FOOTHILLS BASEBALL LEAGUE
The five-team circuit swung into action on May 21st in Calgary. This opener marked the return of senior baseball to the Stampede City after an absence of several years.
The Calgary Herald reported that outfielder “Lefty” Starr of the Calgary Tigers was the top hitter in the 1941 Foothills Baseball League, belting the horsehide at a .468 clip.
Semi-final playoff action saw the Calgary Tigers defeat the Turner Valley Oilers in two straight games.
Semi-finals (best-of-three series)
(August 10) Ignited by the slugging of Max Wald and Jack Keats, the Calgary Tigers defeated the Turner Valley, aka Little Chicago, Oilers 12 to 7 in the first game of their best-of-three semi-final set-to. Wald hammered four hits including a double and the game’s only home run. Keats rapped out a triple, double and single. Sid Craddock was the big gun in the Oiler offensive thrust, slamming a triple and a brace of one-baggers.
Wolsey (L) and Baird
T. Dahl (W) and O. Dahl
(August 15) Backing up Gus Ortman’s five-hit flinging with a scintillating fielding display, the Calgary Tigers nosed out the Turner Valley Oilers 2 to 1 to advance to the Foothills League finals. The Bengals tallied the winner in the ninth. After the Oilers had snuffed out the go-ahead run at the plate on Sid Craddock’s lightning relay to catcher Harney following Jack Keats’ double, a muffed fly ball allowed Keats to plate the deciding tally.
Ortman (W) and O. Dahl
Wolsey (L) and Harney
The other semi-final showdown featuring No. 2 Wireless School and the Beiseker Royals was delayed until September as so many of the Beiseker players had been involved in harvesting. The teams split the first two games before the No. 2 gang prevailed in the third match to capture the series.
The Calgary Tigers did not spend the long layoff from Foothills League competition by waiting idly by for an opponent to be determined. They registered to enter the Alberta Intermediate Baseball playdowns and met a highly-competitive Patricia Oilers club in the provincial finals. Originally a best-of-five affair, a pair of tie games stretched the series to seven games with the Calgarians finally prevailing.
After a cold, wet September in Calgary, attempts to stage a finals series between the Tigers and No. 2 Wireless dragged into October without any progress as inclement weather continued to plague the baseballers whenever a proposed game was scheduled. It became a situation of running out of a suitable time frame so any hope of further play simply faded away.
CENTRAL ALBERTA BASEBALL LEAGUE
Reduced to a three-team circuit after Wetaskiwin dropped out, the 1941 Central Alberta League persevered as rosters became thinner with World War II well underway. Competitive balance within the loop during the regular season was much better than the previous campaign. Heading into the stretch run of the schedule, all three entries still had a shot at winding up in first place. When the dust finally settled, there were just two games separating the top and bottom teams. Only the first two clubs in the final standings were allowed into the playoffs.
TEAMS
Edmonton Arrows
Edmonton Dodgers
Ponoka Stampeders
REGULAR SCHEDULE
(August 6) Helped along more than a little by errors on the part of their opponents, the Dodgers kept themselves in the race for a playoff spot in the Central Alberta Baseball League by doubling their Edmonton cousins, the Arrows, 4 – 2. Portsider Eddie Belter, on the bump for the Arrows, got decidedly porous support, his teammates kicking the horsehide around for a total of seven miscues. No medals could be pinned on the Dodgers either for their work afield as they were guilty of four blunders behind winning chucker Tommy Brant. A pair of unearned tallies in the seventh stanza broke a 2 – 2 deadlock and allowed the Dodgers to escape with the victory.
Belter (L) and F. Lupul
Brant (W) and Kelly
Arrows 8 – 7 .533
Ponoka 6 – 6 .500
Dodgers 6 – 7 .462
(August 14) The Ponoka Stampeders are still very much in the race for the C.A.B.L. pennant after disposing of the Edmonton Arrows 3 – 1. Before nearly 2,000 fans, winning heaver Virgil Neis turned in a scintillating performance for the Stamps. He rifled a sizzling and speedy pellet past the Arrows with success and it was not until the fifth frame that he faced more than three batters.
Neis (W) and Whitney
Elchuk (L) and Sawchuk
Dodgers 8 – 7 .533
Arrows 8 – 8 .500
Ponoka 7 – 8 .467
(August 17) A ground ball off the bat of playing-manager Ralph Morgan that went through the wickets of Ponoka shortstop Al Chapman allowed Doug Stewart, who had earlier singled, to tally the winning counter in a thrilling Edmonton Dodgers’ 4 – 3 ten-inning win. The win for the Dodgers gave them the regular-season pennant while the heartbreaking loss for the Stampeders eliminated them from the entering the playoffs.
Rattlesnake (L), Neis (10) and Whitney
Morgan (W) and Kelly, Kilburn
FINAL STANDINGS
Dodgers 9 – 7 .563
Arrows 8 – 8 .500
Ponoka 7 – 9 .438
PLAYOFF FINALS Edmonton Dodgers vs Edmonton Arrows (best-of-seven series)
(August 21) Burly third baseman Jack Carney connected for four hits, including a three-run homer, as the Arrows ran roughshod over the Dodgers with a decisive 11 – 4 triumph in game one of the all-Edmonton C.A.B.L. finals.
B. Lupul (W) and Sawchuk
Brant (L), Ball (6), McAuley (8) and Kilburn
(August 24) The Arrows won for the second time in the Central Alberta League finals, nosing out the Dodgers 10 – 9 in a wild affair at Edmonton’s Renfrew Park. Four near fights erupted as tempers boiled over in the fracas between the two Capital City rivals. The Arrows plated the winning run in the bottom-of-the-ninth canto when, with two out, Jack McGill singled home the deciding tally. Only two of the winning Arrows’ runs in the engagement were of the earned variety as the Dodgers imploded defensively with 11 errors. Jack Carney and Julien Sawchuk had home runs for the winners.
Morgan (L) and Kilburn
Belter, Elchuk (W) (6) and Sawchuk
(August 27) Tommy Brant twirled a stellar four-hit shutout as the Dodgers blanked the Arrows 4 – 0 in game three of the finals. Catcher Cliff Kilburn singled twice for the winners.
B. Lupul (L) and Sawchuk
Brant (W) and Kilburn
(August 31) With an overflow crowd of 4,250 looking on, the Edmonton Dodgers squared the C.A.B.L. finals at two games apiece by edging their city rivals, the Edmonton Arrows, 4 – 3. The Dodgers went in front in the fifth frame and maintained a lead throughout the contest. Both teams registered ten safeties. The Arrows’ Jack Carney with three safe blows, including a pair of doubles, one of which appeared to be a circuit-clout but hit the top of the fence, led all swatsmiths in the hotly-contested affair.
Brant (W) and Kilburn
Elchuk (L), Belter (7) and Sawchuk
(September 3) Stinging the sphere with authority for a total of 14 base knocks , including a round-tripper, double and single off the lumber of Jack Shamper, the Edmonton Arrows regained the upper hand in the Central Alberta Baseball League finals by crushing their city cousins, the Edmonton Dodgers, 10 – 3. It was the third win in five tries for the Arrows who virtually put the game on ice after scoring treys in each of their first two turns at bat..
B. Lupul (W) and Sawchuk
Ball (L), Bourassa (2) and Kilburn
(September 7) 4,500 fans gathered at Renfrew Park to witness the game six action within the Battle of the Edmontonians wherein the Dodgers tied up the final series at three wins each with an 8 to 5 throttling of the despised Arrows. Although requiring relief help from playing-manager Ralph Morgan in the sixth session, Tommy Grant was credited with his third mound victory of the finals. Brant was one of the co-stars with the baton as well, pasting the pellet for a double and single.
Brant (W), Morgan (6) and Kilburn
Belter (L), B. Lupul (6) and Sawchuk
(September 10) The Edmonton Dodgers repeated as Central Alberta Baseball League playoff champions by taking game seven of an evenly-matched final series 3 – 1 over a bitter band of Edmonton Arrows. A two-run homer by winning pitcher and playing-manager Ralph Morgan in the sixth round broke a 1 – 1 tie and propelled the Dodgers to the triumph. Tempers flared throughout the showdown clash and the game ended on a sour note as the Arrows’ Jack Carney, who had been the hitting hero for his club in the series, started tossing bats on the playing field in disgust of the final result.
B. Lupul (L) and Sawchuk
Morgan (W) and Kilburn