ManDak Baseball League 1950 - 1957

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1954

Expectations ran high for the 1954 season when many of the players from the two previous championship teams signed  to play with the team. These players were popular with the Minot fans generating interest in the team. By April 1, the Mallards re-signed nine returning players that formed a solid nucleus for the 1954 season. Included were utility man Othello Renfroe, catcher Joe Massaro, first baseman Dean Scarborough, second baseman Ed Bowman, shortstop Zoonie McLean, third baseman Duke Bowman, pitcher Sugar Cain and outfielders Connie Juelke and Don Corcoran. McLean agreed to manage the team as he had in 1952. Ed Albosta, the 1953 manager was not invited back so he joined the Carman Cardinals as their manager and pitcher. Pitchers Warren Martin and Neil Lettau returned to the team and 1952 slugger Yogi Giammarco started the season with the team. New pitchers Murray Richardson and Cliff Lemme were signed but only counted as one player since Richardson played only games in Canada and Lemme only games in Minot. Only twenty players appeared with the Mallard that season. Larry Dempsey was recruited but declined. He recommended pitcher Ernie Canada who was on the team from June 1 – 19 when he left for the military. Pitchers Bill Washburn from the 1953 team joined on July 5, Rollie Merrill from July 7 – 13 and Fred Parker from June 23 – August 22.

The Mallards opened the season at Brandon on May 24 after their home game opener scheduled for May 23 was rained out. Zoonie McLean and Connie Juelke could not make the trip because of their high school coaching duties. Pitchers Warren Martin and Larry Dempsey (who never did report) had not yet joined the team. In spite of the player shortage, the Mallards won 13 – 3. Acting manager Dean Scarborough pitched and went the distance for the win. Yogi Giammarco had a triple and two singles for the Mallards. Neil Lettau played first base for Scarborough, Renfroe played shortstop for McLean, and Sugar Cain played left field for Juelke.

After several rainouts the Mallards finally got their home season underway on Saturday night, May 30 and won 14 – 1 against the Carman Cardinals behind the four-hit pitching of Cliff Lemme. Othello Renfroe and Dean Scarborough each had three hits. On Sunday, Sugar Cain pitched a 6 – 4 win over the Cardinals. Don Corcoran had an inside-the-park home run and Yogi Giammarco hit a 380 foot home run over the right-centerfield fence. On Monday, Memorial Day, the Mallards completed the sweep by pounding the Cardinals 14 – 0 behind Neil Lettau’s three-hitter and were in first place. Joe Massaro had five RBI’s with a home run and two singles. Carman Cardinals manager Ed Albosta was ejected from the game for arguing a call at second base.

By June 15 the Mallards were 8 – 4 and at full strength. They remained in first place with a 1 ½  game lead. On June 22 they crushed Carman 13 – 2 at Winnipeg behind Sugar Cain’s second three-hit shutout of the season. Cain was 4 – 0 at that point. Connie Juelke drove in six runs with a home run, a double and a single.

The Mallards made it through the 4th of July Holiday intact and on July 5 had already won 20 games. They were in first place 5 ½ games ahead of second place Carman. Sugar Cain pitched his sixth complete game and was 6 – 0 as the Mallards beat the Brandon Greys 15 – 2. Cain also had a two run home run in that 19 hit assault. Zoonie McLean had two triples and Othello Renfroe had a home run. They continued their drive toward their third consecutive pennant. On July 16 they were 27 – 12 and 7 ½ games in first place. Sugar Cain won his eighth straight game without a defeat in a 10 – 0 win over the Brandon Greys at Minot. Ed Bowman had a two run triple in the first inning and followed with three singles in a row. Joe Massaro had five RBI’s and led the league with 45.

On July 17, Yogi Giammarco jumped the team as he had in 1952; this time to play for a team in Rochester, Minnesota. The Mallards considered legal action to recover a $150 advance they had given him earlier that day for a family emergency. At the time he was tied for the league lead with nine home runs and was batting .344. The Mallards decided not to recruit a direct replacement for him and Zoonie McLean moved to right field and Othello Renfroe took over at shortstop. The Mallards did sign the Bowmans’ older brother Walt to fill the roster spot but he was used sparingly. Utility player Wilbur Greene was also added to the roster in early August.

Neil Lettau won his eighth game in a row on July 29 to put the Mallards eleven games in front. The win was 9 – 5 against the Brandon Greys at Brandon. All three Bowman brothers played; Ed at second base, Duke at shortstop and Walt at third base.

The league held an all-star game at Minot on August 9 with the Mallards playing a team made up of players from the other three teams. A special rule was imposed that restricted pitchers to three innings. The Mallards, wishing to preserve their pitching staff, reported that Sugar Cain and Warren Martin were injured and requested the league to provide two pitchers from among the other teams. Williston Oiler pitcher Kent Geisler was assigned to the Mallards squad and appeared in the game. The all-stars bested the Mallards 14 – 4.  The all-star team included:

The Mallards beat the Carman Cardinals on August 10 to clinch their third consecutive pennant. Second place Brandon Greys were 12 games behind, third place Williston Oilers 16 ½ and the last place Carman Cardinals 21 ½. The Mallards finished the regular season on August 22 with 49 wins and 21 losses for a .700 winning percentage.

In the opening round of the playoffs, the Mallards faced the Carman Cardinals. Attempting to spur his overmatched team on, the series was marked by several ejections and a suspension of Cardinals’ manager Ed Albosta. The Mallards won game one 7 – 5 behind Warren Martin. In game two, Carman bested Sugar Cain 12 – 5 with 17 hits. The Mallards won game three 13 – 6 behind Duke Bowman’s seven RBI’s. Carman evened the series in game four with a 6 – 2 win and went ahead by winning game five 4 – 3. The Mallards came alive in game six with 15 hits including three each by Joe Massaro, Dean Scarborough and Sugar Cain. In the final game, Neil Lettau tossed a six-hitter and Duke Bowman and Don Corcoran were the batting stars in an 11 – 3 win.

The first two games of the championship series against the Brandon Greys were played in Minot. The Mallards split with Brandon losing the first game 8 – 3 and winning the second 11 – 10. In the second game the Mallards were behind 10 – 4 before rallying for five runs in the 7th inning and two more in the eighth. In game three, the Mallards took advantage of eight Brandon errors and eight walks to win 7 – 2. The Greys beat Cain 5 – 2 in game four to even the series. In game five the Mallards were down 6 – 0 after two innings. But another remarkable comeback, highlighted by a Don Corcoran homer and a two-run single by Zoonie McLean in the 7th inning, paced a 9 – 8 win. The Mallards won the championship the next day 9 – 0 behind Bill Washburn’s six-hit shutout. Don Corcoran had four hits including a home run.

The 1954 Mallards were the best of all the Mallard teams. They won 70% of their games compared to 59% for the 1952 and 1953 championship teams. They finished 10 games ahead of the second place Brandon Greys. The 1952 team finished six games ahead of Carman Cardinals and the 1953 team finished two games ahead of the Brandon Greys. The 1954 team had a combined batting average of .309 in the regular season. Their fielding percentage was a league leading .955. Sugar Cain had both the highest batting average and best pitching percentage. He batted .451 but the batting title went to Roy Weatherly of the Williston Oilers with .412 because he had enough qualifying number of bats. Cain was 11 – 1 pitching which gave the top percentage in the league. He also led the league in strikeouts with 98. He allowed only 34 walks and 69 hits in 106 innings. Joe Massaro led the league in RBI’s with 66 and hits with 92. Neil Lettau set a new league record in wins with 13. Joe Massaro, Ed Bowman, Zoonie McLean and Dean Scarborough led their positions in fielding percentage. Othello Renfroe batted .349, Duke Bowman .337 and Dean Scarborough .328.

 

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