FOOTHILLS BASEBALL LEAGUE
With the European war in full swing, Canadian troops were posted primarily overseas. In the Calgary area, military training facilities were actively preparing enlistees for combat. Sports, in general, took a back seat. Accordingly, the 1942 Foothills Senior Baseball League was not even organized for another campaign until late June and action on the diamond, featuring three teams, didn’t occur until early July. In mid-July, after only a handful of games had been played, a fourth entrant was admitted so a new schedule was drawn up and things began from scratch once more. Entering the loop for the shortened season were the defending champion No. 2 Wireless squad, No. 10 RCAF Repair Depot, Navy Volunteer Reserve and the United Services All-Stars. All games were played at Bowness Park.
No. 2 Wireless School : Chad 2B, Crossman OF, Dunham 3B, Duyvejunek C, Frampton SS, McKinnon OF, Moses 1B, Norton P, Plotkin SS/P, Shapara OF, Spencer OF, Torgenson P, Wilson 1B
No. 10 Repair Depot : Badyk SS, Beer 2B/3B, Brearley/Brearly C, Dausy/Deausy 3B/OF, Edlund P/OF/1B, Gibson 2B, Gilchrist 2B, Gunn OF, Holmes P, Hynes 3B, Ilves C, Litchfield OF, Lyohirka/Lysohirka P, Nadyk 2B, Nickerson OF, Ohlheiser P/1B/OF, Panter OF, Peterson OF, Sanderson OF/3B, Scrimshaw SS/OF, Skulsky OF, Tripp SS, Turner OF, Webber 1B
Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve : Cranston 1B, Deeves OF, Dodds OF, Forrest C, Giacomuzzi P, Greene OF, Hamilton SS, Hunter P, McDonald 2B, Patrick 3B, Poffenroth C/P, Sax C
United Services : Anderson Roy 2B/1B/P/OF, Bell OF/C/P, Buckley P/OF, Dahl T. SS/P, Dahl Ollie C/OF, Ehlert P/2B, Gill Earl “Pee Wee” P/SS, Hewitt G. OF, Lane 1B, Lewis Lincoln “Dodger” 1B/P/MGR, Matheson P/2B, Molyneux P, Neis/Neise Bernie P/3B/2B, Owens E. 2B/SS/1B, Pieschuk OF, Read/Reid B. 3B/SS, Schmidt OF, Starr OF/1B, Stahl R. OF, Thomson/Thompson D. SS/OF, Tronnes OF, Winter C, Yarrow 3B
Each team played just seven league games. Outfielder R. Stahl of the pennant-winning United Services team was declared as batting champion with 13 hits in 21 times at bat for a hefty .619 average. Following completion of the abbreviated schedule, the first-place United Services club met Navy in a rather unique semi-final playoff arrangement, a two-game total runs scored series.
(September 6) Dividing a playoff doubleheader at Bowness Park, the United Service All-Stars qualified for the Foothills League finals by defeating the Navy team on a total run basis. A two-run homer in the ninth by the Navy’s Sax saved them from being whitewashed in the first game, an 11 to 2 shellacked administered by United Services. Navy edged the All-Stars in the finale 5 to 4 but fell far short in the combined run totals.
Hunter (L) and Poffenroth
Buckley (W) and Bell
Matheson (L) and Dahl
Poffenroth (W) and Sax
The other semi-final featured No. 2 Wireless and No. 12 Repair Depot in a more conventional best-of-three format.
(September 12) Fireworks flared in the ninth inning of a Foothills League semi-final playoff game and, when the atmosphere cooled off, No. 10 Repair Depot walked off with a protested 5 to 4 verdict over No. 2 Wireless School. The umpire apparently had, without calling time, re-staked the third base bag which had torn lose on a close play and a subsequent tag on the runner via the hidden ball ball trick was the basis of the protest.
Ohlheiser, Holmes (W) (8) and Ilves
Norton (L) and Duyvejunek
However, after this first game fiasco, nothing was ever mentioned in succeeding Calgary Herald editions as per the result of the protest nor were any other game results from this series found in print. The October 1, 1942 edition did, however, mention that a final series had finally begun, without mentioning a date, and that United Services had defeated No. 10 Repair Depot 9 to 5 in the opener. Following up on that, the Herald published results and narratives of the second and third games of the best-of-three series.
(October 2) No. 10 Repair Depot squared its series with United Services, taking an 11 to 4 victory at Mewata Park. Ohlheiser tossed a four-hitter at the Stars while the Repairmen collected ten hits from the offerings of Buckley. Darkness prevented play beyond 5 1/2 innings.
Buckley (L) and Dahl
Ohlheiser (W) and Brearly
(October 7) 32 year old Bernie Neise tossed a six-inning no-hit, no-run game as the United Services All-Stars captured a long drawn out Foothills Baseball League championship with a 10 to 0 blanking of the No. 10 Repair Depot squad. The game was essentially decided after an inning of play when the Stars scored eight runs. Neise had nine strikeouts.
Ohlheiser (L), Holmes (1) and Brearly
Neise (W) and Bell