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Lloydminster Meridians won two major tournaments,
Lacombe and Lethbridge. Meridians hammered the Northern Alberta
All-Stars 27-5 in the final of the Lacombe tourney and beat Calgary 9-6 in
the final of the Lethbridge event. Meridians also established an
unusual mark playing three tie games in three successive days.
Meridians
captured the pennant and swept the tournaments, but placed just one
player on the All-Star team. Lefty starter Ted Richardson
was the lone Lloydminster first-stringer. Lethbridge placed four
players, Calgary three and Saskatoon two.
All-Stars (with number of votes)
:
c Gary Herrington Sask 30, Larry
Koentopp Leth 19;
1b Lee Murphy
Leth 40, Marty Hurd Cal 15;
2b Rich Johnson Cal 35, Tom
Bergeron Lloyd 13;
3b Jim Lester Leth 25, Curly
Williams Lloyd 20;
ss Bob Bourbeau Leth 20, Barry Arnett Lloyd
15;
of Stan Busch Leth 42, Pete Estrada
Sask 39, Bill Casanova Cal 32, Mike Noakes Lloyd
18, Bill Fennessey
Cal 14, Bill Lynn Sask 12;
rhp Gene
Graves Cal 37, Dick Montee Leth 31;
lhp Ted Richardson Lloyd 32; u
JB Carroll Sask 18, Tom McGarry
Lloyd 14;
mgr Vic Stasiuk Cal 25, Cliff Pemberton Lloyd 22.
Those
votes (ostensibly from writers and broadcasters) sparked considerable
comment.
Don
Pilling, in the Lethbridge Herald, didn't agree with many of the
choices :
"
... Nobody asked us but if they did our WCBL all-star team this year
would have Larry Koentopp of Lethbridge catching, Cliff Pemberton of
Lloydminster at first, Tom Bergeron of Lloydminster at second, Jim
Lester of Lethbridge at third and, Barry Arnett of Lloydminster at short
... the outfielders would be Lee Murphy of Lethbridge in left, Bill
Fennessey of Calgary in centre and Norm Revis of Lloydminster in right
... the righthanded pitcher would be Roland Jones of Saskatoon and the
lefty Ted Richardson of Lloydminster."
John
Short, The Albertan :
"
... Cliff Pemberton was the best manager and the best hitter and
the best drawing card in the Western Canada Baseball League this season,
but he's probably yelping that Canada "ain't got no justice"
as he heads to his little red schoolhouse at Tulsa."
"Pemberton
took Lloydminster Meridians, who were last on merit, instilled
considerable spirit and all the confidence in the western hemisphere and
led them to the WCBL championship. He helped put people in every
park in the circuit and he took at least two players cast off by other
managers and made them standouts. He transformed Barry Arnett --
with considerable help from Arnett himself -- from a shaky fielder with
no danger in his bat, to a mature defender who covers the left side of
the infield like an Alberta hailstorm. Yet he was bypassed in favor of
Vic Stasiuk as the best manager in the circuit. Even Stasiuk, a
nice guy and tremendous competitor, didn't believe it." (The
Albertan)
In his wrap on the 1960 season, Don
Maclean in the Lethbridge Herald cited his choices for the
season:
"Most
Colorful Manager - Cliff Pemberton (Lloydminster Meridians whose slow
drawl and fast wit kept things from being an absolute drag some nights
here).
 Most
Colorful Player - Norm Revis (Lloydminster, who showed his eager
will to win in the Rotary Tournament here by diving headlong over a snow
fence in a try for a fly ball. He didn't get it. Wears his
sleeves cut off like Ted Kluszewski).
Most
Likeable Player - Bill Fennessey (Calgary Buffaloes who is the
perfect gentleman on and off the field and yet will do a dozen things well
to beat you).
Best
Liked Manager - Vic Stasiuk (Calgary. People took a
liking to him after it became apparent he had lost his head and was spending
money).
Best
Liked Umpire -- Three tied for second.
Best
Infield Arm - Jim Lester (Lethbridge White Sox who made plays
this year he never showed anybody in three previous seasons in Canada).
Best
Outfield Arm - Bob Peters (Saskatoon Commodores) and Pete
Estrada (Commodores). Peters, a pitcher, had such a good
outfield arm he was used sparingly on the mound. Estrada is a real pro
with a solid swing.
Best
Eye at the Plate - Stan Busch (Lethbridge who must have
averaged at least a walk and a half a game. What good a half a week is
we aren't quite sure).
Wildest
Display by a Player - Earl Ingarfield (Lethbridge who threw
bat and helmet into the screen in disgust after a called strike with such
force he fell down. Got up to continue the argument but was far back
in the line).
Best
High Jumper - Larry Koentopp (Lethbridge who got about three
feet off the ground twice this year from a still start after third called
strikes).
 Most
Talkative General Manager - Tied between Spero Leakos
(Saskatoon, at left), Gary Kirk (Lethbridge) and Vic Stasiuk
(Calgary). Little wonder one league meeting in Saskatoon lasted until
six in the morning.
Best
Long-Ball Hitter - Lee Murphy (Lethbridge - Baseball), Paul
Sereduk (Lethbridge - Golf).
Best
Bunter - Dick Hickerson (Saskatoon).
Most
Honest Workman -- Gene Graves (Calgary).
Pitcher
Most Likely to Get Water - Graves (Pumps oftener and harder than any
other in the league)."
Pemberton Batting King
(From the Calgary Herald - 31 August, 1960)
The batting race in the Western Canada Baseball League was strictly
no contest during the last two months of the season.
Playing manager Cliff Pemberton, who
led his Lloydminster Meridians to the WCBL pennant, grabbed the league title with a
respectable .398 average. His nearest rival, Con Munatones of
Saskatoon Commodores, was 55 percentage points back at .343.
Larry Koentopp of Lethbridge finished
third at .330, followed by Dick Hickerson of Saskatoon at .319 and Norm
Revis of Lloydminster at .315.
 Lee Murphy of Lethbridge
totaled the most
bases, 153, hit the most home runs, 18, batted the most runners across the plate, 52, and
tied Pete Estrada of Saskatoon for the most hits with 80. Stan
Busch of Lethbridge scored the most runs, 58. Bill Lynn of
Saskatoon bashed the most triples, seven, while Tom Bergeron of
Lloydminster took the stolen base honors with 15 thefts. Curly Williams
of Meridians hit the most doubles, 19.
Sterling Slaughter of Calgary is the best
pitcher ERA-wise with a 2.17 earned run average in 87 innings. Roland Jones
of Saskatoon worked the most innings, 127, struck out most batters, 119, and tied Ted
Richardson of Lloydminster, for most wins, 11, and most complete games, 10.
He also tied Gene Graves of Calgary and Paul Timme of
Saskatoon for most appearances, 22. Ed Hite and Sam Canner
of Lethbridge tied for most games started at 15.
 Satchel
Paige (left) and Charles Drummond (right), both of
whom spent time barnstorming in Canada, suited up in Wichita for the
National Baseball Congress tournament. Paige, who was the star of
the 1935 tournament with four wins in five games and 60 strikeouts,
added another win in four appearances for Weller Construction, the
Kansas champions. Drummond also pitched in Canada for Thetford
Mines of the Provincial League in Quebec (1955) and the Pacific Coast
League with Vancouver (1956 and 1957).
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Western
Canada Baseball League
