Minot Mallards Baseball

ManDak League

1950 - 1957

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News Archives - July 2005 through December 2005

 

December 2005

Dirk Gibbons:  Former Minot Mallard Dirk Gibbons visited Brandon, Manitoba in August along with teammate Armando Vasquez. Gibbons and Vasquez pitched for the Brandon Greys in 1949 when the Greys dominated the Manitoba Senior Baseball League winning 87 games while losing only 18. Gibbons won 19 games that season. The trip was arranged by Robert Huculak who is filming a documentary on the experiences of black baseball players that played in the ManDak League. Gibbons and Vasquez are the subjects of the film.

Dirk Gibbons, a righthanded pitcher for the Mallards in 1955, 1956 and 1957, won 14 regular season games and pitched spectacularly in several playoff and championship games. He was a ManDak League and Minot Mallard favorite.

Gibbons played in the Negro Leagues with the Detroit Stars, Indianapolis Clowns and New York Black Yankees He came to Manitoba at 20 years of age and played three years with the Brandon Greys and one year for Winnipeg Royals before joining the Mallards. He spent 1951 and 1952 in the Marines fighting in the Korean War and was named the “Soldier of the Week” in July 1952. Had he not missed these two seasons, he would be the only ManDak League player other than Zoonie McLean to play every season.

 Following his playing career, he coached, gave clinics and promoted baseball extensively in the Tampa Bay area. The Devil Rays had him throw out the first pitch in the opening of the Tropicana Stadium. Gibbons still attends the Negro League player reunions held at the Negro League Museum in Kansas City.

On Saturday, June 3, 2006 Gibbons and Vasquez will be inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. The induction banquet will be held in the Morden Recreation Center.

Other inductees include  the 1949 – 1951 Brandon Greys Team, Frank Watkins who pitched briefly for the Mallards in 1950 and 1951, and Barry Swanton.

 Barry Swanton is the ManDak League author and historian that contributed extensively to my research. Barry played, coached, managed, administrated and promoted baseball for 50 years. Barry has a new book that will be published in the Spring of 2006, ManDak League: Haven for Former Negro League Ball Players 1950-57.  The book can be previewed at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786425105/102-8163772-7328142?v=glance&n=283155
 

Warren Pilon of Prospect, Kentucky, contacted me in November about the Mallard player cards. Warren is cataloguing baseball cards of Negro Leaguers. So far he has catalogued over 40 sets of cards - more than a 1000 cards - that were issued since1974. The Minot Mallard set will be included. His work has gained the attention of Larry Lester who is on the Hall of Fame Selection and Voting Committee. The committee is working on special induction of Negro League players that will be announced in 2006. Warren can be contacted at wrpilon@aol.com.

Robert Huculak (see above) also contacted me for permission to use the cards in his film documentary on the ManDak League.

Carlos Bauer, former Chair of the SABR (Society of American Baseball Research) minor league committee, contacted me for a CD copy of my Minot Mallards Book. Carlos is researching player statistics. www.SABR.org.

Richard Ennis, who grew up in Eastwood Park and was a Mallard Knot Hole Gang Member, contacted me from Boise, Idaho.

Here are the changes for this month:

 

 

This Months fuzzy memory:

 

Fuzzy Memory – Ted Fowler (Player on the 1950 Mallards)

 

I remember a big fight in Winnipeg one night, when I tossed the ball over to our pitcher Anderson. He touched first base and the umpire called the runner safe. Anderson hit the umpire and a big fight erupted. Also, when the opposing managers went out to the mound to talk to their pitchers, Minot fans would whistle with each step the manager took, to the tune of “The worms crawl in-the worms crawl out, etc”

 

Rolling into Winnipeg one time we blew out a tire on the team bus right in the middle of the main intersection. We tied up traffic with players wandering around outside the bus. On another trip we were on the way back to Minot when someone made a nasty remark about the “Queen” in front of the customs people at about 2:00 AM. We were ordered off the bus while they went through all our stuff, even counting baseballs. Sometimes a couple of our guys who had female friends in Winnipeg would be AWOL getting back to the bus on time and we had to “round them up” or customs would give us a real hassle at the border.

November 2005

This month highlights the many amateur players that played in Minot for the 1947 - 1949 seasons that led up to the formation of the Minot Mallards Baseball Team. Many of the players were returning World War II veterans that probably enjoyed playing on "base" or "post" teams during their service years and wanted to continue playing once they returned home. There were four teams in 1947, five in 1948 and eight in 1949. The History page>Beginning now has rosters of the teams and a couple of interesting photos of Saul Davis and Darold Freund. The Images 4 page includes a 1948 Minot Merchants team photo. It's a little hard to believe that a town with a population of around 21,000 could field so many teams and players. But the returning servicemen were used to organized recreation and this was before television came to North Dakota. Take a look at the rosters; you might find your name or your Father or Grandfather. As always comments and additional information are welcome.

Here are the changes for this month:

This Months fuzzy memory:

Fuzzy Memory – Bill Guenthner  (Grown-up Minot Kid and Knot Hole Gang member)

 

Minot Municipal Ball Park was enclosed by a zigzagging concrete fence, about 10 feet high. In the outfield area, billboards were erected over the concrete fence. The billboards formed open triangular areas with the concrete fence. We would come to the park early on game days and climb up through the triangular area and jump down onto the field during batting practice. Sometimes we would stay sitting on the top of the concrete fence with our backs against the billboards. Just before the game started the PA announcer would scold us to get down of the fence before we got hurt. Then he would add that we should come down into the park. If we came in during batting practice we would go out onto the field with our gloves and “shag flies” with the Mallards. They would give us pointers to help us learn to be better. There must not have been any concerns about lawsuits back then. Sunnyside Elementary School was across the street behind the right field fence. There were always kids hanging out there during batting practice hoping to get a free baseball. There was quite a scramble when one landed there.

 

I like to think back about those zigzagging walls and how the outfielders must have had a tough time when a ball flew past them and rebounded off the wall. In most ball parks the ball would probably rebound more or less straight back but at Minot it would bounce to the right or left depending where it hit. This along with the outfield lighting with the light towers inside the fence and the spacious outfield must have made a difficult playing field for the outfielders. Sometimes the ball would land or bounce into the light tower and the outfielder could not get at it. When this happened, there was confusion about ground rules and that led to some pretty good rhubarbs. They tried installing barriers to keep balls out of the tower but the ball  sometimes got over or through the barriers anyway.

October 2005

Former Bismarck Barons catcher Bill Cash was honored in Wilmington, Delaware at the annual Judy Johnson Night Tribute to Negro League Baseball game. Each year a former Negro League Star is chosen as the main honoree. Cash played for the Brandon Greys and the Bismarck Barons of the ManDak League. He played for many teams but his performance with the Philadelphia Stars earned him spots on the 1948 and 1949 Negro League East all-star teams. He caught the entire 1949 game when the East team shutout the West team. Cash is considered an "A" list former Negro League player. I spoke with him and he has a clear memory of his days in the ManDak League. Those attending the game were given a copy of the card shown below. The card is 6" by 8". The back side summarizes Cash's playing career and includes a photo of Cash with teammates Harold Gould and Stanley Glenn also of the Philadelphia Stars. I have a few extra copies of the card which I am offering free to Minot Mallards website visitors that request a copy. Mailing charges are $3. If you would like a copy, send an email request to bguenthner@comcast.net . My supply is limited.

 

 

I received a nice email and book titled "Baseball in Fort Worth" (Texas) from Chris Holaday. You can find Chris's website on North Carolina baseball history at www.home.earthlink.net/~choladay1/. Chris has written several published books on minor league and independent league baseball.  Anyone who knows of other authors and/or website contacts on minor league and independent league baseball, please send me their email address or website address so that I can add it to my Links page.

Here are the changes for this month:

This Months fuzzy memory:

Fuzzy Memory – Larry Zeiszler  (Grown-up Minot Kid and Knot Hole Gang member)

 

I lived three blocks from the ball park and have fond memories of the Mallards. My friends and I would sometimes sneak into the ball park to play ball when the Mallards were out of town. Several times we were caught by the groundskeeper. He would kick us out and threaten to call the police. We liked to attend the games. Sometimes I would sell sodas and candy during the game. Other times we would sneak into the games or hang out outside hoping to get a foul ball or home run ball. There were times when the Mallards would let us onto the playing field during batting practice and we would shag fly balls. They let us have broken bats which we would take home and tape up so we could use them in our vacant lot games. I also remember the house just across the fence on the first base side of the field. There was an apple tree in the back yard and we would climb over the fence during games and help ourselves. We never were caught. During winter, the ball park parking lot was turned into an ice skating rink with a warming house. There were always dozens of kids hanging out there.

 

Head Groundskeepers

 

Over the past 55+ years there have been only three head groundskeepers for Municipal  Ballpark/Corbett Field: Art Emanual, Eli Anderson and currently Mike Littler. Mike has been the Head Groundskeeper since the early 1960's. The facility is maintained by the Minot Park District and these days, the field  is in excellent condition.

September 2005

You will find some interesting additions in this September update:

This Months fuzzy memory:

Fuzzy Memory – Jim Stadick  (Grown-up Minot Kid and Knot Hole Gang member)

 

We lived near Roosevelt Park where the park ball fields are now located. My brother Mike and I would walk over to the Mallards’ ballpark for games by ourselves. We were about six and eight years old. I remember a guy we called “old leather lungs” protesting just about everything. The ballpark was so big that there were no “cheap” home runs. During one game, Yogi Giammarco hit a homerun over the centerfield fence at the 460 foot mark. It seems he hit a lot of homeruns. Sometimes around the middle of the game we would move to empty seats in the grandstand and maybe even find a seat cushion to sit on. We liked to hang out in the parking lot hoping to get a free baseball fouled over the grandstand. After the game, we liked to go to the Keg restaurant adjacent to the ballpark.

 

Jim Adelson, Minot Mallard radio sportscaster 1951 - 1952

Jim Adelson screamed into Minot from the University of Illinois in 1951 and started his two season stint as the Mallard radio announcer right in the middle of a home game. All the kids got to know Jim and at least once we got into a big fight over his leftover popcorn after the game. Jim hung out a lot with the players and for the first season he traveled with the club for road games. But for the 1952 season, Jim stayed behind in Minot and broadcasted the games remotely which led to the following mystery:

The following is from Jim Adelson’s book Two Rolls…No Coffee published in 1990:

 

In my second year doing the radio broadcasts of the Mallards games, the radio station (KCJB) decided that it was too expensive for me to travel with the team. So I had telephones installed in the press boxes at Brandon, Carman and Winnipeg. I hired a guy in each city to do the play-by-play of the game to Laverne Jessen, my assistant in the studio at Minot who would listen and type the game in condensed version. As the game progressed, I would color it up and broadcast it over the local radio station. One evening after about three innings we lost our telephone connection and I soon caught up with Laverne. As he was frantically trying to re-establish the telephone connection, I decided to make up a fight. Since Duke Bowman was easy-going and slow to anger, I thought it would be kind of startling to get Duke involved. So I went on to describe a fictitious fight between Duke Bowman and the Winnipeg pitcher with both benches clearing. I managed to keep things going until we got re-connected and back to the game. So a day or so later Duke Bowman and the Mallards were back in Minot and Duke was at a local watering hole on Main Street when a guy came up to him and remarked to Duke that he looked pretty good considering the big fight he had in Winnipeg. I had some explaining to do when Duke caught up to me the next day at the ballpark. Note by Bill Guenthner- On June 17, 1952 which was Adelson’s first year in Minot, the Minot Daily News reported the following: Fists flared between Manager Ted Radcliffe [known as Double-Duty Radcliffe] of Winnipeg and third baseman Duke Bowman of Minot in the sixth inning of a game here. A Winnipeg base runner attempted to steal third base and was hit in his back by a throw from Mallard second baseman John Kennedy. The runner then collided with Bowman and there was some grappling and grumbling before they untangled. Then according to Bowman, Radcliffe, coaching at third base, told Bowman that he would hit him if Duke would remove his glasses. Bowman said he removed his glasses and was grazed on the ear by Radcliffe. Duke then punched Radcliffe in the nose as both teams rushed into the melee and fans dashed from the third base seats. Both were ejected from the game and fined by the league.

 

                                    

August 2005

This new website has generated more than expected interest in the Minot Mallards. I've heard from several "grown up Minot Kid's and Knot Hole Gang members". I corresponded with Duke and Ed Bowman who are doing well in North Carolina. These contacts were made thanks to Ed's Son, Matt. I even received an email from Jim Adelson, the enthusiastic Mallard radio sportscaster for a couple of seasons. Jim is retired and living in Arizona. Thanks to Carroll Rasch for contacting a large number of current and former Minoters and letting  them know about the website.

Chris Bieri, sportswriter for the Minot Daily News, wrote an article on this website that was published on July 16. The full text of the article can be viewed at http://www.attheplate.com/wcbl/news.html .

I have made several updates to the site since it was launched on July 4, 2005:

Barry Swanton's Book on the ManDak League

    Barry Swanton, ManDak League "enthusiast", has reached agreement with McFarland Publishing that his book on the ManDak League will be released in the spring of 2006. Barry and I have exchanged ManDak information over the past several years and we are always looking for information to help each other out. Barry's book will be chocked full of information on all the teams that played in the ManDak League. Beginning sometime this fall you can find information on the book by visiting McFarland's website at www.mcfarlandpub.com . I will post more information on Barry's book as it becomes available.

This Months fuzzy memory:

Fuzzy Memory – Carroll Rasch (Grown-up Minot Kid and Knot Hole Gang member)

 

I grew up in Minot and was a member of the Mallards "Knot Hole Gang" in the mid 50’s. I remember a pitcher named Cliff Lemme. He and his family lived up the block and we would beg his son, David, to let us see his dad's baseball glove. He would bring it out into the yard and we'd fight over who could wear it for playing catch. We would treat it like a holy relic, but when bored, would leave it lying out in the yard. More than once his dad had to go looking for it in a panic.  All of us thought we were Don Corcoran or Zoonie McLean. The ballpark was only eight blocks from my neighborhood. We would walk past it every day and, in summer, would grab our baseball gloves and hang out near the park, sending somebody in to see if we could hang out in the outfield and shag balls for them during batting practice. One of the Mallards would often hit us a few towering fly balls to chase as a reward. I remember getting under one and catching it and feeling as if I was the greatest. I also remember being invited to stand in the batter's box as one of the Mallards pitched. I was urged not to take a swing at the ball but I recall them coming past me at 60 to 90 mph.

James B. Sullivan, Minot Daily News Sports Editor

James B. Sullivan became the Sports Editor for the Minot Daily News in early September 1948, replacing Russ Smith who moved to radio and later became the first radio broadcaster for the Mallards. Sullivan played a mayor role in the popularity of the Mallards through his extensive coverage of the teams. Beginning in early April, as signed contracts were received, he gave detailed reports on each player. Then in late May, just before the season opener, photographs and team information were featured in a two-page spread on the team. During the season game summaries and box scores were given for all ManDak League games. Sullivan also wrote frequent columns on the teams and league business. A team photograph was usually published just as the playoffs got underway. Sullivan’s writings had  great style. This month his coverage of the 1952 final Championship game is now included in the 1952 Season section under History.

July 4, 2005

I made my annual trip to Minot in June and visited the ball park and met with some Mallard fans. As usual, Loyal Dart was hanging around the ball park. Loyal played amateur baseball during the time the Merchants and Mallards were evolving. Mike Littler, the ball park head groundskeeper for over 30 years talked about construction of the ball park and the many changes that were made in 1948 & 1949.

After returning home to Hockessin, Delaware I started building this, my first website. It's been a fun project and I hope to attract some  Mallard enthusiasts so they can enjoy the history of these teams. I plan to regularly update the website and add additional material some of which I hope to get from website visitors. I am especially interested in personal memories of these teams.

Fuzzy memory:

Fuzzy Memory – Ron Baldner (Grown-up Minot Kid and Knot Hole Gang member)

 The Mallard games were a great source of entertainment for me as a kid. We lived about six blocks from the ball park. Several years my parents bought my brother and I Knot Hole Gang memberships. Other years we would climb up on the fence in left field and watch from in front of the signs. One game we foiled an attempt to pull the wool over the umpire’s eyes. I believe the team that played the Mallards that night was from Winnipeg. One of the Mallards hit a ball that just barely cleared the fence for a homer but the left fielder had a ball in his pocket for warm-ups and he threw it against the fence sign just as the homer went over. He caught it and threw it to the infield. Several of us fence sitters jumped off the fence onto the playing field and raced in to the 3rd base ump. The grounds keeper came racing onto the field trying to intercept us but he could not corral all of  us and a couple made it to the Ump. We told him what we saw and then we were ejected. There was a big to do when Zoonie McLean, the manager, heard our charges but we were out of there. We were scared and thought we were in trouble when we got thrown out as it was not our first run in with the groundskeeper. We were keeping practice balls hit over the fence. He even came to our house to try to get some of the balls back and my Dad told him to leave. We never gave the balls back; we had an apple box full.

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