CALGARY
With the exception of a couple of independent junior-aged teams, Calgary was without baseball once again in 1939.
No revival of senior baseball in the Stampede City appeared to be on the horizon for the foreseeable few years.
EDMONTON
The Edmonton Senior Baseball League of last year which operated in Renfrew Park decided to cease activities for at least the 1939 season, citing a lack of businesses willing to step forward as team sponsors.
There was sufficient interest and financial backing, however, for the formation of a three-team junior circuit consisting of teams sponsored by the Arrow Bus Line, the Maple Leaf Athletic Club and the Unions of Edmonton. Ironically, several players within the loop, including a number of those on the roster of the ultimate pennant-winning Arrows, had played senior baseball in 1938.
EDMONTON JUNIOR BASEBALL LEAGUE
Arrows *:
Maple Leafs
Unions
*1939 pennant-winners & playoff champion
(June 21) 17-year-old Ed "Lefty" Belter pitched a no-hitter Wednesday as the Edmonton Arrows topped the Maples Leafs 2-0 in an Edmonton junior league contest. The 5-foot-two left-hander from Viking, Alberta, allowed two free passes. Arrows got the only run they needed in the second inning as Sandy Milligan singled to right, stole second and came racing home on catcher Johnson's single. Jack Carney, another 17-year-old cracked a homer over the centre field wall in the eighth inning for an insurance run. Ken McCauley took the loss giving up seven hits.
Belter (W) and Johnson
McCauley and Kilburn
SOUTHERN ALBERTA
Southern Alberta Senior Amateur Playdowns
Southern quarter-finals (Foremost vs Medicine Hat Tigers)
(August 6) Demonstrating hitting power that should carry them a long way in the playoffs, the Medicine Hat Tigers soundly trimmed the Foremost Elks 12 to 1 and 14 to 0 in the first two games of their southern Alberta series. Included in the Gas City barrage were four home runs, two triples and three two-baggers. Kelly Riddle limited Foremost to four hits in the opener. Fred Long had a homer for the Tigers.
Whitney (L) and Bohnet
Riddle (W) and Hosie
Home runs by Crane, J. Toole and Long featured the evening attack. Winning tosser Teel held Foremost to three scattered hits to pick up the shutout.
O’Connor (L), Whitney and Bohnet
Teel (W) and Hosey
The games were billed as a southern quarter-final but Foremost had been declared ineligible for failure to send in their entry forms. Medicine Hat will now play the Drumheller Miners.
Southern semi-finals (Drumheller Miners vs Medicine Hat Tigers)
(August 13) Heavy hitting when it mattered most gave the Medicine Hat Tigers a two-game lead over the Drumheller Miners in the best-of-five southern Alberta baseball playoffs. Medicine Hat swept both games of the opening doubleheader by scores of 6 to 2 and 13 to 2. Hatter first baseman Fred Long broke a 2 – 2 tie in the fourth inning of the matinee game with a solo homer, giving the Tigers a lead which they never relinquished.
Uffelman (L) and McKinley
Riddle (W) and Hosie
The Bengals rode the four-hit hurling of Wilf “Lefty” Pennington to easily capture the evening tilt. Two Miner chuckers were bombarded for 15 base blows, four off the bat of Tiger outfielder Ted Smith.
Molyneaux (L), Mathers and Popovich, McKinley
Pennington (W) and Hosie
(August 20) The Drumheller Miners tied up the southern Alberta senior baseball playoffs when they took both games from the Medicine Hat Tigers by 6 to 1 and 10 to 6. The Miners scored four times in the sixth frame off Medicine Hat ace chucker Wilf Pennington and added another two in the eighth to claim their first victory of the day and the series. Fireman Jackie Mathers picked up the mound victory with a superlative relief performance.
Pennington (L) and Blaney
Hackler, Mathers (W) (4) and Popovich
Four round-trippers were hit in the second contest. Dave Pow, Blaine Bishop and outfielder McSephney connected for the Miners while losing tosser Howard Teel responded for the Tigers.
Teel (L), Hosie and Blaney
Mathers (W), Molyneaux (8) and Popovich
(August 27) The Medicine Hat Tigers eked out a narrow 4 to 3 win over the Drumheller Miners in eleven innings in the fifth and deciding game of their southern Alberta semi-final series. A costly Drumheller error in the ninth inning allowed the Tigers to tie the score and ultimately force overtime. McSephney of the Miners had the game’s only home run. With the win, Medicine Hat will now meet Picture Butte for the 1939 southern Alberta championship.
Riddle (W) and Hosie
Mathers (L) and Popovich, McKinley (10)
Southern semi-finals (Picture Butte Royals vs Lethbridge Galt Miners)
(August 13) The Picture Butte Royals won both ends of their southern Alberta senior baseball playoff doubleheader from the Lethbridge Galt Miners, defeating their hosts 10 to 0 and 6 to 5. Ted Malmberg collected the opening game mound triumph with a five-hitter to go along with seven strikeouts. Fred Onofrychuk belted a home run and double in pacing the Sugar City nine at the platter.
Malmberg (W) and Toccoli
Chervinski (L) and Stewart, Wray
The Miners grabbed a 3 to 0 lead in the initial canto of the owl encounter but a five-run seventh-inning output by the Royals propelled them to victory and a sweep. J. Paul had three singles for the winners while Fred Onofrychuk, a former Galt Miner, ripped a pair of doubles.
Finley, Hollman (1) and Toccoli
Johnston (L) and Stewart
(August 16) The Picture Butte Royals eliminated the Lethbridge Galt Miners from the provincial senior baseball playdowns and advanced into the southern Alberta finals by virtue of their 4 to 3 seven-inning win at Adams Park. Pitcher Russ Finley of the Bluebloods covered himself with glory as he won his own game. Pitching a four-hitter, the hurler poled out a double in the sixth frame, with the score tied, and sent home the winning tally.
A. Lewis (L), Johnston (6) and Stewart
Finley (W) and Toccoli
Southern finals (Picture Butte Royals vs Medicine Hat Tigers)
(September 3) The Medicine Hat Tigers and Picture Butte Royals gained no advantage in the opening two games of their southern Alberta senior baseball final series. The Bengals battled back in the evening to pick up a 5 to 3 triumph after the Sugar-makers had helped themselves to a 10 to 5 afternoon win. Russ Finley, tossing the complete game for the Butte, struck out eight while issuing an equal number of hits in taking the matinee mound win. Bud Toole’s perfect bunt on a suicide squeeze in the fifth frame was the game’s outstanding play.
Finley (W) and xxx
Riddle (L) and xxx
Medicine Hat led all the way in the second contest after scoring twice in the initial canto. Wilf “Lefty” Pennington showed up exceptionally well in tight spots to claim the nine-hit victory. Along the way, he whiffed eight Beet-Chopper batsmen.
Pennington (W) and xxx
Holman (L) and xxx
(September 10) The senior baseball finals for southern Alberta were forced into a fifth game as the Picture Butte Royals and Medicine Hat Tigers split a second consecutive twin-bill. The Tigers took the first game 5 to 4 with the Royals coming back to capture the nightcap 6 to 0. Hosie was the main offensive cog in the first-game Medicine Hat victory. He belted four hits in support of winning chucker Wilf Pennington.
Finley, Malmberg and Toccoli
Pennington (W) and Blaney
Behind the steady five-hit pitching of Ted Malmberg, the visiting Butte Brigade had no trouble in taking the late contest. Ernie Luciani connected for a pair of doubles and a triple in pacing the winners.
Malmberg (W) and Toccoli
Riddle (L) and Blaney
(September 17) The Picture Butte Royals thrashed the Medicine Hat Tigers 13 to 1 to cop the southern Alberta senior baseball title. The Royals accumulated 17 base hits with Toccoli, Onofrychuk and Luciani being the heavy hitters. Winning tosser Ted Malmberg stymied the Bengals, yielding only four hits.
Malmberg (W) and Toccoli
Pennington (L) and Blaney
No evidence was found in print that a 1939 north-south final series for the Alberta championship was even proposed, yet alone played. A lack of interest in the northern half of the province appears to have been the primary reason although the lateness of the season or the September declaration of war may have had a bearing on the inactivity.
CENTRAL ALBERTA BASEBALL LEAGUE
In the semi-finals, Clive eliminated Delburne and Stettler knocked out Erskine.
(August 14) The Stettler Elks advanced into the finals of the Central Alberta Baseball League by defeating Erskine 6 to 1. Stettler’s Ed Kronfeld allowed just five hits and struck out eleven Erskine batters in earning the mound victory. C. Ritz had a homer for the Elks.
xxx (L) and xxx
Kronfeld (W) and xxx
Clive emerged as the 1939 CABL champion defeating Stettler in the finals.
(August 23) Playing before a capacity crowd at the Stettler ball park, the Clive baseball team convincingly captured the 1939 championship of the CABL by pummelling the Stettler Elks 18 to 0. Winning chucker Clarence Johnson allowed only four scattered hits while ringing up eleven strikeouts. Clive pounded a trio of Stettler hurlers for 18 safeties.
Johnson (W) and Meldrum
Ritz (L), Sorenson, Harinson and Sweet
Crow's Nest Pass
(July 1) Blairmore Tournament
Blairmore Columbus Club won the top prize in the local tournament defeating Hillcrest 7-5 in the final. Blairmore built up a 7-0 lead after seven innings then held off the charging Hillcrest nine who scored three in the eighth and two in the ninth to fall just short. The winners ripped 12 hits off four Hillcrest hurlers while Dobek and Herman combined to hold the losers to six safeties. Earlier, Blairmore downed the Coleman Pucksters 4-3 in a hotly contested game.
Draper, Seaman, Kubasek, Elick and Elick, Beranek
Dobek, Herman and Chala