ManDak Baseball League 1950 - 1957

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1955

Prior to the 1955 season, the Brandon Greys and Carman Cardinals dropped out of the league, which then became an all North Dakota league when Bismarck and Dickinson joined along with Minot and Williston. The league continued to operate as the ManDak League. Zoonie McLean, the only player in the league to play from the beginning, agreed to manage the Mallards. Don Corcoran was the first player to sign for the season and he was soon followed by Joe Massaro, Duke and Ed Bowman, Dean Scarborough and Sugar Cain. Pitchers Neil Lettau, Bill Washburn and Warren Martin came back and along with Sugar Cain, these four pitchers had a combined 38 wins with only 10 losses in 1953 (79%). Othello Renfroe would not come to terms after leading the Mallards in batting average in 1953 and filling in at several positions.

Right handed pitcher Dirk Gibbons, formerly of the Brandon and Winnipeg teams, signed. He like McLean played in the inaugural season but Gibbons missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons while serving in the military. Left handed pitcher Barney Brown who played for the Brandon Greys in 1953 and Murray Richardson rounded out the pitching staff. New players included Joe Montiero in left field replacing Connie Juelke. Butch Davis, the all time batting average leader with .456 in 1950 with the Winnipeg Buffaloes was the new right fielder. Davis also won the batting crown in 1951 with a .406 average. Don Petschow was signed as a first baseman.

At the start of the season, 1955 Mallards were possibly the strongest team fielded in the six-year history of the team; at least it would appear so on paper. Five players had been with all three Mallard championship teams: Zoonie McLean, Sugar Cain, Don Corcoran, Duke Bowman and Warren Martin.

The season started out with the teams evenly matched and the Mallards playing .500 baseball. After ten games the Bismarck Barons were in first place with the Dickinson Packers only ½ game out. Don Petschow suffered a cracked bone in his left arm on June 13 and was unable to play until early July. Sugar Cain won his third start of the season and hit a 370 foot home run over the left-field fence.

Zoonie McLean hit three home runs and went 5 for 5 in a 10 – 7 win against the Williston Oilers at Williston on June 19. He raised his average to .478 and he already had seven home runs for the season.

The Dickinson Packers beat the Mallards 14 – 6 on June 23 and the Mallards stood at 10 wins and 12 losses. At that point it seemed that Bill Washburn, Warren Martin and Neil Lettau were not up to their 1954 forms. Sugar Cain was 4 – 0. Bill Washburn, Warren Martin and Neil Lettau were each 2 – 2. Barney Brown was 0 – 3 and Dirk Gibbons was 0 – 4. The Mallards, six games out of first place went shopping for replacement pitchers. Tom Horton, Dan Ahtipis, Ted Edmunds and Stan Milankovich replaced Brown, Martin, Washburn and Murray Richardson by early July. The Mallards continued to play around .500 baseball through July and remained 5 to 8 games behind the Bismarck Barons. The four new pitchers had a combined record of 9 – 4 but Sugar Cain, after winning his first six games, had three losses. Don Petschow re-joined the team on July 4 but was released July 23. Outfielder Bill Pinckard replaced him.

Dirk Gibbons pitched and batted the Mallards to a 9 – 8 win over the Bismarck Barons on Ladies Night, July 29 at Minot. Gibbons tripled in the tying and winning run and pitched two-hit shutout ball for 3 2/3 innings. In all the Mallards had 18 hits. Duke Bowman led the attack with five hits in five at bats including two doubles. Brother Ed had three singles. Joe Massaro had two doubles. Zoonie Mclean, starting pitcher Tom Horton and Bill Pinckard each had two hits. But there was trouble ahead.

Zoonie McLean suddenly resigned as manager. Zoonie whose .478 batting average had fallen to .360 gave the reason that managing was interfering with his on-field performance. Bernard Busse, head of the business education department at Minot Teachers College, took over for McLean on August 1. McLean stayed on as a player. Busse was a former Minot baseball star who had experience managing the local American Legion team. That same day, leftfielder Joe Montiero and catcher Joe Massaro notified the team that they leaving to accept offers to play in the Philadelphia Phillies organization at Schenectady, New York. Massaro reported that they were promised a chance to play AAA the following spring. Since August 1 was the deadline for roster additions, Business Manager Leo Gorder rushed to Chicago to find replacements. Gorder returned to Minot by train at 7:30 PM with three new players that went directly to the ballpark for an evening game. Included were outfielder Willie Patterson and right handed pitchers Rabbit Cartledge and Mel Duncan. All three players were in Chicago to appear in the Negro American League All-star game. Catcher Dewey Williams who had played for both Williston and Dickinson that season was signed to replace Joe Massaro. All four players played that night so as to be eligible for the playoffs.

The Mallards lost that game to the Dickinson Packers and were 29 – 31 and 9 ½ games behind the Bismarck Barons. The next day Bill Pinckard left the team. Injuries plagued the team in early August. Dan Ahtipis was released with a sore arm. Stan Milankovich was struck on the leg by a line drive. Sugar Cain injured his knee in a collision with outfielder Willie Patterson.

The revamped lineup now included Mel Duncan in left field, Don Corcoran in center and Dean Scarborough in right. Willie Patterson took over first base and Dewey Williams did the catching. Zoonie McLean, Duke Bowman and Ed Bowman held down their regular positions in the infield. Butch Davis was out of the line up with a leg injury. The Mallards completed a three game sweep of the Barons on August 10 but remained eight games back. Two new outfielders were added to the Mallards in late August. George Wopinek and Charlie Frey. The league granted a dispensation so that they were eligible for the playoffs.

The regular season ended on August 22 with the Mallards in third place, nine games behind the Bismarck Barons and three games behind the Williston Oilers. Their win – loss record for the season was 38 – 40. Pitching problems and eight straight losses at Dickinson had cost them their fourth consecutive pennant. In 1954 Neil Lettau, Warren Martin and Bill Washburn had a combined record of 27 – 9 but in 1955 they were a combined 8 – 10 and all three were released before the end of the season.

The opening round of the playoffs was highlighted by a first game pitching duel and several big inning offensive explosions. In game one, Sugar Cain surrendered just five hits to the Oilers but Williston held the Mallards to just three hits and beat the Mallards 1 – 0. Minot scored six runs in the 9th inning of game two for a 12 – 6 win. Ted Edmunds was outstanding in relief of Rabbit Cartledge. Zoonie McLean had three hits and Dewey Williams had three RBI’s to lead the Mallards. In Game three Dirk Gibbons pitched a six-hitter for a 7 – 2 Mallard win. Minot took a 3 – 1 series lead in game four with a 6 – 5 win. Williston scored  12 runs in the 7th inning of game five winning 16 – 9. Sugar Cain pitched a seven hitter that won game six 6 – 2 and the Mallards advanced to the championship series.

The last placed Dickinson Packers upset the pennant winning Bismarck Barons four games to one.

A league directive sanctioned both Dickinson and Minot to add replacement pitchers for the Championship series. The Packers picked up left handed pitcher John Fitzgerald who had joined the Bismarck Barons on August 20th. The Mallards brought in Lou Ciola to take the place of the sore-armed Stan Milankovich.  Ciola pitched for Austin in the Southern Minny League that summer. He was a veteran right handed knuckleballer with the St. Louis Cardinal Organization and had five years of Class A experience.

The Mallards opened the series at home. Duke Bowman stroked three singles and knocked in two runs in a 3 – 1 win. Dirk Gibbons struck out eleven and held the packers to five hits.  The win was Gibbon’s seventh in a row. In game two Mel Duncan hit a home run in the 8th inning and the Mallards won 4 - 3. Ted Edmunds was the winner in relief of Tom Horton. The series shifted to Dickinson where the Mallards were 4 wins and 9 losses during the regular season. Sugar Cain smashed a two-run homer in the 9th inning of game three to give the Mallards a 7 – 6 win Cain was pinch hitting for Dean Scarborough who was hit on the arm by a pitch. Ted Edmunds was again the winning pitcher this time in relief of Rabbit Cartledge. The Mallards finished off the Packers in game four 11 – 6 paced by home runs by Charlie Frey, Willie Patterson and Duke Bowman. Lou Ciola was the winning pitcher for the Mallards in the only game he ever appeared in for the team.

 

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