In 1903, a small league in California defied Organized Baseball by adding teams in Portland and Seattle to become the strongest minor league of the twentieth century. Calling itself the Pacific Coast League, this outlaw association frequently outdrew its major league counterparts and continued to challenge the authority of Organized Baseball until the majors expanded into California in 1958. The Pacific Coast League introduced the world to Joe, Vince and Dom DiMaggio, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri, Lefty O’Doul, Mickey Cochrane, Bobby Doerr, and many other baseball stars, all of whom originally signed with PCL teams. This thorough history of the Pacific Coast League chronicles its foremost personalities, governance, and contentious relationship with the majors, proving that the history of the game involves far more than the happenings in the American and National leagues.
Long before the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants brought the major leagues to California in 1958, professional baseball thrived on the West Coast in the form of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). Minor only in name, the league featured intense rivalries, a huge fan base, and such future Hall of Famers as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. The Los Angeles Angels won 14 PCL pennants and stood as the league's premier franchise. This year-by-year chronicle of the Los Angeles Angels from 1903 to 1957 includes an overview of the PCL and a wealth of statistical information, including an all-time player roster, a list of important team records, lineups, and attendance information. Based in part on personal interviews with former Angels players, this history offers a nostalgic look back at the PCL and the early days of baseball in the West.
When the Pacific Coast League was founded in 1903, the Portland Beavers-then known as the Browns-played in the circuit's first game, a 3-1 road loss to the San Francisco Stars. When the PCL celebrated its centennial season in 2003, Portland was the only city in the league to have been there at the start. The team's alumni include Satchel Paige, Lou Piniella, and Louis Tiant, but even more familiar to Portland fans are players like Eddie Basinski, Roy Hesler, and Bernardo Brito, who spent much of their careers with the Beavers...and groundskeeper Rocky Benevento and broadcaster Rollie Truitt, who each spent over three decades with the ball club. The Portland Beavers samples the first century of the team's history: Walter McCredie's teams that won five pennants from 1906 to 1914; the championship clubs of 1932 and 1936; the last-to-first climb that ended with a PCL title in 1945; the 1983 pennant that came between the team's two departures from Portland; and the return in 2001 that re-established Beavers baseball as a summertime tradition.
In the 1920s baseball fans flocked to minor league ballparks, making stars of players who would never wear a major league uniform. This was particularly true on the West Coast, where fans embraced the colorful Pacific Coast league as a third major league. Owners' meetings were rambunctious affairs where issues were sometimes settled with fists. In the stands, drinking and gambling went unchecked. On the field, players and umpires were as likely to trade punches as insults. But its rowdy style did not detract from the quality of the league. Talented players used the 200 game schedule and cozy, bandbox ballparks to produce unparalleled offensive fireworks. The rich history includes the first-ever listing of all players in the PCL during the 1920s.
"This first complete history provides an overview of the league's early years, detailed summaries for the official seasons of 1920 through 1947 and accounts of the exciting pennant races between the Negro league teams and the white professional teams. Appendices provide extensive statistical information."--BOOK JACKET.
From an award-winning graphic artist and baseball historian comes a strikingly original illustrated history of baseball’s forgotten heroes, including stars of the Negro Leagues, barnstorming teams, semi-pro leagues, foreign leagues, and famous players like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio before they achieved notoriety. From a young age, Gary Cieradkowski had a passion for baseball’s unheralded heroes. Inspired by his father and their shared love of the sport, Cieradkowski began creating “outsider” baseball cards, as a way to tell the little-known stories of baseball’s many unsung heroes—alongside some of baseball’s greatest players before they were famous. The League of Outsider Baseball is a tribute to all of those who’ve played the game, known and unknown. Shining a light into the dark corners of baseball history—from Mickey Mantle’s minor league days to Negro League greats like Josh Gibson and Leon Day; to people that most never knew played the game, such as Frank Sinatra, who had his own ball club in 1940s Hollywood; bank robber John Dillinger, who was a promising shortstop and took time out between robberies to attend Cubs games; and even a few US presidents—this book is a rich, visual tribute to America’s pastime. Meticulously researched, beautifully illustrated using a unique, vintage baseball-card-style, and filled with a colorful and rich cast of characters, this book is a prized collector’s item and will be cherished by fans of all ages.
During the 1956 baseball season in the city of Los Angeles, Mickey Mantle’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record was matched only by the day-to-day drama of Steve Bilko’s exploits in the Pacific Coast League. While Mantle was winning the Triple Crown in the American League, Bilko was doing the same in the highest of all the minor leagues with the Los Angeles Angels. He led the league hitters in eight categories, and the Angels romped to the pennant. Bilko hit one mighty home run after another to earn Minor League Player of the Year honors and inspire the team’s nickname, “The Bilko Athletic Club.” The Bilko Athletic Club tells the story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels, a team of castoffs and kids built around Steve Bilko, a bulky, beer-loving basher of home runs.Author Gaylon H. White provides an intimate portrait of life in minor league baseball in the 1950s and gives readers a glimpse inside the heads and hearts of the players as they experience the same doubts and frustrations many face in the pursuit of a dream. The Angels’ unforgettable season unfolds through stories told by the players themselves, as they racked up runs and rolled to a 107-61 won-loss record, finishing sixteen games ahead of their closest competitor. Featuring in-depth interviews with Steve Bilko and twenty-five of his ’56 Angels teammates, The Bilko Athletic Club also includes several photos and is highlighted by never-before-told anecdotes. A fascinating account of a season to remember, The Bilko Athletic Club will take fans and historians of the national pastime back to the golden era of baseball.
The Pacific Coast League enjoyed a reputation as one of the premier minor leagues in organized baseball. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Lefty Gomez, the Waner brothers and Ernie Lombardi were among the future Hall of Famers who played in its cozy parks. Legendary minor leaguers such as Smead Jolley, Buzz Arlett, Lefty O'Doul and Frank Shellenback made their marks in the PCL. This reference work is a season-by-season guide to the glory days of the PCL. It includes a listing of starters and primary reserves for all teams from 1903 through 1957, as well as playoff results, managerial records, and statistical leaders for each season. Complete PCL records for over 500 of the circuit's most notable players are also provided.
Technically it was a minor league, but for hockey fans west of the Mississippi, the Western Hockey League provided major-league entertainment for over 25 years. The WHL was a determined and ambitious professional league, with some 22 teams based in major American and Canadian cities. Known as the Pacific Coast Hockey League prior to 1952, the WHL aspired to establish itself as North America's second major league, a western counterpart to the early eastern Canada-based National Hockey League. But it never quite managed to make the jump to the majors. Ice Warriors is a play-by-play history of the Western Hockey League, recalling the league's beginnings as the Pacific Coast League, how it came to rival the NHL and what led to its disbanding in 1974. By interviewing former players, coaches and fans, and examining statistical records, Jon C. Stott captures the WHL's glory days and pays tribute to a time when hockey was played with heart.