Monday, March 11, 2024

Bay area semi-pro

1911-6-11 Healdsburg. Somewhat motley uniforms. Brother of Ham Iburg is infielder. 
 1916-7-23 Ancient Order of Foresters
1916-7-30 Hollister - leading Mission League.
1917-6-03 Mutual Biscuit of San Jose, managed by Jack Byler
1919-11-13 Hollister Alpines, champions of San Benito county. Have Gene Valla. 19-1 record. Will play series with San Jose Merchants, champs of Santa Clara valley. Valla won sixteen straight games. Has several pro offers. 

1911-5-14 "Fodder" Dolan, Clarions pitcher - Central California League
1911-7-09 M.H. Heinie Schwerin, sensational Alameda outfielder.
1911-8-13 Tom Knott, Clarions ss
1916-3-26 Ted Brandon and Bobby Moy, St. Mary's Phoenix
1916-7-16 Vic Corbett and Red Mitchell, Bushrod All Star battery
1916-8-06 Rudy Merani, Gridley Trolley League. Hitting .378. 
1916-8-13 Pop Arlett, pitching czar of bushes. Has pitched for Martinez all year. Refused several PCL offers.
1916-8-20 Cy Cunningham, who has won 17 straight for Allendale. 
1917-5-13 "Homerun" Pat MacDonough, Richmond Elks. Best semi-pro catcher. 
    Park Wilson, former outfielder for St. Mary's, will go to Marysville in Trolley League.
1917-5-20 Walter Croll, Alameda Elks 3b.
1917-5-27 Red Mitchell, Money-Back Smith catcher. Rudy Merani, Sacramento Foxes.
1917-6-03 Frank Gay, (milb), Merced ss
1917-6-10 Clarke Boldt in Sperry Flour uniform. Currently in Seattle. He says he was not given fair chance to make Seattle Northwest club. 
    Les Manning, Hayward Wardrobes pitcher. Allendale Merchants batting
1917-6-17 Andrew "Red" Powers, Marysville-Oroville
1917-12-30 Al Allen, Maxwell Hardware 1b
1918-6-23 Carol Land and Wild Bill Keane, Santa Fe Improver battery. Keane has joined the Marines. Write-up. 
1919-7-06 Three recent additions to C.L. Best Tractors of San Leandro - incl. Babe Danzig.
1946-8-30 Some Mather Field Flyers - Tribune tournament

https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/?user=193011%3Ahonour Alameda Alerts stuff. 

1882-3-4 Team organized by members of Alert Hose Co.: Alert Baseball Club. Origin of Alameda Alerts?

1897-8-29 Oakland Reliance 4, Alameda Alerts 3. 6K ATT. At Central Park.
1897-9-06 Alameda Alerts 8, Los Angeles 4. Tournament game.
1897-9-19 Fresno Republicans 6, Alameda Alerts 4. 8K ATT. Finals. Moskiman, Alerts pitcher.

1898-8-20 Amateur league will be formed. Season will run from September to December.
    Alto and Golden Gate clubs will play tomorrow for $50 purse and state amateur championship. "The Golden Gates are the only team having the distinction of defeating the Watsonville club, now in the professional league."
1898-8-26 Member clubs of California Amateur Baseball League enumerated. They make quite the list. Include Owl Drug of California. 

1911-5-14 SF Chronicle. Really good. CCL, Contra Costa League, misc. - all very good. 
    Press Martin struck out 21 Arbuckle batters in nine-inning game. 
1911-5-27 (Sacramento Bee) Article against importing players for amateur teams. It is the cause of much financial distress among teams, even causing teams to disband. It produces additional evils in promoting gambling, forcing local players out of the line-up, and causing the town team to become foreign.
1911-6-18 SF Call & Post. 
1911-7-09 SF Chronicle. Good - CCL etc.
1911-8-13 SF Chronicle. Salomon, manager of Clarions, thinks his ss Tom Knott is a future big leaguer. He's fast, hard-hitting, and 6'2". Oscar Jones cut loose by Lemoore - didn't pitch with enough enthusiasm to earn his $150/month salary.

1911-11-19 Benefit vaudeville performance will be given tonight for San Rafael, amateur champions of California. The money will go towards a new grandstand at Eastside Park. They won 26 out of 34 games this year. Roster listed, with full names for all.
    Johnson, Ferdinand

1915-7-06 Solano-Napa talk.

1916-3-26 Mission League schedule. Richmond has new grandstand - w/pic. Money raised by popularity contest.
1916-7-16 Bushers who can make good in fast company #2 - Lefty Fleigher, Sperry Flour center fielder.
    "Real amateur teams in California now are very scarce, as all players are getting some remuneration for their services."
 1916-7-23 Bushers who can make good in fast company #3 -Charley Schwaeke, Martinez catcher
    "Most of the players in the country towns are dependent upon jobs they are holding down mostly on the strength of their ability on the diamond. Of course the boys get a cut of the Sunday receipts, but the main part of their money comes from the pockets of the merchants who make places in their stores, and men who give the boys jobs in the upstate industries. The ball players adopt the town where baseball boosters will give them the best jobs, and then sometimes forget they are supposed to do something besides play baseball... Many men prominent in local semi-pro circles are blaming the ball player for the breaking up of Petaluma, Sebastopol, and other country teams." 
1916-7-30 Bushers who can make good in fast company #4 - Lee Ryan, S.F. Sperry Flour 1b
    Mission League: Poor crowds in Monterey - franchise transferred to Campbell Athletic Club. League melt-down averted. George Bradford will manage Campbell. 
1916-8-06  Bushers who can make good in fast company #5: Paul Montgomery, Ambrose Tailers 2b
    Report on how some of the local players are doing in Northern California. 
    Cack Henley gets $7 a day as bricklayer along with his "sweet salary" from Colusa. 
    Pop Arlett threw his second no-hitter of season last Sunday v. Concord. Pat Bohen threw 16K no-hitter v. San Rafael last Sunday also. 
    Apathy kills ball at Santa Cruz - people prefer the beach to the ballpark. Players will miss the trip to the coast. 
    "Semi-professional teams that now and then throw up the sponge can trace their troubles directly to the idea of trying to carry too many expense imported players that gate receipts do not warrant... Nearly every small town magnate will pay out as much money as possible to secure the best of talent for his club. If somebody else raises the price he has to raise accordingly or lose his player. Jumps have been frequent this summer and teams have been wrecked as a result of the money-mad-tactics of the bushers. 
1916-8-13 Bushers who can make good in fast company #6 - Joe Utchig, perhaps the fastest outfielder in local semi-pro history. 
     estimates 3000 young men play amateur and semi-pro ball every Sunday. Some objectionable features creeping in to local bush ball. 
1916-8-20 Bushers who can make good in fast company #7: Bobby Palmgren, Ambrose Tailers 3b
    Kern County League: former Fresno Tiger battery doing well for Southern Pacific. Last week, they had so much silver tossed at them by fans that got $17.50 each after pot was divided up. 
    Mission League final standings? Hollister and Salinas will engage in five-game series - had been to playing to play it for the $125 league nest egg, but San Jose wants part of the cash too. 
    Pop Arlett and Pat Bohen tied 2-2 in 13 innings. 
1916-9-16 Wilmerding High alumni are rooting for Oscar Vitt. Stockton boys Covaleskie and Oscar Stanage also have followings in San Francisco. etc. A review of big leaguers from bay area.

1917-5-13 Elks League - former leaguers like Devereaux. 
    "Bus" Arlett k's 14 for Chevrolet.
    Sperry batting.
    Chet Bost is with crack colored team called the Weilheimer Giants - sponsored by Weilheimer, a Fresno sporting goods store. Gene Hinds is also on team - he used to play for Visalia. See Eberle monograph.
    St. Joseph's high school has stolen 300 bases in 15 games. 
1917-6-10  Chico fans subscribe enough money to keep Chico team going; save Chico team and Trolley League
1917-12-30 Class B Winter League teams will lose players, as high schoolers cannot, under Alameda County Amateur Athletic League rules, play after the first of the year. 
    For last few years many old-time fans kept away from Coast League parks - too many imported players. Then East Bay Mid-Winter League came along - local players got a chance - and those old-time fans returned to games. 
    Proposal for four leagues to form in 1918 which could have "little world series." 
    Lincoln Park attendance record in danger today - Crockett will face Alameda. First time out-of-town team has played on local lot this season - fans have been anxious to see Crockett and Pittsburg, who are leading the way in the Winter League. 

1918-6-23 Standings + league talk.
    "Vallejo itself has gone wilder over baseball than it ever has"
    Halton-Didiers and Vitt Grays will meet today in Alameda to determine best independent club in county. 
    "After the gameness which the Mission Leaguers showed by meeting and deciding to go through with their schedule in spite of the increased railroad fares, they deserve to be patronized by the fans." 
1918-7-15 Meeting tonight - proposed that Central California League and Shipyard League might merge into one eight-team league. 


 
Oakland Tribune
1918-6-23 boxes + standings
1918-6-30 Shipyard "final" standings
1918-7-14 Mission League final 1st half standings
1918-7-21 first Central League games since 6-30
1918-8-25 Central League final standings
1918-9-01 in non-league: Pop Arlett no-hits Vampires
1918-9-22 Mission League final standings - Columbia Steel pennant hoisted - lose 3-2 to Crockett
    10 more games left in shipbuilder schedule
1918-9-29 no shipbuilder standings
1918-11-10 Alameda County Midwinter League opens
1918-11-17 Hanlon crowned shipyard champs
1918-11-24 Crocket-Pittsburg beats shipyard stars. Herbert McFarlin, Oakland PCL secretary, scouts during winter.

1919-6-17 Gossip + boxes. Richmond Elks beat Crockett 10-3.
1919-6-23 George Hans = Fruitvale Natives MG
    "Manuel Duarte looks like a regular baseball manager since he secured himself a straw lid. They are all getting the habit."
    Fred Krumb passed hat at Lincoln Park - did not pass around his own "straw piece." 
        Claxton k's 19 against Dominic Limiteds/ milb Heinie Lay in 3-3 tie.  box
    San Leandro C.L. Best Tractors will play championship series with Shasta Limiteds, colored club. "An automobile parade of Shasta fans will be held from Oakland to San Leandro"
    Misc. player news
1919-7-06 Previews - talk of state amateur title. Shasta Limiteds in running.
1919-7-06 Fred Krumb is grand-father - father/son-in-law is LeRoy Bolt, who played in right for Alameda when Krumb managed that team. 


    Halloran, Jack Oakland 1905-06

1906-10-01 SF Bulletin. Lots of boxes. Ping Bodie in right field for J.F. Cutters - two other Bodies in lineup. 

1907-7-10 Pierce, former Oakland pitcher, doing well for Napa.
1907-9-07 Jack Halloran, the "sprinting shortstop," is captain of Napa. Have Eddie Shea, late of SF, in right field, and Fair, late of Presidio, also in line-up. 
    Lesher is manager of Modesto Reds. Modesto pitcher Lamb will be given tryout by LA before next season. "Oscar Jones, who has worked against him in a bush game, speaks highly of him." 
    Turlock unfairly criticizing Modesto Reds for not playing third game against Merced after the Reds had already thrashed them twice. Ridiculous. 
1908-3-19 Vallejo line-up for season. J.T. Maroney is manager. Has Ping Bodie. Another Vallejo team will play at the old Cycodrome; managed by "George Brouillet, who has managed the champion roller polo team this winter." 
1908-6-11 Napa batting averages + commented xbh. Have won nine of ten games. 
    Standings given for games scheduled between Vallejo, Napa, Santa Rosa, and St. Helena. Doesn't sound like a league, but an informal association. 
1908-9-20 Ping Bodie will be at third for Vallejo today in game against St. Helena. It will be his final appearance before leaving to join the San Francisco Seals 9-22. The teams Vallejo will play in the remaining games are listed.

1907-10-13 Napa 2, Modesto 1. Modesto team praised for good sportsmanship etc. Almost a shame to beat them. 
    Biggest crowd ever at a baseball game in Napa. 
    Modesto wears "bright red trousers" - had won 20 of 22 games before coming to Napa. 
    "And a nicer crowd of ball players never came to Napa than the Modesto 'Reds.' Clean, square, good losers, and entirely free from the grumbling, kicking and wrangling proclivities so common with some visiting teams, it really seemed a shame to have to beat them. 
    "But the Napa needed the championship, you know." 

    Jack Fair
    Elmer "Brick"/"Golden Top"/"Elmer The Great" Leonard  - 6'4", 18 y.o.  Leonard, Elmer

    "Lamb, who occupied the mound for the Modesto boys, is, without exception, the best twirler that has come to Napa this season. He has a world of speed[;] more, in fact, than the 'great speed marvel' Emerson; he is as cool as the proverbial 'iceberg', and has a wonderful assortment of crooks, shoots and turns. Not only that, he is by long odds the best fielding twirler ever seen here."
    Napa fielders made 26 of 27 outs in infield, so completely did Leonard have the Reds at his mercy.
    Jack Halloran started three double plays -  he is a beauty of the infield. 
1908-6-07 Napa 12,  Kirk-Gearys 1. Mobley was supposed to pitch for druggists but failed to come; K-G second baseman also neglected to show up; K-G ss sprained ankle. These blows of fortune reduced the K-G team to eight players. Manager Baxter forced into duty. 
    Small crowd. 
    Ossie Vitt was a defensive wonder in his Napa debut. "Talk about a grand showing! Why, that 17-year-old boy from the Wilmerding High School in San Francisco worked in such a manner that he alone was worth twice the price [of admission.] Oscar Vitt is his name, and when Manager Raymond heeded E. Chapman's advice to give Vitt a trial, the glove maker did the wisest thing of his baseball career."
    "Oscar, who was spent every one of his Summers up in the Redwoods, and who is a cousin of the late A.H. Heidhoff Jr., had six of the hardest kind of chances and took care of them all faultlessly." 
    He collected three hits, and was a terror on the base paths. 
    Napa players called "soda water boys." 

    Delano Kirk-Geary catcher - batted leadoff. 
    Loverich, Joseph Kirk-Gearys. CASL for three seasons, 1903-04, 1906. 
    "Jack" Boyle
    "Bob" Eby - "Robert blushed and trembled like a June bride at the bat, but he made two of as pretty catches in the field as one would want to see." 
    Ralph Waldo Yeazell, Napa pitcher. Yeazell, Ralph w/ 1904 Oakland. With Washington teams 1905-06. Threw CCL no-hitter in 1910.

    George Hodgson, State League umpire, officiated flawlessly. 
1908-6-14 Napa 5, Vallejo 4. "THE GREATEST GAME EVER." Play by play + box. Ping Bodie & Ossie Vitt. 
    "It was during the Vallejo half of [the seventh inning] that 300 or 400 Vallejoites crowded out on the diamond and practically stopped the game, so far as Napa was concerned." 
    "200 or 300 hoodlums" surrounded umpire arguing against decision; game paused for ten minutes. 
    Before game, Napa manager Coombs discovered pitcher's box was six feet too far from the plate.
    "Over four hundred Napa people went down; also went wild when Napa won." 
1908-7-04 +7-05 Vallejo 10, Napa 2. Napa 3, St. Helena 0.
    Napa Captain: Jack Halloran. Manager: Earl Raymond.
    7-04 game delayed by hour because Fitzsimmons, Vallejo ss, failed to catch car to game. Vallejo  had nine players in uniform, but Maroney refused to play until Fitz arrived. 2.5K ATT. 
    "Handsome Elmer." Elmer G. Emerson - St. Helena. Of San Jose. Emerson, Elmer
    "Big Chief" Esola * Napa
    "Patsy" McCabe * Napa
    "Reliable Hank" Mills - Napa
    "Thurs" Pierce, "fair-haired Swede."  Napa
    "Rad" Radford - Napa 
    "Farmer" Waite * Napa
    Waterbury - Vallejo - "Berkeley cop"
1912-4-28 Vallejo 7, SF Turkey Reds 2. Play by play + box. Two illustrations.
1917-4-22 Modesto 2, Stockton 1. Philo Mobley beats brother. Both allow just two hits.

Chet Bost

1914-7-21 Lynn Stanley Giants


Al Ehrenpfort

1903-5-11 Ehrenpfort at 2b for Oakland Reliance.
1906-10-02 Pitched for Allan Drygoods Co. - beat Pensacola 12-9. G. Ehrenpfort in right field. 
1907-6-24 Pitched for Allan dry goods of SF - lost 4-1 to Petaluma.
    Connie Kennedy, SF Allans 3b - with Healdsburg last year
1907-9-02 Pitched for San Francisco v. San Jose in CALL game - lost 7-2 to Arrelanes. 
1908-5-04 Relieved for Martinez Merchants in 7-3 loss v. Golden Sheafs of Berkeley. 
1911-2-22 Started for Regulars v. Yannigans. Didn't pitch that well, but was 1-for-1 at plate.
1911-2-23 (SF Bulletin) 
    "Ehrenpfort is the discovery kid. The other day he discovered a safe bank to store his money in and yesterday he discovered a plan that cured him of his sore ankles. He took the pillow from his room and tied it around his leg, which was bare, and sat on the roof of the hotel exposing it to the hot sun. He sat there for over an hour and at the end of that time he pranced about as though he was never bothered. Leave it to the big fellow for discoveries." 
    "The Modesto management hired a big band for the occasion. Music was given to the fans before the game and between innings and enlivened the contest. It felt like the good old training days of the White Sox, when a band was hired for Sundays.
    "Ferlin, who plays the first mat for Modesto, has had a number of try-outs with Coast League clubs. Oakland tried him out two seasons in succession."
    "Sperry, the left fielder of the Reds, is a great big fellow, in fact he is huskier and as tall as Ehrenpfort.... He wields a very short stick and inspired Tom [Tennant] to bellow: 'Some club swinger.' The crowd burst into laughter." 
    President Frank Ish awakened by water falling from ceiling - two bushers in room above (mentioning no names) "took a bath last night, and forgot the correct method of stopping the flow of water."
    "If speed was money this big fellow Ehrenpfort would be a millionaire. His smoke is in comparison with the smoke that belches from the engine of a train. It cuts clean through the gloves of the catchers and inflicts a sting that is painful." 
1911-2-23 (SF Call & Post.) "The giant of the team." Stuck out Mohler.
    "The Seals made two hits off the Giant. He has the size and the wing to make a topnotch pitcher, but is a bit wild at present." Pitched in relief for Modesto in 2-0 win over Seals.
1911-2-25 "Ehrenpfort pitched but half an inning, but the big fellow exerted himself in his short stay. Ehrenpfort does not like to pitch unless he can cut loose might and main, and perhaps he can't do it." 
    "Danny Long had all his pitchers warm up with Berry and Ryan yesterday and looked them over. He commented freely on their work and was loud in the praise of the magnificent work of the corps of heavers. Big Ehrenpfort was the first player sent to the line of action and made the biggest impression of the bunch, with the exception of the veterans. He showed enough speed and control to get the adjective 'fine' from Long, which is a big word from Dan, who is usually quiet on a matter of this kind during training."
    Cack Henley told story that he once split a glove in two with his speedy pitching. Listeners were incredulous. 
    Thomas Tennant kept interrupting Claude Berry in letter-writing; Berry hurled bottle of ink at Tom, nearly missing his head. 
    "They are telling a good one on Ehrenpfort. The boys were seated around the hotel the other evening and one of the players said to Ehrenpfort: 'How's the big rhinocerous?' Without looking up from his reading, he replied: 'Is there one here?'"
    "There was a scramble and a scurrying around the hotel last evening. While Ehrenpfort was reading the paper one of the boys cautiously crept up and applied a match to the sheet. The flame started to consume the paper rapidly and the big fellow felt his hands becoming warm. When he looked up he dashed the paper from his hands and made a headlong run for the door. A number of others followed him."
    Tennant and Meikle wear size eight shoes.
1911-2-27 Pitched six innings in relief v. Modesto Reds. Gave up three runs. Play by play. 
1911-3-14 Pitched five innings for Regulars against Yannigans, gave up three runs in five innings. 
1911-3-17 Relieved for Regulars.
1911-4-21 quoted from [Madera?] Tribune in West Side Index
    "Big Al Ehrenpfort will arrive here tomorrow and the locals will practice to get in good shape for the contest [against the Newman Lambs.] Ehrenpfort has everything but control, being inclined to get a little wild at times, but improves as the game gets older.
    "The big pitcher says that he was unusually wild last Sunday and that he will be all right for the next game."
1911-6-11 Healdsburg team pic, with Al. Has been nearly invincible. 
1912-4-29 "Jumbo." Leaves for Northwest tomorrow for berth with club. For SF Turkey Reds, lost 7-2 to Vallejo. 
    "Ehrenpfort is as good natured as he is big. When the fans started kidding him he was right there."

    "Later - News has just been received that Ehrenpfort has decided not to pitch. He will quit the game entirely. Treager of last year's Bakersfield will be secured to twirl the Sunday game against Newman." 
1915-8-15 Alvin Ehrenpfort listed among travelers in SF Chronicle. 

    Brother Gus?
    1910-5-06 Twins win prize in baby contest.
    1911-2-03 Contractor. Sister-in-law shot herself, apparently by accident. 

Gene Hinds (black)

Played in 1903 SJVL.
1917-12-07 Won awards for chickens
 
Philo Mobley

1913-11-20 Bought out partner's interest in billiards parlor. 
1937-11-06 Son of late Rev. Darius Mobley. Died in Oakland this morning. 

R. Raby
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=raby--001r-- 1913 San Jose
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=raby--000--- 1914 San Jose

1912-12-02 (SF Call & Post) Walked it off for Rai-nuts - hit triple last Sunday
1912-12-02 (SF Bulletin)
1913-1-14 Might get tryout with Sacramento Senators - but expected to be a bit too dark to make team.
1913-4-28 2b, Hanford
1914-2-02 Oakland papers refer to him as "powerfully built East Indian" and he looks the part. Oakland product who probably has never been east of East Oakland. 
1914-7-21 At ss for San Rafael - Danzig and Westphal also on team

Lee G. Salomon

1912-7-18 City League may play again in winter, according to secretary Salomon
1912-11-22 Managers of Clarions in City League (winter)
1915-9-10 Oakland Enquirer baby contest w/ voting. Pic of Lee Marion Salomon of 3234 East 23rd Street, son of Lee Salomon, "the popular manager of 'Money-Back Smith's' store." Master Lee Salomon is the "Money-Back Smith" baby. 

Joe Solari - Camille M. Solari

1910-1-21 Manager of Newman & Levinson's team. Season will open 4-17
1911-4-08 "Joe Solari has decked his Mavericks in the neatest of suits. Black, with white trimmings, the uniforms are unique and quite the class, and according to Joe, in perfect harmony with the playing of their wearers."
1913-4-24 Manager of Boyes Springs. Has signed up some good new players. One is from NYSL.
1917-10-23 Restaurant patrons will miss him. Swiss, 58. Used to have restaurant in Washington.
1917-10-24 Obit in L'Italia
1917-10-26 400 attend his funeral
1917-10-28 Married Mary Kelly; she was a good businesswoman and helped Solari's a success.
1917-11-11 Memories of him as kind-hearted waiter.










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Western League

  1898-7-07 -  Columbus WL franchise will move to Denver