Although of relatively short duration, the Iowa State League drew future and former major league talent of all types to rural Iowa towns. That talent included Johnny (Doc) Blanchard, Sammy Esposito, Marshall Bridges, Jim Fanning and Claude Passeau among many others. The Iowa State League also proved a willing and able competitor for the more established Southern Minny League both on the field and as a competitor for on field talent with managers and players moving between teams in the two leagues including Don Blanchard, Jim McNulty, Carl DeRose and Bobby Dolan among many others.
In later years, three of the League members would join the Southern Minny beginning with the Mason City Braves in 1957. Today, the Pioneer Collegiate Baseball League continues the tradition of offering collegiate baseball players with competitive playing opportunities in Carroll, Bancroft and Storm Lake. Spencer may soon join that fold as well.
As to the Iowa State League, efforts to form a formal semi-pro league continued in northern Iowa in 1948 and into 1949. Bill Tyler of Mason City was one of the driving forces behind the potential league that would become the Iowa State League. On the Iowa side of the border, Tyler secured the agreement of Carroll, Bancroft and Spencer to join a league with the Mason City Legionnaires. In order to fill out a league, Tyler went recruiting north of the Iowa border asking the well-established Albert Lea and Austin teams to leave the Southern Minny and join the four Iowa teams to form a new six team league.
Interestingly, Austin and Albert Lea had, at times, participated in various leagues with Mason City including an Interstate League and a Southern Minnesota – Iowa League. Ultimately, Austin and Albert Lea opted to stay in the Southern Minny likely due in part to the potential increase in travel costs and loss of established rivalries resulting from the move.
With Austin and Albert Lea opting to stay in the Southern Miny, Tyler secured the entry of the Marshalltown Ansons into what was now being called the Iowa State League with plans for a 16 game schedule in a five team league.[1] Ultimately, the Sac County towns of Lake View and Wall Lake agreed to combine for a joint entry in the league as a late addition pushing the League to six teams and allowing for a 20 game schedule.[2] Lake View and Wall Lake are roughly six miles apart and home games were split equally between the two sponsoring towns.[3] Each team was free to play outside of the League schedule with many teams playing as many if not more than 60 games during the summer of 1949.
Although the Lakes partnership seemed to potentially be the weakest link in the League, the Ansons of Marshalltown posted only two league wins on the season. Marshalltown tended to play more local players than the other teams but also faced far more travel than the other five teams. Not surprisingly, the Ansons opted to join another league in 1950.[4] The League Directors initially planned on increasing the League membership to eight teams[5] but there was enough interest to increase the membership to ten teams in 1950.
Joining the League in 1950 were Estherville, Audubon, Fonda, Schaller and Storm Lake. With the expansion to 10 teams, the league was split into two divisions.[6] The cost of having a competitive roster in the Iowa State League proved too much as Audubon, Fonda and Schaller failed to renew their franchise for 1951.[7] The Lakes partnership was also expanded to include the relatively nearby town of Denison being referred to as “The Lakes – Denison” team with home games split fairly equally between the three sponsoring communities.[8]
The willingness of Iowa State League teams to spend money to attract top talent also caused many players to migrate from other leagues including the semi-pro Nebraska Independent League, the Pioneer Nite League, the Cornhusker League as well as the professional Western and Three-I Leagues. As a result, the Iowa State League was labelled a “Mexican League” for its willingness to spend money on players.[9]
Unable to attract additional towns that could afford to field competitive teams in the ISL, the League operated as a seven team league in 1951. During that season, no team spent less than 16,000 dollars with many teams spending well above that figure. In order to balance the playing field going forward, the League adopted a $4,400 per month salary cap for player’s salaries and $600 per month for managers in 1952.[10]
Looking to expand from seven teams, the League looked at Audubon, Harlan, Fort Dodge and Marshalltown as possible opportunities for expansion.[11] Instead, Bancroft and Storm Lake dropped their membership following the 1951 season.[12] Making matters worse, both Lake View and Dennison opted to withdraw from “The Lakes –Denison” partnership leaving Wall Lake to go it alone or not at all in the Iowa State League.[13]
Wall Lake did indeed decide to go it alone, joining Carroll, Estherville, Mason City and Spencer in a somewhat unwieldy five team league. Still needing solutions to the salary and lack of players issues, Wall Lake decided to seek baseball talent in another way: hiring a negro team with the assistance of Abe Saperstein.[14] Drawing on the area’s connection to the production of popcorn, area baseball fans selected the “Popcorn Kernels” as a team name at a meeting on May 19, 1952.[15]
The financial arrangements negotiated with Saperstein included the provision of a team for the flat rate of $3,000 plus a percentage of the gate after expenses. The local group was to furnish the uniforms, two dozen baseballs every three games and two dozen bats.[16]
Unfortunately for Wall Lake the team assembled by Saperstein was unable to compete in the ISL causing Manager Jim Ford to head south for roster reinforcements at least twice.[17] By the time sufficient reinforcements were in place, the weather turned against them and in all likelihood promised player salaries and poor living conditions proved too much to bear as seven players jumped the team.[18]
The Popcorn Kernels team lasted one more game by recruiting three white town team players from Gowrie to fill out the roster.[19] After some initial discussion, the Wall Lake games were stricken from the record books as the ISL continued on as a four team league for the remainder of the season.[20]
A four team league was obviously not feasible going forward and certainly did not provide a lot of variety to the local baseball fans. Adjustments to the League were in order.
From the original 20 game schedule in 1949, the league schedule had expanded to 56 games to be played in 65 days in 1952. The estimated cost of fielding a team dropped to slightly over $12,000 for a squad of 18 players.[21] Going forward, rosters would be reduced to 14 players and the schedule reduced to 40 games.
Attempting to reduce costs in other ways, the salary caps were also reduced to allow $400 to be paid to the manager and $250 for all players. To keep a competitive balance, no team could hire a player older than 21 or a player in the professional books unless the player lived within 30 air miles of the home playing team.[22] Mason City went further looking to volunteers to drive players to away games to reduce the transportation costs for the club.
Storm Lake and Bancroft re-joined the ISL for the 1953 season forming a six team league. Bancroft dropped from the League for the 1954 season before re-joining for 1955. As League members gathered in February of 1956 the focus was on whether the League should continue to field semi-professional players or strictly amateurs in order to reduce costs. With Carroll and Storm Lake in favor of fielding strictly amateur teams and Mason City and Estherville in favor of continuing to field semi-professional teams, there was no consensus and the Iowa State League disappeared into the history books.[23]
Even though of relatively duration, the ISL did provide a proving ground for many young players particularly college aged players and even future New York Yankee Johnny Blanchard as a high school player. During its early years, the ISL was also able to draw away better semi-professional and even professional talent from surrounding leagues and even a few ex-major leaguers.
The ISL itself may not have been heaven for its players, but it may well have been a haven for many of them. Unfortunately the semi-pro ISL of 1949-1955 has largely fallen into anonymity. Let’s see if I can remedy that somewhat going forward starting with a planned post next month for Black History Month.
[1] Winona (MN) Republican-Herald, 19 April 1949, 14.
[2] “Six Iowa Towns Form New Semi-Pro Loop,” Omaha (NE) World Herald, April 13, 1949, 28.
[3] Globe-Gazette (Mason City, IA), 12 April 1949, 16
[4] “To Enlarge Iowa State League,” Carroll Daily Times (Carroll, IA), Oct. 14, 1949, 10.
[5] Ibid.
[6] John Cotton, A Celebration of Baseball: Spencer & Surrounding Areas Baseball Celebration (2015), 22.
[7] “Seven Teams Will Bid in Iowa State League,” Omaha World Herald (Omaha, NE), April 3, 1951, 16.
[8] Globe-Gazette (Mason City, IA), May 11, 1951, 9.
[9] “The State Baseball Scene – Iowa State League Gets Many Nebraska Leaders,” Omaha World Herald (Omaha, NE), June 17, 1951, 33.
[10] “Iowa State League Plans ’52 Operation,” Carroll Daily Times (Carroll, IA), February 4, 1952, 2; “Harland Drive Seeks $14,000 for Iowa State League Berth,” Omaha(NE) World Herald, March 9, 1952, 28.
[11] “Harlan Interested,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times, January 29, 1952, 2.
[12] Cotton, 24.
[13] “A Sporting Glance,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times, February 4, 1952, 2.
[14] “It’s Official: Negro Team at Wall Lake,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times Herald, May 27, 1952, 2.
[15] “’Popcorn Kernels’ to be Name of Semi-Pro Team,” Wall Lake (IA) Blade, May 22, 1952, 1; “Popcorn Kernels,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times Herald, June 5, 1952, 2.
[16] “Popcorn Kernels,” Wall Lake (IA) Blade, May 22, 1952, 1.
[17] “Wall Lake in 8-7 Win Over Mason City 9,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times Herald, June 14, 1952, 2, “6 New Players Report to Kernels,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times Herald, June 24, 1952, 2.
[18] “Seven Players Jump, Carroll Tilt Postponed,” Carroll (IA) Daily Times Herald, July 3, 1952, 1.
[19] “Cardinals Win One, Lose One, Tie One,” Spencer (IA) Daily Reporter, July 5, 1952, 2.
[20] “Loop Schedule is Revised by Directors,” Estherville (IA) Daily News, July 10, 1952, 7.
[21] “Maximum of $4,400 a Month Set for Player Salaries,” Harlan (IA) News-Advertiser, March 25, 1952, 4.
[22] “Bancroft Rejoins Iowa State Loop,” Kossouth County Advance (Algona, IA), February 17, 1953, 9.
[23] Cotton, 28.
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