6-12-2013

Tri-State League 1924

The Tri-State League was the attempted successor to the Nebraska State League which ended play in 1923. Norfolk, Grand Island, Hastings and Beatrice came from the class "D" league. With the collapse of the South Dakota and North Dakota leagues in 1923, the thought of a Tri-State league was resurrected and the hope to attract enough franchises from larger cities to acquire class "C" status was the ultimate goal.

From the '23 NSL franchises, Lincoln returned to the class "A" Western League and Fairbury was dropped. Sioux City, which lost their Western League franchise to Lincoln and Sioux Falls of the defunct South Dakota League joined the four holdovers forming the Tri-State League whose president became Michael Grotto. However, it was not enough to gain the “C” status. The season was planned to open on May 8 with each team playing 120 games:

The opening season games were played in cold and wet weather. It was so cold in Beatrice that Judge Fred Messmore served formal and legal papers to Fred Wertz, one of the directors of the Beatrice club, that required the team to provide corn cobs for the grandstand heaters or he, the judge, would withdraw his support until the weather was warmer.

By early July, the Sioux City franchise was in deep financial trouble. [They had financial problems in the Western League the prior two years which resulted in Lincoln acquiring their class "A" Western League franchise]. George Seagrist, who had been with the Fairbury club in 1922 and tried to make a success of the Sioux City franchise, gave up in early July. He disbanded the club and released all of his players. Many of them were owned by the St. Louis Cardinals and it was up to them to find homes for the released players which included former major leaguer Pep Goodwin.

A last ditch effort to place a franchise in Aberdeen was unsuccessful and the league folded on July 17 with Beatrice and Sioux Falls tied for first place. Many of the league's better players were quickly acquired by clubs in other leagues.

The Sioux Falls entry was managed by Frank Boyle who had managed 17 prior years in the lower minors. Detailed statistics either were not kept and did not survive. However, the club's offensive leader was the league's batting champion - catcher Graeme Snow (.333).

Other regulars were Barney Cleveland (.277), Scott Dye (.282), Orville Mennard (.274) and Al Nolt (.244). The best part-timers were Frank Cleve (.333) and Heinie Schultz (.260).

The top pitchers were Vern Ulrigg (7-3), George Beck (6-4) and Buck Freeman (3-6).

[Other then printing a schedule and one other item, The Sporting News did not cover the league.]

1924 Standings:

Sioux Falls 1924 Batting:

Sioux Falls 1924 Pitching:

Sources:

The Sporting News

http://www.nebaseballhistory.com/second.html

baseball-reference.com

Old Time Data Inc. (Professional Baseball Player Database ver. 6.0)

A Century of Minnehaha County Baseball; compiled by Rex Stucker Chapter of SABR (1993)