Above left - Ralph Vold, outstanding Ponoka product, in pro ball in 1952 in the Brooklyn Dodgers system. He'd return to play for Edmonton in the Western Canada League.
Middle - Jack Moore made an auspicious start in the Edmonton and District Senior Baseball League by hitting a two-run homer over the right field fence in his first at bat for the Leduc Oilers. They were the only scores for the Oilers who were trampled by the Carter Pontiacs 17-2. [Edmonton Journal, July 9, 1952]
Right - Bill Olson, who held Army & Navy Merchants to five hits as the Carter Pontiacs evened their playoff semi-final with an 8-3 victory. The right-hander blanked the Merchants, save for the second inning, when he allowed all three runs. The Pontiacs pounded out 15 hits. [Edmonton Journal, August 23, 1952]
The kickoff of the Edmonton Senior Amateur League 1952.
The umps and rival managers review the ground rules and brush off the winter's cobwebs.
Left to right - Merchants manager Jim Ryan, Jim Kelly, Johnny Lupul and Pontiac's manager Doug Stewart.
[Edmonton Journal, May 14, 1952]
Two key members of the Beverly Drakes in their second straight win over the Carter Pontiacs. Pitcher Bud Bacon limited the Pontiacs to two runs and six hits for eight frames before weakening in the ninth. His receiver, Stan Kulka, slammed two singles and drove in three runs to pace the winners.
[Edmonton Journal, August 28, 1952]
If this had been the battery for the Leduc Oilers, it might have been a different story. When Truman Dillman (left) and southpaw chucker Bill McIntyre came on in the fifth, the score was 7-2 for the Beverly Drakes. McIntyre held the Drakes in check the rest of the way, but it was too late.
[Edmonton Journal, May 16, 1952]
Dutch Lakeman gets the hero's treatment as the Beverly Drakes downed Edmonton Pontiacs to win the best-of-five playoff for the Edmonton & District Senior Baseball title. Lakeman, one of the lesser lights of the Drakes' mound staff, went the distance holding the Pontiacs to eight hits. Teammates hoisted the young right-hander to their shoulders to begin the celebrations (L-R) - Bill Price, Ray Malik, Mike McInerney and Bud Bacon.
[Edmonton Journal, September 8, 1952]
A couple of pitchers shared the spotlight as the Pontiacs nipped Beverly Drakes 3-2 in the third game of the league final. Lefty Lauer (left) tossed a steady seven-hitter for the triumph while Al Purvis, employed in right field for the occasion, drove in a pair of runs in the fourth inning with a double to left centre.
[Edmonton Journal, September 3, 1952]
These two Army & Navy Merchants created quite the splash in pacing the Merchants to a 9-5 win over Leduc. Des O'Connor (left), checks the bat that belted the first homer of the local season, in inside-the-park fourmaster to the base of the flag pole, some 390 feet from home plate. Lefty Belter (right) turned in a strong mound effort, save for a lapse in the sixth and seventh. He racked up 14 strikeouts and didn't issue a free pass. Twice he whiffed the side, in the fourth and eighth innings.
[Edmonton Journal, May 17, 1952]
Beverly manager Jerry Seaman confers with three young members of his pitching staff - Dutch Lakeman, Howie Martin and Bud Bacon (L-R). Both Martin and Bacon were with Spokane Indians of the Western International League for a whirl a year ago, and this spring attended the Pirates' training camps in Anaheim and San Bernardino. Lakeman was set to attend but was kept home by an injury.
[Edmonton Journal, April 28, 1952]
A little more life was fanned into Carter Pontiac's playoff chances when Harold Callihan (right) turned in a brilliant fireman's chore to stop Army & Navy Merchants for the first time in the series. Callihan came on in the fourth and gave up only one run the rest of the way. Centre is Freddy Clarke, who batted three-for-four, drove in a run and scored one. On the left is happy Manager Doug Stewart.
[Edmonton Journal, August 22, 1952]
Jerry Wynn, a slender right-hander, pitched two-hit ball with ten strikeouts as the Carter Pontiacs rolled back the Merchants 4-0 in an Edmonton and District Senior League encounter. Wynn is seen taking the ball from catcher Frank Smith. He's a product of Edmonton junior ranks.
[Edmonton Journal, June 28, 1952]
The underdog Army & Navy Merchants are now two games out in front in the senior league semi-final series at Renfrew Park. Heroes of the second win were Ross Kortgard (centre) and Vern Callihan (right) who formed the Merchants' battery and also took care of the offense. Both hit in the last of the ninth to produce the winning run. Joining in the celebration is Manager Jim Ryan, sidelined with a broken leg suffered in mid-season.
[Edmonton Journal, August 21, 1952]