7,179 fans which was their second highest opener in club history. However, the rains came in the last half of the 5thinning which ended the game as a 9-3 victory for the home team over Duluth.
5-4-55: A severe windstorm in Fargo blew down the center field fence which forced the postponement of the Twins' game with Grand Forks.
5-5-55: Eau Claire (6-1) was in first place ahead of Fargo-Moorhead (5-1) and St. Cloud (5-3).
5-18-55: The Aberdeen Pheasants pulled off a triple play in a game against the Eau Claire Braves. Jack Bickett was on second for the Braves, Roger Jongewaard on first and Frank Benevides at the plate. Benevides grounded sharply to second baseman Jim Burton who stepped on second to get Jongewaard and his relay to first got Benevides. Bickett was then caught trying to score from second as first baseman Bob Miller threw to catcher Jim Randolph for the third out.
5-55: Grand Forks manager Johnny Hopp admitted that he converted Rene Friol from third base to catcher by mistake. Friol, a Cuban native, spoke very little English so when Hopp assigned him to catch batting practice in spring training, he did not express any objection. He had been batting forth and catching even though his only previous pro experience (68 games in 1954 in the Florida State League) was at third. Hopp discovered the error when a reporter showed him Friol's pro records in a baseball guide.
5-19-55: Leon Wagner (St. Cloud) hit a home run with 2 out and a man on in the 12th innings to help beat Fargo-Moorhead 4-2. It was Wynn Hawkins' 2ndloss. He had won 28 straight games from July 4, 1953, through this season (24 of them were in amateur ball for a team in Youngstown, OH).
5-20-55: Jack Maroney (Duluth) went 5-for-5 to contribute to a 7-3 Dukes' win over Grand Forks.
5-22-55: Aberdeen turned another triple play. With Leon Wagner on third and Ed Kopacz on first, St. Cloud's Frank Szekola hit a low liner to Jim Burton who caught the ball and threw to first. Then Bob Miller threw across to third baseman, Hank Mareno, for the third out. Wagner had already crossed the plate.
5-24-55: The president of the Aberdeen Pheasants, Pete Bradbury, said he had filed a protest on the 9-1 loss by the Pheasants to the Eau Claire Braves. Aberdeen arrived in Eau Claire at 7:15 p.m. on a day which is shown on the Northern League schedule as an open day. As soon as they arrived in town, the team was told to go immediately to Carson Park. Manager Bill Krueger said; "With a crowd already assembled, I figured the only thing we could do was give them a ball game. The worse thing for baseball is to disappoint a crowd...so, we played the game. We didn't have batting practice or infield and barely had time to get a pitcher warmed up." Eau Claire officials admitted it was the second time they had made a mistake on the schedule this season. Ten days earlier they failed to notify Duluth of a change from a night game to an afternoon game and the Duluth club arrived three hours "late" as a Sunday crowd was waiting.
5-26-55: Eau Claire led the league standings with a 21-7 record which is 3 games ahead of Fargo-Moorhead (17-9) and 3 ½ games ahead of St. Cloud (17-10).
5-29-55: John Zarcone of St. Cloud pitched a 13-0 no-hitter against Aberdeen. He walked 3 and struck out 7. This was the second pro season for the Long Island native.
5-31-55: Andre Rodgers was leading the league in hitting with a .387 average. Pedro Cardenal of Winnipeg was second at .341. The pitching leaders were Fargo-Moorhead's Merlin Beatty (6-0) and Frank Funk (St. Cloud) at 5-1.
6-55: Tom Fleming, the president of the Superior Blues, announced that he planned to resign unless attendance picks up. The club only drew 7,366 in the first 7 games of the season and were far behind last year's figures.
6-2-55: Fargo-Moorhead (21-10) led the league by .001 percentage point over Eau Claire (23-11).
Winnipeg completed 2 extra inning games in a row with a 13-inning win over Fargo-Moorhead 2-1. On May 31, they also won 2-1, but in 14 innings. Both of their starters, Carlos Thorne and Bob Whitaker, pitched complete games.
6-3-55: Winnipeg drew their largest crowd in history -- 5,656 - for a game vs. Fargo-Moorhead which they lost 5-2.
6-6-55: Fargo-Moorhead Twins' manager Phil Seghi underwent an emergency appendectomy and was replaced temporarily by Paul O'Dea who was a scout for the Cleveland Indians.
6-9-55: Eau Claire took over the league lead with a 26-12 record which was 2 ½ games ahead of Fargo-Moorhead (22-13).
Frank Funk (St. Cloud) won both games of a double header vs. Grand Forks. In the first, he won as the starter 5-3 and, in the second, he pitched one inning of relief and to get the victory 5-4.
In the first game, Grand Forks outfielder, Jim Sheppard, was hit in the head and knocked unconscious by a fast ball thrown by starter Bob Woods. Hospital reports indicated a mild concussion.
6-10-55: Fargo radio station KVOX offered a prize of $12.80 (they broadcasted at 1280 kilocycles) to any player who hit a home run over their right field sign at Barnett Field. Twins' catcher Howard Langston was the first one to collect the prize, but the station was not on the air to cover it. Due to technical difficulties, they were unable to broadcast the game.
6-16-55: Eau Claire (29-14) led Fargo-Moorhead (28-14) by only ½ game. In third, 2 games back, was St. Cloud.
6-24-55: Dom Maisano (Grand Forks) threw a 1-hitter against Aberdeen. Neil Serpico hit a double in the 5thinning for the only Pheasants' safety.
6-29-55: Duluth broke an 11-game losing streak when they defeated St. Cloud 8-7. The streak cost manager Leon Treadway his job. He was replaced by Jim Crandall.
6-30-55: Eau Claire (37-19) hung on to the league lead over St. Cloud (38-20) by 1 game.
7-2-55: Ken Davis (Grand Forks) left a hospital after surgery on his nose. He had been hit in the head by a pitch and was scheduled to return to play in the near future. Jim Shepard, who had been hit on June 8, was told to not play the rest of the season. He went home to Wickford, RI.
7-7-55: Eau Claire (40-23) was leading St. Cloud (41-25) by ½ game.
7-1-55: Johnny Hopp resigned as manager of the Grand Forks Chiefs and was replaced temporarily by Joe McDermott who was a Yankees scout and "trouble-shooter".
League President White announced that attendance had run slightly behind last season, through June, as 187,675 fans had paid admission for 209 games compared to 202,101 who paid their way in 217 games, during the same period, in 1953.
7-9-55: Superior's Wayne Sperry pitched a 1-hitter in a 5-1 win against Duluth. The only hit was an infield single by Dick Wehman in the 3rd inning.
7-11-55: The Eau Claire Bears played a home game at Green Bay before 3,206 fans. They and the Fargo-Moorhead Twins combined for 27 walks, which was one short of the league record. Bob Botz, who was the 4th Bears pitcher, did not allow a hit in the last 6 innings to get the win 11-9. Fargo-Moorhead's manager, Phil Seghi, lived in Green Bay at the time.
7-13-55: Ben Crumpton hit the longest home run in the history of Goldeyes' Park in Winnipeg. The hometown first baseman's center field blast was estimated at 450 feet.
7-14-55: Eau Claire (48-23) led the league over St. Cloud (44-28) by 4 ½ games.
7-16-55: Grand Forks drew more then 4,000 fans for a "booster night", but the Chiefs lost to Superior 11-5 lead by the Blues' Lee DeWan who was 5-for-6.
7-17-55: Ray Fletcher was named manager at Grand Forks. The 30-year-old catcher was formerly property of the White Sox who drafted him from Milwaukee (AA) in the winter of 1947, but he did not make the Sox. He had left pro baseball in 1952 and most recently was playing for Huron, SD, in the semi-pro Basin League.
7-55: Hal Trosky, the son of a former major leaguer with the same name, left the Superior Blues because of an elbow injury which was expected to end his season.
A former major league shortstop with the Cubs, Bobby Sturgeon, was signed to play for the Fargo-Moorhead Twins after he was released as the manager at Salt Lake City in the Pioneer League.
7-20-55: Grand Forks' starter Tom Maisano pitched a 7-inning one-hitter (allowed only a single) in the 2ndgame of a double header vs. Winnipeg. However, he lost the game 3-1 due mainly to 5 walks.
7-21-55: The league-leader continued to be Eau Claire with a 52-25 record which was 5 games ahead of second-place St. Cloud (48-31).
The president of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, Mark Danzker, said that the city had been offered the Charleston franchise in the American Association. The city declined the offer because of the continuing ban, in Winnipeg, of baseball on Sundays. He stated that there was hope that the law could be changed in the near future.
7-27-55: Frank Funk of St. Cloud pitched a 1-0 seven-inning perfect game against Superior. He struck out 4. Blues' pitchers, Rich Ramos and Harold McGahey, nearly duplicated his effort by allowing only one hit.
Andre Rogers continued to lead the league with a .390 average. Leon Wagner was second at .351. Merlin Beatty led pitchers with a 10-1 record followed by Bob Botz (Eau Claire) at 7-1 and Frank Funk at 9-2.
7-28-55: Eau Claire's lead (58-27) was at 4 games over St. Cloud (54-33).
7-31-55: Andre Rodgers continued to led the league in batting with a .394 average. Leon Wagner (.332) and Dick Phillips (.331) followed. Bob Botz led pitchers with a 10-2 record and in second was Frank Funk at 14-3.
8-55: Tex Dargie was chosen by his Fargo-Moorhead teammates as the club's most valuable player.
Ben Crumpton was released by Winnipeg and then signed by Grand Forks. In his first 10 games for the Chiefs, he hit 6 home runs.
Eau Claire's Dick Phillips was named the league's Rookie of the Year.
8-3-55: Chet Dickey (Grand Forks) pitched a 4-hitter but lost the game 3-1 to Aberdeen on Pheasants' home runs by Bob Miller and Terry Sparks.
8-9-55: Grand Forks left 18 men on base in a losing effort against Eau Claire 8-6. The league record, at the time, was 19 men left.
Fargo-Moorhead GM, Jack O'Connor, told the club's board of directors that he may not return to the post in 1956 even though he has a contract to do so.
8-10-55: Don Brown (Winnipeg) fractured a small bone below the knee and badly dislocated his ankle at home plate while scoring the winning run in a 3-2 victory over St. Cloud.
8-11-55: Eau Claire (66-31) led St. Cloud (62-37) by 5 games in the standings.
8-14-55: Leon Wagner set a league season RBI record of 107 with he drove in 4 runs. Willie Kirkland held the old record (from 1954).
8-15-55: Duluth scored in every inning to coast to a 12-1 win over Fargo-Moorhead.
8-18-55: Eau Claire (72-33) lengthened their lead to 6 ½ games over St. Cloud (66-40).
8-26-55: League President Herman White discussed expanding the league to 12 teams for 1956. Additions may be Wausau, Sioux Falls, Green Bay and Port Arthur-Fort William (Ont.). He hoped that more regional rivalries would help at the gate. Attendance figures for 1955 show a decrease by approximately 90,000 from 1954 - when the league "lost a little money". Expansion would require two divisions with Fargo-Moorhead, Winnipeg, Aberdeen, Grand Forks, Sioux Falls and Port Arthur-Fort William in the "Western" and Duluth, Superior, Wausau, Green Bay, St. Cloud and Eau Claire in an "Eastern" one.
Eau Claire played a home game in Wausau which drew 2,560 paying customers. Fort William-Port Arthur also hosted a league game this season.
8-30-55: Bill Pass (Superior) went 6-for-6 in a victory over Grand Forks 16-5.
9-1-55: The league leader continued to be Eau Claire with a 79-39 record which was 5 games ahead of St. Cloud (74-44).
9-2-55: The Eau Claire Bears clinched the league pennant by defeating Fargo-Moorhead 13-9. Second-place St. Cloud split a double header with Aberdeen.
9-5-55: Bruce Schubele, third baseman for Grand Forks, committed 6 errors which tied the league mark held by Chuck Nagel, a former Grand Forks' shortstop.
Ray Fletcher, pitcher for Grand Forks that day, tied a league record by allowing 21 runs during the game against Winnipeg. Playing-manager Fletcher, who was a catcher by trade, probably was just "taking one for the team" during their last game of the season.
Final standings showed that Eau Claire (81-43) finished 3 ½ games ahead of St. Cloud (78-47). Winnipeg and Aberdeen were tied for third with 70-56 records.
Andre Rodgers won the batting crown hitting .387. Bob Bennett (Superior) had the best ERA of 2.51 and Frank Funk had 18 wins.
The playoff champion was St. Cloud as the beat Eau Claire 3 games to 1 game.
Club officers, at the beginning of the season, were: Aberdeen - Pete Bradbury, president and R.N. Kyburz, GM; Duluth-Superior - M.E. Olsen, president and Tom Fleming, GM; Eau Claire - R.B. Bezanson, president and Norm Macht, GM; Fargo-Moorehead - Loren Oliver, president and Ken Blackman, GM; Grand Forks - president not yet named and J.C. Holte, GM; St. Cloud - P.L. Halendbeck (Dr.), president and J.J. Nierengarten, GM; Wausau - Norm Weaver, president and Robert Dudley, GM; Winnipeg - Pete Curry, president and Terry Hind, GM. Herman White returned as league president.
Superior gave up their franchise and became part of a combined Duluth-Superior club. Wausau returned to the league for the first time since 1942.
President White said that advance ticket sales, in the league cities, should point to one of the best attendance totals in years. He complemented the enthusiasm in Wausau and the fact that all clubs have major league affiliations.
4-29-56: Wausau and Eau Claire's opening days were postponed due to 10 inches of snow. Winter gear was necessary in St. Cloud, in their opening series with upper-30s temps, but 2,300 attended their opener. Three games were postponed on April 30.
5-56: Fargo-Moorhead's management announced a new policy concerning foul balls. Fans may keep balls hit into the stands, but may also trade them for a ball autographed by the Twins or two tickets for a future game.
5-1-56: Attendance was announced at 3,222 for Fargo-Moorhead's home opener against Aberdeen. However, at the end of the 3 ½ hour game, the temp had fallen to 39 degrees and there were less than 150 fans left in the stands. The Pheasants scored 10 runs in the 4th inning to win 19-11.
5-4-56: Wausau finally had their opener before 1,365 fans. However, the league only played 6 of it's scheduled games in the first week of the season.
Poor planning nearly spoiled a welcome dinner for the Grand Forks Chiefs' players. The local Chamber of Commerce announced the dinner but forgot to invite the players. However, the players were contacted just in time for the dinner.
5-56: Aberdeen won the opening-day attendance trophy with turnout of 2,631 based on the comparison of attendance to the city population.
Eau Claire manager, Joe Just, set a batting order that perfectly matched the player's position numbers used in scoring the game. The lead off hitter played right field (9) and the lineup continued consecutively down through the number 8 hitter - catcher (2) Bob Uecker - to the number 9 hitter, the pitcher (1).
The Eau Claire Braves were one of the first minor league teams to have an organist at all home games. Wanda Woodhull was said to "entertain the fans between innings with request music and tunes appropriate to the game."
5-10-56: Not many games were played, but Aberdeen led the league's standings with a 5-1 record.. St. Cloud was in second at 5-3, one game back.
5-18-56: Bob McConnell (Eau Claire) went 7-for-9 in two games (including one on 5-17) against Winnipeg. He hit a homer, a triple, 2 doubles and 3 singles.
5-19-56: Mark Danzker, former owner of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, was presented with a plaque from the local sportswriters and broadcasters honoring him as "the man instrumental in bringing organized ball back to Winnipeg." He sold the team to a local syndicate in the spring of 1956.
5-56: Game time temp at the Winnipeg ball park was 83-degrees one night in May. On the next night, it was 43 degrees.
5-20-56: Frank Williams of Grand Forks hit a home run but was called out when he failed to touch home plate. After the hit, Duluth-Superior appealed and it was honored. Three other Chiefs' homers did count and they won 13-8.
5-24-56: Aberdeen led the league with an 11-7 record followed by Eau Claire and Wausau at 9-7.
5-27-56: Fargo-Moorhead played their first Sunday night game in history, but lost to Aberdeen 12-11 before a crowd of only 689. North Dakota had banned Sunday night baseball until 1954.
5-29-56: Grand Forks' pitchers Dave Wickersham and John Reimer each pitched 4-hit shutouts in a double header sweep over Winnipeg 7-0 and 5-0. In the first game, the Chiefs got 7 straight hits to score 6 runs in the 3rd innings.
Aberdeen pitcher Bill Saffano threw 3 pitches in the 9thinning and got 3 outs to complete a 2-1 victory over Fargo-Moorhead.
5-30-56: Hal Trosky Jr. (Duluth-Superior), who was being converted from a first baseman into a pitcher, got his first mound victory of the year vs. St. Cloud. He came into a bases-loaded situation in the 9th, with the White Sox ahead 5-4, and allowed one run to score. However, he led off the bottom half of the inning with a hit and eventually came home on a sacrifice and single.
5-31-56: Aberdeen (16-8) continued to lead the league 2 games ahead of Eau Claire and 3 games in front of St. Cloud.
Fargo-Moorhead's GM, Ken Blackman, reported to the team's board of directors that attendance was down from 17,033 last year to 8,845 to date in 1956.
6-4-56: Inocencio Rodriguez of St. Cloud led the league in hitting with a .414 average in 26 games. Dick Lombardi (Duluth-Superior) was in second at .347. Ron Piche (Eau Claire) led pitchers with a 6-0 record followed by Bill DeJesus (St. Cloud) at 5-0.
6-56: Fargo-Moorhead left 279 runners on base in their fist 32 games. At that pace, they would have exceed the league record of the Superior Blues who stranded 1,163 in 1954.
6-5-56: Joe Nuxhall's brother, Bob, won his first game for Wausau 6-3.
6-7-56: Aberdeen's (18-12) lead continued at 2 games over Eau Claire (16-14).
6-8-56: The game at Aberdeen between the Pheasants and the Grand Forks Chiefs was postponed because the lights at Municipal Baseball Park could not be turned on. Electricians later found a broken underground cable. One-thousand fans went home unhappy.
Eau Claire had a "re-opening day" with a full program of pre-game ceremonies. The original day had been postponed 5 times and was finally played in cold weather with many fans not attending. The promotion drew a crowd of about 900.
6-10-56: Through their first 30 games, Grand Forks had only won 4 of their first 15 home games at Municipal Park. They were 11-4 on the road.
6-14-56: Eau Claire (22-16) overcame Aberdeen (22-17) to lead in the league's standings. Wausau (22-19) was only 1 game out.
6-56: Led by Ossie Schock, several Sioux Falls businessmen announced plans to build a privately-financed ball park to attract a pro team . The city last had a Northern League club in 1953.
6-20-56: Winnipeg pitcher Carlos Thorne and St. Cloud second baseman Nick Tedesco were both ejected by umpires for a pre-game fight. League President Herman White later suspended the pair for 5 days.
6-22-56: Wes Stock (Aberdeen) lost his first game after 6 straight victories. He gave up 3 solo homers and lost 3-2 to Eau Claire. The opposing pitcher, Bob Dudley, hit one of the round-trippers.
Duluth-Superior manager Joe Hauser refused an order from umpire Mac Crum that cost the White Sox a forfeit to Winnipeg. With his team leading 4-3 in the 5thinning, Hauser sent in Milt Bohannion to replace catcher Del Johnston who had been playing with an injured foot. Umpire Crum informed Joe that he had not written Bohannion's name on the Duluth-Superior roster given to the umpires before the game and, therefore, Milt was ineligible to play. Hauser refused to use another player because he felt Bohannion was eligible and the umpire, after setting a ten-minute time limit, finally ordered the forfeit.
Wausau tried a strange starting time of 9:00 PM in order to give Friday night shoppers a chance to attend the game. The plan failed as only 443 fans came to the park. The game finished near midnight with a 10-9 victory for the home team.
6-25-56: Ino Rodriquez of St. Cloud led the league with a .346 average with . Alfredo Conton of Wausau was second at .342. Ernie Christoff (Eau Claire) led pitchers with a 4-0 record followed by Wes Stock and Ed Banach (Eau Claire) at 6-1.
If Rodriquez holds on to win the batting crown, he would only be the 5th left-handed batter to do so. The past southpaw swinging batting champs were Andy Piesek (Aberdeen - 1947), Dick Anderson (Superior - 1950), Joe Caffie (Duluth - 1952) and Willie Kirkland (St. Cloud - 1954).
6-27-56: Bob Dudley (Eau Claire) was a one-man band during a victory 6-5 over St. Cloud. He pitched 12 innings and got 4 hits at the plate including one that drove in the winning run.
6-28-56: The Fargo-Moorhead club started a 2-day ticket drive to raise $20,000 in order to finance the team the rest of the season.
Eau Claire (33-22) lengthened their lead over Aberdeen (30-24) to 2 ½ games.
A game between the Grand Forks Chiefs and Fargo-Moorhead Twins was played at Hillsboro, ND, as part of the town's diamond jubilee. Attendance numbered about 600.
6-29-56: During the game at Aberdeen, Winnipeg's Don Brown batted out of order for the pitcher and drew a walk. The Pheasants appealed and Brown was declared out. Later in the inning, he returned to the plate in his correct line up spot, and grounded into a double play thereby being involved in all 3 outs in the inning.
7-1-56: Three league games were decided in extra innings. St. Cloud beat Wausau 12-11 with a 2-run double by Fred Studstill in the 15th inning. Milt Bohannion's squeeze bunt enabled Duluth-Superior to defeat Eau Claire 5-4 in the 11thand Aberdeen beat Grand Forks, in 12 innings, 5-4.
7-2-56: Don Mincher (Duluth-Superior) hit for the cycle against Wausau. He had 2 singles, a double, a triple and a home run.
7-5-56: The race for the pennant tightened up with Eau Claire (37-27) holding only a ½ game lead over Aberdeen (36-27).
7-8-56: St. Cloud and Grand Forks played a game that lasted only 1:20 as the Rox' Willie DeJesus pitched a 2-hitter for the 2-0 win.
7-9-56: Former Eau Claire stars Billy Bruton and Wes Covington held a pre-game batting exhibition and signed autographs which helped draw 1,327 fans to Carson Park.
After one inning, Winnipeg trailed St. Cloud 10-0. However, the Rox failed to score again and Goldeyes scored 19 times led by Bob Rikard's 6 RBI.
7-11-56: Merchants' Night in Eau Claire brought out their largest crowd in 3 years. More then 3,500 fans saw the Braves lose to Fargo-Moorhead 5-4 when a 9thinning rally fell short. .
7-12-56: The Eau Claire Braves (40-31) were in first place by 2 games over Aberdeen (36-31).
Aberdeen unveiled a plaque, at their ball park, in the memory of their first team president, Ben Siebrecht.
7-13-56: St. Cloud played an exhibition game against the Minneapolis Millers and lost 8-1. Millers' manager Eddie Stanky played second base, for his team, during the final two innings and handled one fielding chance without error. The attendance was 2,004.
Fargo-Moorhead had an exhibition game of their own vs. the St. Paul Saints. The Twins won 12-11 as Larry Glass and Tom Vaughan each hit 3-run home runs and Chuck Elson tripled with the bases loaded. The crowd totaled 2,403.
7-14-56: Hugh Coy (Winnipeg) hit 4 batters with pitched balls to equal a then league record. However, the Goldeyes beat Eau Claire 9-5.
7-15-56: Ted Vest of Grand Forks pitched a 2-hitter over Eau Claire 13-0. Tony Washington hit 3 home runs for the Chiefs - one to left, one to center and one to right.
7-17-56: League President White announced that 145,921 had paid admissions to league games so far that season. It was a decline of 21% from 1955.
7-18-56: In the league's All-Star game, the Stars' pitchers (Elliott Coleman, Wes Stock, Bob Dobzanski, Jack Kralich and Larry McCaskey) combined for a 2-hit victory over Eau Claire 7-1. Attendance was 1,900.
The sports editor of the Eau Claire Leader and Daily Telegram was elected president of the league's Sports Writers' Association.
7-19-56: Eau Claire (43-34) held a 2 game lead over Aberdeen (40-35) and a 2 ½ game lead over Winnipeg (40-32).
7-20-56: Eduardo Monasterio (Fargo-Moorhead) slipped on wet grass, on the field in St. Cloud, while running to his position between innings. He pulled tendons in his right leg.
7-22-56: John Lutz of Eau Claire threw a 5-0 seven-inning no-hitter over Winnipeg. He walked 7 and struck out 10. The San Diego-native had returned to baseball this year after 2 years in military service. He also had pitched for Eau Claire in 1953.
7-56: A report stated that there was only a 50-50 chance of the league operating in 1957. League President White denied it. He declared, although attendance was down, there was every indication that all eight clubs would continue.
7-23-56: The Cincinnati Reds announced that they agreed to continue their working agreement with Wausau for 1957.
Ben Crumpton led the league in batting at .372. Pedro Cardenal was at .339. The pitching leader was Wes Stock with an 11-2 record followed by McCaskey at 12-4.
7-26-56: Eau Claire (48-37) led Winnipeg (45-37) by 1 ½ games and Aberdeen (44-35) by 3 ½.
7-29-56: President White, appeared on a television program in Eau Claire called "Let's Talk Baseball" and blamed the poorest weather in the league's history for the decrease in attendance. He hoped that the tight pennant race would cause an increase during the last month of the season. The Braves' GM, Norm Macht, also appeared on the program and added that the club had played in rain or below 60-degree temps during 20 of their first 47 home games. Eau Claire gate receipts were down 8,000 from last year.
Grand Forks' manager Al Kubski shuttled 2 pitchers between the mound and first base, in the 9th inning, in order to preserve a 13-11 win over St. Cloud. The pitchers were right-hander George Miles and lefty John Reimer. After Reimer got a left-hand batter to fly out, Miles got the next 2 right-handers for the victory
President White forfeited 8 games, won by the St. Cloud Rox, to Wausau and Duluth-Superior. The Lumberjacks and the White Sox filed protests to White claiming that the Rox violated a league rule requiring that each team carry a minimum of 2 rookies on it's active roster. St. Cloud had 2 rookies - Bo Bowman and Willie de Jesus - but placed Bowman on the disabled list when he had an attack of appendicitis on June 20. No rookie replaced him on the roster for the next 9 games of which 8 were victories for St. Cloud over Wausau and Duluth-Superior. Bowman was taken off the DL on June 30 and returned to the roster. White upheld the protests and gave victories to the two teams for the games they had originally lost to the Rox. White stated: "I know that St. Cloud did not wilfully violate the rookie rule, but I am forced to declare the forfeits." A precedent was set when the National Associations' President George Trautman recently handed down a similar ruling in a case involving the Lake Charles Giants of the Evangeline League. The forfeits dropped the Rox to last place for the first time in 9 years.
7-30-56: The Grand Forks Chiefs' players named Tony Washington as their MVP for the season. Fargo-Moorhead named Rocky Chambers, Eau Claire selected Bob MacConnell and Winnipeg choose Pedro Cardenal. Nick Tedesco was chosen by St. Cloud, Len Hunt by Aberdeen, Ed Szyzcewski by Duluth-Superior and Jesse Gonder by Wausau.
7-31-56: Ed Szyezewski (Duluth-Superior) threw a one-hitter to lead the White Sox over Winnipeg 4-1. George Doyle's triple, in the 8th inning, was the Goldeyes' only safety.
7-31-56: Attendance was a concern at St. Cloud who drew only 25,082, including exhibition games, through July.
8-1-56: St. Cloud stole 7 bases in a game against Winnipeg. The league mark, at the time, was 8 set in 1941 by Duluth and 1946 by Eau Claire.
8-2-56: Eau Claire (55-37) increased their league lead to 3 ½ games over Aberdeen and 4 ½ ahead of Winnipeg.
Aberdeen and Wausau played a wild game in Wausau which included 3 home runs by the Pheasants' Walt Massefski, Dick Simpson (a grand slam) and Bruce Benson in the 3rd inning. The game went into extra innings with Aberdeen getting 6 runs in the 10thinning to win 14-8.
8-7-56: Wind blew over a 3-pole light tower in Aberdeen just after the start of the game between the Pheasants and St. Cloud. The tower came down on the first-base bleachers which were, fortunately, unoccupied at that time. With rain falling, fans in that area had already moved to the grandstand for protection.
8-8-56: Jack Kralick of Duluth-Superior pitched a 5-0 seven-inning no-hitter against Fargo-Moorhead.
Frank Funk pitched a one-hitter over Aberdeen. Bob Musgrave had the only hit, a homer in the 1stinning. The Rox won 16-1.
8-9-56: Eau Claire (58-40) led Winnipeg (54-42) by 3 games.
8-10-56: Aberdeen's Wes Stock was chosen as the league's rookie of the year. He had 62 points in the polling and was followed by George Holder (Eau Claire) who had 39.
8-12-56: Grand Forks turned a triple play against Eau Claire. In the 1st inning, with Ralph Flory on 2nd and George Holder on 1st, Ray Reed lined to Elder White. White stepped on 2nd and threw to first baseman Tony Washington who tagged 1st.
8-13-56: Ben Crumpton took over leadership of the batting race with a .351 average. Orlando Cepeda was 2nd at .343. Bob Dudley (EC) led pitchers at 14-3 followed by Wes Stock (14-4) and Ron Piche (14-5).
During a game against St. Cloud, Winnipeg attempted to give Orlando Cepeda an intentional base on balls. But he reached out and drove one of the pitches for a double to score the winning runs. The Rox won 3-1.
8-16-56: Eau Claire (63-43) was in 1st place by 6 ½ games over Duluth Superior (54-47) and 7 ½ ahead of Winnipeg (55-48).
8-17-56: Aberdeen's Joe Bierly pitched a one-hit, 7-inning victory over Fargo-Moorhead by the score of 2-1. LeRoy Handcock's single in the 2ndwas the only Twins' safety.
8-19-56: Due to a little league preliminary game, the St. Cloud Rox did not take batting practice prior to the game against Duluth-Superior. That certainly did not hurt their hitting as they won 22-7. They had 20 hits for 46 bases which included 4 home runs, 4 triples and 6 doubles.
Grand Forks tied the then record of 9 stolen bases in one game during a match vs. Winnipeg. The topper was a triple steal which included Mike Weltman's theft of home in the 9th inning to gain the 2-1 victory..
8-22-56: Eau Claire second baseman, Bob McConnell, was named the league's most valuable player. Ed Szyczewski was 2nd and Pedro Cardenal was 3rd in the polling. .
8-23-56: Eau Claire (66-47) continued their race for the pennant and led Duluth-Superior (59-52) by 6 games.
8-24-56: "Farmer Fun Night" was held in Eau Claire with prizes for the largest ear of corn, cucumber and tomato. Attendance was 1,063 which was the largest for a Friday night game in 1956.
8-25-56: The Eau Claire Braves clinched their 2ndstraight pennant under manager Joe Just with a 6-4 victory over St. Cloud. It was their 5th in league history.
Fargo-Moorhead lost their 25th one-run game of the season with a 2-1 loss vs. Winnipeg.
9-1-56: The final standings showed Eau Claire (70-52) winning by 5 games over Winnipeg (63-55), 5 ½ ahead of Duluth-Superior and 7 over Aberdeen.
Orlando Cepeda won the batting crown hitting .355. Ed Szyczewski (D-S) led the league with the lowest ERA of 2.19 and Ron Piche had 16 wins.
9-56: The New York Giants renewed their working agreement with St. Cloud and praised the officials of the club for showing "a great deal of poise and fortitude." The Giants' Jack Schwartz continued: "I want you to know that we have all been much impressed with the utter absence of weeping and moaning from St. Cloud in the face of a season that would have had many of our other affiliates hanging crepe all over themselves." The Rox finished in 6thplace.
The season was completed without one change in managers. This stability had not happened since 1947. There were also no managerial changes in 1934, 1935, 1937-1939, 1947, 1960 and 1962-1971.
Eau Claire and Winnipeg were eliminated in the playoffs by Duluth-Superior and Aberdeen. The White Sox beat the Pheasants 2-0 to win the playoff championship.
9-15-56: Herman White, president of the league for 21 years announced his retirement from baseball. He was also a member
of the Executive Committee of the National Association and the Joint Committee on Revision of the Major-Minor
Agreement, representing class C. He said that increased pressure from an expanding personal business was the main reason
for his retirement at age 62. The league formed a committee (Robert Dudley, Tom Fleming and T.L. Halenbeck) to
nominate a successor. Sporting News stated the White "will leave his post after building the Northern League into one of
the strongest in the minors. It is one of only two leagues in the country so far in which every club has been offered renewal
of it's working agreement for 1957."
Officers for each team were: Aberdeen - Pete Bradbury, president and R.N. Kyburz, GM; Duluth-Superior - M.E. Olson, president and Tom Fleming, GM; Eau Claire - R.B. Bezanson, president and Norm Macht, GM; Fargo-Moorhead - J.G. Halbeisen, president and Ken Blackman, GM; Grand Forks - Brooks Bankol, president and J.C. Holte, GM; St. Cloud - P.L. Halenbeck (Dr.), president and Jim Nierengarten, GM; Wausau - Robert Dudley, president and GM; Winnipeg - Peter Curry, president and Terry Hind, GM.
Herman White was persuaded to continue as league president.
After receiving information from about 50 minor league teams, including those in the Northern League, Eau Claire team officials submitted a proposal to the city council for permission to sell beer at Carson Field during the season. The council agreed to the plan by a vote of 4-2. The team was attempting to find another source of revenue in order to finish "in the black for the first time in several years." The brew will be sold in paper cups at concession stands and not from venders throughout the park.
League directors agreed, during a meeting in Aberdeen, to adopt a proposal permitting the teams to schedule one or both games of double headers for seven innings. However, the visiting team must agree before a game begins.
The league played a split-schedule in 1957 with the first and second half winners meeting for a playoff after the regular season.
At Wausau, the team offered a $1 booster button to boys and girls 12 years of age and under which admitted them to every home game except the opener. An increase in concession sales and attendance (the kids will bring their parents) was the attempted result.
All the teams in the league will be operating on Central Daylight time except Aberdeen.
Wausau will begin home games at 7:00 in order to get fans home earlier. That and the recently adopted daylight savings time will also save on the Lumberjacks electricity bills.
4-28-57: Good weather contributed to an opening day league attendance of 12,646 . Fargo-Moorhead drew 4,084 at home. Aberdeen had 3,660 paid fans including South Dakota Governor Joe Foss. St. Cloud drew 1,581 and, at Duluth-Superior, 3,321 attended their opener (the White Sox committed 7 errors in the game).
5-1-57: League President White fined St. Cloud manager Pete Pavlick and Wausau skipper Walt Novick after their extended arguments on April 30.
5-2-57: In the early going, Fargo-Moorhead held a 4-0 record.
5-3-57: Dave Tyriver of Fargo-Moorhead threw a 2-0 no-hitter over Winnipeg. The former American Legion Junior star from Oshkosh, WI, stuck out 10 and walked 2. The Twins committed 2 errors and had a wild pitch and passed ball. It was the first 9-inning no-hitter, in the league, since May 29, 1955.
5-4-57: Fargo-Moorhead's Gene Elliott hit 2 home runs in the 7th inning of a game against Winnipeg.
5-9-57: Fargo Moorhead (8-2) led St. Cloud (8-3) by ½ game and Eau Claire (7-4) by 1 ½ games.
Dick Lombardi (Duluth-Superior) had gone 16-for-26 during a 6-game road trip.
5-12-57: In a strange game, Joe Hoerner (Duluth-Superior) allowed base runners in every inning, but still pitched an 8-0 shutout. He gave up 8 hits and walked 5. He and 3 Aberdeen pitchers did not strike out anyone.
In a rain-shortened 6-inning game, Grand Forks and Wausau hit a total of 7 home runs. The Chiefs won 11-5.
5-15-57: Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg were tied for the lead in the standings with a 10-4 record. St. Cloud (10-6) was ½ game out and Eau Claire (9-7) was 2 games out.
Eau Claire snapped Winnipeg's 8-game winning streak by getting a win in the second game of a day/night double header 10-1. Catcher Virgil Tieken drove in 6 runs with a grand slam and 2 singles.
Earlier in the day, umpire Hirk Butler suffered a fractured nose when he was hit by a line drive during batting practice. He was replaced by a local umpire, Lorne Lyndon, who was sitting in the stands.
5-23-57: Winnipeg stood alone in first place at 13-6 with Fargo-Moorhead (13-7) ½ game behind. St. Cloud (11-8) was 2 games back.
5-24-57: Mike Tagliaferro (St. Cloud) pitched a 3-hit shut out over Grand Forks by a 2-0 score. He struck out 7 and walked 1.
Billy Capps, Aberdeen's player-manager, led the league in hitting. In league history, 3 player-managers had won the loop's batting title - Johnny Anderson, Larry Bettencourt and Irv Hall.
5-27-57: Juan Guzman (Eau Claire) took over the league lead in hitting with a .377 average. Billy Capps was at .373 and Bill Williams (Fargo-Moorhead) was at .372. Hal Demars (EC) led the pitchers with a 4-0 record.
Duluth-Superior had played some of their home games in Superior. However, after drawing only 405 and 368 there on May 27 and May 28, the team announced all home games will be played in Duluth. The possible exception would be the afternoon games of a few split double-headers.
5-29-57: Grand Forks moved their starting time back to 7:30 from 8:00 based on fan requests.
Fargo-Moorhead had Straw Hat Day where the first 300 fans, who turned in old straw hats, were admitted free. The skimmers were to be burned in a giant bonfire.
Through May, Duluth-Superior had 2 starters with ERAs well under 2.00. Billy Rouse was at 1.21 and Joe Hoerner held a 1.75 mark.
6-1-57: President White said attendance was down by 20,000 which he blamed on cold weather. However, Winnipeg lead with 16,559 paid in 10 games and was expected to draw over 100,000 during the season.
6-5-57: League Secretary, Barney Neary, completed his visits of Duluth, Winnipeg, Grand Forks, Fargo and Aberdeen to gage how the club operations were faring, to offer suggestions and answer any questions regarding the league's affairs.
Eau Claire reported that their attendance was up 26% from last year.
6-6-57: Winnipeg was in 1st place with a 21-11 record followed by Fargo-Moorhead at 22-12, 1 game behind.
6-7-57: Al McKinney and Joe Hoerner, of Duluth-Superior, pitched a 14-0 combined no-hitter against Winnipeg. McKinney started the game, but had to leave with a sore arm after 3 batters. Hoerner came in at the start of the 2ndinning and struck out 4 and walked 3.
6-12-57: Winnipeg scored 10 runs in the 4th inning to beat Eau Claire 13-8.
6-13-57: The contract of umpire Jerry Carlton was sold to the Three-I League. As a replacement, the league signed Paul Crawford, a former catcher and manager.
6-15-57: At "Father's Night", Eau Claire gave out free cigars to all adult male fans. On June 12, the team handed out free cheese and crackers for "Dairy Night".
6-17-57: Franklin Williams of Grand Forks was the leader in batting with a .372 mark. He was followed by Walt Matthews (Winnipeg) at .356. In pitching, Joe Hoerner was 8-1 and Dave Tyriver was 7-3.
According to League Secretary Neary, all teams had good attendance, to date, except Wausau who drew only 4,342 in their first 18 games which is an average of 252 (their last year's average was 698). Three teams, Fargo-Moorhead, Duluth-Superior and Winnipeg out shown the rest.
Rex Rupert (Grand Forks) pitched a 13-inning complete game to beat Eau Claire 3-2. He allowed 5 hits and struck out 13. The Braves starter, Jerry Stillings, struck out 18.
6-19-57: Aberdeen ended a 10-game losing streak by sweeping a double-header from St. Cloud 4-3 and 2-0.
Jack Herlihy (Duluth-Superior) pitched a 2-hitter over Fargo-Moorhead.
Winnipeg set a club record for gate receipts for one game when, on "Eagles Night", they charged $2 per ticket and brought in a total of $9,522.
6-20-57: Fargo-Moorhead (29-19) was in first place by ½ game over Winnipeg (27.18) and one game ahead of Duluth-Superior (28-20).
The game between Fargo-Moorhead and Duluth-Superior at Barnett Field, was about to begin when a devastating tornado struck within 4 blocks of the ball park. White Sox manager Joe Hauser said it sounded like "16,000 airplanes all at once." "We were at the park, warming up for the game," he said, "we could see this thing (the funnel cloud) in the distance. It was about ten miles away when we first spotted it and it was coming fast. The Fargo-Moorhead club was kind enough to invite us over to it's clubhouse which is a concrete affair. But there's a fence about 15 feet high between the clubhouse and the grandstand and, as I headed for shelter I glanced at the fence. What do you think I saw? There were ten of my players sitting on that fence, watching the tornado. Yep, they were all wrapped up in watching it; they looked like guys watching a World's Series. Those kids didn't realize how dangerous it was. You could almost reach out and grab the funnel." Gene Fitzgerald, the sports editor of the Fargo Forum, left the park after the twister struck at 7:40 and found his home had been destroyed, but his 15-year-old son had escaped injury. Team president J.G. Halbeisen and GM Ken Blackman also lost their homes.
6-22-57: Pitcher Billy Rouse (Duluth-Superior) requested a transfer to another league because of his 2-5 record. He wanted "to see if it would change his luck", even though his ERA was a good 2.54. His wish was granted as he was sent to Dubuque in the Midwest League.
6-27-57: Duluth-Superior (32-21) took over 1st place by one game over Fargo Moorhead and Eau Claire who both had 31-22 records.
6-57: Aberdeen and Winnipeg planned to play exhibition games for the benefit of the tornado victims who suffered losses in Fargo on June 20. The game in Winnipeg was scheduled for Sunday July 14, but since Canadian laws do not permit Sunday baseball, no admission will be charged. A collection will be taken during the game.
7-4-57: Jack Paepke was named the new manager of the Grand Forks Chiefs replacing Al Kubski. Paepke was the manager of Jamestown in the NYP League when the team folded recently. He was expected to also be an active catcher.
Fargo-Moorhead lost their shortstop, Billy Ray Roberson, for about 3 weeks to a fractured jaw when he was struck by a ball, that took a bad pounce during infield practice, before a double header in Aberdeen. He played the first game before receiving medical attention
7-5-57: The first half split-schedule champ was Duluth-Superior with a 40-24 record which was 3 games ahead of Fargo-Moorhead.
Duluth-Superior's first half attendance of 41,885 had already passed the gate total for all of 1956.
Fargo-Moorhead needed an average of 1,400 paid fans, per game, to break even financially in 1957.
Eau Claire pitcher Bob Lee pitched a one-hitter vs. Duluth-Superior winning 3-0. Art Brown's triple with one out in the 9thinning was the White Sox only hit.
7-8-57: Red Ruffing managed the Fargo-Moorhead club for one game when regular manager, Frank Tornay, was hit on the base of his skull by a ball before the game. Ruffing was in Fargo as the Cleveland Indians' trouble-shooter and had to gain the permission of Vern Benson, Winnipeg's manager, before he could manage the Twins. Tornay was examined at a hospital and returned to the park in the late innings to watch the game from the grandstand.
7-9-57: Ed Napoleon (Winnipeg) hit the first inside-the-park home run at the Winnipeg ball park and also hit another of the "regular" type. The Goldeyes hit 4 homers all together and beat Aberdeen 12-3.
7-11-57: Winnipeg's attendance had been so good (average of 1,943) that they had drawn more fans then 2 American Association teams - Wichita and Indianapolis.
A third Perry brother, Joe (Grand Forks), faced one of his brothers, Jim (Fargo-Moorhead), in a game. Joe pitched a 3-hitter to win 6-2.
7-13-57: St. Cloud committed seven errors in one inning (the 6th) in a 13-0 loss to Eau Claire. Em Lindbeck, of the Braves, hit for the cycle with an inside-the-park home run, a triple, a double and 2 singles. Bob Lee pitched a 3-hitter for the winners.
7-57: In a voting by writers, sportscasters, mangers and umpires, the league's All-Star team was selected: Joe Hoerner (P), Chuck Lehman (2b), Dick Lombardi (OF), Sam Hill (OF), Dave Tyriver (P), Gene Elliott (3b), Walt Mathews (1b), Don Brown (OF), Don Whitcomb (C), Juan Guzman (SS) and Jim Miller (OF). Gordie Maltzberger was named manager.
7-14-57: Winnipeg fans contributed $1,858 to the Fargo tornado relief fund during an exhibition game between the Goldeyes and the F-M Twins. The game drew a crowd of 2,618.
For the first time, a Winnipeg Goldeye pinch hitter slammed a grand slam home run during a 14-6 win over St. Cloud. The feat was accomplished by their manager Vern Benson. The Rox' Dick LaFaive also tied a then-league record by hitting 4 doubles.
Don Brown of Winnipeg led the league in hitting with a .343 average. Juan Guzman (EC) was 2ndat .333.
7-16-57: Ron Taylor (F-M) pitched a 4-hitter and drove in the only run in a 1-0 Twins' victory over Wausau.
7-18-57: Grand Forks took the early lead in the second-half standings with a 9-4 record. Duluth-Superior was in second at 7-6 and Aberdeen third with a 8-7 record.
Reports circulated that Wausau would move all of their home games to Pork Arthur, Ont. League President White said the reports were "without foundation" and Wausau President R.J. Dudley said that such a move had not even been discussed. Dudley stated he was optimistic that attendance would increase the rest of the season.
Eau Claire Braves' pitcher, Boberto Barbosa pitched a 2-hitter to beat F-M 4-0.
7-19-57: Cliff Cook (Wausau) had 7 RBI when he hit 2 home runs (including a grand slam) vs. Aberdeen during the Lumberjacks 16-0 victory.
7-21-57; Prior to the Braves-Goldeyes game in Eau Claire, fans were invited to bat against Braves' manager Gordie Maltzberger. It appeared that 4 of the fans got hits.
7-23-57: Duluth-Superior led the league with a 13-8 mark. St. Cloud (12-9) was one game back, Grand Forks (11-10) was 1 ½ behind and Aberdeen (11-12) was 3 back.
8-1-57: Eau Claire swept a 3-game series by allowing Grand Forks only one run. The Braves won 3-0, 6-0 and 5-1.
Duluth-Superior's Dick Lombardi drove in a run with a single but his team then ran themselves into a double play. With the bases loaded, against Aberdeen, Lombardi's hit scored Vince Zeimis, but Chuck Lehmann was caught between 3rdand home and tagged out. Then Sam Hill was retired in a second rundown between 2nd and 3rd.
Wausau's board of directors were informed that $3,000 would be available from the major leagues' Stabilization Fund to cover a financial deficit if the Lumberjacks can finish the season.
8-2-57: Fargo-Moorhead's 1954 shortstop, Johnny Skorupski, returned to the team after military service in 1955-1956 and time with Sioux City, of the Western League, earlier in the 1957 season. He hit a grand slam in his home coming game.
8-6-57: Duluth-Superior (21-14) led St. Cloud (19-15) by 1 ½ games and Eau Claire (19-17) by 2 ½ .
8-15-57: St. Cloud turned a triple play during a game against Grand Forks. With runners on 1stand 2nd, Don Whitcomb grounded to third baseman Gene Johnson who tagged Al Griggs near 3rd. He then threw to 2nd to force the runner and the relay to 1st just nipped Whitcomb.
Walt Mathews was named Winnipeg's MVP.
8-16-57: Ross Carter of Eau Claire lost a 1-0 seven inning no-hitter against Fargo-Moorhead.
F-M pitchers completed 3 straight shut outs. Jim Perry and Elwood Engelbrecht won 1-0 and 3-0 over Wausau on Aug.14 and Aug. 15 and then, the next day, Bob Allen won a 1-0 game vs Eau Claire.
8-18-57: Eau Claire and F-M played a double header in Detroit Lakes, MN. The Braves hit 8 home runs during the games including 2 each by Em Lindbeck and Howie Rouse. The contests drew 1,666 fans.
The Grand Forks-Duluth Superior game clocked in at 1:38. The Chiefs won 2-1.
8-21-57: Aberdeen's Chuck Schaaf pitched a 3-hit victory over Grand Forks by the score of 9-0. It was his second straight shutout.
8-22-57: Winnipeg took over the league lead with a 28-20 record which was one game ahead of D-S and 1 ½ games in front of Eau Claire.
8-23-57: Pitcher Joe Hoerner (D-S) won the league's rookie of the year award. He received 9 more votes then third baseman Gene Elliott (F-M).
8-24-57: After 7 straight losses, Fargo-Moorhead's directors fired manager Frank Tornay and replaced him with GM Ken Blackman. Blackman had previously managed several teams including Duluth.
St. Cloud ended their 7-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Eau Claire. The Rox scored 4 unearned runs on 5 Braves' errors.
Johnny Wartelle (Aberdeen) pitched a one-hitter over Fargo-Moorhead in a 7-inning double header nightcap. Wartelle's record at home was 1-11 and on the road it was 7-2.
Aberdeen's Fred Valentine tied the league record for most extra-base hits in a game when he hit 2 home runs, a triple and a double during a 12-4 victory over Winnipeg. The switch hitter hit the double batting right-handed and the rest hitting left-handed. Valentine had 6 RBIs and nearly had a 7th when he attempted to stretch his double and was thrown out just before a runner, who had been on first, could score.
8-29-57: The Goldeyes (32-23) continued to hold on to a slim ½ game lead over D-S (32-24).
9-2-57: D-S came back to win the league pennant with a 73-52 record which was 2 ½ games ahead of Winnipeg (69-53) and 3 ahead of Eau Claire (70-55).
Richard Lombardi (D-S) won the batting championship with a .327 average. Richard Sovde (St. C) had the best ERA of 1.95 and Harold Byfuss had the most wins (17).
Duluth-Superior lost 4 players to a flu epidemic before the playoffs. Cam Carreon (C), Art Brown (OF), Don Bacon (SS) and Dick Mrofka (P) all went home sick. The team was able get a waiver to add Dick Newberry (2nd) and Don Gordon (OF) from Dubuque for the series.
9-6-57: In the third game of the playoff series between the first (D-S) and second (Winnipeg) half champions, Joe Hoerner (D-S) had the Goldeyes hitless through 8 2/3 innings. Winnipeg then scored 2 runs to force extra innings and added 3 more in the 10th to win the series 3 games to 0. In the 9th, Hoerner walked Ed Napoleon, then Wally Alexander doubled and Juan Armenteros hit another double for a 2-0 D-S lead. In the bottom of the 9th, the White Sox tied the score off Cal Browning with a double by Sam Hill, a triple by Dick Lombardi and a single by Don Mincher. D-S brought in reliever Vince Zeimis in the 10th and he gave up a 2-run double to Walt Mathews.
League President Herman White announced he did not plan to seek re-election and would resign as a member of the
executive committee of the National Association.
Bismarck-Mandan was scheduled to begin play in the Northern League in 1958 as the polar circuit had planning to expand to 10 teams. However, with the withdrawal of Wausau and the addition of Minot, the plan could not be completed. The league directors assured B-M of active status for 1959 when they would be added with another team (perhaps Sioux Falls) or replace a club already in the league. The 126-game schedule was also approved with games scheduled from April 27 through Labor Day. The league will have Shaughnessy-type playoffs after the regular season.
Pete Bradbury of Aberdeen was named as league president and the executive secretary was B.M. (Barney) Neary of Eau Claire.
Club officers were as follows: Aberdeen - R.N. Kyburz, president and GM; Duluth-Superior - M.E. Olson, president and Tom Fleming, GM; Eau Claire - R. B. Bezanson, president and Mike Davies, GM; Fargo-Moorhead - J.G. Halbeisen, president and Ken Blackman, GM; Grand Forks - Brooks Baukol, president and J.D. Holte, GM; Minot - Andrew Bakken, president and Herbert Parker, GM; St. Cloud - Hugo Weyrens, president and Jas Nierengarten; Winnipeg - Pete Curry, president and Terry Hind, GM.
Concessions in St. Cloud will be operated by the Cathedral High School's athletic association. In past years, they were handled by private individuals on a lease basis.
4-27-58: The league drew nearly 12.000 fans in their home openers led by Fargo-Moorhead's 5,683. Aberdeen had 2,183, there were 1,667 in Eau Claire and approximately 2,000 in Grand Forks. Fargo's opening day attendance was the highest in all of the minor league's classs "C" leagues.
Paul Dean Jr., the son of Paul Dean Sr and nephew of Dizzy Dean, was the opening day starter for Eau Claire. The 6'5" RHP allowed 2 hits in the first 7 innings, but allowed two home runs in the late innings. Eau Claire won 14-7.
Winnipeg scored 9 unearned runs in the 2nd inning of a 14-1 victory over Grand Forks. The Chiefs' losing pitcher was Joe Perry.
St. Cloud beat Aberdeen 2-1 when a rain downpour ended the game after 6 innings. Before the rain, St. Cloud had scored 7 runs in the 7thinning, but the runs were washed off the record books and the score reverted to the tally at the end of the last complete frame. .
4-28-58: No league games were played because of temperatures as low as 15 degrees over the upper-midwest.
All three games in Winnipeg were cancelled as the heaviest snowfall of the year combined with record-low temperatures made play impossible. However, the Goldeyes' third baseman Julio Gotay, a Puerto Rico native, was happy because he saw snow for the first time.
5-3-58: Steve Barber (Aberdeen) went 8 innings but walked 11 and allowed 5 in an 8-4 loss.
5-5-58: Aberdeen set a record for least number of paid admissions with 158. They had lost 6 in a row including games with scores of 22-2, 15-0 and 13-0.
5-6-58: Aberdeen was within one out of ending their losing streak, but Chuck Hiller hit a double with the bases loaded and Minot won 6-5.
5-8-58: Fargo-Moorhead held the league standings lead, in the early going, with a 7-1 record.
Mark Gallego (Minot) drove in all 5 Mallards runs during a 5-4 victory over Aberdeen.
5-9-58: Winnipeg was finally able to stage their home opener even though the temp was 40 degrees and there was a 20-mph wind. Still, a nice crowd of 2,000 attended and Jim Schaffer led the team to a 10-7 victory with a grand slam.
5-11-58: F-M ended their 10-game winning streak with a 4-2 loss to Eau Claire.
Steve Barber was hit hard (3 innings, 6 hits, 4 walks and 8 runs) in a 10-5 loss.
5-12-58: League President Pete Bradbury's mother-in-law, Amelia Furstenau, died, at the age of 84 in Aberdeen.
5-14-58: Pete Bradbury's mother, Mrs. John Bradbury, died in Brentwood, CA, at the age of 92.
Julio Gotay's (Winnipeg) 2-run home run in the bottom of the ninth stole a victory from Aberdeen who had actually led 6-4 after 7 innings.
5-15-58: Fargo-Moorhead (12-3) led by 2 ½ games over Winnipeg (8-4) and 3 games over Minot.
Eau Claire came back to win after Aberdeen led late. Steve Barber left after 8 innings with his team ahead 6-5 as he had given up 8 hits and walked 5. The 8-6 loss stretched the losing streak to 16 games.
5-16-58: St. Cloud catcher, John Orsino, hit two home runs in a game vs. Duluth-Superior. One of the homers was hit over the left field wall, with D-S leading 14-13 and 2 outs in the 9th inning. One of the umpires called the drive a foul ball, but reversed his decision after a discussion with the other umpire. D-S manager Joe Hauser argued and the game was played under protest. Then it was stopped, with the score tied at 14-14, because of the league curfew.
5-17-58: John Orsino again hit 2 home runs, including a grand slam in a 14-9 victory over Duluth-Superior. Rox' pitcher Bob Bolin also hit 2 homers, but had to leave the game in the 5th inning when he was struck by a line drive.
5-18-58: The Pheasants had the tying run on third with one out in the 8th, but Fritz Ackley got the side out. Aberdeen's record was 1-19 after 18 straight losses.
5-19-58: The Aberdeen Pheasants ended the 18-game losing streak with a win 3-0 over Duluth-Superior. Bo Belinsky threw a 7-hitter and allowed only 2 walks.
5-22-58: Fargo-Moorhead (15-6) continued to lead the league 2 games over Winnipeg (11-6). Minot (11-6) was 2 ½ games back.
It was reported that the Baltimore Orioles had planned to transfer Earl Weaver to Aberdeen to manage the last-place Pheasants. However, his current club (Dublin of the Georgia-Florida League) opposed the move and the Orioles backed off.
Manager Barney Lutz left the Aberdeen Pheasants to manage a rookie league team in Bluefield, WV. This season was the fifth Aberdeen managing stint for Lutz. Named to replace him was 32-year-old Billy DeMars who played in two major league seasons for the A's in 1948 and the Browns in 1951. Billy was known as a very good defensive infielder (he won fielding awards in the International and Pacific Coast Leagues), and was slated to play shortstop for the Pheasants. DeMars had been recently released by Vancouver on the Pacific Coast League to make room for some younger talent.
5-26-58: Rogers Robinson of Winnipeg lead the league in hitting with a .420 mark in 69 at bats. Frank Layana (D-S) was second at .403 and Julio Gotay was third at .400.
6-1-58: League attendance was up 4,000 compared to 1957. The reason was that 8 more games were played in April and May 1958.
6-5-58 Even though Aberdeen had lost 32 of their first 37 games, they had not been shut out until John Rovelto (F-M) turned the trick with a 7-0 victory.
6-6-58: D-S manager, Joe Hauser, refused to play a makeup double header at Grand Forks because he claimed the club had not received the 24-hour notice required by league rules. Hauser was upset because he had used all of his relief pitchers the previous night and would not have done so if he had been aware of the makeup games.
6-7-58: A station wagon carrying five St. Cloud Rox players overturned after the left-rear tire blew out. The vehicle was driving back to St. Cloud after a night game in Minot. All of the players, including John Orsino, escaped injury.
6-12-58: Winnipeg (25-11) led Fargo-Moorhead (24-16) by 3 games and Minot (23-16) by 3 ½.
Tony Cloninger, a 17-year-old bonus baby who signed with the Milwaukee Braves for between $75,000 and $100,000, made is first pro start for Eau Claire. He gave up 6 hits in the first 3 innings, but then settled down to allow only 2 more hits to pitch a complete game 11-3 victory over Grand Forks.
J.C. Martin of Duluth-Superior ended his 18-game hitting streak in a game against Winnipeg pitcher Pete Peterson.
6-13-58: Tommy Aaron (Eau Claire) played his first game for the Braves and had a RBI single in a 6-3 victory vs. Grand Forks.
6-15-58: St. Cloud beat Grand Forks 4-3 on 3 singles, 10 walks, 3 hit batsmen and a wild pitch allowed by Chiefs' pitchers.
Lawrence Welk attended the game at Minot against D-S. He was introduced to the crowd by the PA announcer.
6-17-58: Winnipeg, with a 30-13 record, led Minot (27-18) by 4 games and Fargo-Moorhead by 5 games.
6-18-58: Gary Willison, a Winnipeg pitcher who had won 9 games, was struck just above his left eye, while setting in the dugout, by a broken bat . He lost consciousness and was rushed to a hospital. Medical tests did not indicate a serious injury.
Juilo Gotay was hit by pitches in 3 successive trips to the plate during a 12-1 Goldeyes' victory.
6-19-58: Ray Sadecki, the 17-year-old former high school pitcher from Kansas City, KS, made his first pro start for Winnipeg against St. Cloud. He walked 10, struck out 12 and allowed 4 hits for a 8-2 victory.
6-20-58: Ron Taylor (Minot) and Fritz Ackley (D-S) held a pitcher's duel which was won by the Mallards 1-0. Ackley was not scheduled to start but stepped in for Dick Mrofka when Dick was unable to get lose during his pre-game warmups.
Matty Alou (St. Cloud) scored the winning run from 2ndbase, in a game vs Winnipeg, on a short left field sac fly which was caught by the shortstop.
6-21-58: Tony Cloninger had his 2nd consecutive poor start In the 2 games (including one on June 17), he pitched 8 2/3 innings and gave up 12 hits, 17 runs, 15 walks and struck out 7.
6-22-58: Aberdeen's bonus baby pitcher from Notre Dame, Chuck Symeon, relieved in the 9thinning of the game vs. Grand Forks. He struck out Elder White to keep the game at 3-3 and the Pheasants scored a run in the bottom of the 9thto win 4-3.
6-23-58 Ray Sadecki's second start began well with a 6-0 lead, but Aberdeen came back to win 9-8.
6-26-58: Winnipeg (33-19) was in first place 1 ½ games ahead of Minot (32-21) and 2 games in front of F-M (32-22).
6-30-58: Octavio Acosta of Grand Forks pitched a 12-1 no-hitter over Winnipeg.
7-2-58: Manny Jiminez of Eau Claire hit 4 doubles to tie the league record of Rich LaFaive, Gus Koch and Bob McDonald.
7-5-58: Joe Hauser was fired as the Duluth-Superior manager after the team had a 6-17 slump and dropped to 6th place. He was replaced by George Sobek who had managed the Superior Blues in 1949 and had, more recently, been a Chicago area scout for the White Sox. Sobek also taught at Thornton High School in Calument, IN. Johnny Mostil, another White Sox scout, had filed in for 2 games until Sobek arrived in Duluth.
Lionel Rodgers, the 18-year-old younger brother of Andre Rodgers, returned to the hospital for further x-rays and examination of his fractured left leg. He was injured in only his 5th game with St. Cloud.
7-7-58: Minot drew 4,353 fans for a Merchants' Night.
7-10-58: Winnipeg (41-24) held a 2 ½ game lead over Fargo-Moorhead (39-27).
7-11-58: While Minot players were arguing a call at second base, Julio Gotay scored the winning run, in the ninth, for a 7-6 Winnipeg win.
7-13-58: Grand Forks pitchers walked 18 men and Fargo-Moorhead stranded 19 base runners during a 12-3 Twins' victory. Bob Mayer and Ron Paul each walked 5 times which was one short of the league record of 6 which was held by Zeke Strange of Aberdeen in 1953.
7-14-58: J.C. Martin led the league in hitting with a .358 average. John Orsino was second with a .354 mark. In pitching, Duane Kinart (F-M) had a 2.39 ERA and Bo Belinsky a 2.75 mark.
7-17-58: Gaylord Perry (St. Cloud) and Herm Starrette (Aberdeen) both pitched all 17 innings of a game which ended in a 1-1 tie. The league's curfew rule ended the marathon at 3:15. Perry struck out 17, walked 4 and gave up 8 hits. Starrette struck out 12, walked 5 and allowed 10 hits.
7-22-58: A huge crowd of 6,240 attended a double header in Fargo between the Twins and the Aberdeen Pheasants for "Standard Oil Night". Aberdeen's Steve Dalkowski pitched the first game giving up 3 hits and walked 17 while striking out 12. He lasted until the 6thinning.
7-24-58: Fargo-Moorhead scored 13 runs in one inning to beat St. Cloud 16-7. In the frame, Don Lock hit an inside-the-park bases loaded home run.
Winnipeg had hit 11 grand slams to date in 1958. The major league record, at the time, was 10. Jim Schaffer and Bob Moegle had each hit 3.
Winnipeg's (49-31) league lead was down to ½ game over Fargo-Moorhead (49-32).
The league announced their All-Star team, as follows: Ken Silvestri (manager), Don Brummer (2b), Gary Willison (RHP), Julio Gotay (3b), Jim Schaffer (C), Manny Jimenez (OF), Al Peterson (OF), Matty Alou (OF), John Orsino (C), Mike delaHoz (SS), Bill Williams (OF), J.C. Martin (1b), Rex Rupert (P) and Bo Belinsky (P).
7-26-58: Don Blanchard of the "Winnipeg Free Press" was elected to a 2-year term as president of the league's writers' association succeeding a "Eau Claire Leader-Telegram" writer Clell Buzzell.
7-28-58: Al Brice, a D-S pitcher, threw a 1-hitter vs. St. Cloud but lost the game 2-1. The only hit was a 2-run home run in the 5th inning.
Gary Willison (Winnipeg) allowed 3 home runs on 3 consecutive pitches but won his game against Minot 8-7.
In the league's All-Star game, Howie Peterson of Winnipeg was named the winner of the Herman D. White award for the most valuable player in the contest. Peterson actually got the loss when the Stars defeated the Goldeyes 1-0.
League Executive Secretary Barney Neary announced the acquisition of umpire Don Walden from the Midwest League. Walden, from Columbus, OH, was known as the "flying umpire" because he piloted his own plane between league cities.
7-31-58: Steve Dalkowski threw 217 pitches during a complete game win over D-S 6-3. He struck out 17 and walked 14.
Winnipeg's (52-31) lead lengthened to 2 games over F-M (52-35).
8-4-58: Doug Smith of Eau Claire was leading the league in hitting with a .341 mark. Mike dela Hoz (.339) was second and J.C. Martin (.337) was third. Bo Belinsky led the pitchers with a 2.50 ERA followed by Rex Rupert (GF) at 2.64 and Ron Taylor (Minot) with a 2.68.
In the first game of a double header against Grand Forks, Winnipeg pitcher, John McFadden, was overcome by the heat and humidity as he prepared to pitch the 9th inning and passed out. He was replaced by Gerry Keller who preserved a 8-4 victory for McFadden. In the game, Julio Gotay hit his 3rd grand slam of the year and the 13thfor the Goldeyes in 1958.
Aberdeen catcher Dan Bishop ended his season with a broken elbow bone. He did not know when the injury first occurred and continued to catch. After continuing pain, he finally had an x-ray which disclosed the broken bone and that it had partially healed.
8-5-58: Steve Dalkowski had struck out 60 batters in his first 28 innings for the Aberdeen Pheasants. He also had allowed only 14 hits, but walked 59.
8-7-58: Winnipeg, with a 56-35 record, increased their lead to 3 games over F-M (55-40).
8-14-58: Winnipeg (59-40) held a ½ game lead over Fargo-Moorhead (60-42).
8-15-58: Grand Forks' shortstop Bob Sanchez hit for the cycle in a game vs. Duluth-Superior. He hit a double, triple, home run and single in that order.
8-16-58: A fund raising TV variety show was telecast in Grand Forks in an attempt to provide money for the club to erase their $5,000 operating deficit. For each dollar raised, the team gave out a ticket to their August 25 contest. The main reason for the attendance slump were the 10 rained-out games in 1958.
Steve Dalkowski (Aber) pitched 3 innings in an 8-7 Pheasants' loss. He struck out 9, walked 13 and gave up 3 hits and 7 runs.
8-17-58: F-M relief pitcher Curt Johnson was credited with both victories in a double header against Aberdeen by the scores of 3-2 and 7-3. He pitched 3 1/3 innings in the day game and 3 innings in the nightcap.
After St. Cloud's double header victory over Minot, they had won 19 games of their last 24 contests.
8-19-58: Ray Sadecki (Winnipeg) lost a game to St. Cloud 5-4 even though he allowed only 2 hits. However, Sadecki walked 9, threw a wild pitch and his defense committed 4 errors.
8-21-58: Steve Dalkowski pitched 11 innings in a 2-1 win. He struck out 20, walked 5 and gave up 3 hits.
8-22-58: Bob Bolin (St. Cloud) threw a 2-hit shutout over Grand Forks. He struck out 12 and walked 2.
8-24-58: Fargo-Moorhead took over first place with a 65-46 record which was only .005 percentage points higher then Winnipeg.
Last place Aberdeen had a winning streak of 6 games. Attendance for the past two home games were 1,235 and 1,115. In the game vs Winnipeg, Steve Dalkowski allowed 3 hits, walked 13 and struck out 17 in 9 innings.
8-25-58: Julius Grant, brother of Mudcat Grant, won his 18th game for Minot with a 5-hitter over D-S 4-1.
F-M beat the Denver Bears (Amer. Assoc) 9-4 in an exhibition at Fargo. The game drew 1,861 and Twins' manager Ken Silvestri caught part of the game.
8-28-58: F-M (68-49) continued in first place ½ game over the hot St. Cloud Rox (67-49). Winnipeg (64-48) was in third 1 ½ games out.
MVP's were selected by various clubs: F-M - Mike Weldon; St. Cloud - Matty Alou; Minot - Mike delaHoz and Winnipeg - Jim Schaffer.
9-1-58: Bruce Swango, of Fargo-Moorhead, threw a 8-0 no-hitter over Minot. He walked 7 and struck out 5 and two other Mallard players reached on errors. He had been originally signed by the Orioles in May 1955 for $30,000 but was released before pitching in a game. In 1956, he signed with the Yankees as an outfielder and played in the Sooner State league hitting .224. In 1958, he again was a pitcher going 8-9 in the same league.
9-2-58: St. Cloud won the league championship with a 72-50 record which was only ½ game in front of F-M (72-51). The Rox were in 5th place on August 1, but won 40 of their final 46 games. On the final day of the season, they lost an afternoon game o Aberdeen 3-1 in 13 innings. In the evening contest for the pennant, they beat the Pheasants 5-3 due to the relief pitching of Gaylord Perry. He came into the game in the 8th inning with no outs and 2 men on base. Perry struck out 4 of the final 6 batters to get the save.
Gary Willison (Winnipeg) attempted to win his 20thgame on the final day of the season. The game vs. Grand Forks went into extra innings with the score tied at 3-3. The Goldeyes lost the game in the 10th by the score of 4-3.
Bo Belinsky led pitchers with a 2.24 ERA for the season.
Jim Schaffer was awarded the league's MVP title. He had 27 points barely edging out Bo Belinsky who was named on 24 ballots. The award was named after Skeets Ebnet who died in 1937 after being hit in the head, during a league game, by a pitched ball.
Manny Jimenez (Eau Claire) won the batting championship with a .340 average. His teammate Doug Smith was 2nd at .336. Jimenez was the 4th rookie to win the league batting crown. .
9-58: In the one-game first round of the playoffs, St. Cloud defeated Winnipeg 7-4 even though Julio Gotay had 4 hits (including 2 home runs) and F-M beat Minot 2-1 on Dick Stewart's pitching. The Mallards stranded 12 men on base.
F-M beat the Rox in the final playoff series 2-1 to win the playoffs. It was the 11th time in 19 years, that the regular season champ failed to win the playoff championship. In game one, St. Cloud won 7-2 on two homers by John Orsino and the 6-hit pitching of Bob Bolin. F-M won game two 6-3 on good defense (3 double plays) and Bruce Swango's so-so pitching (9 hits, 8 walks). The Twins KOed Gaylord Perry in the 2ndinning. In the deciding game, Duane Kinart threw a 3-hitter for F-M's 9-1 win. It was 1-1 in the 7th inning, when the Twins scored 8 times (only 1 was earned) on 10 walks from 4 Rox' pitchers.
Fargo-Moorhead broke the league's double-play record in 1958 with 155. The former record was 151 in 1949 by Duluth.
For more on the 1958 season, please see the web page "The 1958 Aberdeen Pheasants".
Beginning with the 1959 season, the roster limit was increased from 16 players to 17. Also, the team salary maximum was boosted from $3,600 to $4,200 per month.
In April, Fargo-Moorhead held a school for women baseball fans. Gene Fitzgerald of the Fargo Forum instructed the pupils regarding the scoring of the game. Other sessions were held during the season lead by Twins' manager Dee Phillips.
Team officers for the year are as follows: Aberdeen - B.J. McElligott, president and Pete McMillan, GM; Duluth-Superior -
K.A. Nicolson, president and Tom Fleming, GM; Eau Claire - R.B. Bezanson, president and Bob Quinn, GM;
Fargo-Moorhead - Lyle Meyers, president and Marlys Davis, GM; Grand Forks - Brooks Baukol, president and J.C. Holte,
GM; Minot - Andrew Bakken Jr, president and Herb Parker, GM; St. Cloud - Hugo Weyrens, president and Jas
Nierengarten, GM; Winnipeg - Peter Curry, president and Terry Hind, GM
The league president and executive secretary will continue to be Pete Bradbury and Barney Neary.
5-3-59: Fargo-Moorhead left 20 men on base for the then-league record. Grand Forks left 15, which meant the game total of 35 also set a record. The Chiefs won the game 7-4 in front of an opening day crowd of 4,328 in Fargo.
In St. Cloud, a crowd of 2,000 saw the Rox defeat Winnipeg 3-2 in a pitching dwell between the Goldeyes' Bob Sadowski and St. Cloud's Jerry Thomas.
The opener in Aberdeen drew 2,413 as the Pheasants Herm Starrette won 8-3 over Duluth-Superior. Chuck Hinton, on his birthday, had 3 hits, 2 RBI and scored 3 times for Aberdeen.
5-4-59: Steve Dalkowski (Aberdeen) struck out 15 and walked 14 before leaving in the 8th inning of Aberdeen's 15-7 victory over D-S.
5-5-59: Behind 3-2 in the ninth inning, Aberdeen's Dave Bednar hit a home run and hits by Jack McGowan, Frank Montgomery and Jim Caldwell scored the winning run over D-S 4-3. Bob Leopold, a former Stanford U. ace pitched a complete game, for the Pheasants, and struck out 12.
5-7-59: Aberdeen had a 4-0 record. St. Cloud was 3-0.
5-8-59: Eau Claire led Aberdeen 2-0 with one out in the ninth inning, but the Pheasants tied the score and won 3-2 in the 10thon a pinch-hit single by newly arrived slugger Dave Nicholson. Dave had been demoted from Amarillo after hitting .222 in 13 games. The Orioles' assistant farm director said: "I've never seen a fellow who received so much money [he was a $100,000 'bonus baby'] show so much ambition and desire. He knows he has a lot to learn and you have to give him credit for sticking with it."
Outfielder Paul Higgs of D-S ended a streak of being struck out in 11 straight at bats with a ground out during a game vs Minot. Then, in his next at bat, he doubled.
5-9-59: Winnipeg had their opening day - a split double header - and drew an estimated total crowd of 3,500. They beat Minot in the afternoon game 14-10 to end a 5-game losing streak (all one run loses), but lost the nightcap 8-6.
In a rainy and cool night in Eau Claire, the Braves held their opener to 906 fans. F-M beat them 8-4 on only 2 hits, but Eau Claire pitchers walked 9 and their defense committed 5 errors.
5-10-59: Tommy Aaron (Eau Claire) hit 2 home runs in a 15-6 Braves victory over F-M.
At his home park, Dave Nicholson (Aber) hit a home run estimated at 550 feet. It was said to have been 100 feet over the center field fence and was lop-sided when it was retrieved.
5-11-59: The Duluth-Superior Dukes had their season opener after the first two scheduled games were postponed. Even though the game was played in threatening weather, attendance totaled 1,111 for the game which they lost to St. Cloud 4-2.
5-14-59: Aberdeen (8-0) led St. Cloud (5-2) by 2 ½ games and F-M by 3.
5-15-59: Dave Nicholson stole home during a triple steal pulled off by the Earl Weaver-led Aberdeen team. The Pheasants beat Grand Forks 14-0 with the shutout arm of Buster Narum. In attendance was the Pirates' farm director Branch Rickey Jr.
Paul Higgs (D-S) hit for the cycle with a double, single, home run and triple in a game vs. St. Cloud which the Dukes lost 8-7.
5-16-59: Aberdeen's Dave Nicholson scored 4 runs and hit a triple and home run during a 4-2 triumph over Grand Forks.
5-17-59: Steve Dalkowski of Aberdeen threw a 6-0 no-hitter over Grand Forks. During the game, he struck out 21 batters to tie the 1939 league record of Joe Hatten. Dalkowski said he sensed that a no-hitter was a possibility in the 7thinning and "I got a bit shaky for a minute." He walked 2 batters in that inning and then retired the last 7 in order (6 by strike outs). During the game, he "only" walked 8 and the Pheasants committed one error. The Chiefs came close to a hit in the 8thinning when Ray Murawski hit a pop fly to short right-center, but Dave Nicholson made a diving catch. Dalkowski told reporters that he threw just one curve ball in the game "and it almost hit a batter so I quit using it." One of two Pheasants' catchers during the game, Dan Bishop, received a call after the game informing him that his first child, a girl, had been born. Chuck Hinton had 4 hits in 5 plate appearances. It was the first no-hitter thrown in Aberdeen in league history and the first by a team managed by Earl Weaver. The following is the inning-by-inning account of the game:
1st: walk, walk, wild pitch to advance runners to 2nd and 3rd, ground out, strike out, strike out.
2nd: error to allow hitter to reach 1st, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout.
3rd: fly out, strikeout, walk, walk, strikeout.
4th: strikeout, strikeout, strikeout
5th: strikeout, walk, fly out, ground out.
6th: ground out, strikeout, walk, strikeout.
7th: strikeout, strikeout, walk, walk, strikeout.
8th: fly out, strikeout, strikeout.
9th: strikeout, strikeout, strikeout.
In his first game for D-S, second baseman Jack Haury was hit in the head by a thrown ball. After throwing a runner out at the plate, Haury walked in front of the mound when catcher Jim Napier fired the ball back toward second base and hit Haury at short range.
5-18-59: Aberdeen ended their winning streak at 12 games when they lost to St. Cloud 10-7. Dave Nicholson drove in 5 runs with 2 home runs, but the team committed 5 errors. Since arriving in Aberdeen, Nicholson had 11 hits in his first 22 at bats, had 13 RBI and 4 home runs in 8 games.
5-20-59: Winnipeg tied the league record with their 3rdshutout in a row on Will Hill's 5-hit victory over Eau Claire 6-0. On May 17, Bill Carpenter beat Minot 1-0 and on the 19th, Bob Sadowski won 6-0 over the Braves.
5-21-59: Aberdeen continued their reversal of fortunes from 1958, by leading the league with a 13-1 record which was 4 games ahead of St. Cloud.
Aberdeen's Buster Narum had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 24 when Bud Zipfel hit a home run for Fargo-Moorhead. The Pheasants went on to win 8-1.
5-23-59: Steve Dalkowski only made it to the 5thinning as he walked 11 while striking out 9 and gave up one hit.
5-25-59: Dave Nicholson of Aberdeen tied a league mark with 9 RBIs. Others who had attained that feat were Phil Seghi, Lyle Thompson, Milford Wildenauer and Harry Hannebrink. Nicholson hit 3 home runs during the game - a three-run job in the 4th, a 2-run drive in the 8th and a grand slam in the 9th.
5-27-59: Fargo-Moorhead scored 3 runs in the top of 8thinning to take the lead 6-4 in a game played at Aberdeen. Before the inning could be completed, a rain storm arrived and stopped the game. The score reverted to the score after 7 innings which allowed the Pheasants to win 4-3.
5-28-59: Aberdeen (17-4) held a 4 ½ game lead over F-M (12-8).
Bill Rozich, of Aberdeen, hit 3 home run, including a grand slam, during a 12-2 victory over F-M. Steve Dalkowski was the wining pitcher as he allowed 5 hits, walked 12 and struck out 14.
5-31-59: Winnipeg catcher, Bill Morton, set a then-league record for passed balls with 4 during a Goldeyes' victory over Grand Forks.
Larry DelMargo (F-M) allowed only one hit in a 5-0 win over St. Cloud. The only safety was an infield single, in the 3rdinning, by Felix Maldonado.
6-1-59: Aberdeen has drawn 15,245 fans in their first 18 games according to Promotion Manager J.D. Dulany. "With our 953 average to date," he said "it will take us only until July 18 to equal our gate for the entire 1958 season." The Sporting News had a contest ("Grand Sweepstakes Trophy"), at that time, for the first minor league team to exceed its previous season attendance total.
St. Cloud pitcher, Tim Lane, threw a 2-hit game for a 5-1 victory over Eau Claire. Braves' first baseman, Paul Snyder, got both hits - a single and a home run. The homer came with 2 out in the 9thinning.
6-3-59: Minot trailed Aberdeen 6-3 going into the 9thinning. Hal Jones led off with a home run and Steve Dalkowski walked the next 2 batters. Madison Parker then tripled to tie the score, but was thrown out at home when he attempted an inside-the-parker. Dalkowski then was replaced by Frank Mankovitch who walked the next 2 Mallards batters. He was replaced by Ron Fincher who also walked 2 - including the winning run.
6-4-59: Aberdeen (20-8) led Winnipeg (17-10) by 2 ½ games and F-M (17-11) by 3.
6-6-59: Winnipeg pitcher Bill Carpenter pitched a one-hitter vs. F-M. It was the 18th victory for the Goldeyes in 20 games. Twins' pitcher Curt Johnson got an infield hit with 2 out in the 8th for their only safety.
6-11-59: Winnipeg (22-10) claimed first place by ½ game over Aberdeen (22-12).
6-12-59: Eau Claire manager Travis Jackson collapsed while pitching batting practice. The next day he turned over his duties to Gordy Maltzberger who, at the time, was the roving pitching coach for Milwaukee organization. In 1958, Jackson also was forced to give up managing at Midland in the Sophomore League.
6-13-59: Tim Lane (St. C) pitched his 2nd 2-hitter of the year in a game against F-M won by the Rox 6-0.
6-14-59: Aberdeen manager Earl Weaver was thrown out a game for the 7th time this season. He was fined $100 by League President Pete Bradbury.
Steve Dalkowski suffered his first defeat of the year to Grand Forks 11-1. Dave Nicholson pitched the last 3 innings in a mop up role. Nicholson gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks.
Duluth-Superior had one of the worse poor weather starts in club history. They postponed 16 of their first 31 games. Team President's K.A. Nicholson's "day job" was that of a weatherman
6-17-59: Rex Rupert (GF) pitched a 7-inning one-hit victory over F-M. The only hit came on his first pitch of the game which was hit for a single by Fabio Fiallo.
6-18-59: Winnipeg (26-12) increased their lead to 3 games over Aberdeen (25-17).
Winnipeg pitchers Bob Sadowski and Dick Hughes combined for 15 straight scoreless innings over St. Cloud in a double header. The Goldeyes swept the games 1-0 and 5-2.
6-20-59: Dave Nicholson hit an 8th inning inside-the-park 2-run home run to win a game for Aberdeen 2-1 against D-S. It was his 14th homer of the year.
Minot's Hal Jones hit one of the longest home runs ever in Mallards Park in a game against Eau Claire. He drove a pitch high over the left-center field wall at the 430 foot mark. The 10th inning homer tied the score 9-9. but they eventually lost the game 10-9 in 11 innings.
Winnipeg swept it's second straight double header from Aberdeen 4-2 and 1-0. The Goldeyes had an 8-game winning streak and had won 35 of their last 40 games.
6-21-59: Aberdeen first baseman, Bill Rozich, hit 3 home runs in one game for the 2nd time this season. He had 5 RBI, but it was not enough for the Pheasants who came within one run to tie, in the 9th, after Rozich's 2-run homer and another by Jim Burton. Dave Nicholson struck out to end the game - a 10-9 victory by D-S. Rozich had broken his ankle late in 1957 and played only 15 games in 1958.
6-22-59: Eau Claire defeated Minot 6-2 which was the 8th victory for the Braves in 11 games and the 10thMallards' loss in 12 games.
6-24-59: Travis Jackson returned as the full-time manager of Eau Claire.
6-25-59: Winnipeg (31-13) extended their league lead to 4 ½ games over Aberdeen (28-19).
The board of directors of the D-S Dukes changed the starting time of their home games to 7:00 which was 45 minutes earlier then in the past.
6-28-59: Steve Ryder of Eau Claire had his 21-game hitting streak ended in the second game of a double header against St. Cloud.
7-2-59: Winnipeg (40-13) stretched their lead to 12 ½ games over Aberdeen (29-27).
Dave Nicholson replaced injured Aberdeen pitchers on the mound for a game vs. Minot. In a 12-4 victory, he gave up 5 hits, walked 4 and struck out 14. Two of the Mallards' hits were home runs by Hal Jones and Jim Lawrence.
Steve Dalkowski was sent to Pensacola of the Alabama-Florida League. He had pitched 58 1/3 innings and given up 30 hits, walked 110 while striking out 99.
7-4-59: Winnipeg ended a 12-game winning streak when they lost to Eau Claire 9-4.
7-9-59: Winnipeg, with a 45-14 record, led Aberdeen (33-30) by 14 games.
7-10-59: F-M moved their game with Minot to Wahpeton, ND, in order to avoid conflict with the Red River Valley Fair which took place in Fargo. The Mallards enjoyed the move by hitting 5 home runs to beat the Twins 17-10. The game was sponsored by the Wahpeton Junior Chamber of Commerce for the benefit of the Babe Ruth League and drew 782 fans.
Winnipeg ended their 16-game home winning streak with a loss to D-S 7-3.
7-11-59: Tommy Aaron won a game against Winnipeg in the 16th inning by hitting a grand slam. Eau Claire manager Travis Jackson said: "I don't think I have had any infielder in my ten years in the Braves' organization who had more potential then Tommy. He has real good power, but he is not hitting for percentage. When he gets to the point where he can hit the ball consistently, he will be all right." Tommy said: "Whenever I have trouble, especially in hitting, I can get help from Henry." Of course, he meant his brother.
Winnipeg pulled off the season's first triple play in a game vs. Eau Claire. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Paul Snyder lined an out to first baseman Sal Betancourt who stepped on first and then threw to second to catch the runner there.
7-13-59: Manley Johnston (D-S) led the league in hitting with a .359 average. Chuck Hinton (Aberdeen) was second at .358 and Hal Jones was third (.356). Bill Carpenter (Winnipeg) led pitchers with a 1.46 ERA. Jim Burton (F-M) was second with a 2.41 mark and Bob Sadowski was third (2.47).
Aberdeen reached an attendance of 37,343 for 1958 to eclipse their 1958 total. In doing so, they won The Sporting News' Class C trophy in the minor leagues' attendance derby.
Aberdeen beat F-M 14-9 when they rallied for 9 runs in the 7th inning. Dave Nicholson pitched the last 3 innings, not giving up a hit but getting the win.
7-16-59: Winnipeg (49-17) led Aberdeen (38-32) by 13 ½ games.
7-22-59: Dave Nicholson hit a home run in Wade Stadium, Duluth, which was measured at 500 after it had rolled to a stop. Unfortunately, rain ended the game before it became official and the homer did not count in the records. He hit two more long blasts in the other two games of the series.
7-24-59: Bill Marnie set an Eau Claire season strike out record when he struck out 14 in a game against Minot which the Braves won 7-5.
7-25-59: Tony Washington (Grand Forks), who was batting .363, was hit by a pitched ball that broke his wrist. He did not play the rest of the season.
Hal Stowe (Winnipeg) threw a 3-hit victory to beat F-M by the score of 2-0.
7-27-59: Duluth-Superior's Hub Winton pitched 8 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. However, Minot had scored 11 runs before Winton had come in, as a reliever, and the Dukes lost 11-3.
7-30-59: Winnipeg (57-22) had a 16 ½ game lead over Aberdeen (42-40).
8-1-59: Winnipeg third baseman, Ed Olivares, was lost for the year with a broken leg. Catcher Roberto Herrera was moved to third and manager Chase Riddle activated himself to share the catching duties with Reinaldo Oliver. Two days later, Riddle hit a pinch-hit home run in the 9thinning for the winning margin in a 7-6 victory over Minot.
Winnipeg pitcher Bill Carpender was suspended for 3 days and fined $25 by League President Bradbury after a game in Fargo. He reportedly made "an insulting gesture" to Fargo-Moorhead fans after he struck out in the 7th inning. Fans behind the Goldeyes' dugout became much more boisterous and shouted threats against Carpender when he walked to the mound between innings. F-M team president Lyle Meyers and club official J.G. Halbeisen then went on the field to, in their words, "prevent a riot". Finally, a police officer escorted Carpender from the field for his own safety. The Twins' club was also fined a total of $50.
8-3-59: Dennis Higgins (D-S) pitched a one-hitter in a game vs F-M. Joe Pepitone's double, in the first inning, was the only Twins' hit. Higgins would turn 20 years old the next day.
Buster Narum (Aberdeen) won a pitcher's battle with Jim Dickson (Grand Forks) 2-1 on a 3-hitter. Dave Nicholson homered to provide the winning margin.
8-5-59: Winnipeg right fielder, Rogers Robinson, made 8 putouts in a victory over Minot 6-5. Bob Sadowski got the win.
8-6-59: Second place Aberdeen (48-41) was behind Winnipeg (62-27) by 14 games.
Winnipeg pitcher Bob Dudley had a finger broken by a pitched ball and was done for the rest of the season.
8-8-59: A home run ball hit by Dave Nicholson was found a block beyond the left-center field fence of Municipal Park in Aberdeen. He had 22 home runs which was still 11 short of the club record set by Dave Roberts, in 1954, of 33.
8-10-59: Manley ("Shot") Johnston (D-S) returned from the disabled list and continued his hot hitting to lead the league. In the last 30 at bats, he had 12 hits including 3 home runs and 11 RBI. Johnston was a 20-year-old from Cowarts, AL.
8-12-59: Dooley Womack of Fargo-Moorhead pitched a 4-0 seven inning no-hitter against Minot.
Rookies were nominated for the league's rookie of the award. They included Bob Sadowski, Dick Hughes, Chico Suarez, Shot Johnston, Dennis Higgins, Jim Stoll, Tim Lane and Chuck Hinton.
8-13-59: Winnipeg's record (65-30) had them in first place by 13 games over Fargo-Moorhead (52-43) and 13 ½ ahead of Aberdeen (52-44).
8-17-59: Dave Nicholson pitched a 5-2 victory over St. Cloud. He gave up 5 hits, struck out 10 and walked 7. Offensively, hit his 26th home run , a single and had 4 RBI. One month ago, the Baltimore organization ordered manager Earl Weaver not to use Nicholson as a pitcher again. However, because of another shortage of pitching, Weaver was allowed an exception.
Fabio Fiallo was named by his teammates, on the F-M club, as their most valuable player. Bill Carpenter was named by Winnipeg and Chuck Leonard was chosen by Grand Forks.
8-16-59: Grand Forks set a then-league record for men left on base of 21 during a game vs. Eau Claire which they won 17-16 in 11 innings. The game lasted 4:15.
8-19-59: Dave Nicholson hit 5 home runs in games from Aug. 15 through Aug. 19.
8-20-59: Winnipeg (72-32) was in first place by 13 games over Aberdeen (59-45).
Winnipeg pitcher Bob Sadowski was promoted to Tulsa of the Texas League. His departure was viewed by manager Chase Riddle as follows: "It will definitely hurt us in the playoffs - especially if things go wrong."
8-23-59: Dave Nicholson relieved in the 9th inning and gave up 2 runs to Minot for his first mound loss of the season 12-11.
8-25-59: Winnipeg clinched the league pennant.
Aberdeen's protest of a recent loss to Minot was upheld by League President Bradbury. With 2 outs in the first inning, the Mallards' Jim Card walked. Hal Jones then hit a fly ball that glanced off the glove of left fielder Dave Bednar and bounced into an unplayable area in foul territory. Jones was held to 2 bases on the play, but Card was permitted to score from first base. Bradbury ruled that Card should have been stopped at third and ordered the game replayed from that point.
8-29-59: Bill Carpenter attempted to win his 20thgame, but was ejected from the game by umpire Bruce Froemming when he continued to complain about ball and strike decisions. Winnipeg went on to win the game 6-5.
8-29-59: Bo Belinsky rejoined the Aberdeen Pheasants and pitched a 2-hit victory over D-S 6-1.
8-30-59: Dave Nicholson hit 2 home runs and Bob Leopold pitched well in a 3-0 Aberdeen victory over D-S.
8-31-59: Umpire Frank Deselan.was released by the league on a charge of criticizing the league president, Pete Bradbury. He was the umpire involved in a protested game between Aberdeen and Minot and Bradbury upheld Aberdeen's protest. The Fargo Forum had quoted Deselan as saying he had asked a well respected minor league umpire what he thought should have been the correct decision, on a play during the game, and the other umpire agreed with Deselan. The "other umpire" denied any memory of the conversation.
9-3-59: Aberdeen moved into 2nd place with a 65-52 record which was 4 games ahead of F-M.
Chuck Hinton was named as the league's rookie of the year. He had 44 points, in the balloting, which was only 2 points more then Manley Johnson who finished second. Bob Sadowski was third.
9-59: Chuck Hinton won the league's batting championship with a .358 average. Manley Johnston was second at .352. Bill Carpenter won the pitching honors with a 1.59 ERA and a 19-4 record. Dan Osinski (D-S) was second at 2.41 and Bob Sadowski fourth with a 2.70 mark.
Winnipeg won the pennant with an 80-41 record - 12 ½ games over Aberdeen (69-55).
Hal Jones was named the season's MVP. He hit .325, led the league in RBI with 126 and was tied for the home league, with Dave Nicholson, with 35.
In the playoff finals, Winnipeg beat Aberdeen 2 games to 1 game.
League President Pete Bradbury announced his resignation effective in November. He said he found that the job required
"too much time and effort away from my business". Bradbury was a road and building contractor. He suggested that a
full-time executive officer by hired by the league and recommended Barney Neary who was the league's secretary-treasurer.
Entering the 1960 season, officers of each team were: Aberdeen - Olaf Mykleby, President and L.F. McMillan, GM; Duluth-Superior - Ken Nicholson, President and Graydon Stromme, GM; Eau Claire - Leo Howard, President and Robert Quinn, GM; Fargo-Moorhead - Lyle Meyers, President and Virgil Watson, GM; Grand Forks - Brooks Baukol, President and Joe Holte, GM; Minot - T.J, McGrath, President and GM; St. Cloud - Allan Heuerman, President and Karl Weiler, GM; Winnipeg - Peter Curry, President and Terry Hind, GM. Herman White made his return as the league president.
4-60: Bill Carpender, Winnipeg's best pitcher in 1959 asked the Cardinal organization to let him play with the Goldeyes in 1960 since he is a native Canadian. They agreed to his request even though the team was willing to move him up in classification.
5-1-60: Two sons of former Yankee "King Kong" Keller contributed to a victory for Fargo-Moorhead over Aberdeen 2-0. Don Keller hit a home run with his brother, Charlie, on base for the only runs. Pete Mikkelsen gave up only 1 hit in 8 plus innings for the Twins.
Opening day attendance was: Fargo Moorhead - 3,960; Duluth-Superior - 2,662; Eau Claire - 1,390 and St. Coud - 1,390.
5-2-60: Minot first baseman Bob Immediato and second baseman Larry Bulla combined for a triple play. Immediato also had four hits and Bulla had three (all doubles) in a 13-1 victory over St. Cloud.
Eau Claire scored 6 runs on 6 hits in the 9th to tie Winnipeg and force extra innings. The game was halted after 11 innings, tied at 7-7, because of rain.
5-5-60: Basil Curry, St. Cloud starter, pitched a one-hitter over Aberdeen. He struck out 13 during the 4-0 victory. The victory stopped a 3-game losing streak for the Rox.
Harry Fanok who had been converted from third base by the Cardinals' organization struck out 9 Duluth-Superior batters in the first 3 innings of a game for Winnipeg. He finished with 14 in a 7-inning game which was the nightcap of a double header. Fanok gave up 3 hits and walked 6 in his 12-3 win.
5-7-60: Bob Clear, the only player-manager in the league, won his second game 6-5 for Grand Forks over St. Cloud. Clear had been a player-manager for the past 3 seasons in the Arizona-Mexico and Pioneer leagues.
5-8-60: Elmo Plaskett (Grand Forks) who had pitched, played third and in the outfield in his pro career, was moved to catcher with good results. He drove in 2 runs in a 6-5 victory over St. Cloud.
5-9-60: Aberdeen finally got an extra base hit. In their first 5 games, of 1960, the team had not gotten anything other than singles. Ron Piotrowski tripled in the 1stinning against Duluth-Superior in an 11-8 victory.
5-12-60: Winnipeg led the league with a 6-3 record. In second was Duluth-Superior at 5-3.
St. Cloud manager, Fred Martin, a former major leaguer, pitched the last two innings of a 12-3 loss against Winnipeg. He had 5 pitchers with sore arms or back problems..
5-14-60: Gates Brown who had a 10-day hitting streak, was stopped by Minot's Bob Healy in a 9-3 victory for Duluth-Superior.
5-16-60: John Drake, Duluth-Superior pitcher, hit 5 Minot batters with pitches to set a league mark. Tony Martinez was hit twice, but in his last at bat in the 8th, he tripled to drive in a run and then scored the winning run as the Mallards gained a 6-5 victory.
Bruce Haroldson, who was a former batboy for Fargo-Moorhead, faced his former favorite team as a pitcher for Winnipeg. He only lasted 3 innings in a 9-3 loss. However, in an earlier meeting, Haroldson beat the Twins on a 5-hitter, 6-2.
5-17-60: Max Alvis (Minot) hit a triple, a double and 3 singles in 5 at bats to lead the Mallards to a 4-3 victory over Eau Claire.
5-19-60: Grand Forks took the lead in the standings with a 7-5 record. Minot (8-6), Winnipeg (8-7), Fargo-Moorhead (7-7) and Aberdeen (7-7) followed.
Max Alvis came to bat with two out in the 9thinning against Eau Claire with the score tied 0-0. In dramatic fashion, he hit a home run to win the game for Minot. Bob Healey, who gave up only 1 hit, was the winning pitcher.
Pete Mikkelsen (FM) pitched a 3-hitter for a win over Grand Forks 4-0. He also made 3 putouts and 4 assists without error.
5-22-60: Elmo Plaskett hit a grand slam to power Grand Forks over Duluth-Superior 7-4.
5-26-60: Minot took over first place with a 13-7 record. Winnipeg (14-10) was 1 game back and Aberdeen (10-9) and Grand Forks (10-9) were each 2 ½ games behind.
5-30-60: Max Alvis was leading the league in hitting with a .381 average. He was followed by Horace Clarke of Fargo-Moorhead at .375. In 27 innings, Alex Castro of Aberdeen had an ERA of 1.00. Bill Carpenter following at 1.17.
6-1-60: Bill Carpenter received two important phone calls. The first informed him that his wife had given birth to an 8-pound girl. The second let him know that he had been promoted to AAA Rochester.
6-2-60: Al Phelon pitched a 4-hit, 17-strike out relief performance during a 6-5 victory for Duluth-Superior over St. Cloud. He came into the game with one out in the 1st inning. Phelon almost lost it in the 9th when he walked 2 and hit a batter. However, he then struck out the next 3 batters.
6-3-60: Elmo Plaskett hit a bases loaded triple, a 3-run home run and scored on a sac fly during a 7-6 victory for Grand Forks.
Former MLB pitcher, Von McDaniel, who was attempting a comeback as an infielder, was just 4 for 22 in his first 5 games with Winnipeg.
6-4-60: The president of the Minot Mallards, T.J. McGrath, died. Andrew Bakken, a former president, returned to that office and William Champlin became the GM of the club. .
In other league news, the directors of Fargo-Moorhead gave up trying to find a new GM. They divided the work load between four individuals: Don Rylance (paper), Steve Gorman (park supervisor), Betty Good and Walt Mabee (publicity and promotion).
6-9-60: Duluth-Superior held the league lead with a 20-15 record. Grand Forks was second at 19-15 - ½ game back - and Winnipeg (21-17) was in third.
6-12-60: Grand Forks hit 3 home runs in the first inning of a game vs. Fargo-Moorhead. The first was a solo job by Frank Coimbre, the second by Willie Stargell was with one on and the third was with two on by Gene Michael. The Chiefs won the game 13-0 with Bob Clear getting the win.
Aberdeen outfielder Bob Clem accounted for all of the outs in the Pheasants' at bat in the 7thinning of a 14-0 victory over Duluth-Superior. Clem grounded out to lead off the inning and then hit into a double play to end it.
6-13-60: Claude Pinder (Minot) faced only 2 batters and got the loss in a game against Eau Claire.. After retiring the first batter in the game, the number two hitter lined a hit off Pinder's hand forcing him to leave the game. The batter later scored in the inning and the Mallards played from behind the whole game finally losing 7-6.
6-14-60: Von McDaniel hit a homer and 2 singles in a game against the St. Cloud Rox which Winnipeg won 7-5..
6-15-60: Jerry Alford of Aberdeen pitched a 7-0 seven-inning no-hitter over Eau Claire. Alford, 19, was a "bonus baby" signed off the campus of Mississippi College. This was his second pro year.
Max Alvis was named the Topps Player of the Month for May. He hit .381 with 2 home runs and 37 RBI.
League attendance was up 10% during the first month of the season. The clubs drew 66,739 compared to last year's mark of 59,945. Winnipeg, Duluth-Superior, Grand Forks, Eau Claire and Minot gained in attendance.
Grand Forks was in first place with a 24-17 record. One-half game behind was Duluth-Superior (24-17). Eau Claire (22-18) and Aberdeen (22-19) followed in the standings.
6-16-60: Bob Clear suffered his first defeat for Grand Forks as the St. Cloud Rox won 8-3. In the outfield for the Chiefs was Dale Hackbart, former University of Wisconsin football star, who made his pro debut. Recently signed by the Pirates, he was 1 for 3.
6-18-60: Former Yankee sons had a good day for Fargo-Moorhead in a 12-7 victory over Minot. Don Keller hit a 3-run home run and Charlie Keller had 2 doubles and a single. An outfielder, by the name of Joe Maggio, also hit a 3-run homer.
6-20-60: Max Alvis continued to lead the league in batting with a .360 average and Horace Clarke (.357) was still in second. Alex Castro still had the best ERA at 1.80.
6-23-60: It was reported that the season, to this point, had the closest pennant race as any in the league's history. There was only a gap of 4 games between the 1st place and 6th place teams:
The standings showed: 1. Duluth Superior 28-20, 2. Aberdeen 27-20, 3. Grand Forks 26-21, 4. Winnipeg 27-23, 5. Eau Claire 24-21 and 6. Minot 24-24.
6-26-60: Morrie Stevens of St. Cloud pitched an 8-0 no-hitter over Minot.
6-29-60: Bob Wasko, who was a sophomore pitcher for the 1960 NCAA Champion Minnesota Gophers, made his pro debut pitching for Fargo-Moorhead. He pitched a 2-hitter over Minot to win 2-1.
6-30-60: Fargo-Moorhead had the bases loaded with 2 outs in bottom half the 9thinning with the score tied 11-11 in a game against Minot. The count on a Twins' batter, Tut Thublin, went to 3 and 2. Ike Simmons' next pitch missed the plate and the runner on third, Jim Horsford, came home to apparently end the game. As the teams were leaving the field, plate umpire Andy Olsen and base ump Tony Favano began to talk at first base. They then ordered Fargo-Moorhead back on the field since the base runner on first, Ken Slater, did not touch second and was out on a force thus retiring the side with no run scoring. Minot scored a run in the 10thto presumably win 12-11. The Fargo-Moorhead manager, John Fitzpatrick filed a protest with the league president who upheld the protest and gave the victory to the Twins 12-11 based on Section 4.09 (b) of the Official Rules which provided that, in a situation of that type, the runner on third must advance and touch home and the batter must tag first base, but the runners at first and second do not have to advance.
Dale Hackbart had struck out 9 consecutive times until he singled. He is being used as a first baseman and outfielder.
Nine stitches were required to mend a gash to Bob Immediato's ankle. The Minot first baseman was spiked in a game vs. Fargo-Moorhead.
7-3-60: Tony Martinez of Minot almost had an inside-the-park home run. However, he was called out because he failed to touch 3rd base.
St. Cloud pitcher Morrie Steevens was named Topps Player of the Month for June.
7-6-60: Reliever Don McCreary made his first start for Fargo-Moorhead because of an overworked staff. Even though he complained of arm stiffness, he threw a one-hit gem over Eau Claire 7-0. The only Braves' hit came on a come-backer to McCreary by Roger Morgan. He had the ball, in his glove, for a moment but could not make the play. He walked 8 and struck out 6.
7-7-60: Duluth-Superior (36-28) continued in first place followed by Eau Claire (34-28), Winnipeg (35-30), Aberdeen (33-29), Grand Forks (33-32) and Minot (31-32).
Von McDaniel drove in the winning runs in both games of a double header against Aberdeen. He hit sacrifice flies in extra innings, of each contest, for identical 3-2 victories. He was batting .284 with 7 home runs and 40 RBI in 35 games.
7-11-60: Eau Claire (39-30) took over the league lead with Duluth-Superior (40-31), Winnipeg (40-33), Aberdeen (37-33) and Grand Forks (36-36) trailing.
Jerry Alford made an attempt at his 2ndconsecutive no-hitter. Through 7 innings, he had faced only 21 batters, but allowed a hit in the 8th and 4 in the ninth. However, he did hold on to beat Grand Forks 3-2.
7-14-60: Minot's Tom Newton was suspended indefinitely by league President Herman White. He had a run-in with umpire Vince McKenna on July 13. White lifted the ban after one game.
7-17-60: Duluth-Superior is closing in on their 1959 attendance mark with 24 home dates remaining. They have drawn 32,312 in 34 games and, in all of last season, they drew 35,966.
Walt Novick, Minot manager, filed a protest regarding umpire Andy Olsen's failure to call an infield fly in their game vs. Eau Claire on July 16 which his team lost 6-4. With runners on 1st and 2nd, one out in the 9th, the Mallards' Tom Newton hit a pop up in front of the plate which was dropped by catcher Joe Torre. When the Braves pointed out that the infield fly rule should have been called, Torre recovered the ball and threw out Bob Immediato who was trying to go from first to second. It was Novick's contention that Immediato would not have tried to advance had the umpire called the infield fly at the proper time.
7-18-60: Duluth-Superior's Willie Smith held Eau Claire hitless for 6 2/3 innings. He finished the game allowing 9 walks, 3 hits and struck out 12. He also had a 6-1 victory.
At this point in the season, the Aberdeen Pheasants had won 39 games with 21 coming by one run.
Max Alvis still led the league in batting with a .340 average. Roy Patterson of Winnipeg was second at .338. Horace Clarke (.319) had fallen to fourth place. Alex Castro maintained his first-place ERA mark at 1.87.
7-20-60: League President White suspended Fargo-Moorhead pitcher Roy Peterson for 4 days following a run-in with umpire Jack Collins in a game on July 19 with Grand Forks. Peterson had taken over as the team's third base coach after manager John Fitzpatrick had been ejected. An inning later, the umpire threw out Peterson because he was apparently mimicking the ump's mannerisms. Then, in the ensuring argument, he bumped umpire Collins.
7-21-60: Duluth-Superior (44-34) was in first place by one game over Winnipeg (45-35). Eau Claire (42-34) was in third and Aberdeen (42-35) was in forth.
In the 1960 All-Star game, the All Stars beat first place Duluth-Superior 5-1. The game was a pitching duel until the 9thinning when Johnny Lewis (Winnipeg) doubled with the bases loaded driving in 3 runs. It earned him the most valuable player award.
At the league's annual meeting, it was decided to increase the umpire's expense allowance from $25 to $30. Umpires salaries ranged from $350 to $375 a month.
7-23-60: Aberdeen's Alex Castro was credited with his 18th save of the season when he worked the last 2 innings of a game against Minot which the Pheasants won 5-3. He had pitched 77 innings (70 in relief), and had allowed 48 hits and walked 21 while striking out 53. He was 8-6 with a 1.75 ERA.
7-24-60: Von McDaniel went 4-for-4 to give a boost to his .270 batting average. On July 19, he also had a 4-for-4 game.
7-28-60: The league's standing showed Winnipeg on top with a 49-36 mark. Behind by ½ game was Duluth-Superior
(47-36). They were followed by Aberdeen (45-37), Eau Claire (41-37) and Grand Forks (41-43).
League President Herman White suspended Winnipeg pitcher Cliff Politte and outfielder Joe Patterson indefinitely when they reportedly kicked in the door to the umpire's dressing room after a game vs. St. Cloud on July 27. Winnipeg manager Whitey Kurowski was also fined $25 after being ejected in the 9th inning for arguing balls and strikes calls. The game ended when Murray Vetter, who replaced the ejected Politte, walked home the winning run in the 9th.
8-1-60: Minot's Tom Maine took over the ERA lead with a mark of 2.49, but it was felt he would probably miss the rest of the season with bursitis in his shoulder.
8-4-60: Winnipeg took over first place with a 54-37 record. In 2nd was Aberdeen (51-49) 3 games behind. Duluth-Superior (50-40) was 3 ½ games back and Eau Claire (45-44) was 8 behind.
8-5-60: Jerry Alford gave up only 2 hits in 7 innings of relief and hit a grand slam to help Aberdeen beat Fargo-Moorhead 8-7.
Aubrey Gatewood (Duluth-Superior) had won 6 straight games but walked in the winning run in the 12th inning to lose 5-4 to Grand Forks. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Gatewood walked .218-hitter Gene Michael.
8-6-60: Winnipeg compiled 6 intentional base on balls in a 13 inning game.
8-8-60: Mike Lemoine (Grand Forks) walked 11 batters, but gave up only one hit as he got the victory 3-1 over Eau Claire in a 7-inning game. The decisive hit was Gene Alley's 3-run home run.
Eau Claire pitcher, Paul Chenger, was named July's Topps Player of the Month.
Joe Torre (Eau Claire) was leading the league in hitting with a .358 average. Max Alvis was second at .340 and Joe Patterson (Winnipeg) was third with a .334 mark. Alex Castro led pitchers with a 2.27 ERA.
8-9-60: Twenty-one-year old umpire Bruce Froemming ejected four sports writers and the Duluth-Superior business manager from the press box during a game in Duluth. He threatened a forfeiture unless the five, who were verbally disputing umpire decisions, left the park. Two of the writers, including one acting as the official scorer, refused to leave. Since three of the five had left, Froemming allowed the game to continue. Interviewed after the game, he said: "It's hard enough working a game when the players beef without having the press box making personal remarks." A "Sporting News" editorial on August 24 said the following: "...we cannot repress a certain felling of admiration for the spunk of this young umpire in having the courage to overrule his partner and correct a call on a play. The heckling was directed mostly at the base arbiter. The plate umpire, just 21, refused to let his partner accept this abuse. When the heckling continued, he took a drastic step. If this young umpire sticks around, as we suspect he will, he'll recognize that this probably was not the proper way to solve a problem. But we must congratulate him for his courage and certainly for an unusual solution."
St. Cloud starting pitchers (Ray Brooks, Morrie Steevens and Harvey Branch) threw three shutouts in four games from August 6-9.
8-11-60: Winnipeg remained in first place on a 59-40 record. Aberdeen (55-44) was in second at 4 games back. Third-place Duluth-Superior (53-44) was 5 behind.
"The Fargo Forum" mailed ballots to sports writers, managers and umpires for the league's Rookie of the Year Award named the "George Treadwell-Duluth Dukes Memorial Award". The award was named after the manager of the Dukes who died with four of his players in a bus accident on July 24, 1948. Past winners of the award included Hank Aaron, Billy Bruton, Mudcat Grant, Mike de la Hoz, Roger Maris and Wes Stock.
8-12-60: Max Alvis went 9-for-14 in games August 10-12 to increase his average to .352.
8-14-60: Von McDaniel fractured two bones in his right hand and did not play for the rest of the season. The third baseman was trying to make a barehanded catch of a throw from the outfield.
8-16-60: Minot outfielder Tom Newton was hit by a fly ball, from the bat of Eau Claire's Phil Roof, when he apparently lost it in the lights. Newton left the game under his own power.
8-17-60: Aberdeen held "Lou Fitzgerald Night" and his team's George Gaffney almost pitched a no-hitter over Duluth-Superior. Through 8 innings, he had not allowed a hit, but after 2 walks and a double, Duluth-Superior scored 2 runs. Fitzgerald was given a diamond ring by the fans, a watch and a 16-2 victory from his players.
8-18-60: Winnipeg (63-44) continued in first place, 2 games ahead of Duluth-Superior (60-45) and 4 ½ games in front of
Aberdeen (58-48).
8-20-60: Bill Carpenter returned to the Winnipeg Goldeyes. He also pitched for Rochester and Tulsa during the season.
8-23-60: Elmo Plaskett returned to Grand Forks after having traveled to Pittsburgh to take his physical for induction into the military.
8-25-60: Winnipeg's (66-46) lead had been reduced to 1 ½ games over Duluth-Superior (63-46). Third-place Aberdeen (59-52) had fallen to 6 ½ out.
8-31-60: The league's second-best hitter (.320), Roger Morgan of Eau Claire, ended his season early with a wrist injury that he had had since mid-August.
9-1-60: With less then a week to go in the season, Winnipeg (70-48) held a 2-game lead over Duluth-Superior (66-48).
9-2-60: Bob Clear won his 20th game for Grand Forks with an 8-0 victory over Aberdeen. He was the first Chiefs' 20-game winner since 1948 and the league's first 20-game winner since Mudcat Grant in 1954.
David Justus (Duluth-Superior pitcher) won the league Topps Player of the Month Award for August.
9-4-60: Winnipeg clinched their 2ndconsecutive pennant with a 4-3 victory over Minot which was powered by Joe Patterson's 2-out home run in the 9thinning. Harry Fanok pitched a 5-hitter for the victory. Fanok had just returned to the Goldeyes after the National Association's cancellation (due to a rules technicality) of a deal which had sent him to Tulsa of the Texas League for Bill Carpenter. On September 2, league President White had eliminated the Goldeyes' victory over Grand Forks on August 20 from the record book because Carpenter, who had pitched in that game, was an ineligible player.
9-5-60: The final standings were: 1. Winnipeg (72-51), 2. Duluth-Superior (70-51), 3. Aberdeen (63-61), 4. Minot (62-62) and 5. Grand Forks (61-62).
Bob Funge, Winnipeg, set an all-time league record by pitching in 57 games. The former record was 55 games by Vince
Zeimis of Duluth-Superior in 1957. In 145 innings, Funge was 14-3 with a 2.73 ERA.
The batting championship was won on the last day of the season by Joe Torre with a .344 average. Max Alvis was second at .343 and, in third, was Roger Morgan (Eau Claire) who hit .326. Alex Castro had the best ERA (2.13) followed by Justus (2.25) of Duluth-Superior and Bob Clear of Grand Forks (2.50). Gaffney was in fourth with a mark of 2.51.
Torre's batting championship was the 7th for a player who was playing in his first year of pro baseball. Other rookies who turned the trick were Jim Shilling, Ray Mack, Ken Staples, Horace Garner, Manny Jimenez and Chuck Hinton. Torre spent the rest of September with the Milwaukee Braves.
Winnipeg's pennant was the first for Whitey Kurowski in his 11-year managerial career. They also won the playoff
championship by beating Aberdeen in a 12-inning semi-final 5-4 and then defeated Duluth-Superior 4-1 and 9-0 for the
crown. The decisive game was a 4-hit shutout by Harry Fanok.
Each team's officers, at the start of the season, were as follows:
Aberdeen - Al Rylance, president and Stan Voas, GM (business manager); Duluth-Superior - Ken Nicholson, president and Gray Stromme, GM; Eau Claire - Leo Howard, president and Fran Von Schrader, GM; Grand Forks - Brooks Baukol, president and Joe Holte, GM; St. Cloud - Al Heuerman, president and Kari Weiler, GM; Winnipeg - Pete Curry, president and Terry Hind, GM.
The league was down to six teams with Minot and Fargo-Moorhead having dropped out.
Former league president, Herman White, returned to become president for another season.
Three of the season's managers were player-managers - Bob Clear of Grand Forks, Jim Fanning at Eau Claire and Joe Macko of St. Cloud. All of them were 33 years old.
Winnipeg manager Grover Resinger issued a challenge to any fan, in the Canadian city, for a handball contest. If Resinger wins, the fan must buy 100 tickets to the club's home games. Resinger was once one of the top handball players in the United States.
4-31-61: Eau Claire drew 1,183 fans for their opener against Winnipeg which they lost 5-4. In Grand Forks, with a mid-40's temp and 20 mph wind, 1,000 fans attended a 12-inning game won by the Chiefs 6-5. In St. Cloud, where there was also a chilly wind, 1,049 paid to watch the Rox lose to Aberdeen 9-5.
5-1-61: Eau Claire only drew 177 fans on a frigid night. The Braves also got very cold on the field as they lost to Winnipeg 23-9 after having given up 13 runs in the 8thinning.
5-2-61: Ron Davis (Aberdeen) was hit by a batted ball on his face during batting practice. He had several stitches taken in his eyebrow to close the wound.
5-3-61: A league stranded runner record was tied in a game between Eau Claire and Winnipeg. The Goldeyes left 17 men on base and the Braves 15 for the record of 32. The contest was won by Eau Claire 8-5 on an 8thinning grand slam hit by manager Jim Fanning.
5-7-61: Aberdeen's Jim Rouse had a big day at bat when he had 6 hits in 10 double-header attempts. His hits included a double, triple and grand slam homer.
Grand Forks pitchers allowed 5 Eau Claire runners to score on wild pitches and walks during a 7-1 victory for the Braves. Dick Newberg, the Chiefs starter, walked in 2 runners and reliever Ramon Saba walked in 2 more plus another with a wild pitch.
5-11-61: After the first ten days of play, Aberdeen (7-3) led the standings over Eau Claire (6-4) ½ game back and St. Cloud (5-5) 2 games behind.
Winnipeg converted pitcher Jeoff Long to the outfield at the beginning of the season. They lost him for a month due to a cracked bone in his wrist.
Winnipeg cut outfielder Don Branson even though he hit .287 for the Goldeyes in 1960. Aberdeen immediately signed him and put him into the starting lineup at center field.
5-12-61: Duluth-Superior Dukes lead off hitter, Al Baker, had a perfect 5-for-5 day against St. Cloud. The Dukes beat the Rox 12-4 who had lost 5 in a row.
5-13-61: Ron Cayll (Winnipeg) pitched a 2-hitter over Eau Claire for a 6-1 victory. Al Conton had the 2 safeties - both singles.
5-14-61: Joe Petrikovic, who joined the Aberdeen Pheasants after being traded to the Orioles as part of the Jerry Walker/Chuck Essegian/Dick Williams/Dick Hall trade with the A's, won his 4thstraight victory on a 5-hit win over Grand Forks 3-2.
Jose Martinez (Grand Forks) had 5 hits in 5 trips. The next night he ran his streak to 11-for-18.
5-15-61: Aberdeen continued to lead the league with a 12-7 record which was 3 ½ games better then St. Cloud (8-6).
5-17-61: Gary Wyche (Winnipeg) snapped a 0-for-21 streak with 2 hits in a game vs Aberdeen.
Winnipeg's GM, Terry Hind, announced that he would resign at the end of the year because of a verbal attack by Eau Claire manager Jim Fanning. Fanning blasted Hind for not calling off a game with the Braves, on May 15, because of cold weather. By the end of the game, the temp was 31 degrees. "Let's just say this was another factor which served to influence a decision I've been pondering for a long time" Hind said. He had been the Winnipeg's GM for 7 years.
5-18-61: Aberdeen hit 9 doubles in a game vs Winnipeg and the Goldeyes had 3 during the 15-14 10-inning game. Both teams combined to have 27 hits.
5-19-61: Lou Brock (St. Cloud) hit safely in all of the Rox' first 13 games before being shut out in both games of a double header. On May 18, he had 4 hits and 6 RBI in a 14-3 win over Grand Forks. Chiefs' pitchers walked 15 batters including 6 in a row by starter Dick Newberg.
5-21-61: St. Cloud outfielder Billy Cowan made his Northern League debut with 3 hits including a home run and a triple. He also singled with the bases loaded, in the 9th inning, to produce the winning run in a 4-3 game against Winnipeg.
5-23-61: A blown fuse caused the suspension of a game, after 6 innings, in Eau Claire against D-S. The lights on two poles in left field went out and park maintenance could not find a replacement fuse. The game was completed the next night with a 6-5 Braves victory which was the same score as at the time of the suspension.
5-24-61:Eau Claire pitcher Jerry Hummitzsch served as a warmup catcher for starter Ray Orlikowski in pre-game drills. Somehow, Hummitzsch was struck behind the ear by a pitch and was taken to a hospital for x-rays and observation. Three nights later he won a 4-hit game over St. Cloud.
Aberdeen's Joe Petrikovic lost his first game of the season against Grand Forks 7-4. He had previously won 5 straight.
5-25-61: Aberdeen (18-8) led St. Cloud (14-8) by 2 games.
5-26-61: Cliff Politte, Winnipeg pitcher, struck out 14 and allowed only 4 hits in a victory over Aberdeen 6-2.
5-28-61: Tom Timmermann (D-S) gave up only one hit in a 7-inning game against Grand Forks. Pat Owens had the only safety - a single in the 2ndinning.
6-1-61: Aberdeen was in first place by 3 games with a 23-12 record. St. Cloud was second at 18-13.
Duluth-Superior held "Date Night" with each couple being admitted for the price on one - 60 cents.
St. Cloud second baseman, Perry Noun, had 11 assists in an 11-inning game vs Eau Claire. He also singled in the winning run in the 7-6 decision.
6-2-61: Kerry McDaniel, the brother of Lindy McDaniel, made his professional debut beating Grand Forks 11-5. He allowed 6 hits and 3 runs in his 5 innings of work as manager Grover Resinger was ordered, by the Goldeyes' parent club, to allow him only 70-80 pitches. McDaniel was signed for $50,000 by St. Louis.
Aberdeen pitcher, Darold Knowles, struck out 4 batters in one inning of a game against D-S. The first batter, who had struck out, reached first on a passed ball by catcher Dave Massarelli.
6-7-61: The president of the National Association of baseball leagues, George Trautman, ordered Northern League President Herman White to indefinity suspend D-S shortstop Anselmo Martinez. Martinez reportedly shoved an umpire during an argument on June 6. Later in the month, Martinez was sent to Decatur of the Midwest League. As a replacement, Ray Oyler returned to the Dukes from Knoxville.
6-8-61: Aberdeen (27-14) led St. Cloud (20-17) by 5 games.
Don Branson (Aberdeen) had 3 hits for 11 total bases and 7 RBI before the first 2 innings had been completed in a game vs Eau Claire. He hit a 2-run homer and a 2-run triple in the 1st inning. In the 2ndinning, he hit an inside the park home run with two on base. The Pheasants scored 10 runs in the first and easily beat the Braves 16-1. Darold Knowles had a no-hitter going until the 7thinning.
6-11-61: Don Branson (Aberdeen) led the league in hitting with an average of .370. Lou Brock was 2ndat .61 and Al Baker (.350) was third. Tom Timmermann led pitchers with a 1.76 ERA followed by Tim Pelczynski with a 2.01 mark.
6-12-61: Aberdeen ended a 7-game winning streak with a 2-1 loss to Duluth-Superior. Tom Timmermann threw a 3-hitter for the Dukes. An unearned 9th inning run produced a loss for Pheasants' pitcher, Darold Knowles, who struck out 16 and only gave up 3 hits.
League President Herman White forfeited an original Memorial Day victory for Grand Forks over Winnipeg to the Goldeyes. On that day, the Chiefs had 20 players on their roster which was two over the limit. The holiday was the cut down date to the 18-player maximum.
Jack Branscom was appointed as an assistant to Eau Claire GM (business manager) Fran von Schrader. Branscom was from Kirksville, MO.
League umpire Terry Tata took time off to fly home to Waterbury, CT, and marry Irene Piperas. On June 11, he appeared on CBS TV's "What's My Line?".
6-14-61: Aberdeen's (32-15) lead lengthened to 7 games over St. Cloud (23-20).
6-16-61: Grand Forks ended their winning streak at 7 games when they lost to D-S 4-3. Dukes' starter Larry Nosse gave up 3 runs without getting an out in the 1stinning. He was replaced by Ricardo Delgado who pitched 9 innings and allowed only 3 hits for the win.
6-18-61: Eau Claire's 10-game losing streak ended with a double header sweep over Winnipeg 4-3 and 3-2. Russ Henrichs got the wins in both games getting a complete game win in the first game on a 5-hitter. In the night cap, he pitched 5 innings of the 14-inning game giving up only 2 hits. Kerry McDaniel got the loss in the first game - his first of the season. .
6-20-61: Bill Freehan made is professional debut with D-S by getting 3 hits in 4 at bats. Detroit had recently signed him for $100,000 from the campus of the University of Michigan.
6-22-61: Aberdeen (33-20) held a 4 games lead over St. Cloud (28-23).
6-25-61: Bill Freehan hit two long home runs in a game vs St. Cloud which D-S won 3-2.
6-29-61: Aberdeen's (37-23) lead was at 6 games over St. Cloud (30-28).
6-30-61: Frank Bork (GF) and Joe Petrikovic (Aber) dwelled for 10 innings with the Chiefs finally winning 3-0. Four days later, they faced each other again and Petrikovic hit Bork with a pitch in the 3rdinning forcing him to leave the game. Aberdeen went on to win the game 3-2.
7-1-61 Darold Knowles (Aberdeen) struck out 18 and pitched a 2-hit victory over Grand Forks 4-0.
7-2-61: Andy Etchebarren, recently signed for an excess of $100,000 by the Orioles, made his debut with Aberdeen. He was 1-for-4.
Eau Claire's third baseman, Pat Sherrill, hit two home runs, a triple, a double and a single in a double header vs. Winnipeg. He had 7 RBI.
7-7-61: The league All Star team was announced as follows: Tim Pelczynski (P), Joe Petrikovic (P), Darold Knowles (P), Bert Barth (1b), Dave Massarelli (C), Don Branson (OF), Tom Timmermann (P), Al Baker (2b), Jose Martinez (SS), Pat Owens (OF), Ron Campbell (3b), Lou Brock (OF), Pat Foley (C), Carlos Dore (OF) and Bob Swift (manager).
Cliff Politte (Winnipeg) struck out 15, including three in the 9th inning with the bases loaded, during a 5-2 victory over GF.
7-8-61: Jim Price (GF) was hit on the head by a ball and became unconscious. Hospital tests found a mild concussion.
7-9-61: Franklin Hodges of St. Cloud threw a 1-0 seven inning no-hitter against Aberdeen in the Hub City. Hodges, from Dunham, KY, allowed two base runners - a hits batsman in the 5th and by a walk in the 7th. He struck out 4
7-13-61: Aberdeen (47-27) was in first place by 6 ½ games over D-S (41-34).
7-14-61: Al Baker, the league's June player of the month, drove in the winning run in the 11th inning for a 3-2 D-S win over Eau Claire. He was leading the league in hitting at the time.
7-18-61: The All Stars beat Aberdeen 8-2 in front of 3,618 Aberdeen fans. The Stars scored 5 runs in the 8thinning after 3 walks by Dick Hunt, a 2-run single by John Ryan and a 3-run home run by Rudy Welsh. Lou Brock homered in the 9th for the Stars.
7-20-61: Aberdeen (51-27) still was in first place over D-S (44-36) by 8 games.
7-22-61: Darold Knowles struck out 8 (led league in strike outs at the time) and allowed only 3 hits in a Pheasants victory 9-3 over Eau Claire. A 6-run rally in the 8thinning capped the win for Aberdeen.
7-23-61: Frank Bork (GF) struck out 4 batters in the 1stinning of a game vs St. Cloud. The lead off hitter struck out, but the pitch slipped away from catcher Rudy Welch and his throw to first was late. Bork then struck out Lou Brock, Billy Ott and Joe Macko to finish the inning. He totaled 11 K's in the game which the Chiefs won 10-2.
7-25-61: Winnipeg pitcher Cliff Pollitte joined the St. Louis Cardinals to receive three days of instruction from pitching coach Howard Pollet.
7-27-61: Standings showed Aberdeen (54-33) with a 5½ games lead over second place Duluth-Superior (48-38).
Winnipeg manager, Grover Resinger, was transferred to Billings of the Pioneer League by the Cardinals organization. He was replaced by Owen Friend who had been at Billings.
7-30-61: Eau Claire beat Winnipeg 5-2 completely on unearned runs. The Goldeyes committed 6 errors and had 2 wild pitches. Winnipeg had 12 errors in the past two games.
8-2-61: Kerry McDaniel pitched a 4-hitter over Aberdeen for a 4-2 victory. He walked 5 and struck out 7 for his 2ndvictory against 3 defeats.
8-3-61: Aberdeen led the league by 7 games with a 55-39 record. D-S (49-41) was in second.
After Milwaukee took Joe Torre for their major league roster, Eau Claire was led at the plate by shortstop Walt Hriniak. He hit .378 from July 7-August 3.
A player on the St. Cloud bench was called for interference which led to a 5-4 victory for D-S. With runners on 2ndand 3rd, in the 3rd inning, Frank DeMoss hit a foul popup near the St. Cloud bench. First baseman Gary Dobereiner attempted to make the catch, but was hindered by the Rox' bench jockey. An umpire called DeMoss out and pitcher Will Hill then retired the side without allowing a run.
Eau Claire slammed 19 hits during a 10-0 victory over Grand Forks. They included 4 home runs, 3 triples and 5 doubles for 44 total bases. Pat Sherrill had 2 of the homers.
8-7-61: Troy Giles (GF) pitched a one-hitter against Aberdeen. The only hit was a single by Ron Piotrowski. Giles walked two (both were erased on double plays) and struck out 5 for a 2-0 victory.
Winnipeg's roster had nearly been completely revised since the beginning of the season. Only 4 players - Cliff Politte, Ron Cayll, Bucky Poodry and Carlos Dore - remained with the team.
Kerry McDaniel threw 4 wild pitches in a game vs Eau Claire. After 74 innings, he had 11 wild throws.
8-9-61: After trailing 6-2 to Grand Forks after 8 innings, Aberdeen rallied for 6 runs, in the 9th, to beat the Chiefs 8-6. Dave Massarelli's grand slam was the big hit of the inning.
8-10-61: The league leader, Aberdeen (59-43) had a 4 ½ game lead over D-S (52-45).
8-16-61: St. Cloud's Bill Ballou had a no-hitter after 7 1/3 innings over Grand Forks. He hung on to win a 5-hitter 5-1.
8-17-61: Aberdeen's (62-46) lead was down to one game over D-S (59-45)
Rox' outfielder Bill Ott had 6 RBI in a 14-2 victory for St. Cloud over Grand Forks. Ott had 4 hits including a grand slam.
8-20-61: Duluth held "Bob Swift Night" in front of 1,192 fans, but Aberdeen beat the Dukes in a wild 13-12 game. The Pheasants' Phil Barth went 4-for-4
8-21-61: St. Cloud pitchers had pitched 7 straight complete games and the Rox had won 11 straight home games.
8-24-61: After leading the league all season, Aberdeen (66-49) fell to 2nd place 1 ½ games behind D-S (65-47).
Al Muench, Grand Forks' infielder for the past 3 seasons, requested and was granted his release from the Chiefs. To replace him, manager Bob Clear activated himself.
8-14-61: Tom Pelczynski (Aberdeen) pitched 8 1/3 innings of no-hit ball against Grand Forks. Felix Santana then singled for the only hit. Pelczynski struck out 7 and walked 3 for a 4-1 victory. He missed a shut out because, in the 2ndinning, one of his walked runners went to 2ndbase on a passed ball, to 3rd on an error and scored on a fielder's choice ground ball.
8-29-61: The Player Development committee of the National Association discussed if the major leagues should continue to fund aid to minor league teams. The fund had distributed about $800,000 annually. Depending on the league classification, each team received from $20,000 (AAA) to $3,000 (D). Northern League President Herman White was a member of the committee.
St. Cloud pitchers continued to pitch complete games. Through August 29, they had completed 16 straight games. Their starting pitchers were Frank Hodges, Bill Ballou, Jim Fraser and Don Isaacs.
8-30-61: Winnipeg lost a double header to league leading D-S and prolonged their losing streak to 17 games.
8-31-61: D-S (72-51) was in first place over Aberdeen by .003 percentage points.
9-4-61: Lou Brock played his last minor league game in Aberdeen during a double header. He was to be called up by the Chicago Cubs the next day. [Earlier in the season the had a 24-game hitting steak.] During the last game of the season, Brock game to bat in the top of the 9th with 2 outs and Aberdeen leading 13-0. Pheasants' pitcher Dick Hunt had a no-hitter going as he walked one in the 1st inning and then retired the next 19 St. Cloud hitters. Brock ended the no-hitter by belting a solo home run well past the scoreboard in right field. Hunt got the next batter and finished with a 13-1 victory with 9 strike outs.
Duluth-Superior finished in first place with a 76-52 record. Aberdeen (74-54) ended the season in second place 2 games behind and St. Cloud (73-54) was third 2 ½ games back.
Lou Brock was named the league's August player of the month and won the batting crown by hitting .361. .
Lou Brock was also named, by St. Cloud fans, as the team's most popular player. He received a watch.
The best ERA in the season was by Ceferino Foy with a 2.03 mark. Tom Timmermann won 15 games.
Aberdeen won the league playoffs by defeating St. Cloud in two successive games. It was the first playoff title for the
Pheasants since 1949.
Club officers, selected by each team's board of directors, were: Aberdeen - Al Rylance, president and GM (business manager); Bismarck-Mandan - Jack Hoeven, president and Robert Moses, GM; Duluth-Superior - K.A. Nicholson, president and Gray Stromme, GM; Eau Claire - George Mojobo, president and Clell Buzzell, GM; Grand Forks - A.C. Moore, president and J.C. Holte, GM; Minot - Andy Bakken Jr., president and James Bretz, GM; St. Cloud - Clete Winter, president and Karl Weller, GM; Winnipeg - Bill Everett, president and Terry Hind, GM.
The league president was Brooks Baukol of Grand Forks.
The league was back to 8 teams as Minot returned and Bismarck-Mandan joined.
4-20-62: Former league president, Herman White, was still a member of organized baseball's major-minor league committee
who met in Chicago to discuss the minor leagues' various problems.
4-29-62: Minot drew 3,079 fans who were happy for the return of Northern League baseball to the city. The Mallards beat
St. Cloud 13-0. Bismarck had 3,200 fans at their first league contest against Aberdeen which they won 6-2, Winnipeg had a
paid attendance of 1,282 for a game vs Eau Claire (won by the Braves 10-6) and Grand Forks drew 1,300 for a contest
where they beat D-S 6-0.
4-30-62: Grand Forks and Duluth-Superior battled to a 9 inning tie 10-10. The Dukes' pitchers walked 15 men and the Chiefs' 6 batters. Both sides combined for 8 wild pitches. GF only had 5 hits and D-S had 15.
Ollie Brandley (B-M) pitched 5 2/3 innings of excellent relief after the Pards' starter lasted only 1 2/3 innings in a game vs Aberdeen which they eventually won 7-4. Brantley gave up only 2 hits, walked one and struck out 5. He had to leave the game in the 8th inning after he was kicked in his foot during a play at first base.
5-3-62: After less then a week, Grand Forks led the league with a 3-0 mark. B-M and Winnipeg each were at 3-1.
Minot pitcher Jay May struck out 17 during a game vs Aberdeen, but lost the contest 4-2. He gave up 5 hits and only walked 2, but one of the hits was a 2-run home run by Dave Massarelli. The other 2 Pheasants' runs were unearned. The winning pitcher, Bob Young, gave up only 3 hits.
5-4-62: B-M player-manager, Vern Morgan, drove in the winning run for his club in the 10th inning of a 4-3 win over St. Cloud.
5-6-62: Cef Foy (Eau Claire) threw a 7-hitter to beat Winnipeg 3-2. The losing pitcher, Tom Hilgendorf, had a 5-hitter. The game ended a 5-game Braves' losing streak and a 5-game Goldeyes' winning streak.
5-10-62: Grand Forks (5-1) held a 1 game lead over Winnipeg (6-2).
Aberdeen hurlers had pitched a string of 28 scoreless innings. During the streak, Bob Young pitched a shut out on May 8 over B-M, Hugh Springer followed suit on May 9 in a game vs Minot and, on May 10, Frank Bertaina whitewashed the Mallards again. The streak ended on May 12. The three consecutive shutouts was a league record.
Minot team officials named Grover Boutin Jr as the GM (business manager) of the team after the resignation of James Bretz. Boutin was also the team president.
Dick Burwell (St. C) threw a 4-hitter to beat B-M 3-0. He waked only 2 and led, at that time, the league with 3 victories.
5-11-62: Cef Foy (EC) pitched a one-hitter vs Grand Forks which the Braves won 7-1. The Chiefs' only hit came from the bat of Dave Wissman in the 4thinning.
5-12-62: Bismarck-Mandan's relief pitchers ended their streak of 40 innings (13 games) without allowing an earned run. Fred Lasher had pitched 15 2/3 innings allowing 6 hits and walked 3 while striking out 23. Ollie Brantley was the other Mallards' pitcher included in the solid pitching run.
5-14-62: Minot pitcher Ron Patterson pitched a one-hitter over D-S to beat the Mallards 12-0. The only hit was by Willie Horton in the 4thinning. The win ended a 6-game losing streak for Minot.
5-17-62: Grand Forks (7-3) continued their one game lead over Winnipeg (8-4).
Grand Forks Municipal Park was damaged considerably by winds clocked as high as 73 mph. The roof on the visiting team's dugout was blown off. Approximately 100 feet of metal fencing on the north side of the park was torn down and one section of the wooden right field foul line fence was demolished. The damage occurred early in the day and that day's game was played as scheduled.
5-22-62: Dave Eilers (Eau Claire) only allowed one hit in a rain-shortened 6-inning game vs Minot. The only safety was a bunt single in the 3rd inning by Grayson Mersch. The Braves won 8-0 as Eilers struck out 5 and walked one.
5-24-62: Grand Forks (13-5) still hung on to the one-game lead over Winnipeg (12-6).
League President Brooks Baukol ruled on two separate protested games. Aberdeen manager, Billy DeMars, had protested a game against Grand Forks because the Chiefs' lineup card listed two first basemen. The protest was disallowed because the complaint was not received, by the league office, with 36 hours after the game, as required by league rules. Also, Grand Forks' manager Tom Saffell protested a game that his club lost to Winnipeg 5-1 on May 25. He felt illegal baseballs were used in the contest, but Baukol also disallowed that protest.
John Nance, Eau Claire pitcher, pitched 6 2/3 innings of relief allowing only 3 hits and he struck out 9. He retired 11 consecutive batters from the 5thto the 9thinnings to help the Braves to a 6-5 win over D-S.
5-27-62: St. Cloud nearly set a league record by stranding 16 runners on base in a game vs Aberdeen which they lost 9-2. Hugh Springer was the winning pitcher even though he walked 10. He also struck out 9 and gave up 9 hits.
Eau Claire shortstop Teo James was starring for the team in it's first 20 games. He was batting .347 with 18 RBI and had recently fielded brilliantly.
Minot shortened their center and left field fences. Center was reduced from 460 feet to 420 and the left field foul line was changed from 333 feet to 330. The right field foul pole remained at 330 feet.
Duluth-Superior ended a 4-game losing streak on the arm of Vern Holtgrave. He pitched a 5-hit 2-0 victory over Eau Claire. A Willie Horton home run was the margin of victory.
5-31-62: Grand Forks led Winnipeg (14-10) by 3 games with a 17-7 record.
Duluth-Superior had a tough month of May financially. The Dukes had 20 games scheduled, but only 8 were played because of very poor weather. The team's president, Ken Nicolson, a Duluth meteorologist, said that rainfall was the 2ndhighest in the history of the city's weather bureau. It rained 25 days during the month.
6-4-62: Ron Patterson (Minot) struck out 3 Grand Forks batters in the 1st inning, but due to a passed ball, a walk and a double steal, Grand Forks scored a run and eventually won 7-1.
Aberdeen pitcher Frank Bertaina allowed only 3 hits and D-S starter, Johnny Ison, only 2 in a pitching dwell won by the Dukes 3-1. The winning run came in the 7thinning on a Rufus Anderson single, his steal of 2nd, a wild pitch and Tom Orton's sac fly.
B-M lost their top hitter, Jackie Ferrell, when he slipped and fell on a concrete runway, during a workout, at the Bismarck park. He fractured his thump and it was estimated he would out about a month. Manager Vern Morgan took over at Ferrell's third base position even though he had not played their since 1958.
6-7-62: Grand Forks (22-10) led the league's standings by 3 ½ games over Bismarck-Mandan (18-13).
6-8-62: A crowd of 5,285 turned out for a double header in Winnipeg between the Goldeyes and Minot. The visiting team won the first game 3-1 and the home team the second 9-3.
6-9-62: Grand Forks' left-handed hitting outfielder, Mike Derrick, led the team with a .389 average with 6 home runs, 10 doubles, a triple and 32 RBI.
6-14-62: Grand Forks led the league with a 26-12 record which was 4 games ahead of B-M (21-15).
Bruce Newton (GF) lost a 7-inning one-hitter to D-S by the score of 2-0. The only hit was by Rufus Anderson in the 5thinning. The first run was scored on a walk and an error in the 1st inning. The other run was tallied by Anderson when he stole 2nd, went to 3rd on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.
6-18-62: Aberdeen tied a league record with 6 straight complete games without an error. The streak started on June 13 and ended with their next game. The 1953 Winnipeg Goldeyes also held this record .
6-19-62: Dave Eilers (EC) pitched a one-hitter vs Grand Forks, but lost 1-0. Vic Ramirez had the only hit - a single in the 1st. In the 3rd, the game's only run came on a walk to Ramirez, his steal of 2nd, an infield out advancing him to 3rd and then a passed ball by catcher Pete Marciano.
6-23-62 John Eades (GF) had a no-hitter going into the 6th inning as he retired 16 batters in a row. It was then broken up by Norm Graham's home run, but Eades hung on to beat Minot 5-1.
6-21-62: Grand Forks' (31-15) league lead was up to 5 games as they led B-M (23-17).
6-25-62: Troy Giles (GF) won his 9th straight game when he beat B-M 10-1. He gave up 3 hits, walked 2 and struck out 6. In 81 innings, he gave up 54 hits, walked 20 and struck out 62.
6-26-62: Chuck Taylor (Winnipeg) came as close as one can to pitching a no-hitter vs Minot. With two out in the 9thinning, Norm Graham singled. The next batter walked, but Taylor got the 3rd out before any further damage was done for a 2-0 victory.
6-28-62: Grand Forks (37-16) held a 7 ½ game lead over B-M (27-21).
6-29-62: Vern Holtgrave (D-S) threw a 2-hit victory over St. Cloud 11-2. The hits were made by Ken Faulkner and Curt Motton in the 1st and 8thinnings.
Aberdeen lost a 2-hitter by Sig Tyler. Eau Claire won the game 2-1 on a 2nd inning 2-run home run by Paul Catto.
7-5-62: Grand Forks (42-20) had their league lead reduced to 6 games over Bismarck-Mandan (33-23).
Troy Giles was named the league's player of the month for June.
The league's All-Star team was announced as follows: Troy Giles (P), Fred Lasher (P), Tom Hilgendorf (P), Mike Derrick (1b), Bill Opplinger (2b), Dave Wissman (3b), Leo James (SS), Curt Motton (OF), Tip Johnson (OF), Mickey Stanley (OF), Vic Ramirez (OF), Ray Oliver (C), Jim Price (C), Tom Saffell (manager) and Vern Morgan (manager).
7-6-62: Jim Northrup's (D-S) home run was the only scoring in a game in which the Dukes beat Eau Claire 1-0. His shot came in the 6th inning.
7-9-62: Troy Giles pitched a 3-hitter for his 12thstraight victory. He defeated St. Cloud 3-1. In the game, Rox' pitcher Ed Abel came into the game with no outs and the bases loaded in the 1stinning (replaced Hal Gilson). Abel proceeded to pick Vic Ramirez off of second base and then got Al Muench when he wandered too far off third.
7-12-62: Mark Clarke of Aberdeen lost a 1-0 no-hitter against Grand Forks. Clarke, a 21-year-old former University of Arizona pitcher, struck out 7 and walked one. The Chiefs scored their run in the 4th inning when Dave Wissman was safe at first on an error. He was forced at 2ndby Vic Ramirez and then Ramirez stole 2ndand reached 3rdon a Dave Massarelli wild throw. He scored when Bill Barraclough's return throw bounced off third baseman's Phil Barth's glove.
7-13-62: As Bill Carpenter (Winnipeg) left the mound after his 36th relief appearance (a bad one - 4 runs, 5 hits allowed) for the Goldeyes, home fans in the 3rd base bleachers began shouting negatives toward him. He returned the shouting and then jumped into the stands, hauled out one of his tormentors and started punching him. Teammates rushed in and pulled the pitcher away from the fan. Team GM Terry Hind suspended Carpenter and fined him $150 and the league was expected to follow suit. The fan was quoted as saying: "I guess it was just as much my fault as his and I would like to apologize." Carpenter said he felt sorry about "the whole mess." Earlier in the week, manager Fred Koenig called the bleacher bums "hockey players" because of their personal verbal attacks toward players.
7-19-62: Grand Forks (52-26) extended their lead to 9 ½ games over B-M (39-32).
7-21-62: At a league meeting, Eau Claire and St. Cloud officials said they were in bad straits financially. League President Brooks Baukol said he would propose, to the major leagues, that they take over full responsibility for developing players in the league. Baukol suggested that each parent club pay the full salaries and transportation from spring training to the league cities for all players. The teams would then handle all obligations concerning operations in each city. He criticized the majors for allegedly underwriting semi-pro and amateur leagues such as the Basin League.
In the league's All Star game, Grand Forks beat the Stars 4-1 on the pitching of Troy Giles and Silvano Quezada. The Chiefs got off to an early 3-0 lead after 3 innings on hits by Dave Wissman, Jim Price and Mike Derrick off pitcher Red Roberts. A crowd of 3.287 attended the game in Grand Forks which was the first All Star game not won by the Stars in 6 years.
7-23-62: Mack Kuykendall (St. C) hit 3 home runs in a 5-4 win over D-S. His homers tied a league record.
7-25-62: Red Roberts (D-S) lost his first game after 8 straight victories to St. Cloud 4-3. He gave up 5 hits.
7-26-62: Grand Forks, with a 55-30 record, led B-M (43-36) by 9 games. D-S (43-37) was 9 ½ games out.
7-27-62: Tom Phoebus (Aberdeen) pitched a 4-hitter for his 9th victory of the year - a 4-3 victory over Duluth-Superior. Phoebus struck out 11 and did not allow a hit after the 4th inning.
7-28-62: An unbelievable crowd of 10,144 watched home-team Winnipeg beat B-M 9-2 on "Kid's Day". The team had sold 35,000 reduced price tickets to local merchants who gave them away as bonus prizes. The contest's grand prize was a pony.
8-2-62: Grand Forks (59-33) lead was 9 ½ games over D-S (47-40).
Fred Lasher was selected as the league's July player of the month. He had a 7-1 record and a 0.93 ERA.
Due to an injury, umpire's identities were difficult in a series played in Bismarck. On July 31, umpire Leo Sullivan was injured and emergency umpire Rog Higgins took his place on the bases. On August 1, regular ump Ray Albrecht replaced him behind the plate. On August 2, the base umps were B-M third baseman Jackie Ferrell and Winnipeg reliever Bob Funge. The Pards' third baseman was injured in the 3rd inning and Ferrell had to be called in to play and B-M catcher, Tom Fries, replaced him. Then Funge was sent to the bullpen and Tom Hildendorf replaced him. At one point, the P.A. announcer asked the fans "to be kind to the officials". They were and no arguments were reported during the series.
8-4-62: George Lance (St. C) pitcher threw a 2-hitter over Eau Claire. The Rox won 5-0 and Lance struck out 12.
8-6-62: Ken Larson (GF) won a 6-1 victory over Aberdeen and helped his own cause by hitting a 2-run double. The Pheasants, Tom Phoebus, threw 4 wild pitches in the game including 3 in the 8thinning.
8-6-62: Chuck Holle (B-M) gave up only 2 hits in 10 innings of pitching during a game won by the Pards 2-1 over Eau Claire. One of the hits was a home run by Dan Kern. The winning run scored on a Jim Nelson double, a sac bunt by Holle and a wild threw by Braves' pitcher Butch Hughes to third when he tried to get Nelson.
8-8-62: John Gregory of Duluth-Superior pitched a 2-0 7-inning no-hitter over Bismarck-Mandan. Gregory, who had signed with Detroit for $30,000, struck out 12 and walked 5. In the 2nd inning, he walked the bases full, but then struck out the next 2 batters. In the 3rd, he struck out the side.
In a double header, Eau Claire pitchers Butch Hughes and Dave Eilers only allowed 2 and 4 hits in 3-0 and 9-2 victories over Minot. Hughes had a no-hitter through 5 innings.
8-9-62: Grand Forks' (64-34) lead increased to 10 games over D-S (52-42).
In a game between St. Cloud and Grand Forks, 22 batters drew walks. The Rox beat the Chiefs 8-7 on 3 runs in the 8thinning.
8-12-62: Bill Barraclough (Aberdeen) had 4 hits, including 2 home runs, in a loss to Grand Forks 11-6. Pheasants' pitchers walked 17 and gave up 10 hits. The Chiefs' Jim Price also had 4 hits.
8-14-62: Mack Kuykendall (St. C) had 6 hits in a double header victory for the Rox over Winnipeg 4-3 and 9-7.
8-16-62: Grand Forks (67-37) led D-S (56-46) by 10 games.
Vern Orndorff (D-S) led the league with an ERA of 1.82 in 74 innings. Red Roberts (D-S) had a record of 9-3.
Eau Claire team president George (Pappy) Wojahn announced that the team had exhausted their financial resources and, unless attendance increases, losses approaching $10,000 will be incurred in the 1962 season. The Milwaukee Braves declined to advance any funds beyond what was agreed upon prior to the start of the season.
8-17-62: Frank Bertaina (Aberdeen) pitched a 5-hit victory over Winnipeg 6-2. He struck out 9 and walked one. Don Dennis, a former Kansas U star, got the loss.
8-23-62: An 8 ½ game lead was held by first place Grand Forks (69-43) over D-S (60-51).
8-24-62: Troy Giles and Vern (Woody) Holtgrave had a pitcher's dwell where neither hurler gave up more then 2 hits. The only hits off of Giles were by Ike Brown and Mickey Stanley, in the 3rdinning, and the only hits given up by Holtgrave were from the bats of Dave Wissman and Mike Derrick in the 4thinning. Grand Forks won 1-0 on the 2 hits in the 4thand a sac fly by Bob Sanchez.
8-26-62: Grand Forks clinched the league pennant by defeating D-S 9-2. Ken Larsen gained the win by scattering 8 hits. He struck out 5 and had no walks. Mike Derrick had a triple and 2 singles for the Chiefs. The night before, the Dukes' pitcher, John Teeters, kept his team in contention with a 2-hit 6-0 victory. He had a no-hitter through 8 innings and struck out 12.
Bismarck-Mandan club president, Jack Hoeven, announced that attendance of 40,017 for 62 home games "proves that professional baseball has been a success in its first year in Bismarck-Mandan."
Regular season champ Grand Forks ended the season with a 72-52 record which was 3 games ahead of D-S (69-55).
Winnipeg catcher Ray Oliver won the team's MVP award.
Ken Faulkner of St. Cloud was originally announced as the winner of the batting crown with a .327 average followed by Don Wallace of Aberdeen at .325 and Jim Northrup of D-S at .324. Wallace was later determined to the winner because Faulkner did not qualify for the crown.
Troy Giles had the best ERA in the league (1.72). Tom Hilgendorf and Pete Lovrich followed with 2.66 marks. Giles had 18 wins.
Aberdeen and Eau Claire won one-game first round victories over D-S and Grand Forks. Eau Claire became playoff champions by beating Aberdeen 2 games to 0.
After the season, the Pard's Park was used for the "Little League World Series". The park was described in "The Sporting
News" as "one of the finest in the country. Neatly kept, it measures 321 feet down the left field line, 320 along the right field
line and 410 to straight away center field. An eight-foot-high board fence surrounds the outfield.
Each club's executives were as follows: Aberdeen - Roland Parcel, president and Stan Voas, GM (business manager); Bismarck-Mandan - Roger Higgins, president and Connie Juelke, GM; Duluth-Superior - Ken Nicolson, president and GM; Grand Forks - A.C. Moore, president and J.C. Holte, GM; St. Cloud - Speed Winter, president and Sam Wenstrom, GM; Winnipeg - A. William Everett, president and Terry Hind, GM.
The league president continued to be Brooks Baukol.
The league, which was now designed as "class A" was back to six teams as Minot and Eau Claire dropped out.
The Winnipeg legislature passed a bill which legalized Sunday baseball in the city from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
4-28-63: Duluth-Superior opened their season with a 13-1 victory over Grand Forks in front of 995 cold fans. It was their first opening day win in 7 years. Pat Jarvis got the win as he allowed only 6 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 9. Ike Brown had 3 hits and Jim Rooker 3 RBI for the Dukes.
Winnipeg held their first Sunday game in front of 2,053 fans. They had 9 more Sunday games scheduled in 1963.
5-16-63: D-S (10-5) held a 1 ½ game lead over Grand Forks (8-5).
Elmer O. Hanson, a sportscaster from Grand Forks died. He was a native of Crookston, MN. Hanson had worked at KFJM, KILO and KNOX.
5-22-63: Paul Pavelko (D-S) crashed into the outfield fence during a game against Grand Forks. He suffered a broken nose and other facial bruises. It was estimated that he will out of the lineup "for sometime."
5-23-63: D-S, with a 13-6 record, held a one game lead over B-M (11-6).
5-24-63: Larry Jaster (Winnipeg) gave up 3 hits in his first pro start which his team won 8-5. In his 6 innings, he struck out 6 and walked 6.
5-25-63: Leo Sullivan resigned as a league umpire and returned to his home at Petersborough, Ont. According to the League President, Brooks Baukol, Sullivan was "tired of umpiring."
5-28-63: Howard Stehers of Aberdeen threw a 6-0 seven-inning no-hitter against Grand Forks. In this his first start for the Pheasants, he struck out 6 and walked 2. Jim Rouse hit a grand slam to provide the necessary offense.
Larry Jaster threw a complete-game 3-hitter against D-S as he struck out 8 and walked one in an 8-2 win. Only Marty Richardson's single in the 6th inning was well hit. Otherwise, the only hits were an infield single and a double which could easily have been ruled an error.
5-29-63: D-S (17-7) had a 1 ½ game lead over B-M (15-8).
5-30-63: Three runners scored without a swing of a bat during a game between Grand Forks and Bismarck-Mandan. With the bases loaded, B-M catcher Al Richards allowed one run to score on a passed ball. Then his throw to the pitcher, at the plate, was wild and another run scored. The third run scored when a runner, who was caught in a rundown, was obstructed by the first baseman (as determined by the plate umpire). The Chiefs won 12-3.
6-2-63: Bill Fulk (D-S) led the league with a .397 average after 78 at bats. Jose Viller (GF) was second at .361. Pat Jarvis had the best ERA at1.67 and Denny McLain (D-S) was second with a 1.69 mark. McLain was also 5-0.
6-6-63: D-S led the league with a 22-9 record. They were ahead of B-M (18-12) by 3 ½ games.
St. Cloud turned a triple play during a game against Grand Forks. In the 6th inning with runners at 1stand 2nd, John Butler hit a liner to Bobby Pfeil who caught it at his shoe-tops. He threw to second baseman, Gene Etter, to double up the runner at second and Etter then fired to 1stto catch the runner there. The Rox won the game 6-0 in front of 815 home fans - the largest of the season..
6-7-63: Aberdeen's Jim Rouse drove in 5 runs with 3 home runs and a double in a game vs B-M which the Pheasants won 9-4.
6-9-63: Umpires forfeited the first game of a double header at Grand Forks between the Chiefs and Duluth-Superior to the home team. In the bottom half of the 9th inning with the Dukes leading 3-2 and a runner at first, Jim Zeiter lined a drive to right-center. Outfielder Paul Pavelko dove for the ball and after sliding on his stomach, raised his glove attempting to indicate a fair catch. Umpire Richard Valencourt disagreed stating that it had been trapped. The entire Dukes team rushed on the field to argue and then refused to go back to their dugout. Valencourt gave them a deadline to leave the field and after they failed to retreat, he forfeited the game to the Chiefs. In the second game, the Dukes won 19-6, but three members of the D-S club, including Jim Rooker, were ejected for their bench jockeying League President Baukol, who was in attendance, suspended the Dukes' Jim Rooker and Bill Fulk each for 10 days. Ike Brown, Marty Richardson, Paul Pavelko and Mike Cloutier were fined $25 each.
6-11-63: Duluth-Superior pitchers Denny McLain and Ken Avery each pitched 3-hitters in a double header sweep for the Dukes over St. Cloud 3-0 and 4-0. Each hurler struck out 7.
6-13-63: D-S (28-11) extended their lead over B-S (22-15) to 5 games.
Aberdeen pitcher Bob Plemmons retired from baseball to accept a job with an industrial firm. He had recently completed his doctorate in mathematics at Auburn.
Coming back with only two days rest, Howie Stethers (Aberdeen), pitched a 4-hitter over D-S for his 4th consecutive victory. He allowed 4 hits, struck out 7 and walked 7. Jim Rouse's 3-run home run was the Pheasants' margin of victory as the final score was 4-2.
6-16-63: Jim Rouse, Aberdeen first baseman, turned an unassisted triple play against Duluth-Superior. In the 5thinning, with men on first (Zeke DeLong) and second (Paul Pavelko), the count at 3-2 and a hit and run on, Bill Falk, hit a line drive to Rouse who caught the ball and tagged first. He then ran and tagged second. Jim claimed he ran to second because he was afraid he would throw the ball away in the excitement. Long-time Aberdeen sportswriter, Larry Desautels, claimed it may have been the first unassisted triple play by a first baseman. The Pheasants lost 14-7.
Jim Rouse took over the batting lead with a .351 average. Jose Villar (GF) was 2nd at .344 and Bill Fulk (D-S) 3rd with a .333 mark. Pitcher Bill Harvey, led hurlers with a 1.29 ERA. Norm Skikas was at 2.41. Denny McLain had a 7-1 record.
6-20-63: D-S (30-15) led the league 4 games ahead of B-M (26-19) and 6 ½ in front of Aberdeen (23-21).
League President Brooks Baukol announced that the league's directors had voted against a split season. Winnipeg had made the request.
6-21-63: Speedy St. Cloud shortstop, Ron Blum, scored the winning run from 2nd base on an infield single in a 2-1 victory by the Rox over Aberdeen. Earlier in the season, Blum had scored a winning run from 2nd while a double play was being completed.
6-27-63: Duluth-Superior's (36-16) lead increased to 8 games over B-M (28-24) and 9 ahead of Aberdeen (26-24).
D-S beat Winnipeg 7-3 on Ken Avery's pitching. Jim Rooker hit a triple, with a runner at first, but both he and the lead runner were thrown out at home by Bob Diaz' throw to catcher Bart Zeller.
6-28-63: Even though Pete Craig held them to 3 hits, Winnipeg won a 2-1 decision over D-S. The Goldeyes scored an unearned run in the 1st inning and John Bramlett hit a home run in the 2nd.
7-2-63: Aberdeen had only 5 hits off Grand Forks pitcher Bob Cashburn, but 4 of them were home runs. Bob Beattie had 2 and Nellie Cochran and John Scruggs each hit one. The Pheasants won 5-1 with the help of the 2-hit pitching of Bill St. Peter who allowed safeties in the 1st and 9thinnings.
After compiling a 3-2 record as a pitcher, Walt Bugajski (GF) switched to third base. After becoming a regular, his average had increased to .386 including a 7-for-11 performance in a series vs Winnipeg.
7-4-63: Rookie Joe Keraghan, St. Cloud pitcher, threw shutout baseball for 7 2/3 innings against D-S before tiring. Rox' center fielder, Bobby Davis, drove in the winning run in the 9th to give Keraghan's replacement, Bill Harvey, the victory.
7-6-63: After a fight the night before, Aberdeen and Winnipeg players sat around home plate prior to their game and smoked a genuine Sioux peace pipe supplied by former league president, Pete Bradbury. The ceremony was presided over by one of Aberdeen's directors Joe Pigott and was appreciated by the 817 fans who attended the game. Aberdeen won the peaceful game that followed 7-6 by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning.
7-7-63: Bill Fulk (D-S) took over the lead in batting with a .341 average. Jim Rouse was 2nd at .333. Bill Harvey (St.C) led the pitchers with a 1.80 ERA followed by Fred Herrmann (Winn) at 1.99. Denny McLain's record was 11-1.
7-11-63: D-S (46-22) led Aberdeen (33-29) and B-M (35-31) by 10 games.
The league named their All-Star team: Denny McLain, Bill Fulk (C), Marty Richardson (2b), Jim Rooker (OF), Paul Pavelko (OF), Jim Rouse (1b), John Felske (C), Bob Pfeil (3b), Nellie Cochran (SS), Jose Villar (OF), Bill Hess (OF) and Rudy May (P).
7-11-63: Grand Forks pitcher Roy Kohl was not very respectful of his opposite number - pitcher John Bukowski of Winnipeg. Kohl hit a home run off of him and then, in his next at bat, lined a drive off Bukowski's shoulder. The Goldeyes pitcher escaped with only a bruise.
Denny McLain had a no-hitter until the 7th inning in a start against B-M in which his team prevailed 3-2. The Pards had two runners on base in the 9thinning before McLain retired player-manager Vern Morgan.
7-14-63: Jose (Coco) LaBoy of Winnipeg got 4 hits and 4 RBI in a double header vs Aberdeen which the teams split 5-2 and 3-4.
Tom Moser of Grand Forks threw a 2-hitter against St. Cloud which the Chiefs won 2-0. Bob Pfeil and Gene Etter had the only hits.
7-19-63: In the league's All-Star Game, Duluth-Superior easily defeated the All Stars 12-4 before a Duluth crowd of 2,586. The Dukes were out hit 12-9, but the Stars walked 14 of which 9 scored. A 6-run 7th inning clinched the victory for D-S.
The league's directors overturned a decision by League President Baukol regarding a protest of the game between Grand Forks and St. Cloud of July 16. In the game, Rox' shortstop Ron Blum had caught a pop fly and then ran to the pitcher's mound and dropped the ball. The initial call was a fair catch, but Chiefs' manager Ray Dabek argued and umpire Richard Vollmer agreed to make a reversal because Blum did not have possession of the ball. The new decision eliminated a run that scored on the play. Because Grand Forks went on to win the game 10-1, St. Cloud filed a protest which Baukol denied. The 4-2 decision by the league directors caused the game to be re-played from the point of the protested catch - 4thinning, 2 outs with Grand Forks leading.
7-21-63: Pete Craig (D-S) pitched a one-hit game over Winnipeg for a 3-0 victory. Johhny Bramlett's 1st inning double was the only hit and the only other base runner was in the 3rd, when Marty Beltran walked. Craig retired the last 22 Goldeyes batters.
7-25-63: D-S (53-27) led B-M (41-36) by 10 ½ games and Aberdeen (38-37) by 12 ½ games.
Brooks Baukol, league president, released figures showing that league attendance, for the six teams still in the league, had increased to date from 111,951 last year to 112,191 in 1963. B-M was down over 7,000, Grand Forks had lost 6,000 and Aberdeen 2,000. Duluth was up over 7,000, Winnipeg about 4,400 and St. Cloud 4,300.
7-27-63: Six Duluth-Superior players were pictured in the current "The Sporting News" because each had college degrees. They included Bill Fulk (West Chester), Tommy Thompson (Bucknell), Bud Dodge (Western Michigan), Pete Craig (Detroit U.), Ken Avery (Michigan State) and Zeke DeLong (Penn St.). Fulk was quoted as saying: "It's always nice to know that you've got something to fall back on. I'll never regret going to school before pursuing a baseball career. And I'm sure none of the others will either." Avery was a teacher in the off season.
7-25-63: Dave Leonhard (Aberdeen) pitched a one-hitter over B-M. Jerry Pritchett's double in the 5th inning was the only hit he allowed. Leonhard struck out 9 and walked 3 during the 3-0 victory.
8-1-63: Approaching the last month of the season, D-S (56-30) had a commanding 12 games lead over Aberdeen (42-40) and was 12 ½ over B-M (43-42).
Pat Jarvis pitched a 2-hit 7-inning victory over Grand Forks 1-0. The hits came in the first inning.
8-2-63: Early in the day, D-S President Ken Nicolson, who was also the chief meteorologist at the Duluth U.S. Weather Bureau, informed the Wade Stadium's groundskeeper to water the field and leave off the tarpaulin. However, a late afternoon storm hit that made the infield unplayable and forced a postponement of the game.
8-3-63: In the second game of a double header, Bart Zeller (Winn) hit a grand slam to help defeat Grand Forks 9-4. In the first game, Coco LaBoy hit 2 home runs, but the Goldeyes lost 6-5.
8-4-63: Jose Viller (GF) led in league batting with a .324 average. Bill Fulk (D-S) was just percentage points behind and . Jim Rouse had a .315 mark. In pitching, Fred Hermann led in ERA with a 1.95, followed by Bill Harvey at 2.10 and Howie Stethers at 2.50. Pat Jarvis was 11-4.
Jon Andresen (B-M) was named the league's July player of the month.
8-5-63: Rich Reese (B-M) had 5 hits and 5 RBI in a game vs D-S which was won by the Pards 9-1.
8-8-63: D-S (61-32) held a commanding lead 12 game over Aberdeen (47-42).
8-10-63: D-S pitcher/outfielder/first baseman Ken Magown pinch hit for the Dukes in the 9th inning of a game against Grand Forks. The result was a grand slam homer that beat the Chiefs 10-8.
Winnipeg player-manager Fred Koenig went 4-for-4 and had 2 RBI during a game vs St. Cloud. The Goldeyes' Floyd Wicker also went 4-for-4 and had 3 BRI in the 13-4 Winnipeg victory.
Walt Bugalski (GF), a converted pitcher, struck out his 7th consecutive time in a game vs. D-S. He struck out 4 in a row vs Pete Craig on August 9 and was k'ed 3 straight by Joe Sparma on August 10.
8-15-63: D-S, with a 64-37 record, led second-place Aberdeen (52-46) by 10 ½ games.
Earlier in the season, the league decided not to stage a playoff championship after regular play. Instead they will maintain separate standings for the last 30 scheduled games of each team. The winner of that "mini-season" will be declared the playoff champ. The idea came from the league president and, therefore, gained the title of "The Baukol Playoffs".
8-17-63: Pete Sierra (B-M) was a one-man band during a game against Winnipeg. He pitched a 4-hit complete game 13-1 victory and hit 2 home runs, including a grand slam, for 5 RBI. The Pards' Jerry Pritchett also clubbed a grand slam.
8-18-63: Jose Viller led batters with a .329 average and Jim Rouse followed at .323. Fred Herrmann led pitchers with a 2.50 ERA followed by Pete Craig at 2.51. Bill Harvey had the best record at 10-2.
8-19-63: Rich Reese (B-M) played his 49thconsecutive errorless game which continued to set a record formerly held by Charles Leonard of Grand Forks, in 1959, of 44 games. Reese also led the Pards in batting with a .284 average and 13 home runs.
8-22-63: First place was still in the firm grip of D-S (67-40). Aberdeen (55-49) was in second at 10 ½ games back.
Grand Forks led the Baukol Playoffs with an 11-7 record. Aberdeen and St. Cloud had 10-8 marks. The winner will receive a trophy and $200.
Winnipeg manager Fred Koenig was ejected from a game for the first time in his 14 years of pro baseball. Umpire Jim Centineo grew tired of Koenig's disputing a call at 1st base during a 3-1 loss to Aberdeen.
8-24-63: Duluth-Superior clinched the league pennant with a 4-0 victory over Bismarck-Mandan.
8-26-63: D-S pitchers set a league record by pitching their 70th complete game of the season.
Rich Reese's errorless streak ended at 55 games.
8-29-63: Dave Leonhard of Aberdeen pitched a 5-0 seven inning no-hitter over Winnipeg. He walked 3 (Floyd Wicker in the 1st and 4th innings and Coco LaBoy in the 7th). Leonhard struck out 3.
D-S (73-41) expanded their league lead to 13 games over Aberdeen (59-53).
Grand Forks led the Baukol Playoff by ½ game over St. Cloud and D-S and 1 game over Aberdeen.
9-2-63: St. Cloud's Bill Harvey set a record when he made his 58th relief appearance. The old record, of 57, was by Bob Funge of Winnipeg in 1960. In 1963, Harvey also set the league mark for consecutive relief appearances.
Coco LaBoy was named the August player of the month.
Ken Magown (D-S) held the Dukes' best batting average (.308) and ERA (1.96). He had 36 RBI and a record of 7-4. As a position player, he played 1stbase and the outfield.
The Dukes (77-43) won the league pennant by 12 games over Aberdeen (65-55).
Grand Forks, with a 17-11 record. won the Baukol playoffs by 1 game over D-S.
Aberdeen's Jim Rouse won the batting championship with a .332 average and Jose Viller (GF) was second at .319.
Bill Harvey (St. C) won the ERA crown with a mark of 2.48 and Pete Craig was second at 2.51. Denny McLain had the best record of 13-2.
Jim Rouse was also named the Topps' Northern League player of the year.
As of the start of the season, the following were each league club's executives: Aberdeen - Les Keller, president and Stan Voas, GM (business manager); Bismarck-Mandan - Roger Higgins, president and GM; Duluth-Superior - Ken Nicolson, president and John Nolan, GM; Grand Forks-East Grand Forks - Ralph Roth, president and Ron McWain, GM; St. Cloud - Pete Pfepsen, president and Sam Wenstrom, GM; Winnipeg - Bill Everett, president and Terry Hind, GM.
Brooks Baukol returned as the league president.
A news report in the "Sporting News" stated that "work was under way on a new park" in Sioux Falls. The Basin League had been wanted to expand with a team in South Dakota's biggest city. A new park would also make Sioux Falls a prime candidate for re-admission to the Northern League.
5-1-64: In his first pro start, Tom Mandile, pitched a 2-hitter for the St. Cloud Rox in a 6-0 victory over Winnipeg. Jack Newcomer's singles in the 3rd and 8th innings were the only hits allowed. Charles Benson and Willie Roberts homered for the Rox.
Winnipeg opened the season with 6 left-handed pitchers in their 9-man staff. They included Joe Hamende, Ed Kikla, Rick Masterman, Dan Miscisco, Phil O'Brien and John Van.
5-6-64: Aberdeen led the league early with a 4-0 record followed by D-S at 4-1.
Aberdeen pitchers ended their scoreless innings streak at 25 when Grand Forks scored a 3rd inning run in a game won by the Pheasants 9-2. In previous games, John Stephens had pitched 5 scoreless innings in relief and starters Mike Davison and Dave Leonard had pitched shut outs. Davison's start was his first in pro ball as he gave up only 2 hits and struck out 9. At one point, he retired 21 consecutive batters.
5-7-64: After starting 245 consecutive pro games, D-S outfielder, Zeke DeLong, had to set out a game due to a pulled leg muscle.
5-8-64: Mike Fiore (Aberdeen) led league batters with a .393 average in 9 games. Nellie Cochran (Aberdeen) was 2nd at .391 and Chuck Stevenson (D-S) had a .385 for 3rd place. For pitchers, Tom Mandile of St. Cloud had a 0.00 ERA in 13 innings.
5-10-64: Aberdeen and B-M played a wild game won by the Pheasants 17-11. Between them, the teams had 29 hits including 12 for extra bases. There were 4 doubles, 3 triples and 5 home runs. The game was played in Mandan before 205 fans. That same day, they played another game in Bismarck which was also won by Aberdeen by the score of 7-1.
5-13-64: Aberdeen, with an 11-1 record, led D-S (9-2) by 1 ½ games.
5-14-64: Jim Ellis (St. Cloud) lost his no-hitter in the 7th inning when D-S third baseman, Chuck Stevenson, hit a line drive down the left field foul line that was fair by no more then a foot. The Rox won the game 2-0.
Ken Salmon (Grand Forks) pitched his 3rd straight shut out in a game vs B-M which the Chiefs won 13-0. He allowed only 3 hits.
5-16-64: Nellie Cochran took over the league batting league with a .390 average and Wayne Comer (D-S) was second at .364. Mike Fiore dropped to 3rd with a .355 mark. In pitching, Ken Salmon (GF) had a 0.00 ERA after 27 innings and Jack DiLauro (D-S) was at 0.72 after 25 innings.
5-19-64: Ken Salmon's scoreless innings streak came to an end after 31 1/3 frames. He gave up a run in the 5th inning to D-S, but won the game.
5-20-64: With a 16-3 record, Aberdeen led Grand Forks (14-6) by 2 ½ games.
5-21-64: St. Cloud Rox rookie third baseman, Bill Buckley, had 5 errors in a game against B-M which the Rox lost 11-5. The league error record, for one game, was 6.
5-22-64: With 40 less at bats, Otto Knowles (Winn) had a .400 batting average compared to Nellie Cochran's .388. Mike Dobbins (GF) was third with a .359. Ken Salmon led pitchers with a 0.51 ERA in 34 innings and Chuck Lauritson (GF) was at 1.00 in 36 innings.
5-26-64: Winnipeg's Jack Newcomer hit for the cycle during an 18-3 victory over Grand Forks. He had 2 singles, a double, a triple and a home run. In addition he drove in 8 runs. In the story of the game, "The Sporting News" referred to the Grand Forks team, for the first time, as the "Dodgers".
5-27-64: Aberdeen (22-4) opened up a 4 games lead over Grand Forks (19-10).
5-30-64: Mike Dobbins (GF) took over the batting race lead with a .359 average and Mike Fiore was in 2nd at .355. Nellie Cochran was 3rd with a .345 mark. Bill Hall (GF) took over the ERA lead with a 0.85 record and Ken Salmon, with a 4-0 record, was 2nd at 1.10.
Jim Rooker (D-S) returned to the team from Knoxville (Southern) and, in his 2nd at bat, hit a grand slam to power the Dukes to a 13-5 win over St. Cloud. In his first at bat, the Rox gave him an intentional base on balls.
5-31-64: Walt Williams (Winn), who was recently obtained by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Houston Colt 45s, had 2 hits, 2 sac flies and scored 2 runs in a 10-6 Goldeye' victory over D-S.
6-3-64: In only his 2nd start for the team, Darrell Clark of Duluth-Superior threw a 2-0 no-hitter over Bismarck-Mandan. He walked 4 and struck out 13. The closest the Pards came to a hit was in the 7thinning when Jerry Pritchett hit a drive down the 3rdbase line. Chuck Stevenson made a diving stop but made a low throw to Jim Rooker, who dug it out to maintain the no-no. In his previous start, Clark allowed 4 hits.
Aberdeen, with a 28-7 record, retained their 4 ½ games lead over Grand Forks (25-13).
6-4-64: Ed Watt (Aberdeen) won his 7th game of the season vs Grand Forks 5-1. He gave up 7 hits and lost his shut out in the 5th inning when George Hunter homered.
Winnipeg edged Duluth Superior 12-10 in a 28-hit slugfest (16 for extra bases incl 7 home runs). The Goldeyes had 18 hits with Jack Newcomber getting 2 homers and Walt Williams and Joe Liguori each getting one. . Zeke DeLong, Ben Sandlin and Arlo Brumsberg hit home runs for the Dukes.
6-5-64: Grand Forks outfielder, Mickey Strickland, hit his 6th home run off Bismarck-Mandan pitching this season. He had 8 total for the year.
6-9-64: Winnipeg drew 7,213 fans for a 2-1 10-inning victory over Grand Forks. Felix DeLeon received a trophy as Goldeyes' player of the Month for May.
6-10-64: Aberdeen (32-9) lengthened their lead to 6 games over Grand Forks (27-16).
6-12-64: Grand Forks lost a 21-3 bashing to Winnipeg and, to make matters worse, they also lost both of their catchers. Starting receiver, Bob Ellsworth, left in the 1st inning after a foul tip split a finger. Larry Barton took over but also caught a foul tip to aggravate an old injury. Third baseman, Bobby Ball, finished the game behind the plate. John Kendall hit 2 home runs, a single and a double for Winnipeg and drove in 7 RBI.
6-13-64: Grand Forks turned a triple play in the first game of a double header vs Winnipeg. In the 5thinning with pitcher Dave Guthrie at 2nd and Walt Williams on 1st, Jack Newcomer hit a ground ball to shortstop John Branciforti who flipped to 2nd to force Williams. Confused, Guthrie tried to get back to 2ndand was easily tagged out by the 2ndbaseman Mickey Dobbins who then quickly fired to 1st to get Newcomer. Aberdeen also had a triple play earlier in the season.
Ed Watt had his winning streak end at 7 games when Aberdeen lost to Duluth-Superior 2-1.
Mike Fiore re-took the batting crown lead with a .329 average. Felix DeLeon (Winn) was just percentage points behind. George Farson (Aber) was in 3rd at .325. In pitching. Art Thorne (St. Cloud) had the ERA lead at 1.35 and Bill Hall (GF) was 2ndat 1.66 with Tom Mandile (St C) close behind with a 1.68. Ed Watt had a 7-1 record.
Darrell Clark's hitless inning streak ended at 12 1/3 innings. He had one hitless inning prior to his June 3 no-hitter and pitched 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief against St. Cloud in the Dukes 7-3 win.
6-17-64: Aberdeen, with a 36-13 record, continued their 6 games lead over Grand Forks (30-19).
The league President Brooks Baukol reported that attendance was up 31% league-wide over 1963. St. Cloud had the largest percentage gain.
6-19-64: Jim Palmer of Aberdeen pitched a 8-0 no-hitter against Duluth-Superior at the Pheasants' park. The 18-year-old, who made his first start since May 8 due to a back injury, walked 9 and struck out 11. Palmer also homered to drive in 2 runs.
6-20-64: Felix DeLeon was the league leader with a .327 average and George Farson was 2nd at .320. Willie Smith (D-S) led pitchers with a 1.31 ERA and Bill Hall was 2nd at 1.48.
6-24-64: Aberdeen (39-15) led the league by 5 games over Grand Forks (34-20).
6-25-64: Aberdeen's Tom Fisher won his 9th consecutive victory when the Pheasants beat B-M by the score of 15-4. He allowed 5 hits and walked one. Nellie Cochran had a home run and 2 singles for Aberdeen. .
6-27-64: Felix DeLeon continued to lead the league with a .331 average. The second-place batter, George Farson, was at .316. Willie Smith also continued to lead the pitchers with a 1.26 ERA followed by Tom Mandile at 1.41. Tom Fischer had a 9-1 record.
7-1-64: Aberdeen's (44-18) lead was at 6 games ahead of Grand Forks (38-24).
7-4-64: Mickey Strickland led the league in hitting at .323. In 2nd was Felix DeLeon at .320. Tom Mandile led the pitchers with a 1.55 ERA and Bill Hall was at 1.68. Tom Fisher had a 11-1 record.
7-8-64: Aberdeen, with a 49-20 record, was in first place by 7 games over Grand Forks (43-28).
The league All-Star team was selected. They were as follows: Managers - Vern Morgan, Cal Ripken and Jim Williams; catchers - George Farson and Jim Procopio; 1b - Mike Fiore; 2b - Mickey Dobbins; 3b - Nellie Cochran; SS - Mark Belanger; OF - John Scruggs, Felix DeLeon, Tom Richards and Mickey Strickland; pitchers - Bill Hall, Ed Watt, Dave Boswell and Chuck Lauritson.
7-9-64: Rich Masterman of Winnipeg threw a 2-0 seven-inning no-hitter against St. Cloud. The 19-year-old native from Hamburg, NY, struck out 8 and walked 2. He was drafted from the Orioles organization last winter and was playing his 2ndpro year. Masterman was the 1st Winnipeg Goldeyes' player ever to pitch a no-hitter.
Grand Forks and Duluth-Superior each had 6 hits in a row during a wild game won by the Dukes 15-9. D-S put together their streak in the 1stinning when they scored 5 runs. The Chiefs (Dodgers) got theirs in the 9th when, after an error and a walk, they hit 2 doubles and 4 singles for 7 runs.
7-10-64: D-S President Ken Nicolson announced that he was deeply concerned about the future of pro ball in the twin ports of Duluth and Superior. Attendance was down 10,000 from 1963 and an all-out drive would begin to reclaim their fan base. He also announced that John Nolan, the business manager, would be terminated on September 1.
7-11-64: League President Baukol announced that league attendance was up by 20,000 over 1963. He was optimistic about expanding the league to 8 teams for 1965 with the possible addition of Brandon, Minot, West Fargo and/or Sioux Falls. The Baukol Playoffs will also be used this year (the standings for each team's last 30 games will be used to determine the playoff winner).
In the league's All Star game, Aberdeen beat the Stars 6-5 on a sac fly in the last of the 11th inning by Mike Fiore. Before Fiore's at bat, George Farson doubled, pinch-hitter Ed Watt beat out a bunt and Mark Belanger was intentionally walked to load the bases. Danny Baier, who was running for Farson, then scored on the fly. After 4 innings, the Pheasants led 5-1, but the Stars kept pecking away to finally tie the score in the 9th inning when Bobby Ball singled home Felix DeLeon. Jack Procopio hit the game's only home run. The wining pitcher was John Stephens and the loser was Jack DiLauro. The game drew 2,074 in Aberdeen and evened the record at 11 victories each for the Stars and the mid-season first place team. In the history of the game, there was only one game which was longer - a 12-inning one in 1948 in which the Stars beat Grand Forks.
7-13-64: The League All Stars, behind the pitching of Dave Boswell and Ed Watt, beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 in an exhibition game in Winnipeg before a crowd of 8,000. Boswell struck out 6, allowed one hit and walked no one in his 3 innings of pitching. Watt pitched hitless ball. The Twins started their regulars, but nearly all came out after 3-5 innings. The All-Stars got to Twins' starter Garry Roggenburk in the first as he walked 5 and gave up a single for 3 runs.
Mickey Strickland continued to lead the league in batting with a .328 average. Felix DeLeon was 2ndat .327. The pitchers were led by Tom Mandile with a 1.53 ERA followed by Bill Hall at 1.74. Tom Fisher's record improved to 12-1.
7-14-64: Dave Leonhard (Aberdeen) threw a one-hitter vs B-M during a 2-0 winning effort. Bill Tomb's single to center, in the 4th, was the only Pards' hit, but Pheasants' center fielder John Scruggs nearly made a shoestring catch of it.
7-22-64: Aberdeen (57-23) led Grand Forks (51-33) by 8 games.
7-25-64: Felix DeLeon continued to lead the league in batting with a .332 average and Andy Kosco (B-M) was 2nd at .317. Bill Hall led pitchers with a 1.68 ERA and Ed Watt was now 2nd with a 1.83 mark. Watt also had a 13-1 record.
Two 17-year-old Winnipeg high school students, Bob Dunn and Mike O'Shaughnessy, began a newspaper for Goldeyes' fans named "The Goldeye News Bulletin". Working with the team's GM, Terry Hind, they started at the beginning of the season by printing 45 copies which were sold at home games. By July, they printed 200 copies, for each series, and sold them all. It was strictly a non-profit enterprise as any net income was given away in contests to readers.
7-27-64: Art Todtenhauser of D-S missed a no-hitter when Bob Ball singled in the 2ndinning of a game against Grand Forks. Todtenhauser struck out 8 and walked 2 in the 4-0 victory.
7-29-64: The Aberdeen (61-27) Pheasants league lead went to 8 ½ games ahead of Grand Forks (54-37).
7-30-64: Bill Hall (GF) pitched a one-hit victory over B-M 1-0. Andy Kosco got the only hit - of an infield variety - in the 1st inning. Hall struck out 8.
8-5-64: With less then one month to go in the season, Aberdeen (65-30) still led Grand Forks (58-40) by 8 ½ games. In the Baukol Playoffs, 4 teams were tied for 1st place - Aberdeen, Grand Forks, D-S and St. Cloud - each with 4-3 records.
8-6-64: Winnipeg scored 2 runs in the 10th inning to defeat St. Cloud 6-4. The Goldeyes ended their 5-game losing streak and the Rox had their 5-game winning streak end.
8-7-64: Al Severinsen (St. C) had beaten B-M in 5 straight games until the Rox' Jim Ollom bested him with a 4-hitter. St. Cloud won 7-0 as Ollum struck out 9.
8-10-64: Andy Kosco set 2 new Bismarck-Mandan team records during a game with Grand Forks. He hit his 21st and 22ndhome runs to top the old record of 20 and drove in his 78th run to eclipse the former top mark of 77.
8-11-64: Bismarck Mandan's home winning streak of 10 games came to an end when Grand Forks beat them 4-1. Chuck Lauritson pitched a 5-hitter and struck out 6 for the Chiefs (Dodgers).
8-12-64: Aberdeen's (70-32) lead increased to 9 ½ games over second place Grand Forks (62-43). In the playoffs, Aberdeen (9-5) led Grand Forks (8-6) by one game.
8-13-64: Bismarck-Mandan player/manager Vern Morgan hit a 3-run game-winning home run in the 9th inning to nip Aberdeen 10-9.
8-15-64: Felix DeLeon held on to the batting lead with a .339 average. Andy Kosco was 2nd at .330. Bill Hall continued to lead pitchers with a 1.76 ERA and Jim Palmer was 2nd at 2.12. Dave Leonhard had a 13-4 record.
8-16-64: Aberdeen clinched their first pennant in 17 years by defeating Winnipeg 6-5. Their last flag was in 1947.
8-17-64: Jim Rooker (D-S) pitched a 7-inning 3-hitter in the second game of a double header in which the Rox beat B-M twice 5-3 and 6-2. Chuck Stevenson and Wayne Comer homered for the Dukes' offense. In the first game, Wally Scherer hit a 2-run home run for the victory margin.
8-19-64: Aberdeen (75-33) expanded their lead to 12 ½ games ahead of Grand Forks (65-48) and took a 2 ½ game lead in the Baukol Playoffs over D-S.
Vic Torres was the big gun for Winnipeg as they beat B-M 10-9. He hit 3 home runs and drove in 6 RBI. His first homer was with 2 on, his second was with one on and the third was a solo shot. Felix DeLeon also set a Winnipeg club season record with his 25th home run.
8-22-64: Felix DeLeon's batting lead was 10 "points" over Andy Kosco (.343 to .333) and Bill Hall was running away with the ERA lead with a 1.74 ERA compared to Dave Leonhard's 2.86. Leonhard's record was 15-4.
8-24-64: The only offense Aberdeen could get was John Scruggs' grand slam as they defeated St. Cloud 4-1. It was Scruggs' 22nd home run of the season. Tom Fischer pitched a 3-hitter for the Pheasants.
8-26-64: Aberdeen had a 2 ½ games lead in the Baukol Playoffs over D-S and Grand Forks.
8-28-64: It was announced that Duluth-Superior had lost their working agreement with Detroit and Winnipeg it's relationship with St. Louis for the 1965 season. In addition, it appeared that the Dodgers were about to pull out of Grand Forks and officials there were concerned about park facilities. President Baukol said: "We realize the situation is more serious than at any other time and it is going to take a lot of work to keep the league operating." A league directors meeting was scheduled to be held in 2 weeks. In 1964, the league's teams drew 16,608 more fans then in 1963.
Andy Kosco was named the league's most valuable player and won the triple crown. He finished with a .346 average, 28 home runs and 97 RBI. Felix DeLeon finished second in all of those categories with 27 homers, a .338 average and 96 RBI.
Bill Hall's 1.71 ERA led all league pitchers. Ed Watt had a 1.77 and Jim Palmer a 2.51. Watt had the best record at 14-1 and Palmer was 11-3.
The final standings indicated Aberdeen (80-27) in first place by 12 games ahead of Grand Forks (69-50). The Pheasants also won the playoffs with an 18-9 record which was 2 ½ games better then Duluth-Superior (14-10).
The league lost one of it's oldest member, Grand Forks, their team with the best attendance, Winnipeg, and the Bismarck-Mandan club.
Their schedule was cut nearly by one-half to 66 games and, therefore, they became a league for less-seasoned players. Opening day was June 27 and the season ended on September 2.
4-5-65: It was not known until this date if the league (the oldest in the lower minors) would even operate in 1965. In November 1964, after the loss of the 3 teams mentioned above, Huron was admitted as a member but did not have a working agreement with a major league team until a pact was finalized with the Philadelphia Phillies. Aberdeen continued their agreement with the Orioles but would also receive some players from the Cincinnati Reds organization. St. Cloud was to be affiliated with the Minnesota Twins and Duluth-Superior with the Chicago Cubs.
Roland Parcel, of Aberdeen, became the president of the league.
The teams' executive officers were: Aberdeen - Stan Voas, president and GM (business manager); Duluth-Superior - Ken Nicolson, president and [vacant] GM; Huron - Jerry Bales, president and [vacant] GM; St. Cloud - Eldon Witschen, president and Sam Wenstrom, GM.
6-65: George Staller took Aberdeen's managerial duties on a temporary basis. He joined the other league managers Doc Daugherty (D-S), Jim Rantz (St. C) and Joe Lonnett (Huron).
The teams had about 10 days of training with rookies and second-year players on their rosters. Ray Rippelmeyer was named permanent manager of Aberdeen. He was a long-time minor league manager and former Southern Illinois U. performer who had recently been given his release by the AAA San Diego Padres.
The club president of Huron, Jerry Bales, said the team had no difficulty selling $8,500 worth of stock. In addition, their ticket drive was so successful that the team ran out of ducats and had to reserve orders until a new supply arrived.. The Phillies offered a family season ticket for $10. It was reported that Aberdeen and D-S also had successful advance sales.
6-29-65: Bobby Felber, a D-S 19-year-old rookie shortstop, was 4-for-5 (2 doubles and 2 singles) in his pro debut during a 11-inning loss to St. Cloud.
6-30-65: St. Cloud pitchers Jim Merrick and Bob Gebhard helped their team beat D-S on June 29-30. Merrick was a member of the 1965 national champion Arizona State and in the June 29 game he relieved Bob Purkhiser (a former Purdue baseball and basketball star). Merrick pitched 5 scoreless innings and got the win in the 11-inning 4-3 game. Gebhard (a former Iowa star), in the June 30 contest, scattered 8 hits in a complete game 6-1 win. St. Cloud had another former collegiate pitcher, Ron Keller, who pitched June 28 but lost 2-1 on an unearned run in the 10thinning.
Huron won the opening day attendance trophy with a crowd of 2,544. Bands, cheerleaders, a dance act and nattily-attired usherettes added to the pleasant atmosphere. Throughout the game, fans shouted "Go, Phillies, Go", but it was for naught as the home team lost 4-3 when Aberdeen rallied for 3 runs in the 8th inning.
7-7-65: Aberdeen had the early lead with a 6-4 record over St. Cloud (5-4).
With 5 games and 12 at bats, Steve Myshrall (Aberdeen) had a .500 average to lead the league. Joe Romary (St. C) was 2ndwith .400. Bob Gebhard led pitchers with a 0.00 ERA in 17 innings. Bill Haag (Huron) was 2nd with a 0.45 in 20 innings.
7-8-65: D-S pitcher, Bill Butler, pitched so well that he left the Dukes' roster. After allowing only 2 runs in 11 innings (walked 4, struck out 18), he was promoted to Daytona Beach of the Florida State League. Manager Doc Daugherty said "I liked him, but you can't deny a kid a promotion."
7-10-65: Huron pitcher Billy Champion threw a 4-hitter to defeat D-S 2-1. It was not a quiet game, however, as with one out, the score tied and runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 9th inning, Tom Silicato hit a fly to left field which was caught. Both runners tagged up, but the runner at 2nd was thrown out at 3rdbase. The umpires said the runner at 3rd had scored before the other base runner was gunned down. Dukes manager Doc Daugherty disagreed and was eventually ejected from the game for protesting too vigorously.
7-17-65: Steve Myshrall of Aberdeen still led the league with a .421 average after 19 at bats. Jerome Cawley (St. C) was second with a .400 mark in 25 at bats. Bob Gebhard had a 0.25 ERA after 36 innings and George Lauzerique (St. C) had a 1.13 in 16 innings. Gebhart was 4-0.
Merchants' Night in Aberdeen brought in 2,933 fans who watched the Pheasants' Bill Clarkston pitch a 4-hit 10-0 shutout over D-S.
7-21-65: St. Cloud took over first place with a 17-5 record which was 5 ½ games ahead of D-S (10-9).
7-23-65: Dan Crothers of Huron hit 2 home runs in one inning which set a league record. The 17-year-old had been threatened with release before his 2 hits on July 22 and his 2 homers in the 6thinning of this 11-1 victory for the Phillies over Aberdeen. As the lead off batter in the inning, he hit his first HR over the left field wall and later, in the frame, he hit a grand slam to cap an 8-run uprising. Pitcher Ray Goodwin pitched a 2-hitter with 9 strike outs, for the win.
7-24-65: Steve Myshrall's average dropped to .350, but he still led the league's hitters. Larry Calton (D-S) was 2nd at .330. George Lauzerique took over pitching honors with a 0.72 ERA in 25 innings. Bob Gebhard was 2nd with a 0.85 in 53 innings. Gebhard and Ron Keller had 5-1 records.
7-27-65: In a tight game between Duluth-Superior and Aberdeen, which was 6-6 in the last of the 9th, the Dukes' Larry Calton singled and advanced to 2ndon Mike Jones' ground out. Ron Kirk then popped out and Dave Pekich walked. Catcher Dave Bike followed with a single but runner Calton hesitated at 3rd base. He started out again for the plate after manager Don Daughtery's frantic "go" signals and was safe just ahead of the throw for the winning run of the 7-6 Dukes' triumph.
7-31-65: League attendance to date showed Huron, in their first pro season, as having the highest team total. The club was averaging 1,301 fans after 17 games. They had recently drew 1,676 and 1,883 in two family night promotions. Huron was the league's smallest city with a population of 15,000.
8-1-65: Dan Irving (Huron) was shown as the league batting leader with a .395 average, but he had only 38 official plate appearances. Chris Barkulis (D-S) had a .336 average after 113 at bats. Steve Myshrall was close behind with a .333 mark. George Lauzerique continued to lead pitchers with a 0.64 ERA. Bob Gebhard was at 1.11 with a 6-2 record.
8-3-65: Aberdeen's Jerry Baker came within 2 strike outs of the league record when he fanned 19 D-S batters during a 7-5 Pheasants' victory. He struck out 6 consecutive batters in the 2nd and 3rdinnings. Joe Hatten (1939) and Steve Dalkowski (1959) held the league's single game strike out record at 21.
8-4-65: St. Cloud (25-10) lengthened their lead to 8 ½ games over D-S (15-17).
Optimistically, League President Roland Parcel announced that he believes the league can expand to 6 teams next season. First on his list was Sioux Falls (in the Basin League for 1965) who reportedly had been talking to the Cincinnati Reds about a working agreement. In addition, Parcel was looking for former members Bismarck-Mandan, Winnipeg or Grand Forks to return.
Huron held "Hullabaloo Night" and drew 1,568 of which about 600 were teens there to see and hear "The Torres" rock band. They performed before and after the game which the visiting Duluth-Superior Dukes won 2-1 with a 7th inning run scored by Dave Bike. He had singled, advanced to third on a throwing error and came home on a wild pitch. Pitcher Bill Seifert held the Phillies to 4 hits. The post-game performance by the band was for a dance on the below-ground level field surface of Memorial Park.
8-7-65: Lou Smith (D-S) held the batting lead with a .321 average and Steve Myshrall was 2nd at .319. George Lauzerique led pitchers with a 0.94 ERA with Bob Gebhard 2nd with a 1.21 mark. Gebhard also had a league leading 7-2 record.
8-10-65: Aberdeen's Bill Clarkston faced only 29 batters in a 3-1 win vs Huron. He walked Skip Kiszie in the 1st inning and then retired the next 22 consecutive batters. Mike Compton ended that streak with a home run in the 8th for the only hit for the Phillies. Clarkston struck out 7 and was offensively aided by Steve Myshrall's 3 hits including a homer.
8-11-65: St. Cloud (27-14) held a 7 ½ games lead over Duluth-Superior (18-20).
8-12-65: Mike Everett (Huron) pitched a one-hitter over Aberdeen. The only hit came in the 7thinning - a double by Harlan Hinds. Everett struck out 10 and walked 2 during the 5-0 victory.
8-14-65: Chris Barkulis still led the league in batting with a .335 average and Lou Smith (St. C) was 2nd at .297 with Ken Huebner (Huron) just percentage points behind. The pitching leader continued to be George Lauzerique with a 0.78 ERA. Billy Champion was second at 1.37. Bob Gebhard had an 8-2 record.
8-15-65: Ray Goodwin of Huron lost a 10-inning no-hitter to Duluth-Superior 1-0. The 19-year-old from Morristown, NJ, walked a batter and allowed 3 singles in the 11th. Huron batters gave him no offensive help as they stranded 10 runners. "I had a chance to win it myself in the 8th," Goodwin said, "so I shouldn't say anything about lack of support." With runners on 1st and 2nd, he struck out. His perfect game lasted 7 2/3 innings before Tom Finnegan, Dukes' shortstop, struck out on a wild pitch and reached 1st (he was later caught trying to steal 2nd). The first hit off of Goodwin was a clean single to center by the lead off hitter in the 11thinning - Dave Bike. Dan Sherban then attempted to sacrifice Bike to 2nd, but the runner was forced at 2nd. Bill Seifert ran for Sherban, Finnegan walked and Dave Pekich hit a dribbler single between short and 3rd to load the bases. Gary Renkenberger then hit a short fly which was caught. With 2 outs, pitcher Dave Langrock dumped a single down the left-field line to score Seifert with the winning run. "I'd rather give up 5 or 6 hits and win," said Goodwin.
Philadelphia Phillies' farm director, Paul Owens, attended a game in Huron and was greeted warmly by the home town fans. Later in the season, a Huron usherette, Sue Hornstein, and her family visited Philadelphia and were treated by Owens to box seat tickets for a Phillies' National League game.
8-17-65: Ron Keller of St. Cloud pitched a 3-1 seven-inning no-hitter over Aberdeen. In the 5thinning, after hitting Pete Lewis in the face with a pitched ball, he walked 3 consecutive batters to loss his shut out. The former U. of Indiana pitcher from Indianapolis, then settled down to complete the no-no.
8-18-65: St. Cloud's (32-18) lead was 7 games over D-S ( 23-23).
8-20-65: Dave Langrock (D-S) hurled a 2-hitter against Aberdeen. The 4-1 victory was the 14thconsecutive complete game by Dukes' starting pitchers (the streak ended on Aug. 21).
8-21-65: Aberdeen won their first double header of the season with 2-1 and 8-2 victories over D-S on a cool and rainy day. Jerry Baker pitched a 3-hitter in the first game and Paul Gilliford tossed a 5-hitter in the night cap.
Chris Barkulis led league batters with a .335 average and Tom Silicato (Huron) followed at .301. George Lauzerique, who led pitchers nearly all season, continued to do so with a 0.79 ERA. Billy Champion had a 1.17 mark and Bob Gebhard's record was at 9-2.
8-25-65: St. Cloud took a commanding 10 ½ games lead over D-S and Huron (both with 25-28 records).
Billy Champion pitched his 2nd one-hitter of the season with a 1-0 seven-inning victory over D-S. Dave Bike had the only hit for the Dukes - a 7thinning triple.
8-28-65: Chris Barkulis lead over Tom Silicato was .031 (.338 to .307) in the batting race. Billy Champion was shown as the pitching leader with a 0.98 ERA over Mike Everett at 1.50. Bob Gebhard had a 10-2 record. [George Lauzerique had been promoted to Leesburg of the Florida State League]
Mike Everett tied a Northern League record by pitching his 4th shutout in a row in a 10-0 defeat over Aberdeen. The record was originally set by Art Dyck of Grand Forks in 1948.
8-29-65?: The St. Cloud Rox clinched the league pennant with a 2-0 win over Aberdeen. The Rox' runs came in the 6thinning on Bob Brooks' homer and Len Boryca's triple.
9-1-65: Mike Everett had his 5th consecutive shut out in his sights, but fell one inning short. In a 7-inning game with Aberdeen, the Pheasants scored a run on a walk, sacrifice, fielders choice and Steve Myshrall's single in the final frame. He also missed another league record in that inning (a 43 2/3 scoreless inning streak by Art Dyck in 1948) as Everett had pitched 42 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
9-2-65: Bob Gebhart who won more games this season then any other pitcher did not walk a batter when he gained his 11thvictory for St. Cloud in a 7-5 win over D-S. He allowed 7 hits and struck out 6 for the league's pennant winner.
9-2-65: At the close of the season, St. Cloud (43-23) had a 12 games lead over Huron and D-S who both had 31-35 records. Aberdeen was 16 games back.
Billy Champion won the league's ERA crown with a 1.20 mark. Mike Everett was 2nd at 1.37. Bob Gebhard had the best record at 11-2.
Chris Barkulis won the batting championship with a .332 average. George Metterwald, with only 126 at-bats, had a .325 mark and Tom Silicato was at .313.
All four of the league members confirmed that they would field teams in 1966. Sioux Falls and Bismarck-Mandan were
being courted for expansion.
The league regained former members Bismarck-Mandan and Sioux Falls to expand it's membership to six teams.
Executives for each club were as follows: Aberdeen - H.O. Schumacher, president and Dennis Maloney, GM (business manager); Bismarck-Mandan - Gerald Just, president and John Danz, GM; Duluth-Superior - Art Gustafson, president and Ken Nicolson, GM; Huron - Jerry Bales, president and C.C. Lardinois (Dr.), GM; St. Cloud - Pete Pflepson, president and Sam Wenstrom, GM; Sioux Falls - K.O. Vesledahl (Dr.), president and Bill Melody, GM.
For the second season, Roland Parcel was league president.
The league scheduled several exhibition games between teams from the Basin League (Pierre, Winner, Sturgis, Rapid City, Mobridge - all in SD - and Valentine, NE).
6-66: The league openers drew a total of 5,442 fans including Huron who had the most with 2,669. Bismarck-Mandan drew 1,637 and Duluth-Superior 1,136.
Aberdeen's continuing working agreement with the Orioles became the oldest agreement on record.. It began in 1946 when the O's were the Browns.
Huron pitcher, Ken Reynolds, pitched 8 innings and allowed only one hit in the Phillies' opener against B-M.
6-27-66: Huron pitcher Jack Foreman had his no-hitter end in the 7th inning, but finished with a 2-hit victory over Sioux Falls. The two Huron runs came from Darrell Chaney's home run.
6-28-66: Sioux Fall returned to the league with an opening day crowd of 2,026. Packers' pitcher Bob Hall got the win in a 3-0 victory over Huron.
7-5-66: Huron had the early lead with an 8-2 record which was one game ahead of Aberdeen (7-3).
7-8-66: Jim Williams of Aberdeen had the league batting lead with a .464 average in 56 at bats. Ken Huebner of Huron was 2nd with a .423 mark after 52 ab's. Mike Beaver (Huron) led pitchers with a 0.50 ERA in 18 innings and Lance Tobert (Aberdeen) was 2nd at 0.75. Tobert and Steve Sumner (D-S) had 3-0 records.
7-8-66: In a 3-game series with Sioux Falls, St. Cloud pitchers struck out 42 batters. The total included 18 by Buzz Stephen.
7-9-66: George Wolger of Aberdeen threw a 1-0 no-hitter over Huron. Wolger, a 19-year-old rookie, won a mound duel over Huron's Mike Beaver in the 1-0 game. George struck out 7, walked 2 and the Pheasants committed 2 errors. There were no hits even close to being a safety as only 2 balls were hit out of the infield. The Orioles had signed Wolger, who is from Redwood City, CA, in the spring of 1966 as a free agent.
7-12-66: Aberdeen (13-3) took over 1st place over Huron (10-6) by 3 games.
7-14-66: Dave Hoffman (St. C.) had the league's best batting average at .406 in 64 at bats. Jim Williams was at .405 with 84 appearances. Wayne Twitchell (B-M) led pitchers with a 0.86 ERA in 21 innings. Lance Tobert (Aberdeen) was 2ndat 1.09 with 33 innings. Tobert, Smith Holland (Huron) and Mike Colin (St. C) had 4-0 records.
7-15-66: Richard Johnson (6 inn.) and Tom Beck (3 inn.) of Huron pitch a 15-0 combined no-hitter over Bismarck-Mandan. Johnson, from West Covina, CA and a former U. of Ariz player, had to leave the game because of a blister on his pitching hand. He struck out 11 and walked 4. Beck, a Brooklyn native, was an outfielder on the '65 Phillies. He struck out 3 and walked one. The Phillies offense was led by John Vukovich and Garth Dragon who each had 3 hits. Vukovich also had 4 RBI.
7-17-66: Sioux Falls set a league record by being shut out for 30 consecutive innings (3 games). The slide was stopped in the first inning of a game vs Aberdeen in a game they won. The Packers victory ended a 12-game winning streak by the Pheasants. Gary Nolan, who struck out 17, got the victory.
7-21-66: Bob Hall (SF) struck out 18 B-M batters and allowed only 2 hits during a 5-0 Packers win.
St. Cloud's Buzz Stephen stuck out 16 and allowed only 3 hits on his way to a 6-0 win over Aberdeen.
7-22-66: Jim Williams took over the batting league with a .383 average. Ken Hueber was 2nd at .359. In pitching, Wayne Twitchell had a 0.75 ERA in 24 innings and Smith Holland was at 1.13. Holland and Mike Colin had records of 5-0.
7-26-66: Aberdeen (22-8) led St. Cloud (20-9) by 1 ½ games.
7-25-66: The league curfew of midnight ended a Huron-St. Cloud duel after 16 innings before 925 fans with the score tied at 2-2.. The Rox' Bob Castiglione struck out 17 in the game. The umpires suspended the game at 11:50 PM [the game would be continued during the last week of the season]
7-26-66: Slidell Harvey (B-M) hit a grand slam and a triple, but Sioux Falls won the game 8-6. The Packers' Jim Cartlidge hit 2 homers. The Pards had led 5-0 in the 2nd inning.
7-29-66: Jim Williams continued his batting lead with a .412 average and Steve Waters (St, C) followed at .347. Wayne Twitchell still led pitchers with a 0.69 ERA with Smith Holland second at 0.96. Mike Colin was 6-0.
8-2-66: Aberdeen's (26-8) lead was down to ½ game over St. Cloud (26-9).
8-3-66: Duluth-Superior's Jim Zerilla had a no-hitter into the 7th inning during a game against Sioux Falls. He finished with a 3-hit 1-0 victory.
8-5-66: Jim Williams still had a big lead in the batting race with a .389 average over Steve Waters who had a .325 mark. Smith Holland led pitchers with a 0.83 ERA with Mike Colin second at 0.98. Colin's record was 8-0.
8-8-66: Aberdeen's Mike Hebert pitched a 5-hit 7-4 victory. He also hit a home run and a double for 3 RBI. Three of the hits off Hebert were home runs.
8-9-66: Neil Boyle of Duluth-Superior lost a seven inning no-hitter against Sioux Falls 1-0. In one of the games of a double header, both Boyle and Dave Grawe had no-no's going into the 7th, but the Dukes' Greg Werdick singled to end Grawe's bid. In the 8thinning of overtime, the Packers' Don Goodwin reached 1st on an error and then scored when center fielder Ron Pearson misjudged Darrel Chaney's pop fly which fell for the first hit of the game against Boyle. Jim Cartlidge then doubled for a 2nd hit allowed. Boyle struck out 13 and walked 4.
St. Cloud took over the lead in the league's standings with a 31-11 record which was ½ game better then Aberdeen (30-11).
8-12-66: Jim Zerilla (D-S) threw 6 innings of no-hit ball, but lost the game to B-M 8-4 due to a collapse of the Dukes' defense. For the night, Zerilla gave up only one earned run and 5 hits.
Jim Williams held on to the batting lead with a .376 average which was .050 percentage points over Steve Waters (.326). Mike Colin led in ERA with a 1.03 and he was followed by Smith Holland at 1.27. Colin, Holland and Buzz Stephen held 8-1 records.
8-15-66: B-M manager Tony Pacheco protested his team's 10-5 loss to St. Cloud. In the 1st inning, the Rox' Ron Roalstad hit a double with Tom Cole and Pete Middlekauff on base. As both runners headed for home plate, Middlekauff caught Cole and they both slid into the plate at the same time. Pacheco argued that Middlekauff touched home first and should have been called out for passing Cole on the bases.
8-16-66: Aberdeen and St. Cloud were tied for the league lead with identical 34-13 records.
8-18-66: Jim Williams' average of .362 continued to the be the league leader over Steve Waters' .331. The ERA leader continued to be Mike Colin (1.03) and Smith Holland (1.15) was still second. Holland had a 9-1 record.
Sioux Falls renewed their working agreement with Cincinnati. In the agreement, the Reds would pay the entire salaries of the players and manager.
In a double header, two St. Cloud pitchers threw 2-hitters over Sioux Falls. Buzz Stephens won the opener 4-0 and Dick Holmes the night cap 1-0. Each struck out 9.
8-22-66: Three Huron pitchers struck out 21 St. Cloud batters, but the Phillies lost the game 7-0. Starter Ken Reynolds had 15 strike outs, Dick Seminoff had 3 and Rich Johnson had 3 more. When they weren't striking out, the Rox batters were getting hits - 10 of them.
8-23-66: St. Cloud (38-13) held 1st place by one game ahead of Aberdeen (38-15).
8-25-66: The batting race got very close as Jim Williams only held a .001 lead over Steve Waters (.343 to .342). Smith Holland held on to the ERA lead with a 1.15 mark and Mike Colin was at 1.30. They both had the best records at 9-1.
8-26-66: In a game between Bismarck-Mandan and Sioux Falls, 41 batters were out on strikes. Pards' starter, Scipio Spinks, struck out 20 and his replacement, Mike Guillot had 3. For Sioux Falls, Gary Nolan fanned 17 and Daryl Hallmark had one in the 10 inning game. B-M won the game 1-0 in the 10th when Fred Stanley scored the winning run when the Packers' first baseman, Milt Bender, dropped a throw. The 23 strike outs by B-M pitchers was a league record for one game.
8-28-66: In the continuation of the suspended game of July 25, which was stopped by curfew after 16 innings, Huron beat Saint Cloud 8-2 in 21-innings. It was the longest game in league history. Bob Castiglione had been the Rox pitcher for the first 16 innings and Mike Beaver pitched the last 5 innings, when play was resumed, and got the win when his teammates scored 6 runs in the 21st. Only 343 were in attendance.
8-30-66: St. Cloud (44-17) took a 2 ½ games lead over Aberdeen (42-20).
St. Cloud received catching help for the last few games when George Mitterwald, who starred with them in 1965, rejoined the club. He replaced Steve Waters who was injured. Metterwald had played at Wilson (Carolina) earlier in 1966 but had just returned from 2 weeks with an Army reserve unit at Camp Ripley.
League President Roland Parcel denied a request from Aberdeen to force two earlier rained-out games, between St. Cloud and Sioux Falls, to be played as a double header on Aug. 31. In addition, he ruled out a make-up game between Aberdeen and Huron. The Aberdeen club, who was involved in a close pennant race, had attempted to give their team a chance to make up ground on league-leading St. Cloud. Parcel said that the league by-laws did not give him the authority to change the schedule and order make-up games to be played. In addition, St. Cloud and Sioux Falls, located 180 miles apart, did not want to play the proposed games because of the travel involved.
8-31-66: Out of the pennant race, B-M had their two best players leave the team. Wayne Twitchell was called up to AAA
Oklahoma City and Jim Whaley, who had the team's best average (.307), had to report for a teaching job.
9-1-66: Jim Williams' batting lead was lengthened as his average increased to .357. In second was Steve Waters at .342.
Smith Holland had the ERA lead with a 1.15 mark and Mike Colin was at 1.30. Colin's record was 10-1.
Sioux Falls pitcher Daryl Hallmark pitched the 9th inning in relief of Gary Nolan during a 11-0 Packers victory over B-M. The next day Hallmark joined the Marine Corps Reserves.
9-2-66: Ken Reynolds of Huron pitched a 3-0 seven inning no-hitter over Sioux Falls. Reynolds struck out 11 and walked 2 for the home town fans who totaled 4,700 for a double header.
9-5-66: St. Cloud won the league championship with a 49-18 record which was 3 games in front of Aberdeen who had a 47-22 record. The third place team (Huron) was 17 games behind.
Jim Williams of Aberdeen won the batting championship with a .366 average. Steve Waters of St. Cloud was second at .342.
Smith Holland (Huron) won the ERA crown with a 1.15 and Mike Colin was second at 1.31. Colin had the best record at 10-1.
9-17-66: "The Sporting News" printed an article by the late former St. Cloud and St. Paul sportswriter, Mike Augustin, regarding St. Cloud pitcher Buzz Stephen. It included the comments: "Buzz is a natural strikeout pitcher. He possesses an overpowering fast ball. In addition, his fast side-arm curve is generally used when a batter has two strikes against him."
10-1-66: "The Sporting News" published a study of League President Parcel (written by long-time Aberdeen sportswriter, Larry Desautels) which included a picture of him with his airplane. The article said: "When Roland Parcel took over as president of the Northern League in February 1965, he had two ball clubs, one working agreement and an airplane. The airplane has been one of his most useful items in salvaging the league and administering it's far-flung territory. 'I'm just an hour and 45 minutes away from the farthest point in the league and when there's trouble at any spot, I can get there in a hurry.'
"Parcel, who serves as league president without pay, logs over 6,000 miles per year on Northern League business. Before entering the oil business [Parcel Oil Co. in Aberdeen], several years ago, he was a commercial airlines pilot. The league has thrived under Parcel. When he took over, only the Aberdeen club was ready for the 1965 season with a working agreement with Baltimore. The Duluth-Superior club was willing but had no working agreement. St. Cloud and Bismarck-Mandan were reluctant to quit but were having financial problems and neither had a working agreement. Grand Forks had lost it's ball park to a super highway and Winnipeg had decided to drop out of the league.
"St. Cloud and Bismarck-Mandan were persuaded to go along in a four-team league if working agreements could be secured. Backing Parcel in his bid to keep the league alive were Jim McLaughlin of the Cincinnati Reds and Harry Dalton of the Baltimore Orioles. 'Without them, we would have been sunk,' Parcel said. 'But they helped us get the working agreements.' Just when all the problems appeared to be solved, Bismarck-Mandan decided to withdraw, but Huron showed an interest and wound up taking over the franchise just in time for the 1965 season.
"The 1965 campaign was strictly a battle for survival. When it ended, all four clubs were in good financial condition, with
Huron drawing 44,001 for 32 home games to set the pace. Parcel found two more working agreements for 1966.
Bismarck-Mandan returned to the fold and Sioux Falls became a sixth team. With all six clubs already announcing they will
be set to go in 1967, the league is enjoying it's most solid standing in many years. The Northern League is the oldest of the
lower minors. Except for three years during World War II, it has operated continuously since 1933."
Bismarck-Mandan left the league for the final time and were replaced by a club in Mankato.
League team officer's were: Aberdeen - I. B. Christophersen, president and R.W. Brown, GM (business manager); Duluth-Superior - Art Gustafson, president and Ken Nicholson, GM; Huron - Jerry Bates, president and Carl Miller, GM; Mankato - Fritz Taylor, president and Dick Peterson, GM; St. Cloud - Pete Pflepsen, president and Sam Wenstrom, GM; Sioux Falls - K.O. Vesledahl (Dr.), president and [open], GM.
Roland Parcel was the league president.
6-26-67: In the bottom of the 12th inning, with D-S leading St. Cloud 3-2, the Rox had the bases loaded with one out. Mike Sadek hit a vicious grounder over the bag at third, but it was speared by third baseman Bob Eyer on his knees. He got up and tagged third and then threw to first where the low throw was dug out of the dirt by first baseman Pete Lentine for the 3rdout and a victory for the Dukes.
6-27-67: After Aberdeen's Jeff Wallace hit a 3-run home run, in the bottom of the 7th, to tie Huron 4-4 at the Phillies' park, the field lights failed and could not be turned back on. The game was scheduled to be continued on July 21.
In the second game of a double header between Mankato and Sioux Falls, the Mets got only 5 hits, but 4 were home runs by Ernie McAnally, Mike Minster, Dave Lipp and Mike Eppler. Mankato won the game 9-4.
7-2-67: After 7 games and 27 at bats, Tom Robson of Mankato led the league in batting with a .519 average. Roger Freed (Aberdeen) was 2nd at .476 and Fred Kendall (SF) 3rd with a .381 mark. In pitching, Charlie Walters (St, C), Sanchez (D_S) and Richardson (Mankato) all had 2-0 records.
7-4-67: The early lead in the standings was held by Duluth-Superior with a 7-2 record. St. Cloud and Mankato were second at 6-3.
7-9-67: Tom Robson had a .462 average to lead the league in hitting with Roger Feed second at .362. Joe Sanchez, Charlie Kline (D-S), Steve Christopher (St. C) and Charlie Walters had 2-0 records.
7-10-67: Huron had played 35 1/3 innings at home without scoring. The streak ended in the 9thinning of a game with St. Cloud when they scored a run, but still lost 3-1.
7-11-67 The Aberdeen club thought they had made a bad mistake by scheduling their annual Merchants Night at the same time that the Major League All-Star Game was being shown on television. However, 2,627 fans attended the game to see the Pheasants beat Sioux Falls 4-1.
7-16-67: The batting leader continued to be Tom Robson with a .463 average. Steve Brye was 2nd at .333 and Roger Freed 3rd with a .308 mark. Charlie Kline led pitchers in ERA with a 0.35, Terry Parks (Mankato) was 2nd with a 0.46 and Charley Walters 3rd at 1.29. Steve Christopher had a 4-0 record.
7-18-67: Mankato and St. Cloud shared the league lead with a 14-8 record. D-S was third at 13-8.
Sioux Falls' Jerry Baker made his first start for the Packers, but began poorly by walking the first 3 men he faced. He got out of that jam and went on to pitch a 2-hit complete game win over Mankato 2-1. Baker walked only 2 more batters and struck out 7.
During the 7th inning of the D-S vs St. Cloud game, fog rolled across the Duluth ball park and caused the umpires to call the game with the Dukes taking a 5-2 victory. Greg Howell had 3 RBI and Joe Sanchez pitched 5 2/3 perfect innings in relief for the D-S.
7-19-67: Jerry Cram of St. Cloud struck out nine consecutive batters in relief against Duluth-Superior. He came into the game to protect a 4-2 lead with no outs and 2 men on base and threw a wild pitch to allow one run to score, but then started his strike out streak to save the victory 4-3.
A switch in positions helped Aberdeen to a 5-0 victory over Huron. Ed Maras, who is normally a first baseman, and Scott McDonald, who is regularly a pitcher, exchanged positions to both player's advantage. Maras pitched a 3-hit shutout and McDonald had the team's first RBI and made a great defensive play on a difficult grounder to protect the lead.
7-24-67: Steve Brye, who was chosen as the Minnesota Twins' number one draft choice in June, continued his batting streak to 24 games with a homer against Huron.
7-25-67: Mankato and St. Cloud were tied for first place with 17-11 records. D-S was only ½ game back with a 16-11 mark.
7-26-67: D-S entered the bottom half of the 9thinning behind Huron 6-1. Catcher Elby Bushong led off the inning with a home run and ended it with a bases loaded single as the Dukes batted around to score 6 runs and win 7-6.
8-1-67: Mankato took over sole possession of first place with a 22-14 record, which was 2 games ahead of D-S (19-15) and St. Cloud (20-16).
Tom Robson led the league in batting with a .426 average with Steve Brye 2nd at .348. Frank Chambers (D-S) was leading in ERA with a 1.24 mark followed by Charlie Walters at 1.47. Steve Christopher's record was 5-1.
Huron finally scored a run after going 29 consecutive innings without scoring. They beat Sioux Falls 9-6 in a victory that also ended their 6-game losing streak.
8-3-67: The Rox' Mike Martin drove in all the runs his team scored in a 6-2 victory over Mankato.
8-8-67: Mankato (26-17) still held first place by 2 games over St. Cloud (24-19).
Tom Robson's batting lead was nearly .030 as he was hitting .414 over 2nd place Don Wallace (Aberdeen) who was at .346. Roger Freed was 3rdwith a .342 average. Frank Chambers (D-S) held the ERA lead with a 1.03 mark. Charlie Kline was second at 1.41. Chambers also had a 5-1 record.
8-9-67: Phil Meyer, who was the Philadelphia Phillies number one draft choice in June, pitched a 2-hit victory for Huron over Mankato 4-2. He struck out 11 and walked 3.
8-12-67: Mankato entered the 9th inning behind Sioux Falls 3-2. However, after Scott Long's grand slam off Jeff Stock, they won 6-3.
8-14-67: Huron's Ray Starnes extended his hitting streak to 18 games with 2 hits in a 8-1 victory over Aberdeen.
Steve Brye hit a home run and a triple, drove in 5 runs and scored 3 runs in a 14-4 victory for St. Cloud vs D-S.
8-15-67: St. Cloud took over first place with a 29-20 record which was one game better then Mankato who was at 28-21.
Ray Starnes (Huron) took over the batting lead with a .343 average and Steve Brye was 2nd at .331. [Tom Robson had been promoted to Durham of the Carolina League] Frank Chambers led pitchers with a 0.95 ERA and Don Linehan (Mankato) was second at 2.03. Chambers also had a 5-1 record.
8-21-67: Ken Bangsberg (Huron) pitched a 2-hitter, struck out 13 and hit a 2-run home run in a 2-1 Phillies' victory over Mankato.
8-22-67: St. Cloud (34-22) extended their lead to 3 games over Mankato (31-25).
Ray Starnes led hitters with a .377 average and Steve Brye was 2nd at .343. Chambers continued to lead pitchers with a 0.84 ERA. Charlie Walters was 2nd at 1.85. Chambers had a 5-1 record.
8-29-67: Ray Starnes still led batters while hitting .379 and Steve Brye hung on at 2nd place with a .332 mark. Frank Chambers still led pitchers with a 1.24 ERA and Charlie Walters was 2nd at 1.78. Terry Parks (Mankato) had a 7-2 record.
St. Cloud (40-23) took a big 7 game lead over Mankato (33-30) with less then a week to play.
9-4-67: St. Cloud (44-26) won the league pennant by 7 games over Mankato (37-33) and 9 games better then Sioux Falls (35-33). It was the 3rd straight championship for St. Cloud.
Ray Starnes won the batting crown with a .348 average. Steve Brye was 2nd at .311 and Mike McCall (Huron) was 3rd with a .305 mark.
Terry Parks was the ERA leader at 1.92 Charlie Walters finished 2nd with a 1.94 and Steve Christopher was 3rd at 2.27. Christopher had the best record at 12-3.
9-9-67: In an article in "The Sporting News" regarding Steve Brye, who had signed with the Twins for $47,000., his
manager at St. Cloud, Ken Staples, said about him; "He has the quickest hands of anyone I've seen in 25 years of baseball.
He still isn't sharp at third base, but he'll make some plays that'll pop your eyes. In a game with Huron he hit a ball farther
than anyone I've seen. I paced it off the next day out beyond the fence in left centerfield and it traveled 550 feet. He has his
ups and downs at the plate, but the thing I like about him is that he doesn't let a bad day brother him. He forgets the
previous night's frustrations and bounces right back." During the season he had a 24-game hitting streak Brye was playing
third because he had some experience there in high school. "But I pitched most of my senior year last spring and have played
some in the outfield. And the Giants were interested in me as a catcher," he said. "He'll be there [in the majors]...barring
injury or unforeseen developments with the military, he should make it in about three years," Staples added. Byre himself
said "I'll take a look at it when I'm 22 or 23 and see where I am. By then I should have a pretty good idea whether I'll make
it." He credited playing winter ball in the San Francisco area the past two off-seasons with the transition to pro baseball.
"My manager there, George Powles, told me the pitching here would be about like I faced in winter ball and it has been," he
continued. "I'm just concentrating on having a good year here this summer. The future will take care of itself."
The season opened with Roland Parcel, Aberdeen, again as the league president.
Club officers were: Aberdeen - Neil Kleppin. president and Dennis Maloney, GM (business manager); Duluth-Superior - Art Gustafson. president and Ken Nicolson, GM; Huron - Jerry Bales, president and C.C. Lardinols, Sr, GM; Mankato - Fritz Taylor, president and GM; St. Cloud - Chuck Albers, president and Sam Wenstrom, GM; and Sioux Falls - Isadore Pitts, president and Daryl Witt, GM.
6-25-68: In Pete Lentine's first start for Duluth-Superior, he struck out 14 in a 4-0 victory over Huron. Future major league catcher, Larry Cox, started for Huron and struck out 11
7-1-68: A 5-run 9th inning for Duluth-Superior beat Sioux Falls 5-4. The rally was highlighted by a 2-run double by Tom Dail.
7-2-68: Ron Dunn's 2-run home run helped Aberdeen beat St. Cloud 6-4. Dunn was the Pheasants shortstop.
7-9-68: Mankato (10-5) led Sioux Falls (9-5) by ½ game.
In the 9th inning with the scored tied 5-5, in a game between Mankato and D-S, the Dukes' Greg Merkerson singled with one out. He went to second on a wild pitch during a strike out by Mets' pitcher Rich Sires. Tom Dail was then walked intentionally and another wild pitch advanced both base runners. Jeff Kolb was another intentional walk to load the bases. Sires then did the unthinkable - he threw 4 straight balls to batter Dick Newhart which forced in the winning run for D-S.
7-67: In his first game in the Huron outfield, Mick Bowers chased a foul fly and crashed through a wooden fence near the right-field line and disappeared from view. While teammates, umpires and his manager rushed to his aid, he emerged from the hole - startled but uninjured.
7-16-68: Sioux Falls (14-7) was leading the standings by ½ game over Mankato (14-8) and one game over St. Cloud (13-8).
Gary Hill of Mankato led the league with a .400 average.
7-18-68: Huron ended a 7-game losing streak by beating Aberdeen 8-7 with a 5-run 5thinning. Jacques Guay had the big hit - a 2-run single.
7-23-68: Sioux Falls (21-9) was in 1st place by one game over St. Cloud (20-10). Mankato (16-14) had fallen 5 games out .
Carl Barnes of Sioux Falls took over the lead in batting with a .388 average. Two Aberdeen players - Scott McDonald (.380) and Chuck Coggins (.369) - followed.
7-25-68: Dennis O'Toole of Duluth-Superior won his 5thgame over Sioux Falls 5-3. He gave up only 2 hits and struck out 12 in 7 innings.
7-30-68: St. Cloud (25-12) led Sioux Falls (22-14) by 2 ½ games. Mankato was third at 20-16 (4 ½ behind).
Carl Barnes still led the batting race at .372. Scott McDonald and Chuck Coggins had fallen to .336 averages
7-31-68: Duluth-Superior entered the 9thinning leading Aberdeen 5-1. They then added 8 insurance runs and won 13-1. Their pitcher, Pete Lenture, doubled in 3 runs.
8-6-68: St. Cloud and Sioux Falls entered the last month of the season tied with 28-16 records. Mankato was 4 ½ back.
8-10-68: The league made an attempt to revive it's All-Star game. However, only 601 fans saw the South Dakota Stars defeat the Minnesota Stars 8-4. Players from Aberdeen, Huron and Sioux Falls made up the South Dakota squad and Duluth-Superior, Mankato and St. Cloud players made up the Minnesota team. Tom Ferraro (St. Cloud) blanked S.D. in the first three innings and hit a 2-run home run in the 3rd. Aberdeen's Ron Dunn homered in the 4thinning and was part of a double steal in the 6thwhen Bill Goodman scored from 3rdbase. Jim Coady (Sioux Falls) then singled in Dunn. Coady also pitched 3 innings and got the win with Pete Lentine (Duluth-Superior) getting the loss.
8-13-68: Carl Barnes was named player of the month for July.
Sioux Falls (31-18) took over the standings lead by one game over St. Cloud (30-19). Mankato was 3 behind.
Carl Barnes was the batting leader with a .382 average and Dick Hooper was second at .313. Tom Ferraro (St. C) led in ERA with a 0.53 mark. Dave Goltz was 2nd at 1.17. Ferraro also had a 7-0 record.
Huron President Dennis Bales was pessimistic about his team's chances of continuing in the league next season. Philadelphia did not renew their working agreement and the club was having financial problems.
8-20-68: Dick Hooper of Sioux Falls took over the batting lead with a .346 average. Carl Barnes is second at .342.
St. Cloud and Sioux Falls were tied for first with records of 35-21. Mankato was behind by 2 ½ games.
8-21-68: Duluth-Superior's late-inning pinch hitters helped the Dukes beat Huron 10-9. In the 7thinning, Ken Plesha hit a 3-run home run to tie the score at 7-7 and, in the 8th, Dana Ryan hit a 2-run single.
During Mankato's game, their starting pitcher's father called to tell him that his National Guard unit had been called up. Byron Von Hoff continued to pitch and got a 6-1 victory and 4 straight hits. His guard unit was sent to the site of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The Huron franchise got a reprieve. After the Phillies withdrew their working agreement with them, the Chicago Cubs agreed to add the city to their farm system for 1969.
8-25-67: Mankato set a league record for stolen bases in one game with 9 in a game against D-S.
8-26-68: Mankato manager, Joe Frazier, took a gamble that was almost a success during a 4-3 loss to Duluth-Superior. He called on relief pitcher Don Koonce to face the Dukes in his first professional start. In his first 7 innings, he allowed only 2 hits. However, in the 8th, he gave up 4 runs. During the game, Koonce struck out 10.
8-27-68: St. Cloud and Sioux Falls were still tied for the league lead (38-25). Mankato (37-25) was only ½ game back.
Carl Barnes led batters with a .332 average. He was followed by Dick Hooper at .327. Dave Goltz held the best ERA with a 1.27 and Mel Behney was second at 1.55. Behney had an 8-2 record.
Mankato set a league record for team steals in one season when they had 3 stolen bases in a game vs St. Cloud. The new record was 84 which eclipsed the former short-season mark of 83 by Aberdeen in 1966.
9-2-68: Needing a victory to win the league championship, St. Cloud manager Carroll Hardy started his ace, Dave Goltz against Duluth-Superior after the Rox had won 2 straight against the Dukes. But, Goltz gave up 4 runs in the first inning while getting only one out. In desperation, he turned the game over to Tom Ferraro who did the improbable - shut out the Dukes for 8 2/3 innings. The Rox scored 2 runs in the 6th and 3 in the 8th for a 5-4 victory and the league championship.
Mankato won 2 or their last 3 games against Sioux Falls. Their game of August 30 against Huron was rained out and could not be made up. This did not allow the Mets to have the opportunity to surpass St. Cloud's 43-27 season record. Mankato finished at 42-27 - ½ game behind. Sioux Falls finished at 41-29 which was only 2 games back.
Dick Barnes, of Sioux Falls, won the batting race by hitting .330.
Al Clements (Mankato) won the best ERA award with a mark of 1.42. Tom Ferraro had the best record at 11-3.
9-7-68: The New York Mets said they would not renew their working agreement with Mankato for 1969 due to a lack of "local support".
Winnipeg returned to the league replacing Mankato for the season which was played between June 22 and September 1.
At the start of the year, each team's officers were: Aberdeen - D.W. Angerhofer, president and Dennis Maloney, GM (business manager); Duluth-Superior - Art Gustafson, president and Ken Nicolson, GM; Huron - Jerry Bales, president and Bob Beattie, GM; St. Cloud - Jim Gammel, president and Glenn Carlson, GM; Sioux Falls - Isadore Pitts, president and Daryl Witt, GM; Winnipeg - Terry Hinds, president and Gordie Wilson, GM.
League President Roland Parcel returned.
6-19-69: Aberdeen and Huron held an exhibition game in Watertown but only 600 fans came out to see Aberdeen win 11-4. It was hoped that Watertown would join the league in 1970. Grand Forks was another possibility.
6-22-69: Cold, rainy weather cancelled one opening day and severely reduced attendance at the two others which drew a total of 2,113 fans. Aberdeen drew 1,305 and Duluth had only 808 paid. Huron beat Aberdeen 10-5 as catcher Steve Salata, a former U. of Ill. star, had 2 doubles and a single with 6 RBI. D-S starter Steve Spanich pitched a 2-hit victory for the Dukes with 11 strike outs and 4 walks. Former Southern Illinois player, Barry O'Sullivan had 3 hits and 2 RBI for the port crew.
6-23-69: Former Holy Cross star, Pat Bourque, (Huron) drove in 7 runs with 2 singles and 2 home runs. One of his homers was a grand slam in the 17-8 victory for the Cubs over Aberdeen.
6-24-69: Sioux Falls was finally able to host their season opener after 2 rain outs. They swept a double header from Winnipeg before 1,424 fans. Don Gullett, Cincinnati's number 1 draft choice, threw a 3-hit 4-1 victory in the first game. In the second game, first baseman Greg Riddoch homered in their 5-2 victory.
6-26-69: St. Cloud's Wayne Parks, who was the winningnest pitcher in St. Cloud State's history, pitched a 5-hit shut out in his pro debut. In the 2-0 victory, he struck out 7 and walked 2.
6-69: Bob Simmons (St. C) pitched a 5-3 three-hitter over D-S. He struck out 5 and walked 3. Just one year previous, he was in a hospital recovering from wounds sustained in Vietnam.
6-29-69: Huron center fielder, Chris Ward, and catcher, Terry Childers, each hit 3-run home runs during an 11-7 win over Duluth-Superior. In 6 games, Ward had hit 7 of the team's 11 homers.
6-30-69: D-S turned a triple play in a game vs Huron. In the 9th inning, the Jim Massarand was the unlucky batter and Jim Brunette made the final out at home plate in the 9-1 Dukes victory.
7-1-69: Early standings showed Huron (6-1) in first place ½ game ahead of Duluth-Superior (6-2).
7-8-69: D-S (10-5) held a one game lead over St. Cloud (9-6).
Steve Salata (Huron) led the league in hitting after 4 games (17 at bats) with a .471 average. Chris Ward was 2nd at .462. In pitching Steve Spanich (D-S), Jim Todd (Huron) and Recardo Rodriguez (Huron) all had 2-0 records.
7-15-69: Duluth-Superior (14-7) held first place by one game over Huron (12-7).
Chris Ward led the league's hitters with a .395 average in 43 at bats. Jim Mueller (D-S) was at .356 after 59 ab's. Bob Simmons (St. C) and Steve Spanich had 3-0 records.
7-21-69: Doug Bird (Winn) pitched his 2ndconsecutive shutout. He struck out 7 and gave up 6 hits in a 2-0 win over D-S.
7-22-69: Duluth-Superior (17-11) held on to first place by ½ game over St. Cloud (17-12).
Chris Ward hung on to his batting lead with a .371 average over Jim Mueller (.368). Jim Price (SF) held the ERA lead with a 0.50 mark and Steve Spanich was 2nd at 0.60. George Weimer (D_S) had a record of 3-0.
7-69: St. Cloud catcher Jose Mata was unable to travel with the team to Winnipeg because the Venezuelan did not have a Canadian passport. However, he had applied for it and it was expected soon.
7-24-69: D-S starter, Steve Spanich, threw his 5thshutout of the season in a game against Winnipeg. He struck out 6 batters and allowed 4 hits in his 2-0 victory.
7-29-69: Chris Ward's average of .357 led hitters and Bob Burrows (Winn) was 2nd at .349. George Weimer led pitchers with a 0.67 ERA. Steve Spanich was 2nd at 0.75 and had a 6-1 record.
7-27-69: In another attempt at a league All Star game, the South Dakota All-Stars beat Minnesota-Manitoba 3-2. The South Dakotans were out-hit 8 to 9, struck out more often (6-7) and received fewer walks (1-3). The winners left only 3 men on base, while the non-Dakotans stranded 10 including 7 in the last 3 innings. Tom Klein's (Aberdeen) 2-run home run and Milt Ramiraz' (Aberdeen) RBI single were S.D.'s run producers. Bob Breitzman (Huron) hit a triple and scored a run for the Dakotans. Ross Sapp (D-S) drove in the 2 runs for the losers in the 9th. Attendance was 1,966 in Winnipeg and Sapp, who had 3 hits, was voted the MVP of the game. It was the league's last All Star game.
7-29-69: D-S's lead increased to 2 ½ games with their 20-12 record. St. Cloud (18-15) continued to be in second place.
Ross Grimsley (SF) threw a 4-hit 1-0 shutout over Winnipeg in the 2nd game of a double header. Grimsley, who struck out 7, was a star on the 1968 American Legion World Series winners from Memphis.
7-31-69: Steve Spanich's shutout string of 19 innings ended in a game vs St. Cloud. But, he still won the first game of a double header 3-2.
8-5-69: D-S (26-14) held the league lead by 3 ½ games over Sioux Falls (23-18).
Bob Burrows (Winn) took over the league lead in batting with a .359 average in 78 at bats. Jim Brunette (Huron) was 2nd at .349. George Weimer led pitchers with a 0.67 ERA and Steve Spanich was second at 0.75. Spanich also had a 6-1 record..
8-69: Steve Spanich was named the league's player of the month for July.
8-6-69: Huron catcher Steve Salata tied the league record for passed balls with 5. On the plus side, he had 4 hits, including 2 doubles, in a 13-10 loss to D-S.
8-7-69: Sioux Falls turned an 8th inning triple play during their game against St. Cloud to protect a 9-5 win for the Packers. With the bases loaded, the Rox' Dave Nieman lined a drive to first baseman Bill Hoelzer who caught the ball (1 out), stepped on first (2 outs) and threw to shortstop Tom Harris who tagged second (3 outs).
8-12-69: Chris Ward took back his batting lead with a .342 average over Jim Brunette at .336 and Jim Mueller at .335. Steve Spanich led pitchers with a 0.70 ERA and George Weimer was 2nd at 1.03. Spanich and Dick Arbogast (Huron) had 7-1 records.
The D-S Dukes (30-17) lead Sioux Falls (29-19) by 1 ½ games.
8-12-69: Ray Strable of St. Cloud completed his 30thinning without allowing a walk. The streak started on July 29 and set a league record.
8-13-69: Sioux Falls' Bill Hoelzer had 3 triples and 4 RBI in a 14-5 Packers' win over St. Cloud.
8-17-69: Winnipeg snapped a 6-game losing streak with a 13-5 romp over St. Cloud. Toby Heath, John Stanky, Ron Opatkiewicz and Doug Bird each had 2 hits.
8-19-69: Duluth-Superior still was in first place with a 36-19 record 2 games ahead of Sioux Falls (34-21).
Greg Riddoch became the league's hitting leader with a .342 average. In second was Jim Mueller at .337. George Weimer had a 1.13 ERA to lead pitchers and Steve Spanich was 2nd at 1.59. Spanich's record was at 8-2.
John Jackson (SF) pitched a one-hit 3-0 victory over Winnipeg in the first game of a double header. The only hit came in the 6th inning - a single from the bat of Ron McMackin.
8-26-69: D-S (41-21) held the league lead 2 games ahead of Sioux Falls (39-23).
Closing in on seasons' end, Jim Brunette had a .004 lead in the batting race over Jim Mueller and Bill O'Conner of Aberdeen (.356 to .352 and .352). George Weimer had the ERA lead with a 1.13 and Steve Spanich was 2nd at 1.53. Spanich still had the best record at 9-2.
9-1-69: Duluth-Superior won the league pennant by finishing with a 46-23 record which was 1 ½ games ahead of Sioux Falls who finished at 45-25. Third place St. Cloud was 13 ½ games out.
Jim Brunette won the league's MVP player award for August.
Jim Mueller won the batting crown with a .351 average. Jim Burnette finished in 2nd just percentage points behind.
Don Gullet won the ERA award with a 1.96. Steve O'Neill was 2nd at 2.68. Steve Spanich had the best record with a 10-2
mark.
League membership was changed with Winnipeg dropping out and Watertown being added.
The member club's executive officers were: Aberdeen - Robert Brown, president and Harold Fowler, GM (business manager); Duluth-Superior - Art Gustfson, president and Ken Nicolson, GM; Huron - Clifford Lardinols (Dr.), president and Bob Seanhorst, GM; St. Cloud - Nick Chanaka, president and Glenn Carlson, GM; Sioux Falls - C.B. Erickson, president and Daryl Witt, GM; Watertown - R.L. Moffat, president and Howard Lawles, GM.
Roland Parcel continued his rein as league president.
The season was scheduled to run from June 28 to September 7.
6-28-70: Bob White (Huron) hit 4 straight doubles (tied league record) to help the Cubs beat the league's new franchise, Watertown, 10-5.
Steve Houch (D-S) had 6 RBI from 2 doubles and a triple to lead the way for the Dukes' victory over St. Cloud 9-5. The Rox drew 1,045 to their opener.
In Aberdeen, with S.D. Governor Frank Farrar and League President Parcel counted in an attendance of 1,147, the Pheasants beat Sioux Falls 8-2. Bill O'Conner's 3-run home run lead the way for the home team.
7-7-70: Very early standings showed D-S in first place with a 7-0 record. Aberdeen was 2 games back at 6-3.
Tony Scott (Watertown) had 6 RBI in an Expos victory over Huron 10-9 which featured 8 home runs. Scott had 2 homers including a grand slam. Others getting home runs were Watertown's Dave Krull, Steve Angelo and Lincoln Clark. Cubs' homers were hit by Glen Stinson, Ken Hundley and Ignacio Bracamontes.
7-12-70: D-S won a game in the 11th inning by scoring 4 runs on a walk and 4 hits (including doubles by Hugh Yancey and Joe Talley) in the 9-5 win.
7-14-70: D-S (11-1) led Aberdeen (11-4) by 1 ½ games.
After 12 games, Joe Talley (D-S) led league's hitters with a .489 average. Dave Krull (Water) was 2nd at .458. Bill Kernan (Aber) had the best record at 4-0.
7-15-70: St. Cloud turned a triple play in the 5thinning, but lost their game to D-S 4-2. With the bases loaded, Danny Rourke lined to shortstop Darry DeGuire (1 out) and he threw to third baseman Mike Cavanaugh who tagged 3rd (2 outs) and then fired to 1st to catch the runner there (3 outs). The Dukes scored 3 runs in the 6th to win the game.
7-21-70: Duluth-Superior (14-3) lead Aberdeen (15-6) by one game.
Joe Talley led the league with a .482 average (56 at bats) and he was followed by Mike Derr (Huron) who also had 56 ab's but a .393 average. Bill Bourg (D-S) led pitchers with a 1.13 ERA and was followed by Bill Wall (SF) at 1.42. Gene Duhe (D-S) was 4-0.
7-22-70: St. Cloud pitcher Dan Vossler issued 7 walks and gave up only 2 hits to Huron. But, it was enough for the Cubs to beat the Rox 4-3. The Cubs had only one other hit in the contest.
7-24-70: Sioux Falls' starter, Bill Wall, entered the 8th inning of a game vs D-S with a 2-hitter and a 4-0 lead. After he allowed a run, in the 8th, the bases became loaded and Rick Lucke homered to put the Dukes up 5-4. The next hitter, Ted Nicholson, also homered to extend the lead to 6-4. The Dukes eventually won 7-4.
7-28-70: D-S lengthened their lead to 6 games with a suberb 21-3 record. Aberdeen was in 2nd at 17-11.
Mike Cavanaugh (St. C) led the league's hitters with a .385 average. Bill O'Connor (Aber) was hitting .371. Bill Bourg (D-S) had the best ERA of 0.72 and Paul Sullivan (Water) was 2nd with a 1.38.
Rich Blackstone (SF) pinch hit in the 8th inning in a 3-3 tie against Watertown. He singled in Chris Jones for a 4-3 Packers win.
7-29-70: Huron starter Rick Reuschel had plenty of support as his team beat Aberdeen 21-6 on 24 hits including 5 home runs. Bob Watson had 2 home runs and 3 singles with 8 RBI and Reuschel also contributed 3 hits including a home run.
8-2-70: Jim Davis (Huron) hit a 3-run home run to help the Phillies in a 9-0 victory over Watertown. The Cubs had won 6 of their past 8 games by scoring 51 runs on 60 hits including 12 home runs.
8-4-69: D-S (25-6) held a 6 ½ game lead over Aberdeen (19-13).
Bill O'Conner (Aber) extended his hitting streak to 20 games as he had 2 safeties and 2 RBI in a game vs Sioux Falls. However, in the 7th inning, he had to leave the game with a back injury. The Pheasants won the game 8-1.
8-11-70: Duluth-Superior's (31-10) lead expanded to 8 games over Aberdeen (23-16).
Bill O'Conner led the league's batters with a .380 average and in second place was Mike Cavannaugh with a .356 mark. Paul Sullivan led pitchers with a 0.88 ERA and Gene Duhe was second at 1.47.
8-13-70: D-S batter, Steve Houck, doubled off the center field fence in the 11th inning to drive home Dan Rourke for the winning run in a game against Watertown. The Expos had tied the score with 2 runs in the 9th and almost had the winning run score, but he was gunned down by Dukes' outfielder Lamar Johnson at the plate. The marathon 10-9 game lasted 3:50.
St. Cloud scored one run in each of the 8th and 9thinnings, in a game vs Sioux Falls, to send it into extra innings. In the 10th, Ralph Dick singled with 2 outs to score Rich Osentowski with the winning Rox run. The final tally was 4-3.
8-14-70: Aberdeen scored 5 runs in the 9th inning to beat Huron 8-6. The game winner was a 3-run home run by Terry Clapp. He had 6 RBI in the game which also included a 2-run homer in the 5th inning. The game lasted 3 hours.
8-18-70: D-S (35-12) still held a sizable lead (7 games) over Aberdeen (27-18).
Mike Cavannaugh held the batting lead with a .373 average. In 2nd was Bill O'Connor and Bob Watson at .351. Paul Sullivan, with a 1.02 ERA, led pitchers. Gordon Blackard (St. C) was second at 1.70. Gene Duhe and Dale Harrington (Water) had 6-1 records.
Huron relief pitcher Bill Bonham got himself into a bases loaded jam in the 9th inning of a game vs Sioux Falls in which the Cubs led 4-2 after 8 innings. Bonham then struck out the side to preserve the victory. He also had struck out 2 in the 8thafter coming in with one out.
8-20-70: The Aberdeen Pheasants and the Baltimore Orioles celebrated the 25th anniversary of the longest consecutive working agreement between a major league team and a minor league affiliate. Frank Cashen (Ex. V.P.) , Harry Dalton (Dir. player personal), Don Pries (Dir. player development) and Jim McLaughlin (minor league business coordinator) represented the Orioles at a game in Aberdeen.
In the game, Jim Juniel hit a pinch hit 3-run homer to bring the Pheasants to within one run 6-5. D-S had led 6-0 after 7 innings and held on to the one run victory. Lou Billmeier struck out 15 for the Dukes.
8-25-70: Duluth-Superior (39-16) was 6 ½ games ahead of Aberdeen (32-22).
8-31-70: In a 10-inning game, D-S beat Sioux Falls to clinch the league pennant. The Packers made it difficult as they scored 3 runs to send it into extra frames. The Dukes scored 2 in the 10th on Rick Lucke's run-scoring single and Lamar Johnson added the insurance run with another RBI single.
9-1-70: D-S had the league pennant wrapped up with a 43-19 record which was 9 ½ games ahead of second place Huron (33-28). Aberdeen was 10 games back.
9-6-70: Pat Bekeza of St. Cloud tied a league record with 5 stolen bases. Others who held the record were John Dzuiro, Don Anderson and Charlie Ferrante. Saint Cloud had a total of 10 thieves, on this date, for another league record.
9-7-70: Duluth-Superior (48-21) won the league championship by 10 ½ games over Huron (37-31) and 12 games ahead of
Aberdeen (36-33).
Steve Houck (D-S) won the batting championship with a .365 average. Bill O'Connor was 2nd at .348.
Paul Sullivan won the ERA crown with a 1.99 mark. Gene Duhe was second with a 2.18. Lou Billmeier had the best
record of 11-3.
The league opened it's last season with only 4 teams after having lost their oldest franchise, Duluth-Superior, and also Huron. The season was scheduled to last from June 23 though September 4.
Team officers were: Aberdeen - George May, president and Bob Braun, GM (business manager); St. Cloud - Nick Chawaka, president and Glenn Carlson, GM; Sioux Falls - Bill Stringham, president and Daryl Witt, GM; Watertown - John McHale Jr., president and [open], GM.
A. O. (Art) White, from Sioux Falls, became the final league president.
6-23-71: Opening day in Aberdeen drew 1,146 to see the home team beat Sioux Falls 4-3 behind the 3-hit pitching of Ed House and George Underwood. Catcher Harry Bilyeu's 3-run homer was the big hit for the Pheasants. The Packers' starter was Joaquin Andujor.who pitched a complete game and hit a 2-run home run.
Watertown defeated St. Cloud in their opener 8-7 by scoring 2 runs in the last of the 9th. Mike Liebeck scored the winning run on Eliseo Pompa's sac fly. The Expos were trailing 5-0 after 3 innings, but scored a total of 5 runs in the 4th and 5th led by Stan Todd's 2-run home run in the former inning.
6-26-71: Sioux Falls' relief pitcher, Ken Hansen, pitched well in his first 5 innings during a contest vs. St. Cloud as he gave up only 2 hits. However, in the 9th inning with the Packers having a 5-0 lead, Hansen walked 4 straight batters with 2 outs and the Rox scored 7 times. Sioux Falls manager, Dave Pavlesic, and his third baseman, Bob Welsch, were both tossed from the game in that inning. In addition, the umpires cleared the complete heckling Packers' dugout with all of the players being relocated to the bullpen. St. Cloud won 7-5.
6-71: In a game against Sioux Falls, Aberdeen scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning on a wild pitch. First baseman Dennis Silvery drove in 3 of the Pheasants' runs on 2 home runs and drove Al Bumbry into scoring position, in the 9th, with a single. The Packers had tied the score 6-6 in the top of the final frame on a homer by John Hale.
6-28-71: Watertown led the standings with a 4-1 record which was 1 game ahead of Aberdeen (3-2).
7-5-71: Watertown (6-4) was in first place percentage points ahead of Sioux Falls (7-5).
7-6-71: In a wild game before 1,170 Sioux Falls fans, the Packers beat Watertown 16-4. The home team committed 8 errors, but offset their lack of defense with 13 hits and an 8-run inning. Bob Welsh's grand slam was part of that uprising in the 4th. The Expos stranded 14 runners and scored 3 unearned runs. Fourteen of the Packers runs were earned.
7-9-71: Sioux Falls pitcher Mike Heintz (an 18-year-old rookie from Huntington Valley, PA) pitched a 3-hit 2-1 victory over Aberdeen. He had a one-hit shutout going into the 9th, but the Pheasants scored their only run on a bunt single and a double. Heintz threw 110 pitches in the game.
7-12-71: St. Cloud took over the league lead with a 10-7 record 1 ½ games over Aberdeen (8-8). Watertown fell to last place because of a poor 2-6 record over the past week.
7-14-71: Aberdeen had 17 batters come to the plate in the 4th inning of a game against Watertown. The Pheasants scored 12 times to take an overwhelming 20-1 lead. All of Aberdeen's starting players had a RBI including pitcher Bob Galasso who had 4 on 2 singles. Al Bumbry also drove in 4 with a bases loaded double and a home run. The final score was Aberdeen 26, Watertown 7.
7-16-71: Bob Welsh held the hitting lead with a .382 average and in 2nd was Barry Ulsh (SF) who was at .366. John Jackson (SF) led pitchers with a 1.88 ERA and was followed by John Moncier (St. C.) at 2.25 who also still held his 3-0 record.
7-17-71: Aberdeen's Doug Felderman hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th, but it wasn't enough to overtake Sioux Falls. The Packers scored 11 times between the 2nd and 8th innings to win 11-9. Barry Ulsh was 4-for-4 (including a home run) for Sioux Falls.
7-19-71: St. Cloud (15-8) held the standings lead 3 games ahead of Sioux Falls (13-12).
Bob Welsh (SF) had the batting lead with a .377 average after 61 at bats. Bob Bailor was 2nd at .373 with 59 ab's. Carl Woolford (Aber) led pitchers with a 1.29 ERA followed by John Jackson (SF) at 1.59. John Moncier (St. C) had a 3-0 record.
Watertown beat Aberdeen 14-7 led by a grand slam from Cannon Smith.
7-21-71: Sioux Falls pitcher Rex Goodson blanked St. Cloud 7-0 on a 3-hitter. He struck out 10 and had a RBI. The Packers' Barry Ulsh and Art DeFreitas each hit 2-run home runs.
7-24-71: Aberdeen buried Watertown 10-4 with 5 home runs in a rain-shortened 5-inning game. The Expos had the lead 3-1 after 3 innings, but the Pheasants Ole Bartley hit a grand slam in the 4th. Dennis Silvey had 2 homers, in the night, and Larry Harlow and Marion Jackson each had one. Bartley was 4-for-4 in the game.
7-26-71: St. Cloud's (19-12) lead was 1 ½ games over Sioux Falls (18-14).
7-30-71: Ken Hansen (SF) got his first starting assignment of the season and responded with a 2-hit shut out over Watertown 4-0. He struck out 16 as both of the hits he allowed were doubles that were separated by 6 innings. Hansen walked 5, but at one point, retired 10 men in-a-row.
8-2-71: With little more then a month to go in the season, St. Cloud (22-14) had a 2 ½ games lead over Sioux Falls (21-18).
Bob Bailor and Barry Ulsh held .364 averages to lead the league. John Moncier had a 2.12 ERA which was just ahead of Carl Woolford at 2.13. Ken Hansen (SF) had a 5-1 record.
8-3-71: St. Cloud won both games of a double header against Watertown. After a 1-0 warm-up victory, the Rox crushed
the Expos 17-3 in the 2nd game. Mike Graham and Gary Wolfe each drove in 5 runs with Graham's coming on 2 home
runs and Wolfe's from a single and a double. In the first game, Watertown pitcher Jim Fuller threw a 2-hitter in their loss.
8-9-71 Barry Ulsh took over the league lead in batting with a .394 average. Bob Bailor was 2nd with a .367 mark. Ken
Hansen continued to lead pitchers with a 1.80 ERA. Carl Woolford was 2nd at 1.91. Hansen had the best record at 6-1.
St. Cloud's (29-17) lead went to 5 games ahead of Sioux Falls (24-22).
8-10-71: Sioux Falls had a great but disappointed crowd of 2,700 on hand to see St. Cloud beat the Packers 15-5. Included in the 15-hit attack for the Rox were 2 home runs from Dennis Odom and 3 hits from Frank Suarez who also had 4 RBI.
8-15-71: Watertown's Larry Lintz led the way for a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over Aberdeen. The Expos trailed 6-5 after 8 innings when Lintz pinch hit for pitcher Dan Warthen. He responded by hitting a 2-run walk-off home run over the left field fence.
8-16-71: St. Cloud (33-20) held a 5 game lead over Sioux Falls (28-25).
Larry Harlow became the league leader in hitting with a .372 average and Barry Ulsh was 2nd at .365. Reg Rowe (St. C) was the ERA leader with a 1.75 mark just ahead of Ken Hansen's 1.77. John Moncier had the best record at 5-1.
8-22-71: Sioux Falls scored 11 runs in the 5th inning of a wild game with Aberdeen. However, it was all in vain as the Pheasants accumulated 23 scores in 8 at bats. Bob Bailor led Aberdeen with 7 RBI on a triple, double and sac fly.
8-23-71: St. Cloud (36-22) continued to have to have a healthy 5-game lead ahead of Sioux Falls (31-27).
Barry Ulsh took back the hitting league with a .352 average and in second was Bob Bailor at .347. Ken Hansen was reinstated as the ERA leader with a 1.60 mark and he was followed by Rowe at 1.91. John Moncier's record was 6-1.
8-28-71: Dennis Silvey led Aberdeen to a 13-5 win vs Sioux Falls. He had 4 hits including a triple and a 2-run home run. Silvey also set a league short-season RBI record by getting his 62nd.
8-30-71: St. Cloud's (38-26) lead increased to 6 games over Sioux Falls (33-33) and 6 ½ ahead of Aberdeen (32-33).
Bob Bailor led batters with a .353 average and Barry Ulsh was 2nd at .342. Ken Hansen led pitchers with an ERA of 1.78. John Moncier was next at 2.43 and had a 10-1 record.
9-4-71: The St. Cloud Rox (42-28) walked away with the league pennant by finishing 7 ½ games ahead of Aberdeen (35-36) and 8 ½ in front of Sioux Falls (34-37).
Bob Bailor (Aberdeen) won the batting championship with a .340 average. Al Bumbry (Aber) was second at .336.
Ken Hansen (SF) won the ERA crown with a 1.76 mark followed by Reg Rowe at 2.45. John Moncier (St. C.) had the
best record of 11-1.
In the February 12, 1972, edition of "The Sporting News", the "Aberdeen American News" sports editor, Larry Desautels wrote the Northern League's obituary:
"The Northern League, born in the depths of the Great Depression, came to the end of its run January 22 when League President Art White announced that it was impossible to find two more cities to replace Sioux Falls and Duluth, which had voted not to operate in 1972. This left Aberdeen and St. Cloud as the only remaining teams.
"The league established two baseball records during its existence. It was the oldest of the lower minors, beginning in 1933 and operating continuously since that time except for three World War II years. And it had the longest working agreement in the history of baseball.
"The Aberdeen Pheasants joined the league in 1946 and signed a pact with the St. Louis Browns. When the Browns move to Baltimore, the Pheasants remained part of the family. The 1972 renewal, signed at the close of last season, would have been the 27th. The Northern League started with teams in Brainerd, Crookston and Duluth, Minn; Grand Forks and Fargo, N.D.; Eau Claire, Wis., and Winnipeg. The seven clubs played traveling teams on their open dates in an era when the House of David, Kansas City Monarchs and other barnstorming troupes toured the country. Satchel Paige pitched in several games against Northern League teams.
"The end came when Duluth, which tentatively agreed to replace Watertown, decided not to operate and was joined by
Sioux Falls. That left only Aberdeen and St. Cloud from the four-team league of 1971. The Aberdeen club probably was
the most successful, ending its run with assets of about $20,000. Under present plans, the money will be kept in a special
fund with the annual interest being used to assist amateur baseball programs..."
Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball - 2ndEd., edited by Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, pub: Baseball America, Inc.
Northern League Records - 1971 Edition, compiled and edited by Howe News Bureau, Chicago
The Professional Baseball Players Database 4.0, pub: Old Time Data, Inc.
"The Sporting News"
"The Aberdeen American News"