Historical PCL Schedule?

so49as · 09-29-2007, 11:47 AM

I can't remember where I heard/read this, but I wanted to try and verify its acuracy. The Pacific Coast League played upwards of 180-200 games a season back in its hey-day. What I heard is this:

Games Monday through Saturday with Saturday double headers. Sunday was a travel day. (That might have been Tuesday through Sunday now that I think of it...)

No rain makeups, schedule runs from March to whenever?

I did a little online searching but couldn't find anything. Can someone with more knowledge than I verify/deny?

A thousand thanks,
cheers,
bill

Le Grande Orange · 09-29-2007, 02:52 PM

PCL schedules were for many years set up as follows: most series were one week long affairs, with single games Tuesday through Saturday and a doubleheader on Sunday. Mondays were off days for travel. Note that holidays also had a doubleheader scheduled, regardless of what particular day of the week the holiday fell in that year. There were three main holidays during the season: Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. California-based clubs also had Sept. 9th (the state holiday recognizing when California was admitted to the union).

Because of the focus on week-long series, this meant that the schedule was usually unbalanced. Teams played opponents differing numbers of times, and the home-away split of games against a specific opponent was often quite uneven as well.

Postponed games were made up in the normal way (i.e. they would be added to the next visit that opponent would be in town, or if it was the last scheduled visit by that team, then they'd be made up in the opponent's park).

In terms of opening and closing dates, that depends on the number of games played. The earliest PCL seasons featured schedules around 230 games long; by the 1920s that was down to about 202 games. It continued to shorten into the 1930s, from 182-186 games to 172-176 games by the 1940s. After WWII, it went back up to 182-188 games for several seasons. From there it went up and down between 168 and 172 games mostly, though 1950 was 200 games. By the start of the 1960s the schedule had been reduced to 154 games.

Seasons generally started in early to late March and ended in mid to late September or early October.

so49as · 09-30-2007, 08:04 AM

Thanks muchly!

cheers,
bill

09-29-2007, 11:47 AM	#1
so49as Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 325	Historical PCL Schedule? I can't remember where I heard/read this, but I wanted to try and verify its acuracy. The Pacific Coast League played upwards of 180-200 games a season back in its hey-day. What I heard is this: Games Monday through Saturday with Saturday double headers. Sunday was a travel day. (That might have been Tuesday through Sunday now that I think of it...) No rain makeups, schedule runs from March to whenever? I did a little online searching but couldn't find anything. Can someone with more knowledge than I verify/deny? A thousand thanks, cheers, bill

09-29-2007, 02:52 PM	#2
Le Grande Orange Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Up There Posts: 15,642	PCL schedules were for many years set up as follows: most series were one week long affairs, with single games Tuesday through Saturday and a doubleheader on Sunday. Mondays were off days for travel. Note that holidays also had a doubleheader scheduled, regardless of what particular day of the week the holiday fell in that year. There were three main holidays during the season: Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. California-based clubs also had Sept. 9th (the state holiday recognizing when California was admitted to the union). Because of the focus on week-long series, this meant that the schedule was usually unbalanced. Teams played opponents differing numbers of times, and the home-away split of games against a specific opponent was often quite uneven as well. Postponed games were made up in the normal way (i.e. they would be added to the next visit that opponent would be in town, or if it was the last scheduled visit by that team, then they'd be made up in the opponent's park). In terms of opening and closing dates, that depends on the number of games played. The earliest PCL seasons featured schedules around 230 games long; by the 1920s that was down to about 202 games. It continued to shorten into the 1930s, from 182-186 games to 172-176 games by the 1940s. After WWII, it went back up to 182-188 games for several seasons. From there it went up and down between 168 and 172 games mostly, though 1950 was 200 games. By the start of the 1960s the schedule had been reduced to 154 games. Seasons generally started in early to late March and ended in mid to late September or early October.

09-30-2007, 08:04 AM	#3
so49as Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 325	Thanks muchly! cheers, bill