Miscellaneous Photos
Jim Adelson - Mallards Radio Sporstcaster
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 .
Othello Renfro in Photo with Elite Group of Major League Players
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 Mallard 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.
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 probably taken after the 1954 season and the team was likely an exhibition team. 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.
From The Sporting News, October 14, 1953
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.
Mallard Autographs
Thanks to Jim Stadick for sending a copy of his Minot Mallard autographs. Jim and his Brother Mike are grownup Minot kids and Knot Hole Gang members. These are extremely rare Mallard memorabilia. They are from the 1953 Season and were a birthday present from Jim's father. Niel Lettau joined the team on August 1. So the autographs were made after that. Also, if you checkout the 1953 Team photo on Images 4 you will see the same group of thirteen players as the autographs. Even Zoonie McLean is missing on both the autographs and the team photo.
Three grown up Minot kids that were Minot Mallards knot hole gang members: Joe Gavett, Ron Baldner and Jim Gavett. This photo was taken at a Sr. League softball game in Boise, Idaho. Jim and Ron are players on opposing teams. Brother Joe was in the Boise en-route to the North Dakota State Fair at Minot where he was set up to sell copies of his books about growing up in Minot during the 1950's.
Ron Baldner: 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.
Photos (left to right): Dirk Gibbons & Bill Guenthner, Barry Swanton, Gerry MacKay (seated in white shirt)
(1) Opening day button "found" while in Minot, (2) ManDak flag insignia on left sleeve of Mallard uniform, (3) Duck insignia from Mallard Uniform
Jim Headrick's baseball showing autographs of Eddie Bowman, Warren Martin and Connie Juelke
John Kelly
Yogi Giammarco
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.
Left - Giammarco selected as the most popular player at Utica.
Right - Giammarco at the 2004 reunion.
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.”