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1949 marked the initial tour by the
California
Mohawks. The club, mainly California college kids, would
return as a barnstorming unit in 1950 before playing as the Medicine Hat
Mohawks in the Western Canada League in 1951. At least two of the
Mohawks -- infielder Pumpsie Greene and pitcher Curt Barclay
-- went on to major league careers.
 It
was quite a summer for Wayne "Wimpy" Stephenson who, among
other things, was the only non-black to suit up with an American touring team (see the link above to the
St. Louis Black Cardinals) :
" ... I was playing with
the Swift Current Indians at the time (1949). They put a pretty
good team in that league with Estevan, Regina, Moose Jaw, all
through there. Pretty well the whole team was imported ...
and they ran into financial difficulties about the end of June
so there was an exhibition game against the St. Louis Black
Cardinals ... after the game, I beat them that night,
about a 2-1 ball game, I noticed there was only ten guys
sitting on the bench so I went over to them and I said
gee, I'm out of a job as of tonight. This is the last
fund-raiser to help Swift Current pay a few bills and I said,
sort of as a joke, do you guys need another chucker for the rest
of the summer? The guy said, if you can be ready by eight
o'clock tomorrow morning, that's when the bus leaves, be on it
and you're part of the team. It just happened that quick you
know."
" ... Payday was immediately after
the game and we split it ten ways. Whatever it was, you got paid
every day, no salary or nothing, split the gate ... we
came pretty close to winning it in the big ball tournament in
Lacombe and that was a little bit bigger pay day but you know
your pay in those years would be anywhere from six bucks to
fifteen to maybe whatever on any given day. Old man Cobb out of
San Antonio he was the manager and owner of the club and he paid
the hotel bill and everybody looked after their own meals and
every once in awhile you'd stop and get a little dry cleaning
done if you had a rainy day or whatever. Most of the time
you were in that bloody bus trying to make the next
tournament."
The grand adventure ended in late summer at the US border crossing:
"
... At the end of the season, the Cardinals are going to Minot. We went
to Estevan and we stopped at Portal, which is the border crossing, and just
innocently pulled up to the border because we had plenty of time to get to
Minot for the evening contest. This is when the customs guy pulled me aside and
said you have no idea what you are about to do heading off to play a
cross-country tour with a coloured club and end up, supposedly heading for
winter ball in Puerto Rico. He detained me so long, fingerprints and
every excuse they could find to try to instill in me that at 19 years of age
you'd better not be thinking you're going to survive crossing the states.
Somebody will either shoot you or knife you particularly in Florida and the
southern states. And, the club couldn't wait because they had to be in Minot to
play. So that was the end of it. Off went the gloves, spikes and clothing and I
hitch-hiked back to Rosetown in my shirt sleeves."
Stephenson (on the origin
of his nickname, taken from a Popeye cartoon character with a
passion for hamburgers) :
" ...I think it started in about
grade five. Somebody took me to the bigger town and we got
introduced to hamburgers for the first time and I had two or
three of them and they started to call me Wimpy from that day
on. Funny how it sticks with you."
Marvin
Ligon, of The Ligon All-Stars (on a 1949 crowd in Regina) :
"I remember one
big day in Regina ... we were playing the Capitals and the park was full of
fans. I realized later that they were there to see Barbara Ann Scott who
had won the gold medal in figure skating in the 1948 Winter Olympics. If
that wasn't big enough, she used my glove to go out and throw the first pitch
and I didn't even get her autograph."
 Not all of the touring clubs met success. The San
Francisco Sea Lions decided to so some exploring on their
own. This item, from Regina, was carried in the New York Times :
"Harold Morris, owner of the San
Francisco Sea Lions, touring Negro baseball team, was a troubled man
when he arrived here today -- minus his ball team.
He said his players jumped the club and
signed to play with the Buchanan, Sask., All-Stars for the remainder of
the season.
He only "player" Morris has left is Sammy
Workman, an armless and legless performer who has been traveling with
the team.
The Sea Lions have permission from the
United States Immigration Department to stay in Canada until the end of
August, Morris said. A move, however, now is under way to have the
players deported to the United States for jumping their bond, he added."
(New York Times, June 30, 1949)
The
Muskogee Cardinals were among the barnstorming teams on the prairies
in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Cardinals claimed to a
record of 53-33 on their 1948 Canadian tour. Right-hander
Richard Werthern (left) was to be a mainstay of the 1949 squad.
He was reported to have turned down an offer from the Cleveland Buckeyes
of the Negro-American League to suit up with the travelling Cardinals.
Barnstorming teams, highly popular in Western Canada in the 1930s, began
to return after the Second World War as economic prosperity followed
followed some dark times for residents of Canada and the United
States
Fore ! Players had to be doubly careful during games in Stavely,
Alberta.
" ... Several times during the game, golfers encroached on and
interfered with plays in the outfield. In the first of the ninth,
one golfer was in the field as far as short and second base, while
several were in short center. They interfered and were the cause
of two miscues and might have cost Stavely the game. There should be a
distinct understanding and adherence to same, between the golfing and
baseball managements before someone gets hurt." (The
Claresholm Local Press, June 2, 1949)
The
Stavely Juniors came from behind with an eagle, make that five runs, in
the bottom of the ninth to top Claresholm 16-15 after Claresholm had
taken a 15-11 lead with five markers in the top of the ninth.
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Along
the way, playing-manager Ian Lowe led his charges to the
pennant in the Manitoba Senior League, to a thrilling playoff
victory, the title in an exhibition series with Minot, and
exhibition wins over traveling clubs such as the Ligon All-Stars,
Brooklyn Cuban Giants, Muskogee Cardinals, St. Louis Black
Cardinals, and San Francisco Sea Lions. Greys entered nine
tournaments and won top prize money in six and tied for first in
another. (Photo of Ian Lowe courtesy of Lil
Lowe)
thing you'll talk about the
night of Sept. 6, 1949, when the Brandon Greys beat Elmwood Giants in a
15-inning thriller." Canadian righthander Frank Watkins
(right) was both the pitching and hitting star of the championship game. 
The
Greys featured outstanding pitching. Walter Dirk "Bubblegum"
Gibbons (below right), a righthander, won 19 of 24 decisions and led the club with 229
strikeouts. He had a pair of one-hitters and fanned 18 in a single
game. Southpaw Winslow Means
(left) finished at 18-4 and fanned 218, including 18 in a single game (a
mark later tied by Gibbons). Means had a 7-inning, perfect game at the Indian Head
tournament and also had a one-hitter. Homebrew Frank Watkins, who
won 17 and lost just 3, was the hero of the playoffs as he not only pitched the
15 inning finale but drove in the winning run. Armando Vasquez
(below, left)
splitting time between first base and the mound, was a winner in 12 of 13
decisions.
An offensive sparkplug
for the Greys was Rafe Cabrera (right) who batted .316 and
played in all 108 games. Cabrera led the club with 129 runs, 13 homers and 89 runs
batted in. Ian Lowe, had the best average, .336.
Catcher Ramon Rodriguez (left) led the club (and likely topped all teams
in Western Canada) with 54 stolen bases.
