ManDak League

1950 - 1957

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The Beginning of the ManDak League 

From 1947 through 1949, Minot fielded a baseball team named the Merchants that played against teams around North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada. They also played against barnstorming teams that visited North Dakota. George Howe, a long time North Dakota area baseball player and Eli Anderson a veteran amateur baseball player from the Crosby area founded the team in the spring of 1947. Anderson would later become the Municipal Ball Park groundskeeper in the latter years of the Minot Mallards. Howe and Anderson co-managed the 1947 team. Their objective was to put together a quality team that could compete in the North Dakota amateur baseball team in August 1947. Minot already had another amateur team named the Legionnaires. In order to qualify for the State amateur tournament, a team had to win in a league of at least four teams. So the Merchants and Legionnaires encouraged the formation of two additional teams and the Roxs and the Bears were organized forming the four team “Twilight League”. Local baseball talent was spread among the four teams. Future Minot Mallard Cliff Kempf was the catcher for the Legionnaires and Future Mallards Bob Tiller and Zoonie McLean played for the Merchants. Each of the teams played two “league” games against the other three teams. In addition to “league” games, exhibition games, were played against teams from other towns in the region and Canada. The Merchants and Legionnaires entered tournaments and took on barnstorming teams that visited North Dakota.

The Legionnaires won the Twilight League title and entered the State amateur tournament held in Jamestown August 27 through August 31. As most teams were short on pitchers, tournament rules allowed teams to add up to four additional players to their rosters. The Legionnaires added Bob Tiller, Zoonie McLean and Ed Claussen from the Merchants. The Legionnaires beat Wahpeton (1946 champions), Devils Lake and Luverne to qualify for the championship game but lost to the Mandan Trainers 11 to 8. Zoonie McLean performed well in the tournament and was named to the all-tournament team.

Prior to the 1948 season, the Minot Merchants decided to play as an independent semi-pro team rather than join the Minot amateur league. Eli Anderson took over as sole director, team manager and base coach. Their goal was to play in the State semi-pro tournament. The Merchants strengthened their 1947 team by adding Wes Cummings from the Legionnaires and pitcher Al Keck from the Mandan Trainers. Keck, along with several other players including Bob Tiller and Zoonie McLean were standout athletes for the Minot college. The Legionnaires entered the Minot amateur league and after the start of the season changed their name to the Minot Oscar’s Place better known as the Oscars.

The Merchants only played about two games a week that season and had a limited pitching staff. Opponents included local teams, teams from towns in North Dakota, barnstorming teams and semi-pro teams from Canada. Teams included the Muskogee Cardinals, House of David, Ligon Allstars, Brandon Greys, Estevan, Weburn, and Lawson.

The State semi-pro tournament was held July 29 through August 1 in Minot. Teams entered were the Minot Merchants, Stanley Cardinals, Fargo Bears, Grand Forks Coca Colas, Williston State Line and Lansford Blue Devils. The Merchants added Cliff Kempf, Gay Rasmuson and former Negro League and future Minot Mallard Steve Wiley to their tournament roster. The Merchants beat Grand Forks 5 to 1 in the championship game to qualify to play the Vermillion, South Dakota team for the regional championship and a chance to advance to the National tournament. The Merchants later declined this long trip to South Dakota for a single game as they did not have enough players available to play in the National tournament. Merchant players Zoonie McLean, Al Keck, Wes Cummings, Ed Claussen and Cliff Kempf were named to the all-tournament team

The Merchants finished the 1948 baseball season with 34 wins and 9 losses.

Cliff Kempf took over as manager of the 1949 Merchants. The team again decided to play as a semi-pro team. Steve Wylie who joined the team in late 1948, signed on as the Merchant’s main pitcher. The team started the season much like the 1948 season playing a couple games a week but then on July 1 the Merchants signed Otello Strong another former Negro League player. A few days later the Merchants added Otello’s brother, Ted Strong to the team as a power hitting third baseman. Ted Strong was in Minot on June 27 with the Harlem Trotters baseball team and blasted a home run out of the ballpark. That was a rare enough occurrence to gain a lot of attention with the Minot fans. Ted was also well known as a 13 year Harlem Globetrotter basketball player.

On July 9 plans were announced for overhauling the Merchants financial structure and scheduling policies. Manager Cliff Kempf reported that the club had a monthly payroll of $1600 and with other operating expenses was barely breaking even. Leo Gorder took over business management and scheduling for the team. Mayor H. C. Kiehn, Oscar Berg, and other local businessmen began soliciting financial support for the team and establishment of a board of directors. Gorder purchased a 20-passenger team bus to cut down on travel costs. Al Nybakken was named chairman of a committee that included Berg, Warren Bacon, E. M. Thompson, Roy Riemer, George Mellem and E. Tooley. The club added Allen Bryant, another former Negro League pitcher to the team and began playing 5 to 6 games a week.

The Merchants entered and won the 22-team baseball tournament at Indian Head, Saskatchewan on July 28. They won all four games they played that day pitching Jack Johnson, Otello Strong and Steve Wylie. Wylie pitched two complete game shutouts.

On August 23 and 24 the San Francisco Cubs traveling Negro team visited Minot and won a pair of games against the Merchants. This was their second pair of games in Minot that season. Future Mallard Sugar Cain went 6 for 11 with 5 RBI’s for the Cubs. Another future Mallard Willie Greene also appeared with the Cubs and then joined the Merchants team for the remainder of the season.

The Merchants played their final game of the 1949 season on September 11 and were beaten by 17 year old and future Mallard, Dirk Gibbons of the Brandon Greys. That win gave the Greys a 7 to 6 (with one tie game) record against the Merchants for the season to win the Barney Mollot Trophy that had been put up for the winner of the most games between the two clubs. Most of the games were exciting and the scores were close showing that Minot could field a competitive team.

Zoonie McLean ended the season with a .467 batting average with 144 hits in 308 appearances including 17 doubles, 13 triples and 9 home runs. McLean struck out only 11 times all season. Steve Wylie pitched  15 wins against 6 losses. The Merchants’ season record was 53 wins, 28 losses and 2 ties.

After the 1949 season the Senior Manitoba Baseball League that included the Brandon Greys, Carman Cardinals, Elmwood Giants, Winnipeg Vets and Winnipeg Winnipegs disbanded and in December 1949 regrouped and invited the Minot Merchants to join with them in the formation of a new league. The first known meeting that included a representative from Minot was held in Brandon, Manitoba on December 10, 1949 at the Prince Edward Hotel. James Dunn, president of the Senior Manitoba League presided. Prior to this meeting the Minot Merchants organization incorporated as the Minot Baseball Association and elected Roy Riemer president of a five member board that also included George Mellem, Earnie Thompson, Al Nybakken and Warren Bacon. Leo Gorder was appointed as business manager. Warren Bacon represented the Minot group at the December 10 meeting and accepted the invitation to join the yet unnamed league. A second meeting was scheduled for January 15, 1950 in Winnipeg at the Royal Alexandria Hotel to finalize a league constitution, develop a schedule for games, elect officials and name umpires. Attending for Minot were Roy Riemer, George Mellem, Warren Bacon and Leo Gorder. The new league was named the Manitoba-Dakota Semi-pro Baseball League; better known as the ManDak League. Other teams joining were the Winnipeg Buffalos (formerly the Vets), Elmwood Giants, Carman Cardinals and Brandon Greys. The league rules allowed unlimited “imports” instead of two allowed in the Senior Manitoba Baseball League. The rosters were limited to sixteen players with a monthly salary cap of $8500. L. J Peterson, manager of the Winnipeg ballpark, hosted a banquet following the meeting.

In March a contest was held to pick a name for the Minot team. Bonnie Rae Miller, a nine-year-old Minot girl, was awarded $25 for her winning entry suggesting the name Mallards.

Two early Minot baseball players 

Saul Davis came to Minot as a Negro League "barnstorming" player, missed the departing bus and stayed for the rest of his life. Saul became well known around Minot.

The photo of  Darold Freund was sent to me by his son Gary Freund and daughter Debra Kaudel. Not much is known about the photo but it looks to me like he is wearing a 1920 to 1940's era uniform and that he is in his early twenties. The photo was likely taken in the early 1940's. The location may be Minot State Teachers College (as it was previously known). The family would appreciate any additional information .

Minot Amateur Baseball Players 1947 -1949

The team player lists shown below were developed from Minot Daily News reports. Sometimes spelling varied between different reports and sometimes only a last name was given. Some players played for more than one team during the season or were picked up by a team for tournaments.

Any updates or corrections will be appreciated.