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 Karpinski
brought out the fans with his talent for stirring the pot. (Edmonton
Journal, August 14, 1956) The big right-hander had a long pro career
which included a 29-5, 1.56 season in the Florida State League in
1949. 
Left
: The 1956
Lloydminster infield (left to right) : Eddie Morris, Benjamin Lott, James
Valentine, Curly Williams with manager Stan Karpinski. (Edmonton
Journal, July 3, 1956) Centre : Manager Stan Karpinski with the team's
GM Slim Thorpe
(Lloydminster
Times, September 5, 1956) Right : 2nd baseman Benny Lott
Saskatoon Gems, Ralph Mabee Cairns Field, seating 4,000, 380-440-275
Moose Jaw Mallards, Roy Taylor Exhibition Grounds, 4,500, 360-410-360
North Battleford Beavers, Emile Francis Abbott Field, 3,000, 285-3375-290
Edmonton Eskimos, Wayne Tucker Renfrew Park, 6,200, 310-488-309
Regina Braves, Pete Beiden Taylor Field, 6,506, 320-420-340
Lloydminster Meridians, Stan Karpinski Sportsman's Park, 2,500, 360-385-334
In
'56 at Lloydminster you guys needed a game, the last game of the season
against us in your park and you needed it for the payroll but it had rained
and the field was a mess. We're all there waiting and they poured more
gasoline on that field ... gasoline on the infield and lit the match and
then somebody in a car or a truck was going around in circles on the dirt to
try and dry it out. And then some more gasoline. I'd never seen
anything like that in my life. (Dale Zeigler, Edmonton)
 The 1956 season included an interlocking
schedule with the Mandak League, which by now had
become all Dakota and no Manitoba (the early league had only one American
team, Minot, in competition with the Winnipeg Buffaloes, Elmwood Giants,
Carman Cardinals and Brandon Greys. In '56 the Manitoba - Dakota
loop featured the Minot Mallards, Bismarck Barons, Williston Oilers and
Dickinson Packers. The American teams dominated, taking wins in 37 of the 46
games with WCBL clubs. The circuit would fold a year
later.
Williston, which had finished first in the
regular schedule, captured the league title downing Minot in the final
playoff. The Mallards had won four straight Mandak
championships. Dolph Regelsky of Williston won the batting
crown with a .362 average while Al Leap of Bismarck won the home run
derby, with 23. Again, Sugar Cain of Minot and Preston
Elkins of Williston were the top moundsmen. Cain finished with a
10-5 record and league-best, 2.29 ERA. Elkins was 15-4, 2.71.
Elkins, who had the most wins, also led in strikeouts, with 110.
The official standings and statistics (neither
those from Howe News Bureau nor the National Baseball Congress) were not
entirely accurate. They missed a few games, and mixed up some people (Stan and John
Karpinski). But,
they're in the ballpark. Remember, this is the pre-PC (personal
computer) era! The real final standings are up in the top
right corner.
 In
October, 1956 your 15-year-old statistician received a reply from Howe
News Bureau in response to my claim that some of their stats were
incorrect. The letter (with a 3-cent stamp) was signed by John F.
O'Donnell :
"Thank
you for informing us of our mistakes in the Western Canada League averages,
here are the corrections as we have them. Add a win to Stan Karpinski's
record making in 10-5, take a win away from John Karpinski, as a game in
question was credited to him instead of Stan. Zayas and Satalich were
credited with doubles instead of homers on the 1st. Take a double away
from each of them and add a homer to each. Ben Lott's record is
correct according to our figures, however on August 1 he was credited with
four for five according to the Williston scorer. Sincerely, John
O'Donnell, Howe News Bureau.
Among the year's outstanding achievements
were two late season starts by Jackie Bowes of Saskatoon.
Back-to-back one hitters! (In a third start, Bowes allowed five
hits.) Dale Zeigler of Edmonton had an incredible
season. Two, two-hitters, two, three-hitters, a couple of
five-hitters. The California kid won the ERA title. In 101
innings, he allowed just 68 hits and fanned 102. Control?
Another story. 79 walks, 13 hit batsmen and 11 wild pitches. Mike
Dayne (Dzingelowski) won 13 games.
However, the outstanding pitching performance likely came from wily veteran
Stan Karpinski.
Twice in the regular season he pitched both games of double-headers. On the
15th of July he tossed 18 brilliant innings as the Meridians took two from
Regina -- a three-hit shutout in the opener and one earned run in the
second game. He finished the season with a 10-5 mark and a 2.60 ERA.
The low point for the Meridians came on the
1st of August in a match up with Williston in one of the interlocking
contests. The Oilers were awesome in crushing 28 hits in demolishing
the home crew 22-3.
OFFICIAL
WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE LEADERS (From Howe Sports Bureau)
For the second straight season, Cliff Pemberton
of Saskatoon copped the Western Canada League individual batting championship with a mark
of .349 in 66 games, according to official figures released by the Howe News Bureau of
Chicago. Last season in 1955, Pemberton hit for a .360 average.
Phillip Oyler of Edmonton was runner-up
with a .333 average in 47 games.
Pemberton topped the league in hits with 90, total
bases
with 138, and three-base hits with nine.
Robert Herron of North Battleford bashed
out the most doubles, 18, and batted in the most runs, 60. Thomas Shollin
of Edmonton hit the most home runs, 12.
Jose Valladares of Saskatoon scored the
most runs, 58, and stole the most bases, 17.
Kenneth Guffey of Edmonton drew the most
passes, 53, while at the other end of the scale, Buddy Burgess of Moose
Jaw struck out the most times, 54. Norman Huletz of Regina was hit most
often by a pitched ball, 10 times.
Jerry White of Regina produced the most
sacrifice bunts, seven, while Robert Gerst of Edmonton and Edward
Morris of Lloydminster tied for the honor of supplying the most sacrifice flies,
four each.
Edmonton once again led the league in
batting with a .278 average and led in most runs scored, 356. North Battleford
topped the league in home runs with 44. North Battleford also won team
fielding honors with a mark of .955. Edmonton turned in two triple plays, which is
believed to be a league record, and led in double-play production with 66 twin
killings.
Dale Zeigler, Edmonton left-hander, topped
the pitchers in the ERA ratings with a mark of 2.32. He allowed 26 earned runs in 101
innings. Michael Dayne of North Battleford won the most games, 13, and
started the most contests along with Ronald Watts of Moose Jaw, at 17
each.
Douglas Gostlin of Saskatoon pitched the
most complete games,13. Thomas Garcia of North Battleford worked the most
innings, 142, and faced the most batters, 542. James Stevens of Saskatoon
struck out the most batsmen, 124, while Zeigler issued the most walks 79. Watts allowed
the most hits, 145, Ben Reniker of Moose Jaw the most runs, 86, and North
Battleford's Ben Griggs the most homers, 13.
It was all Granum in Southern Alberta.
The White Sox topped the standings of the Foothills-Wheatbelt League during
the regular schedule and downed Picture Butte in the playoff final. Granum won its third consecutive Alberta title beating Cold
Lake in two straight games as Willie Walasko threw a no-hitter in the
first game as the Sox won 4-0. Granum clobbered the Northern
representatives 28-1 in the second contest. The White Sox also took
home top prize money in three major tournaments -- Lethbridge, Calgary and
Worland, Wyoming, and shared top money at Lacombe when the final was rained
out.
 Walasko had one of the best-ever
seasons by a pitcher on the prairies. The Alberta native won at least
20 games (full records are not yet available) while losing just two in
league, tournament and exhibition play. Included in his mound efforts
were a no-hitter, a pair of one-hitters and a pair of two-hitters.
A young lefty from California, Pat Gillick,
tossed a seven-inning no-hitter for Granum in the Medicine Hat tournament
and followed that with a four-hit, seventeen strikeout performance to lead
Granum to the title in the Calgary tournament.
Aloha. The Picture Butte Indians had a definite
Hawaiian flair, via California's Coalinga College. Among the summer visitors
were (lef to right) Bobby Lee, Hans Pung, Dick
Takamoto, Mako Tashima, Willie Yahiro and
Larry Yogi.
At times there was a little friction between
the imports and the hombrews. "There was a limited number number
of girls in town", Greg Seastrom recalled. And, a few
years later, there would be a campaign to use only local players.
Greg
Seastrom : " A club owner who was pretty much responsible for
starting the importing of players didn't want to stop. When he got
voted down, it seemed he had bought home plate, so he went out and ripped it up
saying, 'I don't want any bushers crossing my home plate.' Floyd
Atkinson."
Pat
Gillick has confirmed one of those wacky stories from the early days of
the Foothills - Wheatbelt League.
"When Pat Gillick was playing for us (Vulcan)
he didn't win a game ... but in the middle of the
season George Wesley picks him up to go up north somewhere to play
in a tournament and he throws a no-hitter. Well that didn't
sit to well with the people of Vulcan. The next time he went
to the bank (to collect his pay), before they gave him the money,
they asked, 'Did Wesley pay you?' When Gillick said
yes, they said, 'We're docking that from your pay' And
they did." (Greg
Seastrom, Gillick's Vulcan roommate)
While
Gillick had trouble getting in the win column for Vulcan, he was money
in the bank on the tournament trial. Pitching for Granum, he
tossed a no-hitter to win a spot in the finals in the Medicine Hat
tournament. Two weeks later, Gillick pitched a four-hitter and
fanned seventeen to give Granum top prize in the Calgary
tournament. And, at Fernie, he pitched Granum to an 18-1 victory
and a spot in the finals.
"
... That's true! I was playing for the team in Vulcan, but played in those
tournaments with George Wesley's team in Granum and basically they said
if you're going to be playing with him you can draw half your salary
from the Granum White Sox and half from the Vulcan Elks. My salary
was $250 a month."
And,
just how did Pat Gillick travel up to Alberta?
"Actually,
I hitch-hiked from LA to Alberta. Well, money was tight in those
times and I was trying to save a little money. I took about four
days. I got into Salt Lake and went up to Idaho Falls and into
Helena and Great Falls and up through that way and just kind of
hitch-hiked along the way."
Are
you sure you spell Granum, V-u-l-c-a-n? Jim Lester's
introduction to Western Canada Baseball.
Sunday, June 3rd, 1956. Jim Lester, Greg Seastrom,
Augie Scornaienchi and Billy Joe Davidson
are still on the road in Billy Joe's two-door sedan. It's the opening day of
the Foothills-Wheatbelt season. Vulcan (where Seastrom, Scornaienchi
and Davidson are to play) and Granum (Lester's club) both are at home for
opening day double-headers. In an effort to go non-stop from Visalia,
California to Southern Alberta, the players rotate driving with the previous
driver stretched out in the back with the other three in the front.
They're already behind schedule when two breakdowns in Montana and a dispute
at the border about the import of Louisville Sluggers ensures they won't see
the first pitch of the season.
Tired, hungry and a bit disoriented, the four finally arrive in
Vulcan. Obviously, the game is underway. Dozens of cars circled
the field. "When they saw us there was hooting and hollering and
honking and cheering. We thought we must be pretty important. It
was like we were the President or something", said Lester.
What they didn't know immediately was that Vulcan had already dropped the
first game of the twin-bill 19-2 and was getting battered in the second
contest and the fans wanted some new players, any players. Lester
recalled, "Greg, Augie and Billy Joe went to suit up and when I was
asked to play I told them I had signed to play with Granum and I didn't want
to get into trouble. But, the man said he was the league commissioner and if
he said it was okay, it was okay. So I ended up playing my first game
in the league with Vulcan." The new blood helped to make
the score in the second game more respectable, but Vulcan still lost, 14-7.
And, there was a little more to the story, as Greg Seastrom related,
"There was the trip back to retrieve the car, which we lad left in
Great Falls for repairs. On the return we got stuck in a giant mud
hole in the unpaved road a few miles south of Vulcan. To get us out,
we all had to get behind the car and push. Have you ever seen what one
looks like after leaning into a car with its back wheels spinning in a mud
hole? We were suitably baptized by the muddy earth of Western
Canada."
Talk about changing times. For the amount of money the Texas Rangers
pay shortstop Alex Rodriguez for ONE AT BAT, the Saskatoon Gems ran their
entire operation for 1956. Gems ran a deficit of more than $6,000 on
expenses of nearly $45,000. Lloydminster managed to survive on
$29,000. See FINANCE
Southern California had its usual bumper
crop of prospects. Among those in the running for the top pro
rookie from the Southland were a pair of former Western Canada moundsmen.
Ted Ellis (Coalinga). Pitcher for Lexington, Nebraska State
League. Won 11, lost 1. Led league in percentage (.917) and had
ERA of 1.74. Struck out 92 in 98 innings. Age 22, 6 feet 3 inches tall,
weighs 180. Attended Coalinga High School and Fresno State. Signed for
Boston Red Sox by Tom Downey.
Darrell Martin (Exeter). Pitcher with Portland, Pacific Coast League.
Won 7, lost 2 and had 3.16 ERA. Played in highest classification league
of any recommended. Age 21, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 175. Attended
Exeter High School and College of Sequoias. (Los
Angeles Times, January 22, 1957)
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The Meridians would shock the Eskimos
in the playoffs and
come within one game of the championship and a trip to
the Global World Series. (Lloydminster
Times, September 5, 1956) 
