Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs (1961-)

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DALLAS, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1963

TEXANS CLINCH DIVISION

The Dallas Texans have clinched the Continental League Western Division following their win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Orleans Alligators loss to the Denver Doves.

The Texans will face off against the Maple Leafs in the Continental Series. It will be a rematch of the 1961 Continental Series, in which the Texans emerged victorious.

The Texans have won the Western Division in all three seasons of the Continental League.

The clinch officially eliminates the New Orleans Alligators, who put up quite the fight in their first ever season.

The Texans have six regular season games remaining before the Continental Series begins play on September 13th.

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DALLAS, TEXAS, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1963

TEXANS WIN GAME ONE

The Dallas Texans won game one of the Continental Series, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium on Friday. The Maple Leafs struck first, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Del Crandall in the bottom of the 1st inning.

Debusschere settled in though, matching Toronto starter Guido Grilli tit-for-tat, as neither team scored until the top of the 6th.

However, the Texans took a 3-1 lead in the 6th when Bobby Avila deposited a fastball into the left field bleachers. Debusschere pitched a scoreless 6th, but that would be all for him as Dallas turned it over to the bullpen in the 7th. Debusschere pitched 6.0 IP, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three and walking one. Humberto Robinson pitched three scoreless innings in relief, picking up the save.

Grilli came out to pitch the eighth for Toronto, but was replaced by Warren Spahn after walking the first two hitters. Grilli picked up the loss, pitching 7+ innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out eight and walking three.

The teams return to action tonight at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

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September 15, 1963

Merritt Ties Up Texans

The Toronto Maple Leafs evened up the Continental Series behind a masterful performance from starter Jim Merritt. The Maple Leafs won the game 5-0 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium on Saturday night.

Yogi Berra provided the first run of the game in the bottom of the 2nd, homering over the right field fence to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead.

The Leafs scored again in the 4th. Del Crandall singled to right field, but reached second on an error by Edwin Chasteen. Crandall's hit was the second hit in a 3-for-3 day for him. Jim Koranda then singled to center, driving in Crandall. The Maple Leafs scored one more run later in the inning on a Chico Terry RBI single, giving them a 3-0 lead. The Maple Leafs tacked on two more runs in the 5th. That would be it for the offense though as Toronto wouldn't score for the rest of the day.

Merritt picked up the win, going eight innings and allowing no runs on two hits while striking out six and walking two.

"I felt good out there, but what matters is we got the win," Merritt says.

The teams will have an off day today to account for travel to Dallas. The series resumes in Dallas at Turnpike Stadium on Monday. Tommy John is slated to start for Toronto, while Don Ferrarese is scheduled to pitch for Dallas.

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September 17, 1963

Leafs Lead Continental Series

The Toronto Maple Leafs took a 2-1 Continental Series lead, defeating the Dallas Texans 3-2 at Turnpike Stadium on Monday night.

The Texans scored first in the bottom of the third when John Baird drove in Ralph Holding on a groundout.

Maple Leafs starter Tommy John helped himself out in the fifth, scoring on a single by Lee Walls. John originally reached base on a double. The Maple Leafs scored two more runs in the seventh, when Chico Terry scored on a sac fly by Walls and Dave Bristol scored on a single by Del Crandall. The two run inning gave the Leafs a 3-1 lead.

The Texans did score one more run on the day, as Roy White drove in Bobby Avila, but that would be all they could muster as they fell 3-2.

Don Ferrarese took the loss for Dallas, pitching 6 1/3 while allowing two runs on six hits. He also struck out and walked four hitters.

John picked up the win for Toronto. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits.

The series returns to action tonight at Turnpike Stadium.

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DALLAS, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1963

TEXANS WALK IT OFF, EVEN SERIES

Donald Gordon's walk off home run gave the Dallas Texans the win and evened the Continental Series at two last night.

The Texans came out firing, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on a Roy White home run. However, neither team would score again until the Toronto Maple Leafs scratched a run across in the 5th on a RBI single by Chico Terry. Zeke Bella then drove in Jim Koranda on a single in the 7th inning, tying the game at two.

Dallas initially looked like they would strike right back in the bottom half of the 7th, as Ted Williams had a pinch hit double to put runners on second and third with one out, but John Baird popped out to the shortstop and Gordon struck out to end the inning.

Gordon made up for his mistake and then some, homering off Warren Spahn in the 10th inning, giving Dallas the win.

The teams resume play tonight at Turnpike Stadium. Dave Debuscherre and Guido Grilli, the starters in game one, will square off yet again.

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DALLAS, TEXAS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1963

Texans Shut Out Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs had no answer for the Texans pitching, as the Texans won game five of the Continental Series 3-0, giving them a 3-2 series lead.

The Texans took the lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back, as Elio Toboso drove in John Baird and Bobby Avila on a triple. Neither team allowed a run until the 6th, when Ted Williams drove in Toboso on a pinch hit single.

The true story was the pitching, as the Maple Leafs barely touched Dallas starter Dave Debusschere. Debusschere went 6.0 innings, allowing no runs on 2 hits while striking out five and walking two. Ray Crone relieved Debusschere and pitched three scoreless frames, picking up the save.

Guido Grilli picked up the loss, his second of the series. He pitched 7 1/3, allowing the three runs on five hits while striking out eight and walking five.

The teams have an off day today as they travel back to Canada to wrap up the series. The Texans need just one more win to win their second Continental League title. The Maple Leafs will have to win two straight. The series returns tomorrow at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. Earl Wilson will start for Dallas. Jim Merritt will start for Toronto.

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September 21, 1963

LEAFS WIN SHOOTOUT, FORCE GAME SEVEN

The Toronto Maple Leafs won 6-5 on Friday night, forcing a game seven in the Continental Series.

Toronto hopped out to a quick start, scoring four runs in the first two innings. Del Crandall homered in the bottom of the first to give them a 1-0 lead. Chico Terry hit a two-run shot in the second and Dave Bristol drove in a run on a single to give Toronto a 4-0 lead.

The Texans answered back with three of their own in the top of the third. Bobby Avila drove in a run on a single, while Elio Toboso drove in two runs on a triple to make the score 4-3.

The Texans then evened the score in the 5th, as Avila drove in Roy White.

The score stayed locked up until the 8th when the Maple Leafs took a 6-4 lead on a two-RBI bases loaded single by Terry.

In what was an interesting move, Toronto brought in Tommy John to pitch the 9th. John was originally slated to start game seven. John did allow one run, but he picked up the save.

The winner-take-all game seven is tonight at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. Don Ferrarese will start for Dallas. Toronto's starter is still to be determined.

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DALLAS, TEXAS, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1963

TEXAS TWO STEP
Texans win their second Continental League title in dramatic fashion

The Dallas Texans won their second Continental League title in three seasons, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 11-7 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

The Texans jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first. Edwin Chasteen drove in John Baird and Donald Gordon on a single. Ralph Holding then drove in Bobby Avila and Chasteen on a double.

Lee Walls hit a homer in the bottom of the third to make the score 4-1.

The Texans scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 7-1 lead. Toronto answered back, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the frame on a Zeke Bella double.

Bella came through again in the eighth, tying the game at seven on a grand slam.

"At the end of the day it doesn't matter. We lost," Bella said.

Neither team scored again until the top of the 12th, when the Texans scored four runs off of Warren Spahn. Starter Marshall Renfroe came into the game in the bottom of the 12th, shutting the door and giving Dallas the title.

Texans first baseman Bobby Avila won series MVP. He hit .385 with a homer in the series.

"We have great fans and they deserve this. I'm so happy for our city right now," Avila said.

Ted Williams also got his first championship, and he says it will also be his last. "I think it is time to retire. I finally got a ring. I'm so thankful for this opportunity."

Williams, 45, was relegated to bench duty as he couldn't handle a defensive load. Williams had five pinch hit at bats in the Continental Series, picking up three hits.

[gskweres9]

That marks the end of the third season of the Continental League!

I will get the awards and post some storylines in the coming days. In the meantime, I'm going to be doing some work in the background. I figure I'd share what that work will be. It's not necessary to the story, but it's just little things that help immersion that y'all might be interested in.

The first order of business is to fix minor leagues. Since this story is about a league competing with MLB, I have automatic expansion/relocation turned off. An unfortunate side effect of that is minor league affiliations don't automatically change. An even more unfortunate fact is that the early 60s might have been the most volatile period for minor league teams ever, so I have some work to do.

I just need to go through and organize the minors and such. I might even create my own minor league or two. I want the Continental League teams to have minor league affiliates as well. After all, Branch Rickey is the president of the league, and he's the granddaddy of farm systems. In the end the minor leagues will not exactly resemble what it looked like in the 60s, but it will be more organized, make more sense, and help with my personal immersion.

The next order of business is something I'm not 100% sure I'm going to do, but I'm leaning towards it. Branch Rickey said one of the biggest things the Continental League would need to do to compete with MLB if it ever got off the ground in real life was hit Latin America hard.

In an effort to emulate that, I turned on International Free Agency. However none of the IFA classes have produced any worthwhile players.

Anyways, what I'm thinking of doing is creating some small leagues across Latin America. Maybe small four team leagues in Cuba, the Dominican, and Mexico, and just making the players purchasable. That way there will be a bigger player pool and the players will have some sort of track record

These players will be entirely fictional, which I'm ok with. While most of this world will be filled with players from real life, imagine some of the superstars we might've missed on because we didn't scout Latin America as hard back then. The way I see it, the random Latin kid that ends up hitting an insane number of homers in this world is just a Latin kid that never got discovered in real life, and I'm fine with that.

Anyways, that is what I will be working on, so I apologize if things come slowly. As always, thank you for reading and feel free to drop a comment of any sort

GS

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New York, Saturday, October 19, 1963

Senators Win World Series

The Washington Senators won game six of the 1963 World Series, defeating the San Francisco Giants 2-0 on Friday. Starting pitcher Pedro Ramos won World Series MVP. The starter pitched two games during the series, winning both.

In game one Ramos pitched 8 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (none earned). He also pitched the deciding game six, going the complete game and not allowing a single run.

It was the first World Series title in 39 years for the Senators. They last won in 1924 when 36-year-old Walter Johnson was the ace of the staff and Goose Goslin and Sam Rice powered the lineup.

Now Ramos and hitters Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison will join Senators folklore. The Senators won the American League pennant after going 89-65 in the regular season. The Giants won the National League, going 101-53.

Page Two

• Gussie Busch on upcoming owners meetings
• Continental League adding Minor Leagues?

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New York, Monday, October 28, 1963

Continental League Owners Convene

The owners of the Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs finished the second of their biannual meetings on Sunday. The owners mostly congratulated each other on a successful season, in which all ten teams saw large profits and attendance went up for the third consecutive season. Both the Memphis Hound Dogs and the New Orleans Alligators had successful first seasons, although the Alligators had much more success on the field.

"We didn't win as much as I would've liked, but our fans loved coming out to the ballpark and we loved having them," Hound Dogs owner Elvis Presley said.

The owners did attend to some business, namely the lack of a farm system.

"We need to have some sort of minor league to develop talent," league president Branch Rickey said.

While the league has yet to strike a deal, Rickey says they have something planned.

"Yes, we certainly have plans, but nothing is official yet and I don't want to speak on anything that isn't official," Rickey said.

As has become tradition, the Most Valuable Player and Pitcher of the Year award winners were announced at the owners meetings.

Toronto Maple Leafs outfielder Leon Wagner won the Most Valuable Player. Wagner also won the award in the league's inaugural season in 1961. He hit .294 with 37 homers on the year for the Eastern Division champions.



New York Mets pitcher Dennis Ribant took home the Pitcher of the Year, becoming the second straight Met to win the award. Of course his teammate Paul Toth won both the Pitcher of the Year and the Most Valuable Player awards last year. Ribant had a magnificent season, leading the Continental League in Wins (18), ERA (1.90) and Innings Pitched (261).

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New York, Friday, November 1, 1963

MLB OWNERS CONVENE

The owners of the 16 clubs of Major League Baseball are meeting in New York this weekend. The league has many things to address, namely the number of struggling financial teams throughout the league. The most outspoken owner has been the Cardinals Gussie Busch.

Busch said during the regular season that his team "couldn't keep operating like this."

Busch seems to be a proponent of revenue sharing, a practice that the Continental League accepted.

"We need to do something to keep all of the teams financially viable," Busch said. "We can't have a couple of teams running away while the rest of the league lags behind."

The comments are certainly interesting to hear from Busch, who owns one of baseball's legendary franchises. The Cardinals have won six World Series, tied for second in league history.

7 of the 16 teams reportedly lost money last season. 3 of those 7 lost over half a million dollars.

It remains to be seen if MLB makes any changes.

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November 5, 1963

Lakers Make Big Signing

The Buffalo Lakers have signed highly touted pitching prospect Luis Tiant. Tiant, a native of Cuba, has been pursued by both Continental League and Major League Baseball teams, but he ultimately decided on the Lakers.

The 23-year-old will likely slot behind Mel Stottlemyre in the Lakers rotation. Tiant signed a $60,000 deal with Buffalo.

The Lakers hope that he will help improve a rotation that was already pretty good. The pitching staff finished third in the Continental League in runs allowed.

The Lakers finished 62-82 in 1963, 28 GB of the division champion Toronto Maple Leafs

No Minor Leagues This Year

The Continental League was unable to strike an agreement to begin a developmental league. The league feels it is necessary to add a developmental minor league, but were unable to do so for the upcoming season.

"It's disappointing, but we're not going to make a deal that is bad for the league," league president Branch Rickey said.

The league reportedly ran out of time to come to an agreement for the 1964 season, as not enough time remains to make schedules, form rosters, etc. Rickey says that doesn't mean all hope is lost.

"We will definitely continue to look for avenues for development. I'm hopeful we can have something in place for 1965 or '66," Rickey said.

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St. Louis, Saturday, March 7, 1964

'64 WILL BE CARDINALS LAST

St. Louis Cardinals owner Gussie Busch announced that 1964 will be the teams last, citing continuing financial issues. Busch has been a vocal critic of MLB, pushing for changes to the current league construct. However, MLB hasn't made any changes, and he feels his hand has been forced.

"It is a sad day for St. Louis," Busch said. "I don't want the people of this city to think I didn't fight, because I did, but Major League Baseball simply was unwilling to work with us."

Busch pushed hard for revenue sharing, so teams like the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants that made quite a bit of money could share with the struggling teams, but the vote didn't reach the necessary 12 of 16 votes at the most recent owners meetings.

Busch also pushed hard for a new stadium, as the club has played in Sportsman's Park since the 1920's, but there simply wasn't enough money to build a park for a team that has finished under .500 every single year since 1957 and hasn't made a World Series since 1946.

The Cardinals are tied for the second most World Series titles in MLB history, having won six.

St. Louis will begin their final season of play at Sportsman's Park on April 14th against the Milwaukee Braves.

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New York, Monday, April 6, 1964

CONTINENTAL LEAGUE TO BEGIN PLAY

The Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs will begin play on Monday. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Texans will square off at 3:05 in a rematch of last year's Continental Series. The Texans won the Continental Series in seven games, their second title in three years.

Dave Debusschere will take the mound for the hometown Texans. Jim Merritt will pitch for the visiting Maple Leafs.

Elsewhere around the Continental League, the Lakers travel to Atlanta to take on the Pilots, the Mets travel to Houston to play the Colt .45s, the Denver Doves travel to Memphis to play the Hound Dogs, and the Minneapolis Millers travel to New Orleans for their contest against the Alligators.

1964 marks the fourth season of play for the Continental League. The Dallas Texans won the 1961 and 1963 titles. The New York Mets won in 1962.

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April 8, 1964

Stottlemyre Fires No Hitter

Buffalo Lakers starting pitcher Mel Stottlemyre pitched a no-hitter in the Lakers 5-0 win against the Atlanta Pilots on Tuesday. It is the first ever no-hitter in Continental League history.

"It was like a dream," Stottlemyre said. "The ball went exactly where I wanted it to."

Stottlemyre pitched the complete game, allowing no runs while striking out five and walking three. The win improved the Lakers to 1-1 after losing on Opening Day.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Please save the St. Louis Cardinals, if at all possible. That proposed removal of them from MLB would only leave MLB with 15 teams, and that wouldn't work well, I'm sure, in terms of scheduling games for them. I'd say this for any of the other 15 Classic Teams, for sure, as well, EVEN THE CUBS. I know it's your game, after all, but it wouldn't really be the MLB without the Cardinals or a NL team in St. Louis, et cetera, I believe. CD out.

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Originally Posted by Clovidequano Dovatha

Please save the St. Louis Cardinals, if at all possible. That proposed removal of them from MLB would only leave MLB with 15 teams, and that wouldn't work well, I'm sure, in terms of scheduling games for them. I'd say this for any of the other 15 Classic Teams, for sure, as well, EVEN THE CUBS. I know it's your game, after all, but it wouldn't really be the MLB without the Cardinals or a NL team in St. Louis, et cetera, I believe. CD out.

Thank you for the comment, I appreciate it.

I can't say that I will save the Cardinals in their current state, but there's certainly more to the story with them.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Well, hoping they survive somehow, of course. I may most definitely not like the Cubs, for instance, but I do recognize their historicity, in any case, even though I'm a big Cardinal fan for sure. And I sure wouldn't want to see the Cubs eliminated, even though they're our biggest rival, et cetera, as well. I mean, why potentially eliminate the best rivalry in all of sports, quite possibly, bar none, that rivalry between the Cards and Cubs that's been going on for more than 125 years now, if memory serves? CD out.

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Monday, April 20, 1964

ROOKIE OFF TO HOT START

New Orleans Alligators rookie outfielder Tony Conigliaro is off to a hot start, winning Continental League player of the week.

The 19-year-old hit .476 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI's on the week. On the season he's hitting .417 with 7 home runs. His .417 average in currently third in the Continental League, while his 7 homers pace the league.

Conigliaro has been a sensation for the Alligators as he's helped lead them to the league's best offense in the early going. The Alligators are currently 8-5 and are in second place in the Continental League's Western Division.

The Alligators play at home tonight at Tad Gormley Stadium, taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Carl Mathias pitches for the Maple Leafs. Charlie Beamon will twirl for New Orleans. First pitch is at 7:05.

Standings

Western Division
1) Houston Colt .45s (9-4)
2) New Orleans Alligators (8-5)
3) Denver Doves (6-7)
4) Minneapolis Millers (6-7)
5) Dallas Texans (5-8)

Eastern Division
1) Atlanta Pilots (9-4)
2) New York Mets (7-6)
3) Memphis Hound Dogs (6-7)
4) Toronto Maple Leafs (5-8)
5) Buffalo Lakers (4-9)