News Archives 5

Last year, I came across this remarkable photo in the book "Negro League Baseball, Photos by Ernest C. Withers". I was shocked when I spotted Othello Renfroe wearing his Minot Mallards uniform. The photo was taken by Ernest C. Withers. This book contains many (I would guess at least 100) photos of Negro League baseball and the photos are very high quality. The book was published in 2004 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc (www.abramsbooks.com). I highly recommend the book for Negro League enthusiasts. Now, about a year later, Jay Dell Mah of the Western Canada Baseball website. and a longtime supporter, sent me a copy of The Sporting New, October 14, 1953 that told about this team of well-known black ballplayers from the major leagues. So now, we finally know what year the photo was taken, the Team's name and leader and their game schedule. Thank you Jay!

Othello Renfroe was one of the most entertaining, popular, and best remembered Mallards. Roy Campanella, Larry Doby and Don Newcombe are Hall of Fame players. Most of the players are in their Major League uniforms. The photo was taken after the 1953 season. Dr. J. B. Martin was one of four brothers that owned the Memphis Redsox.

Standing: Bill Bruton, Junior Gilliam, Roy Campanella, Dr. J. B. Martin, Suitcase Simpson, Jim Pendleton, George Crowe, Don Newcombe, Joe Black, Connie Johnson. Kneeling: Larry Doby, Dave Hoskins, Bob Boyd, Othello Renfroe, unidentified, unidentified.

The 1953 barnstorming season, one of the most elaborate arranged in recent years, with three teams scheduled for Pacific Ocean trips, got underway on October 8 when the New York Giants, Eddie Lopat’s all-stars and Roy Campanella’s tourists started on their extensive exhibition travels.

Campanella’s club, starting with an inaugural game in Norfolk, Va., October 8 was booked for a tour that will cover some 10,000 miles and include three contests in Honolulu.

Campanella’s club, starting with its game in Norfolk, will make 28 appearances on 30 days, jumping from the South across country and over to Honolulu for the series with Lopat’s club, and then finishing in Dixie.

Campanella’s roster includes George Crowe, Braves, first base; Junior Gilliam, Dodgers, second; Jim Pendleton, Braves, shortstop; Larry Doby, Indians, third; Bob Boyd, White Sox, left field; Bill Bruton, Braves, centerfield; Harry Simpson, Indians, right field; Campanella and Othello Renfroe, catchers; Joe Black, Dodgers; Dave Hoskins, Indians; Connie Johnson, White Sox; Jim Tugerson, Knoxville (Mountain States), and Big Pat Scantlebury, Texarkana (Big State), pitchers.

The schedule for the Campanella club, going into this week, follows: October 11, Memphis, Tenn; 13, Louisville, Ky; 14, Chattanooga, Tenn; 15, Birmingham, Ala; 16, Atlanta, Ga; 19, 20, 21, Honolulu; 22, San Francisco; 23, Los Angeles; 24, Long Beach or San Diego, Calif; 25, Los Angeles; 26, Houston, Tex; 27, Beaumont, Tex; 28, Houston, Tex; 29, Dallas, Tex; 30, Little Rock, Ark; 31, Greenwood, Miss; November 1, New Orleans, La; 2, Hammond, La; 3, New Orleans, La; 4, Lake Charles, La; 5, Mobile, Ala; 6, Pensacola, Fla.

Jim Gavett and Ron Baldner grew up on Soo Street and now both live and play senior softball together in Boise Idaho. As kids there was enough years between them that they hung out with different age groups.

Jim Gavett wrote: I remember the Merchants and Mallards and went to many games. Most of the time my pals and I either hung out behind the grandstand waiting for foul balls or outside the wall in left field waiting for a home run ball. I remember that one of my friends, Richie Larson, lived in a house just beyond the left field wall. My cousin, Mike Nelson, lived just about 4-5 blocks from the ballpark on 14th street. The three of us would get together at Richie's house before the games in anticipation of catching some home run balls over the left field wall. Well there were several kids with the same idea so whenever one of the Mallards hit a home run there was a real scramble with all of us going for the ball. We thought that because Richie lived so close to the left field wall we had priority on home run balls. It didn't seem to work that way however.

Marilyn Bohn, one of my classmates at St. Leo’s School, worked in the concession stand at the ballpark. I tried to convince her that she should give me some free goodies but she never would. She came from a big family of nine kids and our parents were good friends. Patty, one of her sisters, was a good friend and classmate of Bill Guenthner.

Since I lived on the corner of Soo and Hiawatha Street, the lights from night games lit up my neighborhood. Some of my favorite players were Zoonie McLean, Sugar Cain and Yogi Giammarco. I remember Bob Tiller who was a backup catcher for a short time. He was a local guy. Also, third baseman Ted Strong from the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

We built our own ball field in the coulee just behind Soo Street and called it the “over the hill” field. We ran uphill to first base, down to second , up to third and down to home. There was a pit out in left field. If you hit the ball into the pit it was a “ground rule” home run. We put up a make shift outfield fence. The baseballs we used were the ones we got at the Mallards games. Some of the neighborhood kids that I remember playing there were Keith Shelton, Darryl Urban, Doug Frost, Roy “Punky” Hauglie, Ray Pederson and Dennis Torno. We played there almost every day that we weren’t playing midget league baseball. When we grew older some of the younger kids took over our ball field. My younger brother Joe, John Connors, Ron Baldner and Gerry Flom were some of them.

When I was a kid playing "midget league baseball" there was a field inside of the Mallards ballpark. It was probably the Merchants then but the field was in the left field corner.

Later, I played American Legion Baseball. My American Legion teammates included:

Ken Parge, Serge Garrison, Willie Becker, Jim Novak, Mark Butz, Ray Pederson, Gary Cranston, Darwin Schlag, Jerry Gray, Jim Bryson, Gary Leslie, Jim Fahey, Lyle Huizenga, Al Thomas and Lyn Valor.

Also, Keith Scheltens, Clayton Momerak, Richard Ronnie, Gene Harrington, Mike Timm, Harold Hauglie, Ronnie Wissler, Wayne Scott, Doug Frost, Tom Skadeland and Micky Mabin,.

We were having a American Legion practice at the ballpark and I put my class ring in a hanky and put in my back pocket. I pulled my hanky out to wipe my face. Well from that time forward my class ring was gone. If metal detectors were available back then I might have been able to find it. It could be several inches in the ground by now.

Ron Baldner wrote: The sloped ball field was not one I used often but some of the older kids played there. I remember Ray Peterson; an older Hatcherd, John Conners, Tracy Randall, Jim Gavett and Harlin Harstead playing there. My friends and I played on a field across the street from my house. There was a vacant lot between Oppens Grocery Store and Soo street. When someone would knock a ball off our house my Mom would come out and yell at us. When the Derheim crew from down by the Fairgrounds came up to our neighborhood to play us, we would go up to the other field. The Derheims had a pretty good family baseball team with a few other kids from their neighborhood.

We were the last house on Soo street. There was gravel road that ran down from South Hill and passed right next to our house. At night, from the Mallards ball park, the cars coming down the road looked like airplanes coming in for a landing. That rode is no longer there. We always just called it the Highway Department road.

The stack in the ball park photo shown in your October News was from the heat plant at the Valker greenhouse. We kids from the hood played there. Eventually my brother and I chipped away at the brick wall of the heat plant till we, and Jerry Krause knocked the whole building down. The chimney was demolished with great fan fair and we got to watch it drop. We were just bummed that it was not us that knocked it down. I believe that Gene Tripaner (St. Leo’s Coach) was on the demolition crew that summer. There was also a dam on the river that was used for the green house water. It was our favorite fishing hole. I have a great story about the bridge over the river by the dam. The site of the old green house was turned into the big trailer court.

Jerry Mikel wrote: I was the batboy for the Minot Mallards for the 1953 season. What an experience! I even warmed up the Mallards pitchers while catcher Joe Massaro put on his catcher’s gear between innings. I kept the locker room clean and polished all their shoes after each game. They were really a bunch of messy guys and spit tobacco and sunflower seeds that mixed together and stuck to everything in sight. Even though I had to cleanup after them, I loved every moment of it.

I remember Zoonie McLean, Ed Albosta, The Bowman brothers, Sugar Cain and Othello Renfroe. The players were good to me and looked after me on the road trips to Manitoba. They made sure I ate well and always gave me a good seat for the long bus rides. I remember we would put on our uniforms at the YMCA in Brandon and we just piled our clothing around the swimming pool. Meal money was $2 a day. I thought that was a fortune. My batboy pay was $2 from each player every two weeks. I think there are still a couple of players that owe me money.

In 1954 I gave up the batboy position and took a fulltime summer job shinning shoes at Elmer “Swede” Johnson’s shop next to Harry’s Tire Service. When I shined Sugar Cain’s shoes he would tip me a half dollar. I was on top of the world.

I have a copy of the 1953 team photo and some Minot Daily News articles. I received these from a lady that worked for the Mallards when they were in the Prairie League. My son lived in Rochester, Minnesota. He received a business telephone call from a woman in Minot. My son mentioned that his dad was from Minot and had been the Mallards batboy in 1953. She mentioned that she worked for a The Minot Greenheads of the Northwoods League. Well, the next time the Greenheads played in Rochester, the whole team was invited to my son’s place for a cookout after the game. Soon after the game their bus rolled down the street and stopped in front of his house. All the young girls in the neighborhood begged their parents to let them come over and meet the players. Afterwards, the woman sent me the Mallards photo and articles.

Congratulations to Barry Swanton. In October, Barry was awarded the 2007 Griffin Award at the Surrey (British Columbia) International Conference held in Vancouver. See March and May, 2006 News for information on Barry's book: ManDak League: Haven for Former Negro League Players.

I came across the Yogi Giammarco “Homecoming Scrapbook” compiled and published by Malio J. Cardarelli of Utica, New York.

Ettore “Yogi” Giammarco played right field for the Utica Blue Sox for the 1947 – 1949 seasons. The Utica team was an Eastern League (Class A) affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The 1947 Blue Sox team won the Eastern League pennant. The team photo included the following players and coaches: Ritchie Ashburn, Dale Jones, Bill Linderman, Orient Martella, Bill Jankowski, Rocky Tedesco, Bob Chakales, Frank Whalen, Bill Glynn, Stan Lopata, Pusey Caballero, Bill Pless, Bill Revels, Atillio Panananto, Yogi Giammarco, Vance Dinges, Jim Ackeret, Lou Heynan, Bill McGurk, Granny Hamner, Hilly Flitcraft and manager Eddie Sawyer. Players from the team that went on to the major leagues became known as the “Whiz Kids” for their outstanding play, winning the 1950 National League pennant.

Giammarco fielded flawlessly and was a .298 clutch hitter during the 1947 season for Utica. He was listed as a 5-foot-11, 190 pound lefthander from Poughkeepsie, New York. He signed with the New York Yankees in 1941, and then went to the New York Giants the next year before serving with George Patton’s Third Army and participating in the Battle of the Bulge. He joined the Phillies organization after the war.

Malio Cardarelli hosted the 82 year old Giammarco and arranged the homecoming held on June 21, 2004 in Utica. The event drew a large audience, a tribute to this extremely popular Utica baseball player who had been honored as Utica’s “most popular player” in 1949.

At the reunion Giammarco related that his favorite baseball memory came in 1954 when he played for the Minot Mallards. “There was a boy in the hospital there, maybe 15 years old, all crippled up. He was so happy to see us. He said to me “Yogi, will you hit a home run for me? Will you do it?” I said “Wow! Well Davey , I can’t promise you that, but I’ll tell you this – I’ll try. Would you believe it, The Good Lord made me hit one out for him. They got the ball and gave it to him. That’s the greatest thrill I had in baseball.”

Early in 1952 the Minot Mallards baseball team directors assigned Oscar Berg to recruit players for the upcoming baseball season. Berg was determined to improve the team that finished third in 1950 and 1951 seasons. He started out by re-signing standouts Zoonie McLean (shortstop), Sugar Cain (pitcher), Wally Jako (outfielder) and Jonas Gains (pitcher) from the 1951 team. Then he signed new players that would star on the team for several years including third baseman Duke Bowman, outfielder Don Corcoran and catcher Joe Massaro. Berg signed John Kennedy from the now defunct Winnipeg Buffaloes. Kennedy was considered the best second baseman in the league for the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Negro League veteran Quincy Barbee signed to play first base. Just prior to the start of the season, Berg completed the squad by signing outfielder Yogi Giammarco from Richmond of the Class B Piedmont League. Giammarco was recommended by Wally Jako, who had been Yogi’s teammate in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system.

Just the day before the season opener, local sports writer James B. Sullivan announced Yogi Giammarco’s arrival. The Mallards opener was at home with the Winnipeg Giants. Yogi batted clean up and in the sixth inning crushed a home run over the 330 foot, 20 foot high wall into the Sunnyside School playground. New KCJB radio sportscaster Jim Adelson and the fans went wild. Minot went on to win 3 – 1.

Yogi went on to have a stand out season for the Mallards setting a new league record for home runs in a season. See more on Yogi in his “biography”.

I was surprised early in October to receive in the mail a Mallards Prairie League tee shirt and three Mallard caps from Butch and Debby Jungling of Minneapolis.The Junglings were owners of "The Locker Room", a sports collectibles business located in Minot at Dakota Square and also at Lakewood Mall in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The tee shirt is black with a large "angry duck" logo. Looks good and fits nicely. I'll wear it the next time I'm in Minot. The caps were three styles. I got to know Butch and Debby from buying Mallard memorabilia that they auctioned on Ebay.

A big thank you to Jay Dell Mah of the Western Canada Baseball website. Jay, a longtime supporter, recently sent me additional information he came across on the photo that included Othello Renfroe with a team of well-known black ballplayers from the major leagues. See this photo in the the March 2006 News. Check back for a full report in the December News update .

Herb Parker, former coach, Athletic Director and Dean of Men at Minot State University died October 7. He was 86.

Parker was closely associated with Minot Mallards baseball teams in the 1950’s and 60’s. He served as traveling secretary, business director, umpire and held other positions. He coached several future Mallard players, including Zoonie McLean and Bob Tiller, while they attended college in Minot. I was one of the many Minot Kids that worked for Parker when he was in charge of the concessions at Municipal Ball Park. He was Dean of Men when I attended college in Minot.

Rod Romine, Minot Mallards sportscaster during the 1950’s and Parker’s friend for more than 50 years, said Parker had a terrific memory for sports and was a mentor to many young men.

Parker came to Minot in the fall of 1947 and taught physical education subjects, coached football, basketball and track. He was athletic director for 15 years. Herb Parker Stadium at Minot State University is named in his honor.

During the past few years I've come across some nice Minot Mallards memorabilia including autographs, scorebooks and photographs. One of my favorites is the snapshot of Duke and Ed Bowman (Images 2) sent to me by the Bowman family. Snapshots are rare but some of you probably have some stored away in the attic or basement. So if you think you might, please take a look in your old scrapbooks and photo albums. Let me know what you find and I'll make arrangements with you to borrow them and make copies for this website.

Barry Swanton and Jay Dell Mah ( www.attheplate.com/wcbl/ ) are working together on what they say may become a book on Western Canada baseball. Jay contacted me this month with new information on Mallards "ace" Sugar Cain's troubles with the Minot police. Unknown to me, Cain sued the police department for false arrest after 1956 vagrancy charges against him were dropped. This case caused a real "stink" in Minot as Sugar Cain was a highly regarded and fan favorite player for six seasons prior to the incident. Jay also found a 1957 article from Huron, South Dakota, that reported former Mallards outfielder, Connie Juelke was recruiting Zoonie McLean for the Huron Elks team. According to the article three other former Mallards, the Bowman brothers (Duke, Ed and Wally), played on that Basin League team. Here are photocopies of the two articles:

I just received some new information on Yogi Giammarco. I'll be working on that during October for the November News Update. Check back then

Yesterday September 30, on the last day of the 2007 baseball season, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals while the New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins. The Phillies now advance into the National League playoffs for the first time since 1993. North Dakota native Chris Coste, the Phillies #2 catcher, was behind the plate for the last three innings of the game. For more on Coste see News Archives for June 2007, and December 2006/ November 2006.

I attended the Judy Johnson Tribute to Negro League Ballplayers on August 18 in Wilmington, Delaware. The annual event is hosted by the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. This years guest of honor was Harold Gould former pitcher with the Philadelphia Stars. Other former players attending were Mahlon Duckett, Stanley Glenn, Bob Scott and Bert Simmons. Bill Cash, former Bismarck Baron and Philadelphia Star, usually attends but did not this year because of illness. The Blue Rocks and visiting Lynchburg Hillcats marked the occasion by wearing replica Negro League uniforms. The Blue Rocks wore fancy cream colored Kansas City Monarch uniforms. Lynchburg dressed as the Homestead Grays. The Blue Rocks blew two four-run leads but rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 10 - 9 win.

Judy Johnson who grew up in Delaware is considered one of the best third baseman of all time. Teams he played for included the Hilldale Daisies, Homestead Greys and Pittsburg Crawfords. He lead all hitters in the first Colored World Series in 1924. Judy Johnson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. His statue stands outside Judy Johnson Field home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

Shown below is the complete set (issued to date) of Judy Johnson tribute cards. One card with 5000 numbered copies is produced each season to honor a former Negro League player. The first card of the set was the Judy Johnson card issued in 1996. The cards are given away with admission to the tribute game.

Several of the honored players played for teams in the ManDak League in the 1950's and many other former Negro League players that played in the ManDak League played on the same teams with these players. Leon Day, former ManDak League player with the Winnipeg Buffaloes, is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Ted Radcliffe is a six-time Negro League all star player that played for the Elmwood Giants. Bill Cash was a catcher for the Bismarck Barons in 1955.

The cards are illustrated by Michael D. Mellet and produced by the Judy Johnson Foundation. The cards are 6 inches by 8 inches. The back side of the cards gives biographical information.

Andy Bakken was one of the original Directors of the Minot Mallards when the team first formed in 1950. He continued his association with the team and served as Club President for several years when the team played on the Northern League. His Granddaughter, Jolene Hennessy contacted me in July after visiting the Mallard website. She has an autographed baseball from the 1959 team. She and and members of the family have saved other memorabilia of the team and plan to share it for the website.

Thank you to Jim and Verla Rostad for sending me CD copies of Mallard radio broadcasts from the 1997 championship season. Included are the June 18 game that has comments by Joe Garagiola, and the September 6 final game of the championship series. The radio announcer was Todd Carter of KCJB. Shortly after the 1997 season, Todd left Minot and worked a couple other minor league teams before being diagnosed with ALS (Loe Gehrig's Disease). He died from the disease in 2002.

Well over a thousand people have visited this website since it was first launched two years ago on July 4th, 2005. Included are grown up Minot kids, baseball researchers and others looking for information about the Minot Mallards of the 1950's. Each month I add new information. Sometimes, just when I think, I'll run out of new things to report, someone contacts me with something new. It happened again in June when I visited Minot. Mike Littler, Corbett Field Head Groundskeeper, had two new photos that he came across since my last visit a year ago. One was an interesting photo of the ballpark taken during a game in (I think) 1949; the other was a team photo of the 1958 Northern League Mallard Team. (See 1958 Season page). During my visit, the Minot American Legion Baseball Team was hosting the Loyal Dart Invitational Tournament. Mike took me into the stands and introduced me to Jim and Verla Rostad. Jim was Club President and one of the owners of the 1997 Prairie League Champion Mallards. They were attending the games while they hosted five players from one of the visiting teams. Jim and Verla had me out to the "ranch" to show me some of their Mallard memorabilia. They presented me with two team caps and a seat cushion. They also loaned me a 1995 Mallard scorebook and team photo. This was the first information I received on that season and I now have a 1995 Season page.

I believe this photo was taken in 1949 during a Minot Merchants game. That's based on the light towers installed but the automobiles still allowed to park inside the ballpark. Thanks to Head Groundskeeper Mike Littler for this photo

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