The 1940 Southern Minnesota Baseball League started with transition among the member teams. The Rochester Aces replaced the Mankato team on short notice.[1] Mankato’s departure also apparently caused issues in Waseca as the Waseca Journal announced on April 17, 1940 that “Clubs Unite as Baseball Season Nears.” The compromise placed only a single Waseca entry into the Southern Minny that season with Hap Lowe served as field manager and Don Herbst as business manager. Emil Scheid would receive the club’s reigns in 1941 under the compromise.[2]
The season also brought transition on the field. Russ Schmidthuber moved from New Richland to Albert Lea, Fred Ludke moved from Owatonna to Le Roy and Phil Golberg moved from Austin to New Richland. Personnel changes also took place on the Waseca nine, but Waseca stood pat with its Ace in the Hole: Al Bell.
Shanty Dolan’s reconfigured Albert Lea team opened the season at Waseca’s Community Field. A capacity crowd filled the grandstand and bleachers as Al Bell and Schmidthuber matched up for the first time in 1940. Albert Lea scored three unearned runs in the first on a ball Sponberg dropped at first, Bell’s errant throw, and a dropped a relay to home by McDermott allowing a run to score. Albert Lea scored four runs on four errors. Al Bell gave up seven hits while striking out four.[3]
Al Bell and the Waseca nine traveled to Austin. Waseca scored their initial run in the first on Groebner’s single, McDermott’s roller followed by Sponberg’s single and Connelly’s free pass. Austin’s Bernard Stanek evened the score on a solo home run in the fourth inning. Waseca broke open the game in the seventh putting pressure on Austin’s defense with the bunting game. Four runs scored in the eighth and three more in the ninth. Bell may have lost focus in the ninth with a 9-1 lead as Austin pushed across three runs.[4]
Waseca beat back the cellar-dwelling Rochester Aces in an extra inning pitcher’s duel. Bell went the full 14 innings for Waseca striking out 16 while walking only one. Bell allowed only one single after the 11th inning. The time of game was 2:40.[5]
Bell was back on the mound on Thursday as Owatonna traveled to Community Field for a Memorial Day match up. Bell went the distance for Waseca striking out eight. Waseca’s batters lashed out 11 hits with six being doubles. Connelly collected three of Waseca’s hits and two of the team’s doubles. Waseca won 8 to 1.[6]
The following Sunday, the Waseca nine traveled to Wagner Field at New Richland for a presumed pitcher’s duel. Waseca scored four in the first but gave away the lead on three singles and two errors in the bottom of the inning. Bell gave up twelve hits in the final nine innings of his 32 innings in eight days. Waseca’s defense contributed to his demise with nine errors.[7]
Bell was back on the mound at Mankato’s Tanley Field the following Tuesday as Waseca faced the Key City club. Bell allowed ten hits and struck out twelve keeping the game even through the eight.[8]
The extra rest apparently suited Bell just fine as he had a near no-hitter against Le Roy. Le Roy’s lone hit came on a disputed safe call on a relay from second. Even so, he faced only twenty-eight batters while his mates collected eleven hits off Ludke. Waseca won 6 to 0.[9]
Bell kept up his torrid pace allowing only two hits against Faribault. He struck out eighteen in nine innings. Waseca pushed ahead in the sixth when Munson reached on an error, Connelley singled and McDermott walked. Sponberg singled to score Munson and Connelley and Sponberg scored on Gray’s single. Waseca’s final run scored in the eighth on a walk by Lick followed by McDermott’s single.[10]
Bell gave up only six hits to Owatonna but trailed in the eighth. Connelly singled to start the inning followed by walks to Lick and Sponberg. Jim McDermott was the hero of the night poling out a grand slam just to the left of the foul pole in right.[11]
Waseca took a two-run lead at New Ulm the following Thursday. New Ulm earned one back in the second and tied the game on three hits in the seventh. Both starting pitchers were stingy for four more innings before New Ulm was able to push across a run on a single and double in the twelfth inning. Bell struck out 18 through nine innings and 20 on the day.[12]
Austin came to Waseca for the dedication of Community Field. Bell was on the mound and outdueled Austin’s Grossman 7 to 2. Happy Lowe took hitting honors with a home run in the fifth before giving way to Mueller in the seventh. Bell struck out a pedestrian eight batters.[13] Not surprisingly, Bell was named an all-star by League President Little along with shortstop Eddie Lick.[14]
Waseca next traveled to Albert Lea with a potential first place finish on the line. Albert Lea drew first blood as Menke scored on a sacrifice fly by West following Menke’s triple. Albert Lea followed up with three runs on three hits in third on two singles and a home run by White. Waseca drew one run back when Lick singled and scored following singles by Sponberg and McDermott. Groebner drew Waseca another run closer on one of the longest home runs seen by Jack Connelley but Waseca couldn’t push the tying runs across the plate in the eighth. Albert Lea pushed across two insurance runs in the eighth to maintain sole possession of first place.[15]
New Richland came to Community Field for a Fourth of July exhibition game. The game featured 11 errors. The comedy of errors includes Chick Gray’s grounder to short that resulted in an overthrow of first base. Gray, however, never ran to the base as he broke his bat and stopped to inspect the bat. Bell struck out twelve as Waseca won 4 to 1.[16]
Waseca fared much better against the Rochester Aces scoring enough runs in the first to win the game outright. Waseca led 4 to 1 going in to the seventh before Bell gave up runs in the seventh and eighth. Waseca answered in the bottom of the eighth with eight runs including a home run by Lick in his second at bat of the inning. Waseca won 12-2.[17]
Waseca traveled to New Richland to face Phil Golberg and former-mate Lloyd Carter. Carter put on a show in right field making two spectacular catches in the first inning alone. Waseca drew first blood with two runs in the seventh. New Richland tied the score on two unearned runs in the eighth when Abraham reached on an error and he and Munson scored after two were out. New Richland’s winning run came on a single, stolen base, advance on a ground out and sacrifice fly. Waseca now trailed Albert Lea by three full games.[18]
Waseca traveled to Tanley Field for the fifth time in two seasons. Bell started for Waseca but left after three innings with a 2-0 lead. Jack Connelley took over on the mound and took the loss.[19]
The extra rest likely didn’t hurt Bell as he and Fred Ludke matched up for an extra inning duel at Le Roy the following Sunday. Bell gave up only five singles and no runs through seven. Le Roy bunched together two doubles and a single to tie the game in the eighth. Ludke won his own game with a double in the fourteenth as he scored on Sawdey’s single to end the two hour and 45 minute marathon.[20]
The Austin Daily Herald provided an additional detail on the game indicating that Waseca’s Jim McDermott launched a long fly ball that would likely have cleared the fence in any park except for a wire stretched between two light poles. The ball struck the wire and dropped in the field of play. The umpire refused to give McDermott home plate and he died on the based before Ludke’s heroics in the bottom of the inning.[21]
Waseca finished in second place in the League by beating Faribault the hard way. Al Bell and Gil Aase threw regulation shutouts and Bell gave up only three hits in the eleven innings it took Waseca to score. Ludke beat New Richland 3-0 to give Waseca sole possession of second place.[22]
| 1940 League Standings | ||
| Albert Lea | 11 | 3 |
| Waseca | 9 | 5 |
| Austin | 8 | 6 |
| New Richland | 8 | 6 |
| Faribault | 5 | 8 |
| LeRoy | 5 | 9 |
| Owatonna | 5 | 9 |
| Rochester | 4 | 9 |
The first round of the Southern Minny playoffs moved from single elimination to best two out of three that season. Austin drew the unenviable task of facing League leaders Albert Lea while Waseca and New Richland met in the first round.
Bell continued his hard luck in the first game of League playoffs. New Richland sprayed the ball all over the field for fourteen hits and four errors. Goldberg was on his game giving up only four hits including a long home run to Hap Lowe. New Richland won the first game 12 to 2 but this year, they had a chance to come back.[23]
The second games of each series were far more competitive. It took 17 innings for Albert Lea to beat Austin 2-1. Bell gave up nine hits and Golberg gave up seven, but Waseca’s hits were bunched better in the fourth. Waseca won 2-0 to force a third and final game at Waseca the following week.[24]
The Northern States Envelope club of St. Paul came to Waseca for a Thursday night tune up. Bell started and went three innings giving up two runs. Ed Evans pitched the final six innings giving up three runs.[25]
Phil Golberg was in complete control in the third game giving up only a single to Hap Lowe in the second. Otherwise, the contact was weak resulting in pop flys or ground balls. New Richland took the lead as Waseca was Carter-ized once again. He singled and stole second. He reached third on Hendrickson’s grounder to short when Lick’s relay to third was dropped by Gray. New Richland’s Abraham dumped a bloop over the drawn in infield to score two runs with the bases loaded. New Richland advanced to the League finals winning 6 to 0.[26]
Once again, Waseca missed the League Playoff Finals, but it is hard to blame Bell. He missed the League lead in wins by one trailing only Russ Schmidthuber of Albert Lea. He pitched every inning of every league game including 15 extra innings to reach 145 innings pitched. Bell was the only pitcher to strike out more than 100 batters reaching 134. He has solid control walking only ten and hitting no batters in 145 batters with two of the walks being intentional.[27]
Waseca fans had one more chance to see their team play that season and perhaps a sneak peek at the 1941 team as Emil Scheid led Waseca to Albert Lea for an exhibition game. Waseca’s lineup included new faces Davidson, Standinger, Foster, Carter, and Cox. Waseca stole three bases off Menke in the game.[28] Eddie Lick and Jim McDermott played well enough to be drafted by Albert Lea for the state tournament. They shared the left field garden in the state tournament finals.[29]
Manager Hap Lowe gained a new title after the season as he was named Sheriff of Waseca County in October. Lowe was credited with sixteen years of service with the Waseca baseball club to that point including many years as the League’s leading hitter.[30]
[1] “Waseca Plays Albert Lea in Opening Game,” Waseca Journal, April 17, 1940, 4.
[2] “Clubs Unite as Baseball Opener Nears,” Waseca Journal, April 17, 1940, 1.
[3] “Errors Cost Waseca Club Initial Game,” Waseca Journal, May 8, 1940, 1.
[4] “Waseca Uses Strategy to Trim Packers,” Waseca Journal, May 15,1940, 2.
[5] “Waseca Sweeps to Victory in Extra Innings,” Waseca Journal, May 29, 1940, 3.
[6] “Waseca Dumps Owatonna Here Memorial Day,” Waseca Journal, June 5, 1940, 4.
[7] “New Richland Wins Alleged Pitchers Duel,” Waseca Journal, June 5, 1940, 4.
[8] “Key City Club Beats Waseca in Night Game,” Waseca Journal, June 5, 1940, 4.
[9] “Bell Pitches One Hit Ball Against LeRoy,” Waseca Journal, June 12, 1940.
[10] “Bell Torrid as Faribault Gets Two Hits,” Waseca Journal, June 19, 1940, 7.
[11] “McDermott’s Homer Plates 4 in 8th,” Waseca Journal, June 26, 1940, 4.
[12] “Bell Fans 20 in 12 Inning New Ulm Game,” Waseca Journal, June 26, 1940, 4.
[13] “Lowe’s Homer Helps Waseca Down Austin,” Waseca Journal, July 3, 1940, 2.
[14] “Select Bell Lick Sponberg for All Stars,” Waseca Journal, July 10, 1940, 4.
[15] “Tough Breaks Cost Waseca Game Sunday,” Waseca Journal, July 10, 1940, 7.
[16] “Waseca Beats New Richland in Loose Game,” Waseca Journal, July 10, 1940, 7.
[17] “Lick Homers as Waseca Down Rochester 12-2,” Waseca Journal, July 17, 1940, 2.
[18] “Waseca Carter-ized in New Richland Victory,” Waseca Journal, July 24, 1940, 1.
[19] “Waseca Fails to Hold Lead Over Key City,” Waseca Journal, July 24, 1940, 1
[20] “Waseca Loses 14-Inning Ball Game at LeRoy,” Waseca Journal, July 31, 1940, 4.
[21] “LeRoy Contest Produced Story,” Austin Daily Herald, July 31, 1940.
[22] “LeRoy Wins From New Richland 3-0,” Austin Daily Herald, August 5, 1940, 6.
[23] “New Richland Cops Initial Playoff Game,” Waseca Journal, August 14, 1940, 1.
[24] “New Richland Drops Second Playoff Game,” Waseca Journal, August 21, 1940, 1.
[25] “St. Paul Club Beats Waseca in Exhibition,” Waseca Journal, August 28, 1940, 2.
[26] “New Richland Wins Play Off Semi-Final,” Waseca Journal, September 4, 1940, 1.
[27] “Bells Fans 134 to Top League in Strikeouts,” Waseca Journal, September 4, 1940, 7.
[28] “Waseca Loses to Albert Lea in Exhibition,” Waseca Journal, September 18, 1940, sec. 2, 1.
[29] “Albert Lea Wins Baseball Title,” Waseca Journal, September 23, 1940, 4.
[30] “Commissioners Appoints Lowe as New Sheriff,” Waseca Journal, October 9, 1940, 1.
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