The 1930s
GAME REPORTS 1930
(June 22) The Saint John Independents are playing a regular schedule in the Greater Boston Twilight League. Each week one of the Twilight League teams travels to Saint John for a four game series between Monday and Thursday, and the New Brunswickers travel to Boston for the weekend. Lloyd Stirling, the only local player on the roster, and outfielder Charles Sumner who played for the Boston Red Sox in 1928 were prominent.
In the six-team Greater Boston Twilight League. Saint John and Malden played to a 5-5 tie called on account of darkness. Dolan was on the mound for Saint John, Gourley for Malden.
(July 5) The Malden team in the Greater Boston Twilight League began its tour of Nova Scotia winning both ends of a double header against Westville 7-6 and 9-8. Billy Richardson went the route for the locals in the first game striking out nine in a losing cause.
(July 10) Truro defeated the Taunton, Mass. All-Stars 5-4 which featured heavy hitting by the visitors second-baseman Welch who homered in the first inning, and Proulx, Truro’s new hockey star, who smashed a home run, triple and double.
Taunton: McGill (L) and Roddy
Truro : Hopper (W) and (Johnson
(July 11) Taunton, Mass. played two games in Saint John today, the first against St. Joseph’s, the latter against St. Agnes. Taunton earlier defeated and tied Springhill in a double bill, and must field a fair aggregation to do that. In the opener Taunton pushed across a run in the tenth inning to win 4-3 over St. (Josephs. The second game was a beauty. Halifax’s outstanding pitcher Mellish Lane tossed a no-hitter for St. Agnes, while his teammates pounded Taunton starter McAvoy knocking him out of the box in the sixth inning.
(July 16) The largest crowd of the year in New Waterford saw the Dominion Hawks sideline the Taunton All-Stars 4-1. McAvoy held Dominion to six hits in a losing cause, and Salinger handled ten chances at shortstop brilliantly and demonstrated remarkable range. Bake McIntosh was the winning pitcher for the Hawks .
(July 19) Billy Richardson, one of the best hurlers in the Maritimes, held the visiting Taunton All-Stars to a single run in Westville’s 5-1 victory. Richardson notched eleven strikeouts and held the Massachusetts boys scoreless until the ninth inning.
(July 20) The Taunton All-Stars who won and tied their two earlier games with Springhill return to the mining town for another double-header.
(July 22) The North Attleboro A&P club surprised the Provincial champion Yarmouth Gateways winning a 7-3 victory. LeCain, who started in the box for Yarmouth, was relieved in the sixth by Surette after being touched for nine hits. Molack held the champs to six hits. Doug Horton’s triple was extended into a homer on an error by the Americans’ center fielder. Murray Veno had a double for the Gateways, and Miller and Donnelly had two-baggers for the winners.
(July 24) The touring team from Taunton, Massachusetts lost the opener to Springhill in the first game of a double header 12-9, but prevailed over Springhill by a score of 9-5 in the second.
(July 25) The Atlantic and Pacific baseball team from North Attleboro, Massachusetts is in the Maritimes to face a number of teams in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. At the end of August the James A. Roche Club of Everett, considered the strongest semipro team in New England will visit from August 25 thru the 31st. Organized four years ago, several of members of the Roche club are from the Maritimes and presently residing in Everett.
(July 28) North Attleboro prevailed over the Liverpool Larrupers by a score of 7-5 before a small crowd of 250 spectators.
North Attleboro 201 000 211 - 7
Liverpool 001 022 000 – 5
(July 29) The A&P team from North Attleboro tasted defeat for the first time in eight games on its Maritime tour, falling 6-3 to the Westville Miners. Billy Richardson, Westville’s star hurler got the win, while Molack was on the mound for the American squad.
(July 30) Springhill and North Attleboro split a double-header. The Miners took the first game 12-3 but fell 11-8 in the later game. Ackie Albon was on the mound in the first game for Springhill and in rare form. North Attleboro’s Noonan was sent to the showers in the fourth. McLeod took the loss in the second game.
(July 30) Fred Loftus led Malden, Mass. to a 3-1 win over Saint John in Greater Boston Twilight League action. Loftus had often appeared in the Maritimes with travelling teams during the 1920s. Malden and Saint John were one-two in the six team league that also included Portland, Roslindale, Dorchester and Quincy. Brother Frank Loftus was continuing his lengthy career in Organized Baseball.
(July 31) Pounding three hurlers for a total of 22 hits, including seven doubles, Amherst defeated the A&P team from North Attleboro 16-4. Burpee and Frank Cranton shared the mound duties and proved extremely effective.
(August 26) Saint John’s ace Lloyd Stirling was suspended by the club after refusing to pitch against the Dorchester club in the Greater Boston Twilight League. Stirling said he was tired after the long season and was through with baseball for the moment.
(August 26) The Boston Red Sox travelled to Saint John to take on the New Brunswick entry in the Greater Boston Twilight League. The final score was 7-5 for the big leaguers who held off a three-run rally from the locals in the ninth inning to secure the win. Ed Morris and George Smith pitched for Boston, Dolan and King for Saint John. There were a number of players with the Red Sox who were well known to the Maritimers including Maine native Charley Small who started in centerfield, catcher Bill Narleski and pitcher Danny MacFayden who had played in the region in earlier years. Saint John centerfielder Carl Sumner was with the Red Sox in 1928 hitting .276 in 16 big league games.
(August 27) The New York Broadway Clowns began a tour of Maine and the Maritimes defeating Bangor 2-0.
(August 28) The New York Bloomer Girls went down to defeat in Amherst by a count of 14-4 but showed flashes of good ball. Crane at short performed exceptionally well for New York, handling many hard chances.
GAME REPORTS 1931
(June 23) The New York Colored Giants lost both of their opening games on their Maritime Provinces tour at Woodstock by scores of 9-8 and 7-2. At Saint John the next day the visitors defeated the Trojans 7-3. The incessant chatter, sharp fielding and clever pitching by Robinson helped the New Yorkers to victory.
(June 25) Springhill Fencebusters and the New York Colored Giants will try to break the 1-1 deadlock in their series, in a battle of port-siders. On July 1 the Boston College Eagles will arrive to play a double header against the Fencebusters.
(June 26) The deciding match between Springhill and the New York Colored Giants was called off because of inclement weather. Manager John A. MacDonald of the New Glasgow club will give Pete Paris, star product of the Colored Wonders in the town league, a chance to show his wares in senior company when the New Yorkers come to town.
(July 1) The New Glasgow Colored Wonders defeated the Truro Sheiks 8-7 on the TAAC diamond. A home run by Truro’s Robert Mentis in the eighth driving in Jones and Seably was a highlight. Truro filled the basis in the ninth but fell short of tying the score.
(July 3) An Oriental baseball team is to play at Saint John with the Twilight League teams. They are said to be college stars from Hawaii, with some of them partly Japanese. They have recently toured Pennsylvania, New York, and the New England states.
(July 14) New Glasgow Seniors knocked off the Intermediate Colored Wonders 3-0 at the New Glasgow Athletic Field. The game was a pitching duel between Babe Whelan of the Wonders and Ray McChesney of the Seniors.
(July 22) Saint John continues to play in the Greater Boston Twilight league after being turned down by the New England League. According to the Bangor Daily News, “the visiting outfits from the Hub pay Saint John a four day visit every week and Saint John entertains royally, paying all expenses and handing out a cheque covering a percentage of the gate. When the Bluenosers hit the road to Boston they pay their own expenses and yet fail to lose money even away from home.”
(August 1) Frank Silva’s Connecticut Yankees will play a double header in Glace Bay on August 22.
(August 23) The Connecticut Yankees defeated an All Star Cape Breton squad at the South Sreet Grounds by a score of 8-3.
(August 24) The Connecticut Yankees are made up principally of college players. Harvey, the catcher, is 6’3” and 230 pounds, and will be the starting catcher for Georgetown University in the fall. The visitors won a second time over the Cape Breton All-Stars by a score of 11-7. McPartland, Yankees third baseman, delighted the crowd throwing out a base runner from behind his back.
(September 5) The Connecticut Yankees defeated Truro 11-2 before half a hundred shivering fans. In the unseasonably cold conditions sparkling plays and glaring errors alternated.
(September 8) Philadelphia Colored Giants, the classiest baseball aggregation to perform in Cape Breton for some time, trounced the Connecticut Yankees 26-3. Left fielder Blake led the Giants with a homer, three doubles and two singles.
(September 28) Bobby Mentis, first baseman of the Truro Sheiks, won both the 60 and 100 yard dash events in the Nova Scotia high-school interscholastic track and field championships.
Saint Stephen and Charlottetown were Maritime Senior finalists, with Saint Stephen winning three straight games to capture the championship trophy.
(October 7) The deciding match of the Nova Scotia Coloured Championship featuring the New Glasgow Wonders and Halifax Wizards, ended in a no contest when a heavy downpour in the fifth inning and a subsequent dispute involving players and spectators ended the contest. There was no decision on where and when to play the final game.
GAME REPORTS 1932
(April 26) Bobbie Brown, who pitched for the Westville Miners in 1930 and with Binghampton (Eastern) last year, made a successful major league debut in the National League as a member of the Boston Braves. Pitching against Dazzy Vance of the Dodgers, Brown held his opponents to five hits and the Braves won 4-1.
(May 13) Starting the season with a renewal of the winning streak which punctuated their championship season in 1931, the New Glasgow Colored Wonders handed Jack Smith’s Tigers a 7-3 setback in the opening contest of the 1932 campaign. The Wonders are slated to meet the Maxwell team of Westville later in the week before facing the New Glasgow Seniors.
(May 31) The Blue Granites coloured entry in the Amherst church league knocked off Trinity United by a 12-6 count. Carl Izzard was the winning pitcher.
(June 15) Several baseball teams from the United States expect to tour the Maritimes this summer. Arrangements are being made for the Philadelphia Colored Giants and Al Weston’s College Clowns to cavort in exhibition tilts with Glace Bay, New Glasgow, Halifax, Truro, and Yarmouth.
(June 17) The Saint John Shamrocks, made up mostly of New England professionals, will play a double header in Springhill, having obtained the approval of the MPBAA.
(June 17) Pete Sullivan, New Glasgow Twilight League catcher, is fast gaining the local “Ruth reputation” slugging home runs in a number of games.
(June 20) St. Stephen drew a crowd of more than 1,000 in Amherst, when they knocked off the Colored Blue Granites, behind the dominant pitching of Jim Cameron. Roy Halfkenney was the losing pitcher, giving up thirteen hits, many of which were for extra bases.
(June 30) The touring Harvard University Grads broke even in a double-header against the Springhill Fencebusters. Springhill took the opener 9-7 but lost the nightcap 6-2.
(July 17) The Maine Stars won the opening game of a double header against Fredericton 7-6 but fell 2-0 in the second game. Kentville native Wallace Barteaux caught for Fredericton in the opener, collecting three hits and accepting ten chances without an error.
(July 27) The Connecticut Yankees handed the Truro West End Rangers a 7-3 defeat. Stan Towle, on the mound for the Yankees, would play in the Class C Cape Breton Colliery League later in the decade.
(July 28) The Yarmouth Gateways and Connecticut Yankees played to a 7-7 tie which ended when a thunderstorm prevented further play. Surette was on the mound for the locals, while Stripling toed the rubber for the visitors.
GAME REPORTS 1933
(May 24) In a game between two black junior teams, the Truro Sheiks knocked off the Halifax Wizards by a score of 7-0. This was the first of a series of games scheduled between the two teams during the summer. Despite the one-sided score, good ball was handed out by both teams. Oz Meikle, Maritime boxer and pitcher last year with the senior Wizards, was on the hill for Halifax while St. Clair Paris, made his initial start of the year for the Sheiks.
(June 4) In the opening game of the Northern section of the Cumberland County League, the Springhill Bearcats defeated the Iron Dukes 12-11 in a fair game of ball before a good sized crowd. The Dukes held the lead until the sixth inning, but the Bearcats put up nine runs that frame to practically clinch the game. The Dukes used three pitchers: Harrison, White and Spence. John McNeill went the route for the winners.
(June 12) The Amherst All-Stars won their first game in the town league when they defeated the Blue Granites 7-2, one of the stronger black teams in the province. Long hitting and snappy fielding were features of the game, but a rally in the middle innings led to victory for the All-Stars.
(June 16) Liverpool defeated the Black Monarcas in exhibition game on the local diamond by a score of 7-3. “Tiger” Warrington, a young boxer who would go on to win the Canadian lightweight championship and headline many boxing cards in the United States, was on the mound for the Monarcas, racking up twelve strikeouts along the way.
(June 21) Softball fans were given a real treat at the Truro Park Diamond when the Blue Birds, defeated the Mic Macs (a First Nations team) by a 19-17 score. The native players led into the ninth when Bruce of the Blue Birds hit a home run with the bases loaded.
(June 27) Playing the final game on the schedule for the first round of the local church league, the all- black Blue Granites upset expectations when they defeated the Amherst All-Stars 6-5. The All-Stars have all the veteran players of the town, but with Carl Izzard on the mound, the Blue Granites prevailed. Some remarkable fielding plays halted numerous rallies. John Smith and George Whyte shared mound duties for the All-Stars.
(July 4) In a great game on the Halifax Commons witnessed by over 1,000 fans the Halifax Zion Rovers defeated the Truro Junior Sheiks 6-3 and remained in contention for the MacCallum Cup. Meikle for Halifax and Parris for Truro were the opposing hurlers. Both were in fine form and pitched steady ball throughout. W. Jackson, star catcher for the all- black Sheiks from Truro, was injured in the fifth and rushed to the Victoria General Hospital.
(July 26) Frank Silva’s Connecticut Yankees, perennial visitors to the Maritimes, defeated the Maritime Champion St. Stephen Kiwanis 3-0 to open their 1933 swing through the region.
(October 15) St. Stephen- St.Croix Kiwanis won the opening game of the Maritime baseball championships against Springhill by a score of 3-2. Roy Boles was the winner over Springhill’s Copie LeBlanc besting former Yarmouth star Purney Fuller who was on the mound for Springhill. Springhill entered the final series after knocking off Halifax Willow Parks to secure the Nova Scotia crown.
(October 16) Springhill evened the playoff series as Stew McLeod through a masterful three-hit shutout win edging St. Stephen 2-0. An International League umpire in attendance was reportedly remarked “that’s the nearest thing you’ll see to big league pitching outside of the majors. Mike Calder was saddled with the loss.
(October 21) The Maritime Championship final series resumed in Springhill and the Fencebusters delighted the home crowd with a hard-fought 5-3 victory. “Copie” Leblanc, Springhill’s only import that year, scattered five-hits to secure the win. “Howdy” Clark took the loss.
(October 22) St. Stephen evened the series at two games apiece. Roy Boles threw a six-hitter for the winners, as the Kiwanis won by a score of 3-1. Edgar “the Great” Cormier pitched well in defeat.
(November 2) St. Stephen won the Maritime Championship with a decisive 13-2 drubbing of the Fencebusters. Roy Boles hurled a seven hitter, but Copie LeBlanc was hit hard and received little support in the field as the Fencebusters committed five errors behind him. Gordon Coffey and Ray Jellison led the winners at the plate with three hits each.
GAME REPORTS 1934
(June 5) In order to prevent a repetition of the rowdyism that sullied last Saturday’s game in Dominion when a drunken mob attacked and almost tore off the uniform of Police Officer Hawley, town authorities today wrote to Inspector John MacIntosh, Sydney, to have several RCMP constables attend ball games here in the future to maintain law and order.
(July 4) The Boston Royal Giants, led by catcher Burlin White and pitcher Babe Robinson, began their Maritime tour with a 6-1 victory over St. Stephen.
(July 17) The Boston Braves made a quick tour of Maine and New Brunswick during a break in their season schedule. In their opening game the big leaguers knocked off Bangor by a score of 13-3, and were headed to St. Stephen to take on the Maritime champions.
(July 18) The Boston Braves defeated St. Stephen 11-3, knocking out 15 hits in 41 at bats against the locals. St. Stephen managed 10 hits in 35 at bats against big league pitching. Most of the Braves runs came against young Ken Kallenberg, who was given the start at the request of the Braves who were considering signing him to a minor league contract.
(July 25) The Halifax Herald referred to “Pie” Traynor of the Pittsburgh Pirates as “Halifax born”. His father Jimmy, a printer employed by local newspapers in Halifax in the 1890s, subsequently took his family to Somerville, Massachusetts where he continued his trade. Some years earlier local newspapers reported that Stuffy McInnis, the first-baseman in the Philadelphia Athletics famed $100,000 infield, had been born in Pictou, County, before his family moved south to Massachusetts.
(July 27) The St. Stephen club shocked the visiting Philadelphia Colored Giants and their star pitcher Bill Jackman winning 7-2. Lefty Cecil Brownell, the local ace, pitched a four-hitter in notching the win.
(July 31) The Philadelphia Colored Giants got their revenge against St. Stephen, dominating the New Brunswick club 9-3.
(August 9) Halifax Willow Parks turned back the touring John A. Roche club from Everett, Mass. Sweeping a double header by scores of 4-1 and 63.
GAME REPORTS 1935
(January 23) The Montreal Royals sent out contracts to 17 players and six more were to be put in the mail. The two Canadians considered for trials in the spring, Clair Foster of Ottawa and Copie Leblanc of Moncton have already received theirs, but neither has responded.
(April 11) Copie Leblanc, one of the best pitchers in the Maritimes, will spend the summer months working in Yarmouth and will probably suit up with the Gateways. Spiking rumors he would join the Montreal Royals of the International League, LeBlanc wrote to say that he decided to stay in the Maritimes and would arrive in Yarmouth later in the month to resume his work with a local firm.
(June 2) Led by Copie Leblanc who pitcher a no-hitter and Halley Horton, heavy-hitting shortstop, Yarmouth Gateways scored a two-fold victory over Middleton in a double header. Yarmouth won both games by scores of 6-0 and 12-10.
(June 10) Boston’s touring Royal Giants swamped Liverpool in both games of a double-header, 7-2 and 10-3.
(July 6) Montreal’s Dow Brewery club swept Nova Scotia provincial champion Yarmouth Gateways in a double-header, 7-5 and 4-2. In their four-day seven-game tour the Brewers won all seven games, notching victories over Halifax city champion Willow Parks, the Casinos and the city All-Stars. They also took two games from Liverpool. Canada’s most powerful independent semi-pro club, with a number of veterans of the minors leagues, Dow Brewery finished the 1936 season with an amazing 56 and 3 record, playing against teams in Eastern Canada and across the border against Vermont-New York Northern League squads. Members of the Dow team considered Yarmouth the best team they had faced during the season. Unfortunately the visitors could not fit the Maritime champion St. Stephen Kiwanis into their eastern schedule.
Dow 110 410 000 – 7
Yarmouth 010 300 010 – 5
Lamto and Lariviere
Nate Bain and White
Dow 001 120 0 - 4
Yarmouth 000 011 0 - 2
Bourbon and Lariviere
Copie Leblanc and White
(July 15) The Boston Red Sox beat the East Maine All-Stars 8-1 in Bangor. Third-baseman Bill Werber also took a turn on the mound. Clown prince Al Schact pitched three innings as did Dusty Rhodes. Fans seemed disappointed that the Bosox didn’t take the game seriously. Hal Cheney, the brilliant pro prospect who pitched on both sides of the border, was effective for the losers in a brief appearance.
(August 3) The Zulu Cannibal Giants began their tour of Maine and the Maritimes losing 4-3 to Newport, Maine. They are scheduled to play their next game in Maine in Belfast. In Nova Scotia the Yarmouth Gateways and Frank Silva’s Connecticut Yankees ended up dividing their four game series. A double-header resulted in a 3-1 victory for Yarmouth in the first game, but the Yankees turned around and won the nightcap 4-1.
(August 5) The Zulu Giants shutout Belfast by a score of 3-0 as the two teams switched batteries.
Giants: Hall and Whitney
Belfast: Mofike and Nyana
(August 10) McAdam New Brunswick’s fast semi-pro CPR team was scheduled to meet Columbia Falls, Maine, with their star pitcher O’Hare in the box.
(August 13) The Boston Braves played another in-season exhibition game in Houlton. Maine. Houlton often played McAdam and Woodstock in cross-border contests.
(August 14) The Boston Royal Giants continued their victorious Nova Scotia baseball tour defeating Middleton 9-1. The Giants were led by catcher Burlin White, first-baseman George “Whitey” Michaels and star pitcher “Babe”Robinson.
(August 17) Edmundston, New Brunswick visited Presque Isle, Maine with Ralph Peabody on the mound and Daigle behind the plate. Hal Cheney and Bob Ayotte made up the Presque Isle battery. In Yarmouth the Boston Royal Giants prevailed in a pitching duel between Babe Robinson and the Gateways’ Copie LeBlanc ending in a 1-0 victory for the visitors.
(August 19) The Philadelphia Giants beat Brewer Maine 7-3 to begin their tour of Maine and the Maritimes. Heading the lineup for the visitors were second-baseman Newton Joseph, first-baseman Fran Matthews, Gus Gadsen at second, and Riddick behind the plate. Billy Jackman, one of the best black stars of the United States Negro Leagues, was its star moundsman.
(September 18) The Yarmouth Gateways, senior baseball champions of Nova Scotia, defeated St. Stephen-Milltown Kiwanis 3-2 in the first game of best three of five series for the Maritime Championship. The game went into extra innings before Yarmouth prevailed in the eleventh. Yarmouth won the provincial title sweeping aside the Dominion Hawks in three straight games. St. Stephen had advanced after playoff victories over Devon and Saint John.
(September 26) The National League Boston Braves overwhelmed the Yarmouth Gateways 20-2. Danny MacFayden who spent a few summers in Nova Scotia in the early twenties pitching for Clark’s Harbour, held the Gateways scoreless before the home-towners scored two runs off Art Doll in the seventh.
GAME REPORTS 1936
(March 14) Montreal promoter Louis Deschesneay, the Canadian contact person for the Hackney Wick baseball team recommended seven players who left for England to play in London. The seven were chosen out of more than 700 applications from Canadian ballplayers. Included among them was Copie Leblanc of the Yarmouth Gateways and Irvine Ruvinsky who later played for years in Halifax under the name Peaches Ruven. Roland Gladu, a future Brooklyn Dodger was among the travellers. Ruven served as the playing coach at Hackney Wick for several years before returning to play for Halifax Navy during the war. Deschesneay also organized a tryout camp for sixty players culled from the hundreds of applicants, and Gladu, LeBlanc and Ruvinsky were the top two performers.
(April 30) George “Whitey” Michaels, well-known first-baseman with the Boston Royal Giants, is slated to coach the Dominion Club in the independent semi-pro Cape Breton Colliery League. Former big leaguer Bill “Doc” White will manage New Waterford. Maine native Charley Small who played for the 1930 Boston Red Sox, signed on as playing manager for Sydney Mines, and Roy Moore who pitched for Double-A Toledo and the House of David in 1935, started the season as manager of the Glace Bay Miners giving way to Fred Loftus in mid-season.
(May11) The New York Colored Giants have arranged a three week tour of the Maritimes from June 4th through the 23rd.
(May 14) Ontario natives Harry Haddow and Bill Jones, slated to play in London, England, chose instead to play for Sydney in the Cape Breton Colliery League.
(May19) Burlin White’s Boston Royal Giants are scheduled to begin their summer visit in Yarmouth on June 9th and 12th. Last year’s team helped open fans and players and eyes to snappy baseball, said the Halifax Herald, and the Gateways “learned a new bag of tricks” that helped them in the playoffs.” A tentative offer from a black club from Colorado is also before Yarmouth management.
(May 25) Boston Royal Giants will have box office competition in the Maritimes from the “Zulu Cannibal Giants” who strike a note of goofiness and bizarre clowning not approached even by the House of David Nine.” Last year they drew 55,000 fans in a three game set in Montreal.
(May 26) The Boston Royal Giants arrived in New Brunswick and knocked off the Saint John Pontiacs 5-2 and 6-0. Babe Robinson pitched the second game shutout. Burlin White injured a finger and will be out three weeks or more
.
(July 6) Del Bissonette, released last week by the Montreal Royals, played with Sorel, Quebec in an exhibition game against the House of David, going 1 for 3 in a 6-5 loss. In the second game, Moncton native Lloyd Stirling pitched a four hit shutout as Sorel won 5-0. Bissonette was considering offers from Sherbrooke (Provincial), his hometown of Winthrop, Maine and Glace Bay (Cape Breton Colliery League).
(July 7) While vacationing in Nova Scotia Babe Ruth put on a hitting exhibition in Westville before an exhibition tilt with Liverpool. At first Ruth couldn’t handle the offerings of Claude “Dingie” Macleod, and asked him to give him one of those “drugstore fastballs” down the middle of the plate rather than trying to strike him out.
(July 20) Del Bissonette signed with Glace Bay after a two-week stint with Winthrop of the Maine State League.
(July 24) An international ball game between St. Stephen, NB and Maine’s Presque Isle Indians promises to be the outstanding battle of the season. The Canadians have been Maritime champions for five years and headline pitcher Ken Kallenberg who pitched Calais to a 2-1 victory over Presque Isle last year. St. Stephen and Calais split a two game series earlier in the month.
(July 27) Reverend Father Holland of Saint John who recently won the Maritime and New Brunswick golf championship played baseball in his younger days with the Halifax Resolutes. On July 2, 1900 Holland pitched against the Saint John Alerts who were under the management of John Scott, an active baseball promoter in Saint John and later official scorer for Montreal of the International League.
(August 5) The Halifax Morning Herald noted that Pie Traynor was the son of a former Haligonian, Jimmy Trainor who was a printer with the Halifax Herald. The Traynor family moved to Boston around the time of Pie’s birth and there is some question whether he was born in Nova Scotia or in Massachusetts.
(August 8) Saint Stephen star Roy Boles who played for Sydney Mines of the Colliery League was hitting at a .350 clip when injured. Returning to St. Stephen, Boles will help the New Brunswickers as they face Yarmouth in the Maritime championship finals.
(August 12) The Ethiopian Clowns played the Moncton locals and were too strong for them. In three games the Clowns scored 42 runs, holding Moncton to just 8.
(August 12) Del Bissonette, manager of the Cape Breton Colliery League Glace Bay Miners, signed former big leaguer Billy Hunnefield and Montreal Royals star Aldrick “Bucky” Gaudette. He also added pitchers “Lefty” Strout and Tommy Moore from Detroit. Bissonette and Gaudette headed a significant influx of players from Maine, including former major leaguer Charley Small and his brother Elliot, third baseman Mike Jones who played briefly for Glace Bay before being released, and pitcher-outfielder Norm Merrill.
(August 13) The Ethiopian Clowns travelled to Liverpool and swept a double header against the Larrupers 2-0 and 4-1. They were described as “combining comedy with the ball utility.”
(August 14-15) The Clowns completed their tour knocking off Clark’s Harbour 14-7, and edging the Yarmouth Gateways 3-2 and 3-0 in their final game. They were undefeated in eight games in Maritimes.
(August 30) New Waterford’s double-play combination of Boston’s Len Murello and homebrew Eddie Gillis both had solid seasons in the Cape Breton Colliery League. Murello finished the season going 44 for 147 and a .300 average but committed 29 errors at short. Gillis was 38-154 .246 and fielded his second base post effectively.
(September 18) Springhill Fencebusters won the Nova Scotia provincial crown knocking off the Yarmouth Gateways in the deciding contest of a two-of three game series. Played on neutral ground at Kentville’s Memorial Park, Tommy Linkletter limited Yarmouth to four runs on ten hits before over 3,000 fans. Art Crawford had four hits for the Busters to lead the offense.
Springhill went on to face St. Stephen Kiwanis for the Maritime title but were shutout in three of four games. Lefty Brownell authored two shutouts and Ken Kallenburg closed out the series with a 5-0 win. Springhill’s only bright spot was Tommy Linkletter’s seven-hit gem leading Springhill to a 4-1 victory.
GAME REPORTS 1937
(May 22) The Sydney Mines entry in the Cape Breton Colliery League, which will operate as a Class D circuit within professional baseball, scheduled a series of exhibition games in New York, Ontario and Quebec on their way to the Maritimes. Sydney Mines defeated the University of Rochester 14-4, before losing two one-run games against the Oswego Netherlanders and Ottawa Braves of the Class C Can-Am League. They have games scheduled in Montreal and Granby, Quebec before heading further east.
(May 27) Officers of the New Brunswick Baseball Association were instructed to approach the Nova Scotia Baseball Association with the proposition that both bodies break away from the Amateur Athletic Association, retaining with the Dominion body only a working agreement on playoffs. The Nova Scotians decided to continuing operations under the Maritime Provinces Branch of the AAU. Beginning in 1936 the Cape Breton Colliery League rejected the restrictions on imported players and chose to operate outside of the Nova Scotian amateur body’s control.
(August 19) The St. Croix baseball team, Maritime champions in 1936, won their 16th consecutive victory of the season, defeated Burlin White’s Boston Colored Giants, 4-1 in an exhibition tilt.
(August 31) Guido Panciera, Sydney third-baseman, captured the Colliery League batting crown going 92-203 for a .394 average. Former major leaguers Charley Small (205-72 .351) and Freddie Maguire (198-64 .323) were runners-up. Roy Moore, a veteran of the American Association, was the top moundsman compiling a 14-3 won-loss record and 1.39 ERA over 149 innings.
(September 15) St. Croix defeated the St. John Pontiacs 7-1 for their second straight victory in the New Brunswick championship final series. St. Croix collected one run in the opening frame, two in the third and four in the fourth. The Pontiacs scored their lone run in the sixth. The third game in the series included the following batteries.
St. Croix: Kallenberg and Godfrey
Pontiacs: Hannah and Cronin
(September-October) In provincial and Maritime championship play Yarmouth Gateways prevailed as Nova Scotia’s best defeating the Halifax Capitals. The Gateways ace Copie Leblanc and submariner Nait Bain received strong support from Halley and Doug Horton, and ageless Murray Veno. St. Stephen continued to demonstrate that it was the finest aggregation in the province during the thirties, sweeping aside the Saint John Pontiacs along the way. In the Maritime finals St. Stephen swept all three games 4-3, 12-5, 2-1. Copie Leblanc started all three games in a losing cause. For St. Stephen Lefty Brownell, Phil McCarroll and Gordon Coffey were standouts.
GAME REPORTS 1938
(August 6) St. Stephen St. Croix showed why they are considered the premiere baseball team in Maritime Canada when they defeated Malden, Massachusetts 9-3. Ken Kallenburg held the visitors, considered one of the finest teams in the greater Boston area, to nine scattered hits and struck out eleven. St. Stephen roughed up Malden starter Cox for five runs in the first two innings. Phil McCarroll, “Baldy” Moffatt, Kallenburg and Norton were the big guns for the winners, and Webster and Storant shone for the visitors.
Malden 000 002 001— 3 9 5
St. Stephen 230 200 002- 9 11 0
(September 15) Glace Bay Miners were the champions of the Cape Breton Colliery League, defeating the New Waterford Dodgers in the final five game series. Glace Bay were the pennant winners in regular season play. The league began play with five teams but the Dominion Hawks folded in mid-season eleven games below .500.
Final League Standings
Glace Bay Miners 30 21 .588
New Waterford Dodgers 28 26 .519
Sydney Steel Citians 27 25 .519
Sydney Mines Ramblers 25 27 .481
In league batting only three players topped the .300 mark, George Catarius of Sydney Mines (.313), Leslie Crabbe of Glace Bay (.307), and Fred Martowski of Sydney Mines (.301). Gerald (Lou) Kiley of Amherst was the only native Maritimer in the top-ten (.270) and led the league in plate appearances. Guido Panciera, batting champ in 1937, ended up hitting .264. Former major leaguer Merle Settlemire led the pitchers with a 13-5 won-loss record and 2.58 ERA.
(September 16) St. Stephen-St.Croix eliminated-Devon- St. John 3-2 in the fourth game of a best-of-five semi-final series. Lefty Brownell went the route for the winners scattering six hits. St. Stephen bunched eight hits off big Bill Damery, Saint John’s tall right-hander.
(September 20) Liverpool Larrupers won the Nova Scotia provincial crown defeating the Halifax Capitals, coached by former International Leaguer Steamer Lucas, in six games. Liverpool’s Laurie Thorbourne pitched a 2-0 shutout in the deciding game. This was the beginning of a four-year reign for Liverpool, led by the Seaman brothers, Danny, Garneau, Ike and Kal. In 1939,1940 and 1941 the Larrupers won both provincial and Maritime senior baseball laurels.
(September 26) St. Stephen-St. Croix climbed another rung closer to the Maritime championship today in the second game of the series shutting out Liverpool 6-0. Cecil Brownell scattered seven hits for the victory. Rainey Moffitt, St. Croix shortstop, settled the game in the first inning by smashing a two-run home-run over the left field. Ike Seaman took the loss.
St.Stephen 201 000 300—6 12 1
Liverpool 000 000 000—0 7 4
Seaman and Nels Deveau
Brownell and Godfrey
(September 29) Liverpool displayed their liking for right-handed pitching today, smashing out an 8-1 victory over St. Stephen in the fourth game of the Maritime senior baseball championship. The series stands even at two games apiece.
Marysville, N.B Maroons, defending Maritime junior baseball champions defeated the Springhill Red Sox 13-11 in the first game of the best-of three series for the tri-province crown.
(September 30) Cecil “Lefty” Brownell pitched St. Stephen St. Croix, champions of New Brunswick to a 5-2 victory over Liverpool Larrupers in the fifth and deciding game of the Maritime senior baseball championship series. Brownell had won all three decisions in the New Brunswick provincial championship series over the Fredericton-Devon squad. Johnny Harvey, who would pitch in the Eastern League during the war and became a household name in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia into the 1950s, caused concern for St. Stephen when he shut them out in the opening game of the series.
Nova Scotian baseball historian Burton Russell described the St. Stephen squad in his book Nova Scotia Baseball Heroics: “The 1938 season was another glorious one for the St. Stephen-St. Croix aggregation. Lefty Brownell and Kenny Kallenburg were joined on the mound by Veteran Jim Morrell, a crafty moundsman from the Miramichi area who previously toiled with such clubs as the Westville Miners, Newcastle, Saint John and Minto. Theo “Muddy” McLain, the talented and experienced catcher had retired, his position filled by Charlie Godfrey and backup Lloyd Kelly.
Newcomers Grant Allen and Donny Morton had joined the pitching corps, while First sacker Charlie Weatherby, Maine native Dana Miles, and Cliff Middlemiss became members of the championship team. Established stars Phil McCarroll and Gordon Coffey were back in the fold, but Squirelly Ross had departed the scene. Playing coach Baldy Moffatt was as fiery as ever – his actions and managerial decisions were often considered controversial and newsworthy.”
GAME REPORTS 1939
(September 22) Liverpool Larrupers turned their power on St-Stephen-St Croix today and crushed the New Brunswick champions 11-2 in the first game of a best-of-five series for the Maritime baseball title. Second game will be played in Liverpool tomorrow.
(September 23) Lefty Cecil Brownell set Liverpool Larrupers down with two singles in a five-inning relief performance today and St. Stephen-St. Croix defeated the Larrupers 5-3 in the second game of a the best-of-five series. The teams move to St. Stephen for the rest of the series.
(September 28) Defending Maritime champion St. Stephen defeated Liverpool 5-4 in the third games of the series to take a two-one lead in games.
(September 30) The Liverpool Larrupers even the series at two games apiece knocking off St. Stephen 8-5.
October 2) Liverpool Larrupers laced St. Stephen-St. Croix 8-1 to win the Maritime senior baseball title. The series went the full five games and the Larrupers lifted the title which St. Stephen-St. Croix had held for three years. St. Stephen has won the New Brunswick title for the last nine years. The Larrupers were Nova Scotia champions for the second straight year.
October 5) Two Long Island University graduates with Sydney, first-baseman Abe Abramowitz and pitcher Bernie Pearlman were leaders in hitting and pitching in the Class C Cape Breton Colliery League in 1939. Abramowitz led all batters with more than 125 at bats going 67 for 206 for a .325 average and clubbing six round trippers. Pearlman in his second year of pro ball and having started the season in the Class B Piedmont League, went 11 and 4 with a sparkling 1.62 ERA to lead the pitching parade. Pearlman’s teammates Phil Mooney with a 11 and 6 record and William “Alabama” contributed another nine wins against six losses with a 2.16 ERA.