News Archives

I received a request from Ryan Shiek for any baseball information on his grandfather Art Shiek who recently died. Art Shiek played "town ball" in the Bismarck/Raleigh North Dakota area in the late 1940's/early 1950's. Please contact me if you have any information that I can pass onto Ryan.

I was in Minot most of April. I made a couple visits to Corbett Field and had a nice chat with Head Groundskeeper Mike Littler. Mike is expecting a very busy season (see below). The ball field is in tip top condition with many games already being played. Corbett Field is home to the Minot High School and Ryan High School baseball teams as well as Minot State College. The Minot area is very dry this spring.

Minot Vistas Named as the 2008 Central Plains Regional Host
The Minot Vistas American Legion Baseball Team has been named the 2008 American Legion Central Plains Tournament Host. This will be the first time that a National American Legion Baseball Tournament will be held in Minot. The tournament is scheduled for August.

Wayne Hager, rancher/farmer from Rugby, North Dakota, has been digging out Prairie League Mallards (1995 -1997) items from his collection and sending it to me. This information can be found on the new 1995 Statistics Page and the new 1996 Media Guide Page . These item are nice additions to the website and helped identify more players that played for the Mallards. Wayne tells me that he is continuing to look for other items for this website. See more about Wayne in the March 2008 News below.

Fargo native and Philadelphia Phillies catcher Chris Coste released his latest book "The 33-Year-Old Rookie" (Ballantine Books) on March 18. I found mine at Borders Books in Christiana, Delaware on the release date. The book tells how Chris Coste finally, after eleven years in the minors, made it to the "Big Leagues". His journey started out with the Brandon (Manitoba, Canada) Grey Owls of the Prairie League. So Chris is one of a handful of players that played on Corbett Field in Minot and later made it to the "Big Leagues". This season will be the third season Chris has been a back-up catcher for the Phillies and the first season that he was on the opening day roster. See previous information on Chris Coste in the June 2007, December 2006 and November 2006 News pages.

Highly recommended baseball book. A great story, well written and hard to put down

In March I received word from Jim Gavett that his recovery from heart bypass surgery on December 14 (see below) is nearly complete and that his doctor has released him to begin "spring training" for several senior softball leagues in the Boise, Idaho area.

I enjoyed several interesting contacts in February. First was from Leslie Bowman Knight, daughter of Mallard player Wally Bowman:

My father was Wally "Walt" Bowman. He passed away 10 years ago this March 6th. I would really be interested in learning more of his association with the Mallards, as well as my uncles Duke and Ed Bowman. They are aging, and I am long past due learning about their youth, as my son Zack, who is 10 and following in his grandfathers steps playing baseball. I have heard there is memorabilia that perhaps was my fathers and/or my uncles, and I would like to see if it is possible to obtain something hopefully of sentimental value to pass on. I would really appreciate any information you could pass on or share with me. I thank you for anything you could do. [See note below on the Bowman brothers].

My name is Brooks Pederson and I grew up in Minot, ND. I came across your website trying to find additional information about my grandfather who played baseball in Minot. His name is Fergie (Ferg) Cranston. I saw a reference to a Fred Cranston on one of the team lists and am assuming it is him. Some of the information I have about him is he was inducted into the 2006 baseball hall of fame (Minot), Catcher for the original Minot Mallards baseball team, played on the 1937 State Champion Minot Merchants, Minot Legionaires, Dakota Transfer, 1941 Aakrann Bottlers, and 1946 Minot Elks State Softball Championship team. I have a ball from 1937 That says "1937 State Semi Pro Champs, North Gate 2, 9/1/1937, Bismarck, ND, and then lists the names of the people on the team most are tough to read. I don't know if you are interested in any pictures of it, but if you are I can send you some. If you were wondering, yes I was named after Brooks Robinson courtesy of my Grandfather.

Wayne Hager, a rancher/farmer from Rugby, North Dakota, listed a 1995 Minot Mallards scorebook on eBay in late February. I placed a bid and contacted him. Wayne was a big fan of the Prairie League era Mallards. He followed the team closely and put together a scrap book from the Minot Daily News articles and box scores. He also saved everything he could get his hands on relating to the teams. Wayne became interested in making a Mallards scrap book when he attended the Ward County Centennial in 1986 and saw a 1950's era Mallards scrapbook. (I'd sure like to find out who that belonged to.) He attended Minot State College in the 70's and was a student of Bob Lamont, one of the 1996 Mallards owners, and of Bernard Busse, the 1955 Mallards manager. He collected baseball cards of Northern League Mallards that went on to play in the Major Leagues. Copies of several items from Wayne are on the way to me and will be featured in the April News Update.

Duke (Faber) was the first of the three Bowman brothers when he joined the Mallards for the 1952 season. Duke played third base on the team from 1952 through the 1957 season. In 1957 he played a couple games early in the season to help the team out while other players had not arrived in town. Then he went on to Huron, South Dakota to play for their team in the Basin League. Later that season, he returned to Minot and helped them win the Championship. He was consistently a top player for the Mallards.

Ed (John) joined the team for the 1953 season. He was rushed to Minot arriving on opening day to play second base. John Kennedy, the 1952 second baseman, was a "no show" that signed to play for St. Cloud, a farm team for one of the Major League teams. Kennedy went on to become the first black player to play for the Philadelphia Phillies. (He didn't last very long). Ed played second base for the 1953 through 1955 seasons. He was a gifted fielder and hit for a good batting average.

Wally Bowman played for the Williston Oilers, another team in the ManDak League. He switched joined the Minot Mallards during the 1954 season. I was a big fan of Duke and Ed and was excited when I heard that a third brother was on the team. That was the only season the Wally played in Minot. I can remember games when all three brothers played the infield. All three Bowman brothers are on the 1954 team photo (Images 4 ). Bio's for the three brothers are on the Biographies 1 Page.

Kathy Teeter and her friend Paula Brophy contacted me in January about Mallard outfielder and utility player Jack Cooper. Kathy who lives in McLeansville, North Carolina is Jack's daughter. Paula is a family friend who lives in Columbus, Ohio. The two women visited the website on the first anniversary of Jack's death in early January. They were delighted when they found information and especially the photos of him in uniform. When Kathy contacted me, she said that they were the first photos she had ever seen of him in uniform. I 'burned" a CD of the Minot Mallards Book and copied several players cards and other information for them.

Jack Cooper, signed to play for the Mallards in late April 1953. He was a 25 year old outfielder from Greensboro, North Carolina, who also could play the infield. He was recommended to the team by Bill Washburn, a pitcher who signed to play for the Mallards and was also from Greensboro. Cooper and Washburn were teammates the previous season in Plessisville, Que. The article gave Cooper's 1952 batting average as .319, and listed him at six feet tall and 165 pounds. He batted left and threw right. He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals out of high school but was called to WWII duty before playing in the Cardinals system. He played for the Cardinal's farm team in North Wilkesboro, NC in 1948 and 1949.

Jack Cooper played for the Mallards for about a half of the 1953 season. He first played second base until Ed Bowman arrived a couple days late. The 1952 second baseman was a "no show" and Ed Bowman was rushed to Minot for that position. Then Cooper played other positions, filling in for injured players. Around mid-season, Ed Albosta, the manager, decided he wanted to add another pitcher and released him.

The past 12 months were another good year for the Minot Mallards website. Thanks to all of you that contacted me and contributed "fuzzy memories" and other information. Also to Jim and Verla Rostad, Mike Littler and Butch Jungling who donated memorabilia. I'm looking forward to the new year and hope to keep collecting and adding new material to the website. This past month I added a Fuzzy Memories page and about a dozen fuzzy memory items that were not previously put on the website. I hope this might encourage a few new ones from some website visitors. Fuzzy Memories are often mentioned as a favorite. I also moved the Grown-up Minot Kids list to a new page. Contact me (see below) if you would like your name added.

The West Coast Association Negro Baseball League was formed in October 1945 in Oakland, California by the High Marines Social Club and prospective team representatives. Teams included the Oakland Larks, San Francisco Sea Lions, Seattle Steelheads, Los Angeles White Sox, Portland Roses and San Diego Tigers. The Seattle Steelheads were formerly the Harlem Globetrotters barnstorming team.

The league wanted to provide profitable Negro baseball in major Pacific Coast cities. They played in stadiums used by teams in the Pacific Coast League while those teams were on the road. Teams also booked non-league games throughout North America. The Larks played home games at parks in Berkeley and Oakland, and in barnstorming games around the West and Midwest.

The league officially opened its first season April 1946. However, from the outset some of the teams had financial difficulty. The league struggled with some of the teams folding by 1947. The remaining teams carried on as a loose confederation before permanently disbanding in 1949. What had seemed like a good idea in 1945 during the baseball-starved atmosphere of wartime America lost its luster by 1947 as the major leagues returned to full operation. Interest in the Negro Leagues generally declined after Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's color barrier in 1947.

Jim West, a renowned Negro Leagues player from Philadelphia, brought several talented teammates to California to play for the Larks who were the leagues first champions in 1946. The Oakland Larks players in the photo are (left to right) Spec Roberts, Sugar Cain and Ira Wells. Since Sugar Cain lived in Philadelphia; he is possibly one of the players recruited by West. As some of the teams folded, players joined other teams in the area. Cain was with the San Francisco Cubs when they played in Minot in 1949. He reportedly played for the Cubs for the 1949 and 1950 seasons and played winter ball in Mexico. He joined the Mallards along with Othello Renfroe in 1951 and became one of the ManDak League's premier players. See more about Cain on the Looking Back Page and the Biographies 1 Page.

Jim Gavett, one of the Minot Mallards finest fans and "Grown-up Minot Kid", is at home recovering from heart by-pass surgery performed December 14. Jim reported that he is making progress everyday and hopes to be in shape for Boise area senior softball play in the spring. Jim has provided several "Fuzzy Memories" for this website. You can find them in the News Archives (April and December 2007). Jim can be contacted at jgavett@cableone.net .