Marcusen Memorial Park – “The House that Scheid Built”

Austin’s town ball teams have at times been truly dominant. The 1912 edition that featured future Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes claimed a state championship prior to the state tournament even being created. When Burleigh returned to Austin with his Brooklyn teammates in 1921 the Austin team was playing at what was called the Hormel Ball Park near what later became the Terp Ballroom.

Austin featured a Southern Minny League team and a “Hormel Good Foods” team playing an independent schedule during the 1930’s. Those games were generally played at what is referred to as the “Marcusen lot.” When the Austin Baseball Association made the commitment to field one primary team in the Southern Minny, the team responded by winning the State Class A Championship behind the stellar pitching of Phil Golberg and hitting and fielding of tournament MVP Johnny Hulet.

Austin won the Southern Minny playoffs in 1939 playing its last games at the “Marcusen lot.” Despite the general airing of grievances about the conditions at the Marcusen lot, the next available option and the option used until Marcusen Memorial Field was built was the use of the Mower County fairgrounds. At least one drawing shows the baseball diamond in the infield area of the old track. The use of the fairgrounds effectively made the teams homeless as they physically could not play during the fair and usually didn’t play at home after the fair as the “field” was trampled and rutted.

Austin claimed an additional state championship in 1942 when Phil Golberg returned from playing in New Richland and shared pitching duties with Fred Ludke. Even though games continued to be played in the Southern Minny during the war, those games were played under travel restrictions with far fewer players let alone the best players available to play the games as many stars of the League entered military service. Austin’s baseball teams still lacked a permanent home.

With the end of the war, thoughts turned to recreational opportunities for the returning soldiers. With more players available, the Austin Baseball Association decided to field a team in the Southern Minny League and a team in the Cedar Valley League in 1946. Emil Scheid was given charge of the newly (re) formed Austin Merchants in the Cedar Valley League.

Emil had been involved in town ball in Waseca prior to moving to Austin. He knew how to build a team and his Austin Merchants were dominant in 1946. They won the Cedar Valley League and advanced to the Class A state tournament. But for an ankle injury to Bud Stanek, they might have claimed the championship before settling for runners-up status.

Emil was given charge of the Southern Minny entry in 1947 and set the stage for his later teams bringing in Earl Mosser and Ray Riley from out of town replacing Austin hometown players in the process. The transition to out of town players didn’t always sit well with the locals especially when Ray Riley replaced Bernard Stanek in center field. Even though Emil’s Packers didn’t always hit to the standards expected by the Austin fans the team record improved from a 6 and 8 in 1946 to 9 and 5 in 1947.

The problem was that the Austin teams were still largely homeless and it took revenue to pay top talent to play baseball. When paying players to play, it also made sense to play more games than just on Sunday. The problem being that of all of the teams in the league, Austin was the town without a ballpark and with no ballpark there were no lights. With no lights, there was no night baseball and with no night baseball. With no night baseball, playing opportunities on weekdays were also limited.

That stadium situation was finally rectified on June 8^, 1948 when Scheid’s Austin Packers welcomed Sam House’s Spencer (IA) Cardinals to Marcusen Memorial Park. Lights were installed and tested on June 7^th. With no time to build stands, bleacher seats accommodating up to 1,000 fans were installed.[1] 1,084 fans attended the game and hopefully were on hand to see Red Lindgren hit the first home run in the new park in the eighth inning.[2]

Even though the park was open for business, there was the matter of a formal dedication. The Local 9-CIO sponsored the ticket sales for the dedication game with the proceeds to be given to the city to help pay for the lighting system.[3] The game was initially scheduled as an exhibition game against Faribault to be held during the evening of June 27^th.[4] The game was washed away by the weatherman.

The dedication was finally rescheduled to July 25^th after another attempt was washed away. The event featured the municipal band and remarks by Mayor Merril Rolfson and Frank Schultz as union chief. The dedication included not only the field but the scoreboard and flag. The flag was donated by the American Legion and the scoreboard was provided by funds from the Earl Peterson estate.[5]  Red Lindgren homered twice and Dick Seltz held Faribault in check as the Packers beat Faribault 9-3.[6]

Even though the park was open for business, the matter of fan accommodations remained an issue. This photo from the Mower County Historical Society files shows the park as built but without the grandstand or, quite frankly, much in the way of fan seating:

Marcusen Park under Construction (Courtesy Mower County Historical Society)

The lack of fan accommodations had no impact on on- the-field performance. Scheid’s Austin Packers fell one out short of claiming the Southern Minny postseason title in 1948. His 1949 Packers utterly destroyed the Southern Minny losing only 7 of 35 games played and swept through the rest of the field at the state tournament to claim the state class AA championship.

Marcusen Memoral Park would finally have a grandstand during the 1950 season. Construction of the grandstand was scheduled to be completed in time for the season opener but as with many things baseball related, the weatherman intervened.[7] The season opened on May 21^st without the grandstand being available even though its construction greatly impacted parking. The Packers won 4-3 in extra innings with 1,505 fans in attendance.[8]

The Packers then went on the road for an extended period of time. By the time the Packers returned home to face Faribault, sections A,B and C and part of section D were available to the public.[9] Extra seating was needed because the Austin Queens team hired Negro League great and former Cleveland Indian Satchel Paige to pitch an exhibition game for them against Scheid’s Austin Packers on June 7^th.[10]

Work continued on the grandstand and all seats became available to the public for the Packers June 25^th game against Owatonna.[11] With the grandstand finished, the matter of dedicating it was scheduled for August 1^st[12] along with an announcement that an additional 1000 bleacher seats were being added down the first and third base lines to raise the Park’s capacity to 5,000. A previous crowd of 4,423 greatly exceeded the capacity of the new grandstand.[13]

The full page advertisement in the Austin Daily Herald announced the dedication of Marcusen Memorial Field.

Part of the dedication advertisement read:

Filling a long felt need Marcusen Memoral Field brings to Austin and Southern Minnesota a baseball field unsurpassed by any of its contemporaries. Seating capacity exceeds 4700. Accommodations for home and visiting teams. Concession stand and rest rooms for the public provide for every need.[14]

The one thing needed was a roof over the field as rain delayed the dedication until August 3^rd. Claude Moore, chairman of the park and recreation board served as master of ceremonies and introduced the speakers that included M.G. Rolfson, mayor, Waldo Swanson, president of the Southern Minny, and John Mayer, president of the Austin Baseball association. 4,057 fans turned out to see the Packers do their part on the field by defeating Waseca 8-7 with some late hitting heroics by Harry Elliot.[15]

Scheid’s Packer teams continued to dominate the Southern Minny in 1950, 1951 and 1953 advancing to the state Class AA finals in each of those years. With that success came crowds to Marcusen Memorial Park as this photo from the archives of the Mower County Historical Society amply illustrates:

(Courtesy of Mower County Historical Society)

Somewhat ironically, between 1949 and 1953 the Austin Packers made the finals of the State Class AA tournament every year except one:  1952. That was the year that Austin and Marcusen Memorial Field actually hosted the state tournament. It was also the only year during that time frame that Scheid’s Packers failed to even reach the tournament.

The House that Scheid Built was the scene of countless battles in the Southern Minny until the League’s demise in the 1960’s. Marcusen Park was, however, much more than just the home of the Austin Packers. Marcusen Park was and is the hub of baseball in Austin hosting a countless number of high school, American Legion, VFW games since its construction and continues today thanks almost entirely to the volunteers of the Marcusen Park Baseball Association that maintain the Park.

Thanks to those volunteers, Marcusen Memorial Park remains as a monument to a time before baseball on television and the internet. Even now, Austin’s Greyhounds remain atop of the Twin Rivers Conference after a hard fought victory over the Waseca Braves reminiscent of games between the Austin Packers and Braves in the old Southern Minny.

Marcusen will host more baseball this season as the Greyhounds host the Dodge County Diamondjacks on July 24^th at 7:30. That final game of the Conference regular season may well be a battle for the top seed in the conference playoffs. Let’s hope Marcusen Park will be hosting playoff baseball once again.

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[1] “Packers Open New Ball Park Against Spencer,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 8, 1948.

[2] “Packers Gain 9-5 Decision Over Spencer,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 9, 1948.

[3] Tom Koeck, “Success of Baseball Park Dedication Must be Credited to Local 9-CIO,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 16, 1948.

[4] “Marcusen Park Dedication Sunday,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 26, 1950.

[5] “Dedicate Diamond Sunday,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 24, 1950.

[6] “Packers Win and Lose as They Roll Up Hits and Runs,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, July 26, 1950.

[7] “Attendance Trophy Hopes at Marcusen Given Spur,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, May 18, 1950.

[8] “Packers Win 4-3 in Extra Innings,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, May 22, 1950, 8.

[9] “Faribault Lakers Play Here Sunday,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 3, 1950, 5.

[10] “Austin Raps Paige for 3 Hits, 2 Runs,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 8, 1950.

[11] “All Seats Available in New Grandstand,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, June 24, 1950.

[12] “Dedication Scheduled at Marcusen Park,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 1, 1950.

[13] “Additional 1000 Bleacher Seats Available Tonight,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 1, 1950.

[14] Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 1, 1950.

[15] “Elks Reward Scheid With Watch, Plaque,” Austin (MN) Daily Herald, August 4, 1950.

Carl DeRose: A Packer With a Perfect Start

On June 20, 1951, the Winona Republican-Herald wrote of Austin’s Big Carl DeRose that

“Never before has a Southern Minnesota league hurler notched a record to equal DeRose’s current string. Colossal Carl took home his ninth straight victory without a loss.”[1]

Carl DeRose deserved all of the many accolades he receives for his 1951 season with the Austin Packers.  His victory string actually extended beyond nine games and he was truly a dominant and durable pitcher that season. He was the pitcher of record in 22 of the Packers 42 regular season games. He won 17 of those 22 games and one of the losses was a game he started on one days rest. 

Lamenting another loss to Big Carl DeRose and the Austin Packers the Winona Daily News  wrote:

“Carl DeRose wrote another chapter in his book, ‘How I Handcuffed Winona in ’51,’ at Marcusen Park Tuesday night.”[2]

If Big Carl DeRose wrote a book on every team he handcuffed during his career, there would be a Carl DeRose library. His career not only featured an unblemished win streak  to the Southern Minny season in 1951 but absolute perfection when he completely handcuffed the Minneapolis Millers with no hits, no runs and no base runners in a perfect game pitched for the Kansas City Blues in 1947. That amazing feat, the first perfect game in the history of the American Association, was accomplished with an ailing arm and under the threat of surgery. 

What seems to truly stand out about Big Carl DeRose, however, is his unwillingness to give up the game of baseball. That stubbornness may have led him to many places other than the promised land of Yankee Stadium but he never gave up the game of baseball and continued to work hard to get back to being a pitching ace after years of arm trouble.

The first rumors of Carl’s signing with the Austin Packers appeared prior to the final game of the 1950 Iowa State League Playoffs. [3] DeRose built up his arm strength during the ISL season to become one of the dominant pitchers on the Spencer Cardinals staff and he was expected to pitch the next playoff game for Spencer against the Carroll Merchants. The Carroll Daily Times Herald followed up with its own report following the conclusion of the 1951 Iowa State League Playoffs that DeRose would “move to Austin and work in the meat packing plant this winter and pitch in the Southern Minny league next summer.”[4] DeRose won the Cardinals’ final game of the season to claim the ISL Playoff Championship after setting aside the regular season champion Carroll Merchants 10-1.[5]

In promoting the Packer’s upcoming 1951 season, Tom Koeck wrote that DeRose left professional baseball when his arm went sour.[6] Koeck may have been slightly off as to the timing of when DeRose’s arm went sour and when he left professional baseball but Koeck was certainly accurate in reporting that DeRose had “once been considered the pitching plum of the New York Yankees’ farm system” and that he was “best known for his perfect no-hit game with the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.”[7]

Gary Cieradkowski describes Carl’s background in Milaca, Minnesota and his status as a can’t miss prospect for the New York Yankees in his article “Carl DeRose: Aboslute Perfection.” Carl returned to Yankees spring training camp in 1946 after missing time due to service in World War II. A broken knuckle likely prevented him from staying with the Yankees as he was assigned to Kansas City for the season. He posted a 12 and 6 record with a 3.16 ERA for a team that finished 23 games out of first place.[8]

Carl returned home to California for the offseason and worked construction. Most of his work was heavy labor and he actually became too muscle bound. As a result, he was tabbed for Kansas City again instead of New York City when he wasn’t able to get loose.[9]

Slated to pitch an exhibition game in Denver on his birthday (April 12^th), he made it through half a game before his arm began to ache. It was a cold and snowy day and he was unable to throw his fastball. He tried to get by on curveballs and change ups.[10]

Seeking an explanation, DeRose sought out a medical help. By the end of June he was told he had calcium deposits in his shoulder and he might never pitch again. The Yankees arranged for a surgery that might have been career ending.

Instead of walking away, Big Carl DeRose went to Kansas City Blues skipper Billy Meyer on July 25^th asking for one more chance to pitch the following day. Meyer, a baseball lifer (and former Winona Pirate), felt he had no choice when DeRose “begged for just one more chance.”[11]

Not surprisingly, DeRose was in pain before even trying to warm up. While warming up, he found he was missing his fastball. All he had was curves, a change up and a lot of guts. His manager gave him the chance to bow out but DeRose would not back out.[12]

He didn’t have his fastball but he still had great control. He retired the first three batters and the Blues scored in their half of the first inning to stake him to a lead. He set the Millers down in the second inning but Meyer knew his pitcher was in trouble. Meyer had a pitcher warming in the bullpen and pleaded with DeRose to leave the game. With tears in eyes after every painful pitch, DeRose refused to throw in the towel and reached a three ball count only once and that being the last batter of the game. DeRose struck him out on a 3-2 fastball for only his second strikeout of the game.[13]

On the day, DeRose had faced and retired 27 Minneapolis Millers in row becoming the first American Association pitcher to throw a perfect game since 1902. He and his teammates celebrated in the locker room until they had to say goodbye. They were off on a northern road trip while DeRose had an appointment with a surgeon.[14]

As he signed with the Austin Packers in 1951, his arm trouble was clearly not career ending. It was, however, the end of any likelihood of making the major leagues. Big Carl split time between Portland and Kansas City in 1948 logging a total of 70 innings over 26 appearances. He appeared in three games with Portland in 1949 before spending the remainder of the season in AA Beaumont. He found himself back at Beaumont to start the 1950 season and appeared in five games[15] before deciding to make a change.

That change was signing with the Spencer Cardinals in the semi-pro Iowa State League for the 1950 season.[16] The only known connection between DeRose and Spencer, Iowa was eventual team manager Bill Burgess who had spent some time with Beaumont several years prior.[17]

The 1950 ISL season started slowly for DeRose as his arm was still sore and he wasn’t in top form for hurling. He was, however, one of the top sluggers in the league early in the season.[18] He played first base or in right field as he continued to work his way back to pitching form. He smacked a two run home run against Estherville.[19]

By July his arm was starting to warm up but he still lack consistency. He held the hard hitting Carroll Merchants in check striking out 13 over 11 innings.[20] Carroll got the better of him the next time battering him for 8 runs on 10 hits in the fifth inning alone.[21] It certainly wasn’t lack of effort. John Hart, longtime Spencer baseball supporter, described a half hour batting session thrown to him by DeRose.[22]

The hard work started to pay off in August when DeRose shut out the Schaller Red Caps on four hits. Only eight batters “dented the infield” off of him.[23] He even worked out of the pen throwing 4 2/3rds against the Estherville Red Sox in a losing effort.[24]

Facing Schaller again late in the season he gave up one hit less than his earlier outing as Spencer drubbed the Red Caps 18-1. DeRose also homered to help his own cause.[25]  He had a near no-hitter against Storm Lake on September 1^st giving up only two hits on a single and pop up that fell in front of home plate after the seventh inning.[26] The win eliminated the Storm Lake White Caps from the playoffs and advanced the Cardinals to the ISL finals which they took four games to one finishing off the Merchants 10-1 behind DeRose.  

As the 1951 preseason progressed the Austin Daily Herald asked “Can Slabmen Go Distance? Reply Awaited.”[27] To that point, Emil’s pitchers had generally been splitting 3 to 4 innings of each game to get ready for the season. When the season arrived, at least one of the slabmen was ready to go and that was Big Carl DeRose.

The season actually started fairly inauspiciously for DeRose. His first pitch of the season was tagged for a double into left field. Carl got a strikeout but gave up a single and double to be down two runs. He then beaned John Ewaniak with a wild pitch that put Ewaniak’s entire season in jeopardy. Carl recovered to retire the side as he scattered six hits for the rest of the game.[28]

He followed up with a five hitter against the Fairmont Martins securing a shutout in a non-league game.[29] After that, he started writing the book about handcuffing Winona for a hard earned 4-3 win.[30] The Rochester Royals fell next 6-2 with DeRose allowing only seven hits.[31]

Against Albert Lea he was a dual threat holding the visitors to two singles over nine innings for his fourth straight win. He homered in the seventh to give himself the lead. The Packers were 1-3 on days when Big Carl didn’t start.[32]

Winona and Rochester fell in succession. Dick Seltz broke up a 1-1 tie in the ninth with a “spanking homerun over the rightfield fence” to give DeRose his fifth victory.[33] Carl gave up only seven hits to Rochester to win 5-2. He was working like an ace winning four of the last six games played by the Packers who were playing three games a week.[34]

DeRose limited Albert Lea to eight hits while Roy Gilmore lashed out a pair of home runs and a triple to pace the Austin offense to a 5-3 victory.[35] Big Carl picked up his eighth straight win giving up only one run on six hits to Waseca.[36] His ninth straight victory game included another chapter in the book against Winona. This time he won 5-3 pitching steady ball.[37]

He beat Waseca again to gain his 10^th straight win. He had a shutout going into the ninth before giving up three runs late. He told that Austin Daily Herald that “It doesn’t make any difference what the score is, just so you win.”[38] He certainly did that in 1951.

Despite tiring in the ninth against Waseca, he was strong on the mound against Owatonna tossing a two hitter for his 11^th straight victory.[39] All things come to an end, however, and the end of the consecutive wins streak came on July 3^rd at Rochester.  The Royals collected six hits in the first three innings. DeRose still went the distance and kept his team in the game only losing 4-2 despite not getting on track early in the game.[40]

To put some additional perspective on DeRose’s perfect winning streak of 11 straight wins to start the season, three pitchers tied for second in the league for games won with twelve games won for the entire season. Big Carl DeRose won nearly that many before the first of July.

The Packers’ offense took away any pressure in his next start collecting 21 hits. Even so, Carl kept Albert Lea’s hits fairly well scattered.[41]  He dropped only his second game of the season on July 10^th.[42] Not surprisingly Big Carl was named to the East All-Star Team.[43]

Big Carl got his revenge against the Royals blanking them on five hits.[44] He was asked to come back on only a day’s rest against Faribault. Not surprisingly he wasn’t quite as effective giving up 13 hits.[45]

Given a few more days rest and Winona as an opponent, he was good to go. He gave up only two hits in shutting out Winona for his 14^th win in 17 starts.[46] Showing his durability, he went the distance in a 13 inning loss to Waseca.[47] He next set down Winona 9 to 1 for his 15^th victory.[48]

He gave up only 10 hits and had three extra base hits of his own to spark a victory over Mankato.[49] He got his 17^th win of the season by tossing a six hitter against Owatonna.[50]

It certainly wasn’t surprising that 17 game winner Big Carl DeRose got the ball for the first game of the Southern Minny Playoffs against Waseca. He didn’t disappoint fanning seven and walking only two while scattering seven hits. Roy Gilmore plated the winning run in the ninth on a towering home run.[51]

DeRose lost the third game 6-2 but rebounded to take the decisive fifth game 7-0.[52] He won game two of the League Finals 6-1. He was used a pinch batter in both games three and four.

Having reached their third consecutive state tournament, the Packers naturally turned the ball over the DeRose. He gave up a solo home run in the seventh while Bill Campeau’shomer in the same inning plated Bob Kuhlman for a hard fought 2-1 victory.[53] Carl lost a heartbreaker to Marshall to force the Packers to win out if they were going to claim the title.[54]

Carl did his part setting back Litchfield 4-2 to keep the Packers in the tournament in the afternoon game.[55] Unfortunately for the Packers DeRose was unavailable for the evening final game having pitched the early afternoon game and Arleigh Kraupa had been used to get to the Sunday games. With those two pitchers unavailable, the Packers were forced to use three pitchers while Litchfield needed only one to claim the state AA championship.

Big Carl DeRose was truly colossal for the Austin Packers in 1951. His string of consecutive wins is simply magical in the night baseball era of the Southern Minny. His 17 wins were 65% of the 26 total Packer wins during the regular season. In fact, the combined record of all Packer pitchers not named Carl DeRose was 9 wins and 11 losses. Without Big Carl’s perfect winning streak the Austin Packers may not have even made the Southern Minny Playoffs that season let alone the finals of the state AA championship for the third straight year.

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[1] “DeRose Notches Ninth Straight Before 2,656,” Winona Republican-Herald, June 20, 1951, 16.

[2] “Winona Remains Game From 4^th,” Winona Daily News, August 1, 1951, 12.

[3] Mason City Globe-Gazette, Sept. 8, 1950, 17.

[4] “To Austin,” Carroll Daily Times-Herald, Sept. 11, 1950, 3.

[5] “Spencer Wins Iowa State Playoffs,” Mason City Globe-Gazette, Sept. 9, 1950, 11.

[6] “Defending Champion Austin Packers Set for 3^rd Title Effort,” Austin Daily Herald, April 26, 1951.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Gary Joseph Cieradkowski, “Carl DeRose:  Absolutely Perfect,” https://studiogaryc.com/2019/01/17/carl-derose-absolutely-perfect/

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] “Pitches Perfect Game with Sore Arm,” Daily Times (Davenport, IA), June 27, 1947, 31.

[15] https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=derose001car

[16] “Spencer’s Champions Again May Have a Strong Team,” Mason City Globe-Gazette, June 8, 1950, 20; “Iowa State Loop Pennant Race Underway in Earnest,” Estherville Daily New, June 9, 1950, 6.

[17] Brad Wilson, “Sports Parade,” Des Moines Register, August 21, 1950, 12.

[18] Mason City Globe-Gazette, June 14, 1950, 21.

[19] “Estherville Mauled in State Loop Game,” Sioux City Journal, June 14, 1950, 17.

[20] “Blanchard’s Bat Proves Difference, Carroll Wins; Spencer Plays Here Tonight,” Carroll Daily Times, July 6, 1950, 3.

[21] “Fifth Inning Explosion is Good for 10 Hits, 8 Runs,” Carroll Daily Times Herald, July 7, 1950, 11.

[22] Carroll Daily Times Herald, July 26, 1950, 3.

[23] “Spencer Cardinals Battle Carroll at Home Friday,” Ruthven Free Press, August 9, 1950, 4.

[24] “Locals Stave Off Enemy in 8^th and 9^th,” Estherville Daily News, August 19, 1950, 3.

[25] “Spencer Obliterates Schaller Nine, 18-1,” Sioux City Journal, August 26, 1950, 8.

[26] “Spencer’s In; DeRose Hurls 2 to 0 Shutout,” Carroll Daily Times, September 2, 1950, 3.

[27] “Packers Whip Mankato,” Austin Daily Herald, May 7, 1951.

[28] “Packers Rap Faribault, 22-5,” Austin Daily Herald, May 13, 1951, 10.

[29] “DeRose Scatters 5 Blows as Packers Rout Fairmont, 10-0,” Austin Daily Herald, May 19, 1951.

[30] “Late Rally Wins for Packers, 4-3,” Austin Daily Herald, May 23, 1951.

[31] “Harpuder, Gilmore Homer in 6-2 Win, Austin Daily Herald, May 28, 1951.

[32] “Packers Win 2 S-M League Contests,” Austin Daily Herald, May 31, 1951.

[33] “Seltz’s Homer Beats Winona,” Austin Daily Herald, Jun 4, 1951, 4.

[34] “Packers Defeat Rochester, 5-2, Behind DeRose,” Austin Daily Herald, June 8, 1951.

[35] “Gilmore and DeRose Pace 5-3 Victory,” Austin Daily Herald, June 11, 1951.

[36] “Austin Tightens Hold on S-M Lead,” Austin Daily Herald, June 15, 1951.

[37] “DeRose Bumps Chiefs 5-3 for 9^th in a Row,” Austin Daily Herald, June 20, 1951.

[38] “Packers Defeat Waseca, 4-3, Austin Daily Herald, June 25, 1951.

[39] “One-Hitter by DeRose,” Austin Daily Herald, June 29, 1951.

[40][40] “Packers Fail in Two League Starts,” Austin Daily Herald, July 3, 1951, 10.

[41] “Collect 21 Hits for 17-4 Edge,” Austin Daily Herald, July 9, 1951.

[42] “First Win for Chiefs over Austin Since ’49,” Austin Daily Herald, July 11, 1951.

[43] “DeRose, Campeau, Lindgren and Gilmore on East Team,” Austin Daily Herald, July 14, 1951.

[44] “Gilmore and Campeau Spark Batting Attack,” Austin Daily Herald, July 16, 1951.

[45] “Riedesel, Faribault Rap Austin, 7-1,” Austin Daily Herald, July 18, 1951.

[46] “DeRose Blanks Winona Chiefs, 2-0,” Austin Daily Herald, July 23, 1951.

[47] “Waseca Nips Austin in 13 Innings,” Austin Daily Herald, July 27, 1951.

[48] “DeRose Handcuffs Winona, 9 to 1,” Austin Daily Herald, August 1, 1951.

[49] “DeRose Sparks Packer Victory,” Austin Daily Herald, August 6, 1951.

[50] “Austin Gains on Aces in Flag Chase,” Austin Daily Herald, August 10, 1951.

[51] “Packers Take Lead in S-M Playoff,” Austin Daily Herald, August 24, 1951, 8.

[52] “Faribault, Austin in Final Playoffs,” Austin Daily Herald, August 30, 1951.

[53] “Carl DeRose Stops Springfield, 2-1,” Austin Daily Herald, September 8, 1951, 5.

[54] “Austin Drops 7-6 Test to Marshall,” Austin Daily Herald, September 11, 1951.

[55] “Packers Spill Litchfield, 4-2 Behind DeRose,” Austin Daily Herald, September 18, 1951.

An Introduction to the Iowa State League 1949-1955

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.

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[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.