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At Cairns Field in Saskatoon,
Bob Herron hit a two-run homer to lead the Beavers to a 3-1 win before about
3-thousand fans.
North Battleford
beat the Saskatoon
Gems 11-4 in the deciding game of the final series to win their third straight
league title.
Gems won the NBC (National
Baseball Congress) Saskatchewan title with a 6-4 victory over Indian
Head Rockets to win the best-of-three series in two straight games (Gems won
the opener 6-1).
The NBC which, years later, would hold the
Global World Series, sanctioned certain events in an effort to declare
provincial champions.
Saskatoon fans picked Leopoldo Reyes
as the team's Most Valuable Player, Ezzie Diaz as the Most
Popular Player and choose Max Weekly, a southpaw who pitched
for North Battleford and Moose Jaw as the Rookie of the Year.
At the end of the regular season, the league
picked two all-star teams for a match at North Battleford. Emile
Francis' club nosed out Ralph Mabee's crew 9-8.
Mabee All-Stars :
Rip Robinett C, Sherman Watrous C, Jim Ryan 1B, Art Stone 2B, John Thompson 2B,
Curtis Tate 3B, Len Karlson SS, Bob Herron LF, Ken Nelson CF, Roy Dean RF,
Johnny Coleman P, Jesse Blackman P.
Francis All-Stars :
Jim Shirley C, Walt Tyler 1B, Sylvester Snead 2B, Leopoldo Reyes 3B,
Bob Rodness SS, Hiram Marshall LF, Rufus Johnson
CF, Johnny Lloyd RF, Ted Wills P, Max Weekly P, Bennie Griggs P, Frank Pickens P.
Regina's Hiram Marshall won
the batting title with a .353 mark but
North Battleford's Bob
Herron was the league's hitting star leading the loop in slugging
and finishing second in
the batting race. Herron led in homers (12), RBI
(60), doubles (17) and had a .341 average. North
Battleford's Johnny
Coleman and Saskatoon's Bennie Griggs each won 9 games to lead
the pitchers. Rufus Johnson of Moose Jaw had ten
straight hits in the playoffs.
The California kids, who started the season
for the Moose Jaw Maples (but were soon replaced), had quite a welcome to
Canada. A blizzard blew into the city covering the diamond in a
reported five to six inches of snow. The team was to have had a
weekend practice.
Some ups and downs for the Maples -- August
7th, Max Weekly tossed a three-hit shutout as the Maples beat Regina
7-0. Weekly struck out 12. August 12th, Darrell Martin gave up
15 runs on 16 hits in going the distance in a 15-13 loss. Martin
however had 5 RBI at the plate with two singles, a double and a triple in
four at bats.
The Mandak League
had a sterling finish. Minot Mallards won their final six games
to catch Brandon and tie for the league lead. Then, the Mallards took
a best-of-three playoff from the Greys (in two straight games) to win
the pennant. Carman Cardinals beat Winnipeg twice, both by 8-7 scores,
on the final weekend of the regular season to tie for third place. In
a sudden-death playoff for third spot, Cardinals won 3-2.
Superb pitching
from Larry Dempsey and Sugar Cain carried Minot to its
second straight league title. After dropping the first two games of
the final series, Mallards roared back to win four in a row, including a raucous
5th game which was handed to Minot by forfeit after Brandon refused to take
the field in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Dempsey registered
four complete game victories in the playoffs while Cain, 12-5 during the
regular season, picked up three playoff wins.
Dean Scarborough
of Minot won the
batting title with a .356 average. Pete Hughes of
Winnipeg had the most home runs, 13, and runs batted in, 66. Cain
and Ed Albosta,
also of the Mallards, with an 8-2 mark, led the pitchers.
"Mickey
Rocco, the former Cleveland Indian first sacker, was reportedly
clipped off the Minot Mallard roster because his salary was too high ...
he was drawing $800 a month ... Minot officials said he was released
because of back troubles but he's still starring in the Mandak League --
now as a member of Winnipeg Royals." (Saskatoon
Star Phoenix, July 8, 1953)
The four
Saskatchewan teams hooked up with the four
teams of the Mandak League (Brandon, Minot,
Carman, Winnipeg) in a series of inter-league contests.
In the first series,
the Winnipeg Royals beat the Saskatoon Gems 4-3 at Osborne Stadium in
Winnipeg. Mike Kanshin (who would suit up with
the Saskatoon team later in the season) pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to
lead the Royals to the win. An eighth inning single by Lou Louden
scored Bill Cleveland with the winning run. Bennie Griggs
went the
distance for the Gems allowing just seven hits.
The Mandak clubs had, by far, the upper
hand winning 20 of the 24 interlocking games played. (Clubs were awarded
two wins for a single victory if only one of the scheduled two games could
be played. Thus, Mandak teams ended up with an additional eight wins for
an overall record of 28 and 4)
In was in one of the inter-league games
that North Battleford's Roy Dean, upset at a third strike call, threw umpire
Ron French to the ground,
punched him several times and ripped his clothing. Dean was ejected. The
umpire finished the game. A 15-game suspension and a $50 fine was
the result.
Lloydminster
got a new ballpark. The
local branch of the Canadian Legion sponsored the new addition in
preparation for its annual tournament.
The Star-Phoenix noted " ... has been built along the same lines as Busch
Stadium in St. Louis. The Legion field will have ground rules
corresponding to those of the St. Louis park. The centrefield wall
is 400 feet from home plate, while the distance to the right and left
field barriers is 340 feet and 355 feet, respectively."
Canada eh? Cuban Roberto Zayas on
his introduction to Saskatchewan in the spring :
"The
first year I was in Saskatoon. Before we started the season it was
rain, rain, rain. We couldn't even practice and overnight it snowed
and we didn't know that. We were staying at the YMCA and the next morning we
all got up and saw all this snow/ The newspaper phoned and they came
over with hockey equipment and things like that and took pictures of
everybody in this park across from the YMCA. I didn't go because I was
too cold. I stayed in my room. It was the first time I had even seen
snow."
John Ducey
finally got a pro club. The Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders
won franchises in the Western International League. ("Live
and die in the W.I." was a slogan
 attached to the loop given the
number of aged veterans who suited up in the loop.) It wouldn't be a
long relationship. Burdened by high travel costs and disappointing
turnouts, the clubs
limped through 1953 and Calgary was forced to drop out mid-way through
1954. One of the Eskimos best remembered players would be Leon
Day, although he had a mediocre season with Edmonton. Fans had
no idea that Day was a Negro League star who was nearing the end of a long
career. In 1995, Day's exploits in the Negro leagues were rewarded
with election to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. (Photo
from The Rajah of Renfrew, Brant E. Ducey)
CARD FARM GETS NEGRO
Tucker Will Play Outfield for
Fresno Starting Tonight
 ST. LOUIS, May 26 (AP)--The Cardinals
tonight signed the first Negro baseball player in their organization to a
contract with Fresno in the California State League.
Leonard Tucker, 23-year-old outfielder,
will start tomorrow night's game against Bakersfield.
A native of Mounds, Ill., Tucker is a
student at Fresno State College. He is scheduled to play only home
games for the California team for the remainder of the season while he
finishes school.
August A. Busch Jr., Cardinal president,
sent the following telegram to Tucker:
"We welcome you to the Cardinal
organization. You are joining one of the greatest groups of athletes
in America. You have a fine service and college record and I hope
your professional baseball record will be a credit to all of us." (From the New
York Times, May 27, 1953)
(Tucker, who played with Kamsack in 1952,
would return to the prairies in 1957 to suit up with Saskatoon. In
1961, he'd make it up to Lethbridge for the playoffs.)
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) -- The Hot
Springs-Jackson, Miss., Cotton States League baseball game was
forfeited to Jackson here Wednesday night in a dispute over a Negro
pitcher.
A crowd of 1,700 booed when plate umpire
Thomas McDermott, Joe Thomas, Hot Springs general manager, and Jack
manager Duke Doolittle walked to the plate to announce the forfeit.
McDermott said he had been instructed by
league president Al Haraway to forfeit the game to Jackson, 9-0, if the
name of Negro pitcher Jim Tugerson appeared in the line-up.
Tugerson was warming up when the game was forfeited. (Regina Leader Post,
May 21, 1953)
No wonder ...
In Moose Jaw, manager Bill Peterson
finally got an answer to lefty Don King's control problems.
The pitcher's mound was measured at 66 feet from home plate. It's
supposed to be 60 feet, 6 inches. This revelation came Sunday (May
24th) when a soccer official
with a measuring tape catered to King's request and found the error.
Said King: "No wonder my pitches have
been falling into the dirt -- it will be different from now on."
(Regina Leader Post, May 25, 1953)
 Stan
Charnofsky, the playing manager of the Edmonton Eskimos in 1959, joined
his twin brother Hal in the Yankees' minor league system.
The
brothers both signed with the Yankees and played for a half-dozen seasons in
the minors. The 1953 photo
is from the Corbis Collection. The caption reads : Yankee
manager Casey Stengel looks a bit puzzled trying to tell the Charnofsky
twins apart. The problem will be still tougher for Stadium spectators, if
Stan (center) and Hal (right) ever appear in the Bombers' lineup. Playing
shortstop and second base, respectively, the brothers are slated to work out
with the Yanks and then join the Binghampton squad this season.
BROOKLYN (AP) -- Walter O'Malley, Brooklyn
Dodger president, said Wednesday that the Dodgers are in Brooklyn to stay
and it is silly for anyone to think otherwise. Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, August
29th, 1953.
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Dropped by North Battleford, Max Weekly, a
19-year-old left-hander, pitched the gem of the season in his first
start for Moose Jaw -- a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts.
Roy
Taylor stocked his Kamsack Cyclones with California college
kids, including catcher Bob Bennett, who went on to a Hall of
Fame career as a coach putting in more than 30 seasons at Fresno State.
The club won jackets 
(proudly
displaying the Canada Cyclones crest) for winning their hometown
tournament with three wins on the final day. Bennett (right), who
caught all three, belted three hits to help capture the title
game. 