Ec's north island recreation league

[Eugene Church]

Monday, March 29, 1954

MARINERS SINK CARDINALS, TAKE TOP SPOT IN SI PRIMARY LEAGUE
There was also a battle for first place in the South Island Primary League... the Mystic Mariners surged past the Claiborne Cardinals this past weekend 6-4 in 11 innings to move into the lead in the league standings... the two tailenders also met in Des Allemands and struggled for 11 frames with the Bayou Bleu Blues rallying for a 4-3 victory over the last place Eagles.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1953
EC's Glee in '53

Sorry, you all... forgot to cover my favorite league of all-time, my revered Southern Association (1901-1961)... let's go back in time just a tad to early September, 1953... yes, EC has the power to bypass time and space at least here on the magical OOTP Dynasty Forum, where just about all things are possible... here are the 1953 final standings and some comments on my two favorite all-time teams, the beloved Mobile Bears and the cherished New Orleans Pelicans.

[Eugene Church]

As you can see the Bears flopped this season... unfortunately they were often quite accomplished at that... Mobile finished dead last, along with another Southern Association perennial also-ran, the Little Rock Travelers... the Bears didn't have any pitching at all... the best you could say about the season is that center fielder Ray Shearer, a solid minor league journeyman, had his usual solid season with a .306 BA, 12 homers, 84 RBIs and 84 runs scored... outfielder Bert Hamric also helped out with a .298 BA, 18 homers, 83 RBI and 76 runs scored... the rest of the regulars were mediocre at best... Shearer played 3-4 seasons for Mobile in the 50s and always played well... he had a cup of coffee in MLB, batting .500 for the '57 Milwaukee Braves... OK, I must be transparent and tell you that he was only 1 for 2 in 3 at-bats with a single, walk and a strikeout... Shearer was one of my favorite Bears, along with Gary Bell, Bill Dailey, Dick Brown, Gordy Coleman,Jim Gentile, Don Zimmer and Don Demeter... all of them had fair-to-good Major League careers.

The Pelicans had a decent year and had a chance to make the 4-team playoffs, but they missed out by 2 games and wound up in the fifth spot in the standings... New Orleans had fairly good pitching... Lenny Yochim (14-14) was there the entire season... Bob Schultz (9-4) and Preston Elkins (8-4) were with the club about half the season... but that's the way minor league baseball was... the best clubs had the same players most of the season... the Pels could have contended if all of their staff was there the entire season.... ex-Major League infielder Lou Klein (.311 BA/14 HR/89 RBI/78 R) and first baseman Al Grunwald (.293 BA/18 HR/111 RBIs/86 R) led the New Orleans attack... the Pelicans had several reliable bats in the batting order... they were a pretty fair club by season's end.

Sadly, I must have to admit, the Southern Association (Double A) talent was not as good as EC thought it was... looking at the '53 stats, very few of the league leaders did much in the Majors... they all were just mediocre hangers on... Double A batters could hit the MLB fastballs, but they had trouble with the breaking stuff... also the Double A pitchers could throw just as hard and had good stuff, but they lack the command and control of the Major Leaguers... good breaking balls and good command will stop Double A players every time.

Memphis won the regular season crown, just barely beating out the Atlanta Crackers and Nashville Vols, but the Nashville snatched the playoff title... the Vols lost the Dixie Series in 6 games to the Dallas Eagles of the Texas League... that was for the Double A championship of minor league baseball... the great Dizzy Dean led the Houston Buffaloes to the Dixie Series in 1931, but the Buffs lost in a torrid 7-game series to the Birmingham Barons.

I thought I would share a ticket from the '53 Dixie Series... nice price... just $1.75.... also ran across two 1950s Houston Buffaloes' logo.

[StLee]

Interesting stuff as always about baseball and life in your youth.

I'm curious if you were aware of the Evangeline League back in that time. My hometown, Houma, had a team back then. Unfortunately, racism did in the league after teams being funded by MLB teams refused to accept black minor league players in the late-50s, basically closing off their bank accounts and causing all teams to fold.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by StLee

Interesting stuff as always about baseball and life in your youth.

I'm curious if you were aware of the Evangeline League back in that time. My hometown, Houma, had a team back then. Unfortunately, racism did in the league after teams being funded by MLB teams refused to accept black minor league players in the late-50s, basically closing off their bank accounts and causing all teams to fold.

StLee,
Appreciate that you like my youthful reminiscing... I often wonder if the only person that is interested in that is just me.

Yes, I loved to follow the Evangeline League with the Baton Rouge Red Sticks, Lafayette Bulls, Hammond Berries, Houma Indians, Abbeville Aces, New Iberia Pelicans, Crowley Millers and perhaps, the Monroe Sports and Lake Charles Lakers... the New Orleans Times-Picayune covered them every day in the early 50s, even posted the box scores and league stats.

I didn't realize that racism killed the league...I always heard TV did a lot to kill the minor leagues... air-conditioning, too... why go out and sit in hot, muggy weather when you could stay home and be cool inside... and be entertained, too... free of charge.

South Louisianians are hardy folks... especially the ones that attended baseball games at night in the 50s... how they withstood the mosquitoes is amazing... I remember in the 60s in the summertime when you had to run from the house quickly to your car to avoid the swarms of mosquitoes... they would literally cover your arms and your face.... finally they started spraying programs and mosquito control programs and pretty much solved it, at least, in New Orleans... don't know if it worked in the swampy areas around New Orleans.

EC

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 5, 1954

BOBCATS BREAK GREEN GIANTS' 5-GAME WIN SKEIN IN NIPL ACTION
After winning the first 5 games of the season, the Joliet Green Giants ran into a hornets' nest in the North Island Premier League... the Theodore Bobcats stung them 11-4 and knock them from the ranks of the unbeaten... in other action the Dutton Coyotes raced by the New Yerby Yankees 6-3 in the late innings.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 5, 1954

NIEL LEADER KINSTON IS ON A 5-GAME ROLL, KOFA CLOSE SECOND
The first place Kinston Firebirds are off to a sizzling start in the North Island Elite League with 5 victories in 6 games... Kinston held off its latest victim, the last place Jackson Jackalopes 9-8 yesterday afternoon... there was another nailbiter in the NIEl... runner-up Kofa nipped the Avalon Valiants 2-1 to stay just one game back of Kinston in the fight for the top spot in the standings.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 5, 1954

TIGERS TAME 1ST-PLACE SAINTS IN SISL UPSET
The lowly Meraux Tigers rode strong pitching to upset the first-place St. Dominic Saints in South Island Supreme League play Sunday afternoon... the Tigers blanked the Saints 2-0... there was a second tight pitcher's duel at Guedon, where the Gators were beaten by Bar Harbor 3-1 in 11 innings.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 5, 1954

MARINERS BREEZE PAST BLUES FOR 4TH STRAIGHT TRIUMPH IN SI PRIMARY ACTION, CARDINALS STAY RIGHT ON THEIR HEELS
The top two teams in the South Island Primary League claimed victories Sunday... the top team, the Mystic Mariners, breezed past third place Bayou Bleu 5-3... and second place Claiborne drubbed last place Des Allemands 9-2.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1954
EC's Scoring More in '54

Sports, Music and Movies... that's pretty much my life's story.
To a kid of 14, the top movies of 1954 were just too adult for yours truly... but there were some good ones that I enjoyed... "White Christmas", "The Caine Mutiny", "Rear Window", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", "Magnificent Obsession", "Sabrina" and "Three Coins in the Fountain".

The Academy Awards went to the artsy folks... "On the Waterfront" won the best picture... EC gave it a "thumbs down"... Marlon Brando won best actor... EC wasn't impressed with "method actor" Brando... he overplayed it... Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg was too stiff of a performance... but the movie was pretty good... much better than Brando's movie... I would have given Audrey Hepburn the best actress award over Grace Kelly... "The Country Girl" with Bing Crosby and William Holden, two of my favorites of all-time, was just a boringly sad movie... none of the best supporting actors or actresses impressed me... however, on second thought, Lee J. Cobb should have won it... he was very good in "On the Waterfront".

"White Christmas" made the most money and rightly so... it was a very entertaining movie with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen... EC thoroughly enjoyed it... really good entertainment.

"Rear Window", a thriller with Jimmy Stewart, was intense... Raymond Burr was really scary as the villain... great Hitchcock movie... Stewart also starred in "The Glenn Miller Story" and had two of the top 10 movies of the year.

John Wayne and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were the most popular movie stars.

Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were the top western stars.

EC also saw many other movies, among them was "The Creature from the Black Lagoon"... yeah, it was bad, but quite successful... the creature really looked dinky... EC enjoyed "Phantom of the Rue Morgue", "Robinson Crusoe", "Demetrius and the Gladiators", "King Richard and the Crusaders" and Paul Newman in his first movie, "The Silver Chalice", a knightly tale.

Also saw Tony Curtis ("The Black Shield of Falworth") and Robert Wagner ("Prince Valiant") as knights in shining armor... EC didn't realize how bad they acted at the time, but did years later.

I guess I outgrew the old westerns... can you believe EC stop going to the Saturday Matinees?... all good things come to an end sooner or later... but, hey, that's just life... that's what happens.



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