By IAN WILSON
It was a wild year at the ballpark.
Ya gotta believe that Tug McGraw was a part of the action. Heck, Satchel Paige even made an appearance.
The summer of 1963 was a fun time to be a baseball fan. Lefty pitcher Sandy Koufax was entering his prime with the Los Angeles Dodgers. That season he captured the pitcher’s Triple Crown by leading Major League Baseball (MLB) in wins (25), strikeouts (306) and earned run average (1.88). The dominant southpaw also won the National League’s Cy Young and Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards and was named the World Series MVP after leading the Dodgers to a sweep over Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees.
The game was no less thrilling in Alberta, where emerging and former baseball stars excited audiences across the province.
Fans were treated to riveting performances from future MLB stars and one southern Alberta city got to celebrate an unexpected championship from a team they never thought would even play in their city.
After taking a hiatus in 1962, the Western Canada Baseball League (WCBL) returned to the diamond with four teams, the Calgary Giants, Lethbridge Cardinals, Saskatoon Commodores and Edmonton Oilers. Each team had the backing of MLB clubs. The Philadelphia Phillies provided players to the Commodores, the Los Angeles Dodgers partnered with the Oilers and – as their names suggest – Calgary was supported by the San Francisco Giants (with both uniforms and players), while Lethbridge was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Squads were set to play a 72-game season and American import players could not exceed 23 years of age. In addition, at least three Canadians had to suit up for each squad every game. Tryout camps were held in late May to attract home-grown talent.
“If there are more than three Canadian boys who show they can make the club, then by all means I’ll use them,” pledged Giants general manager and part owner John Carbray in the March 27th edition of the Calgary Herald.
“We hope to be able to make this an all-Canadian league eventually.”
MAKE OR BREAK SEASON
In Alberta’s capital, the season was described as “campaign that may make or break semi-professional baseball for all-time in Edmonton” by Journal sports writer Wally Cross.
“Can the revised Western Canada Baseball League this year regain some of the prestige and glory it once held? Will it produce baseball of a calibre witnessed here in the early and mid-1950s?” wrote Cross.
“The sudden collapse of the baseball Eskimos here in 1961 left a bad taste in almost everyone’s mouth. Still, present feelings aren’t exactly conducive to the revitalization of baseball in Edmonton.”
Clark Rex – a driving force behind the return of the WCBL alongside Carbray, who played for the Eskimos in 1961 – was feeling the pressure of the upcoming campaign.
“I don’t think I’ve ever faced a tougher task,” Rex confessed.
By mid-May, Spero Leakos was still getting his ducks in a row as the general manager of the Saskatoon Commodores. Leakos was working on a rental agreement for facilities at Pion-Era field in the Holiday Park area.
“There are a few details to be straightened out … but I don’t anticipate any difficulties,” the GM told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix newspaper.
At that point, Leakos was still determining whether or not the Phillies, Detroit Tigers or Chicago White Sox would be the club’s affiliate, and he was preparing to host a league meeting with representatives from the other three teams. Philadelphia ultimately agreed to sponsor Saskatoon and provide all 17 players on the roster.
“All the players will be recommended by the majors, and I feel this will result in better balance throughout and a superior calibre of baseball,” said Leakos, who also managed Saskatoon squads between 1958 and 1961.
Several players were also recruited from the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The league established a playoff format that would see the top seed face the third-place team and the No. 2 squad taking on the last-place club in best-of-seven semi-final series, followed by another best-of-seven clash to determine the league champion.
Meanwhile, each club deposited a $250 “performance bond” and the teams agreed to set aside 10% of gross gate receipts to help franchises that may be experiencing financial turmoil.
Opening day was set for June 11th, with Calgary kicking things off in Saskatoon and Edmonton traveling south to Lethbridge. Before the players even took to the diamonds, however, the competition was well underway. The Giants signed a pair of players that the Commodores had approached, sparking a squabble between Carbray and Leakos.
Rex was still receiving a lukewarm response to the Oilers at Renfrew Park a week before first pitch, but he and the other league brass were doing their best to promote the WCBL.
“This ‘wait-and-see’ attitude that Edmonton fans have taken towards our league completely baffles me. But when you consider the way baseball has been run here in recent years maybe the attitude isn’t so strange at all,” said Rex.
“I think you’ll be able to compare it with, say, top junior hockey … it won’t be professional but it’ll be the very next thing to it. And it’ll have that little extra bit of zip that only college or top junior players can provide.”
Carbray was even more enthusiastic about the season ahead.
“This league has everything going for it … if we get a break in the weather nothing will stop us,” said Carbray in the Edmonton Journal.
He had reason to be optimistic. Fan support in Cowtown was strong, with three-quarters of the box-seat section sold out and 700 grandstand seats reserved at Buffalo Stadium, a downtown facility that was financed by the Calgary Brewery.
That support was well-earned and Calgary Herald columnist Gorde Hunter took notice of Carbray’s “passion that borders the fanatical” for the Giants and expressed high hopes for the WCBL.
“One feature that should sit well with the paying customer, is the fact these players will be U.S. college youngsters and not tired, over-the-hill pros playing out the string,” noted Hunter.
“U.S. college baseball has always been rated lively and crowd-pleasing, which means the Western Canada League should be the same. Many of the players will show up in major league uniforms in the not too distant future.”
Hunter praised Carbray’s work in renovating Buffalo Stadium, which included fresh coats of black and orange paint (the colours of the San Francisco Giants), the removal of old signage, and improvements to the infield surface.
In addition, Hunter reported the home uniforms in Calgary would be MLB jerseys that were handed down by the San Francisco Giants, giving a players an authentic wardrobe from the big leagues.
Carbray’s time in the Stampede City was a preview of his career as a minor-league executive. In the late 1960s, he served as the commissioner of the Western Baseball Association and in the 1970s he was a GM in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). He also partnered with Bing Russell to create the Portland Mavericks, a team made famous by the “Battered Bastards of Baseball” documentary. The 1974 Sporting News Executive of the Year went on to found the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies in his home state of California in 1998.
OPENING WEEK
The first pitch for the 1963 WCBL season saw rosters short a few bodies, due to ongoing college playoffs south of the border, but the games went ahead with great pageantry nonetheless.
More than 1,000 fans turned out at Henderson Stadium in Lethbridge to witness the Oilers pound out 17 hits in a 13-9 win for Edmonton over the Cardinals. Middle infielder Gary Sutherland – who went on to have a 13-year MLB career with the Phillies, Montreal Expos and Detroit Tigers, among other teams – registered four of those hits for Edmonton during the wind-swept and error-filled contest. The pregame ceremonies included a 20-piece band, high-stepping majorettes and a batting practice session between Lethbridge Mayor Frank Sherring at the plate and Cardinals owner/general manager Dan Royer on the mound.
In Saskatoon, the Commodores suffered a 4-0 loss to the Giants in front of 784 of their home faithful. Saskatchewan Premier Woodrow Lloyd and Saskatoon Mayor Sid Buckwold were among the baseball fans in attendance. Calgary was led by southpaw pitcher Larry Loughlin, who allowed five hits in a complete-game effort, and Tim Cullen, who had three hits. Loughlin appeared in three games for the Phillies in 1967, while Cullen played 700 MLB games, mostly with the Washington Senators, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
More MLB talent in waiting emerged as opening week went along.
Pitcher Nelson Briles – who turned down a $50,000 bonus from Cleveland of the American League before coming to Alberta – tossed a two-hitter for Calgary as the Giants thumped the Commodores 11-0 at Pion-Era ballpark.
After graduating from the WCBL and signing with the parent Cardinals, Briles pitched in 452 major-league games for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. The Santa Clara University product put together a record of 129-112 with 64 complete games, 22 saves, 1,163 strikeouts and a career 3.44 earned run average (ERA) during his 14 MLB seasons. The Californian won two World Series titles with the Cards and Pirates and proved to be a clutch playoff performer. During the 1967 Fall Classic between St. Louis and the Boston Red Sox, Briles picked up the win in a 5-2 victory for the Cardinals in Game 3 of the best-of-seven series which went the distance. Briles looked even better in Game 5 of the 1971 World Series, delivering a two-hit shutout over Earl Weaver’s Orioles. As a hitter he also singled in a run to help secure the 4-0 win en route to another seven-game title triumph.
The Commodores claimed their first win of the season thanks to right-handed pitcher Paul Edmondson, who gave up only two hits – a single and a double – in a 5-4 victory over the Giants in Saskatoon on June 13th. Edmondson was another player who was bound for the big leagues. The Kansas-born hurler pitched in 14 games with the Chicago White Sox in 1969, working primarily as a starter. Sadly, his life was cut short when he died in a car crash in 1970, just one day after his 27th birthday.
With their seasons kicking off on the road, two Alberta teams were eagerly awaiting their home openers.
Despite initial concerns about attendance in Edmonton, approximately 2,200 baseball enthusiasts crowded into Renfrew Park to witness the Oilers drop a 9-2 decision against Saskatoon.
“The crowd was behind us but they naturally wanted a little excitement. We certainly didn’t supply it. My only hope now is that people will come out and have another look before drawing any conclusions,” said Rex, who called L.A. Dodger scout Al Campinis after the game to plead for pitching reinforcements.
It was the Commodores, however, who received another strong pitching performance the next day. Ray Lamb – who pitched 154 games for Cleveland and the Dodgers between 1969 and 1973 – guided Saskatoon to a 5-0 Saturday win over the Oilers. Lamb gave up just three hits and racked up 12 strikeouts.
Another 2,000 fans pushed their way into Buffalo Stadium to see the Giants top Lethbridge by a 6-2 score in Calgary’s home opener. Cullen launched a two-run homer in that game, Laughlin claimed his second win just four days into the campaign, and the Giants were bolstered by a four-run eighth inning.
By the time the opening series wrapped up in each city, all four teams had identical 3-3 records. More college players also headed north to Canada from the U.S. as their seasons came to a close, helping to fill out WCBL rosters in late June.
Meanwhile, the Western Canada Baseball League wasn’t the only baseball offering for sports fans in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League squared off against the Brooklyn Stars at Buffalo Stadium on June 19th, in an exhibition that was sponsored by the Calgary Giants, and at Henderson Stadium in Lethbridge – with the support of the Cardinals – on June 20th. Syd Pollock, general manager of the Clowns, cultivated the team as a Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. Pollock signed Hank Aaron to his first professional contract in 1952 and the cleanup hitter played for the Clowns for three months before the Boston Braves discovered the home run king. In addition, the Clowns were the first pro team to hire female players, including Toni Stone, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and Connie Morgan. The major attraction for the Calgary and Lethbridge games was 4-foot-5 shortstop Billy Vaughn.
REINFORCEMENTS
The College World Series had recently wrapped up, with the University of Southern California (USC) claiming its fourth title by topping the Arizona Wildcats.
One of the players on the Trojans was Kenny Washington Jr., an All-Tournament Team outfielder who was an eagerly anticipated roster addition for the Oilers. His father, Kenny Washington Sr., was the first African-American to sign a deal with a National Football League (NFL) team in the modern era and he was teammates with Jackie Robinson at UCLA.
The younger Washington was a great two-sport athlete who excelled at both football and baseball. He impressed Edmonton baseball observers rather quickly.
“He could be the best young ball player Edmonton has known since the Babe Herman days, Ron Fairly notwithstanding,” said Journal sports editor Hal Pawson, who described Washington’s pinch-hit walk in his first appearance, followed by his debut start in the outfield for the Oilers.
“First time up, with two men on bases ahead of him in the first inning, Washington hit a 2-2 curve, the kind of pitch a left-handed batter isn’t supposed to hit on a left-handed pitcher, 400 feet into the right centre bleachers. He added a single, a triple and walked once.”
The four-RBI performance came against Jan Dukes, who went on to work as a relief pitcher for three seasons in the bigs with the Washinton Senators and Texas Rangers. It also helped rookie pitcher Orv Franchuk earn a win in his first outing.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t just players who came north to help make the WCBL campaign a success. The league was also bolstered by the arrival of a new commissioner. John Scolinos was a football and baseball coach at Pepperdine University and California State Polytechnic University Pomona who was inducted into the American Association of Collegiate Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1974 before working as the pitching coach for the U.S. Olympic team in 1984.
“I’ll be quartered here in Edmonton, but will be moving around the league a lot,” Scolinos told the Journal.
“If we can only get by this first season, we can have a really good league here.”
One of his first road trips was to Saskatoon, where the rumour mill was churning about a possible move for the Commodores.
“The word is that unless the city of Saskatoon is ready to come up with a few concessions in regard to parking at Holiday Park, Commodore owner Spero Leakos is prepared to move the club, lock, stock and barrel to Medicine Hat,” wrote Cross in the June 26th edition of the Journal.
A visit to the Gas City by Leakos and Dan Royer, the owner of the Lethbridge Cardinals, lent further credibility to the gossip about the situation in the WCBL’s only Saskatchewan market.
TOONING OUT
Whatever the troubles in Saskatoon, the players on the Commodores didn’t let the hearsay impact what was happening on the field. The team whooped the visiting Lethbridge Cardinals – and starting pitcher Tug McGraw – during a late June matchup at Holiday Park to run their win streak to three games. Moose Jaw’s Fergie Olver – who later became a Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster – led the offence with four hits and four RBI during Saskatoon’s 14-0 shellacking of the Cards. McGraw lasted just 2.2 innings and gave up five walks, four hits and four runs in his second loss, which was witnessed by about 615 fans.
The victory moved the Commodores into first place in the WCBL.
Relocation for the club, however, was all but a done deal.
The Calgary Herald reported on June 27th that the Commodores move from Saskatoon to Medicine Hat was imminent.
“General Manager Spero Leakos of the Saskatoon Commodores will announce a shift of his Western Canada Baseball League entry to Medicine Hat within the next two days,” read the Herald article.
“Leakos is dissatisfied with the deal he has with the City of Saskatoon regarding Commodores’ home park, Pion-Era Field. Officials of the park, apparently, have threatened to move Commodores out of the field so that it may be used for another event this weekend … the new ballyard is poorly situated from the standpoint of Hub City ball fans. Accessibility to the ball park is poor as it is located at the edge of the city.”
Leakos confirmed in the story that he had visited Medicine Hat and received “a very enticing offer” from baseball officials, but he declined to comment further on relocation plans.
More details were confirmed and flushed out in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix newspaper.
The Commodores final home game in Saskatchewan was set for Friday, June 28th and the team would leave for Medicine Hat at the conclusion of the night contest against the Cardinals.
“The baseball fans in Saskatoon are among the best in the country,” said Leakos, who pointed to poor crowds and unsuitable park facilities as the reasons for the departure.
“But you can’t expect them to put up with the conditions presently offered at Holiday Park.”
Herb Grigg would handle baseball operations in Medicine Hat, where the team prepared to greet the Edmonton Oilers for their home opener on Saturday, June 29th. Season ticket holders in Saskatoon were offered full refunds.
Cam McKenzie, columnist with the Star-Phoenix, had fellow newspaper journalist Walt Riddell assess the Commodores and their home field in Saskatoon.
“The main complaint was the spectators’ accommodation. The reserved section, with the old seats from Cairns Field, were much too cramped for comfort and unless the walk from the south entrance to grandstand is meant for the purpose of giving fans the exercise physical education experts claim to be essential for everyone these days, it is much too long – and too dirty and dusty,” wrote McKenzie.
“Protection for the fans from foul balls is lacking in the higher seats in the grandstand due to lack of a screen. Finally, and probably most important is spectator parking … there’s ample room inside the park and unless the Parks and Recreation Board is planning to harvest a bumper crop of crested wheat grass, this land could be used for car parking.”
McKenzie concluded the WCBL team was essentially doomed before they threw their first pitch.
“From the outset this season things seemed to be against having semi-pro ball here … it wasn’t until 10 days before opening date that Leakos was certain he would operate a team … all concerned were on edge … this left little or no time for promotion of the plan, especially the sale of season tickets. We don’t blame Leakos for moving the team … he was going heavily in debt,” he wrote.
Despite the demise of the Commodores in Saskatoon, the team’s presence was beneficial, stated McKenzie, as the club attracted fans from Rosetown, North Battleford, Kindersley and Prince Albert.
“It may be a long while before there will be baseball of the WCBL standard back in Saskatoon,” said McKenzie.
“There are two sides to every story and in the 1963 baseball venture this no doubt held true … Leakos was not always right and neither was the Parks and Recreation Board … if they had been able to get together on planning, perhaps things would have worked out.”
The Commodores ultimately left with a whimper, dropping a 10-1 decision to the Lethbridge Cardinals in front of 340 fans.
Baseball boosters in Medicine Hat would have to wait to get a look at their transplanted top team. Both of their weekend home games were rained out, but when they finally did take the field, the Commodores delivered a 5-1 Dominion Day triumph over the Oilers as 1,075 spectators looked on at Athletic Park.
Under new arrangements in the Gas City, Leakos said the Commodores received free water, free lights, and a cheaper ballpark rental fee. In exchange, the City of Medicine Hat was guaranteed $800 for the remaining 30 home dates or 10% of gate revenues, whichever amount was greater.
According to Neil Naismith, sports editor with the Medicine Hat News, Leakos also offered the opportunity for young minor-league players to operate the home concession booth and funnel proceeds to city baseball programs.
Not everyone was welcoming, however. Operators of the Medicine Hat Royals, a squad in the Drybelt League, expressed scheduling concerns over their upcoming games at Athletic Park.
“There is nothing wrong with a baseball team with future major league hopefuls in the team’s ranks playing ball in a city such as Medicine Hat, however local sports, regardless of its calibre, should be given first chance at the local baseball park, as we hope that was what it was built for in the first place,” wrote Naismith.
With the four-team league now an all-Alberta affair, the WCBL season rolled along.
BEER AND BASEBALL
McGraw picked up his first win of the season for Lethbridge, a 4-3 victory over the Giants in the top half of a July 1st doubleheader.
The southpaw looked back at his time playing in Western Canada in his book Screwball, which was published in 1974.
“So, off I went, up to the Canadian summer league for my first paycheck in baseball … we played for the Lethbridge team, and the Cardinals sponsored us – ‘paid’ us might be too strong a term,” recalled McGraw.
“They gave us little side jobs to keep us from being pros officially, but we got $300 a month … we’d travel around on a bus, which is a lot of traveling when you’re in Western Canada, maybe 500 or 600 miles at a clip. It was my first time away from home and I really didn’t know anything.”
McGraw remembered learning about more than just baseball, as well.
“We’d be on a bus trip going from Lethbridge to Calgary or Edmonton and they’d stop the bus and say, you want a beer. Everybody else did, so I did. I’d order a six-pack, because that’s what all the guys ordered and I figured it was the thing to do. But I didn’t realize that there was a big difference in the alcohol content between Canadian beer and U.S. beer, and sometimes I wound up getting slightly smashed between bus stops,” wrote McGraw, who won World Series titles with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
“I used to crawl up on the luggage rack, I was so small. I’d bring a blanket from the hotel, climb up on the rack, and snooze away … I still managed to pitch well enough to finish among the top pitchers in the league.”
While he did get knocked around by WCBL hitters and proved to be susceptible to walking batters during a number of games, McGraw turned in perhaps his finest performance in mid-July against Edmonton. The California hurler tossed a 10-inning shutout over the Oilers in a game that was won an a bases-loaded wild pitch. McGraw gave up five hits and six walks while striking out 12 batters in the 1-0 victory.
He also performed well in the Cardinals final regular-season home game at Henderson Stadium, a 6-2 win over the Commodores in front of 600 fans. McGraw went the distance and notched 10 Ks in that effort.
The Oilers, meanwhile, horsed around in promoting the WCBL in Edmonton … literally. The team made plans to have a quarter horse race against a baserunner during the seventh-inning stretch of a game at Renfrew Park. Edmonton media showed up to cover a photo-op featuring the horse and two players. The original date for the event was rained out, unfortunately, and the Oilers then ran into scheduling issues that forced them to hit the road unexpectedly.
Baseball and variations of the sport, including fastball and softball, was proving popular in Alberta. In addition to barnstorming exhibition games and full schedules for youth baseball, the sport received extensive coverage in newspapers across the province.
One Little League player even made headlines for his abilities in July. Decades before Jim Abbott became famous as a one-handed MLB pitcher, Edmonton Journal readers learned about Albert Reeves. The Coronation Park outfielder, who also played hockey and football, was born with a left arm that only extended to his wrist.
“While playing the outfield, Albert places his glove on his stub left hand and when a fly or ground ball is hit in his direction, he places his right hand on the glove to use as a trap. Then he rolls the ball into his right hand and wings the ball into the infield area” read a description of Reeves in the Journal.
“In batting he uses his left arm as a lever while guiding the bat through the strike zone. Albert is probably the strongest right-hander in Edmonton’s 12 little leagues.”
This was a summer that John Ducey – Edmonton’s “Mr. Baseball” – dreamed of bringing Triple-A baseball to Alberta, but not as a part of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).
“It’s not a league at all,” Ducey said of the PCL, which began rapidly expanding across the United States in the 1960s, including as far away as Hawaii.
“Only the transportation companies can come out financially in this deal.”
Ducey referred to the PCL as a “world tour” and considered the circuit undesirable because of the lengthy travel distances involved.
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer – who made a name for himself as an umpire and a baseball builder – instead envisioned a league that included teams in Calgary, Edmonton, Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and Vancouver.
“But before we are ready, we need to clean house a little ourselves,” said Ducey in a July 23rd Journal story.
“New ball parks, legalized Sunday ball in Alberta, complete major league underwriting and a realistic schedule of 130 games maximum … and Calgary and Edmonton would be valuable additions to the PCL.”
The PCL eventually did see the value in Alberta, adding both the Edmonton Trappers and Calgary Cannons in the 1980s.
Interestingly, after Ducey passed away in 1983, the home stadium of the Trappers was renamed John Ducey Park.
HONING SKILLS IN ALBERTA
As the WCBL entered the second half of the season, ballpark visitors were treated to entertaining – albeit at times error-filled – action, as well as talented players on a regular basis.
Briles was fine-tuning his game for his upcoming seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was dominant in registering 18 strikeouts during Calgary’s 1-0 win over Edmonton on July 20th at Buffalo Stadium. The Oilers were likely tired of facing Giants pitching by that point of the season. Jan Dukes, a 17-year-old out of California, fired up 19 Ks against Edmonton earlier that month in Calgary during a 4-3 victory for Cowtown. That game went 11 innings and when Dukes exited the game with two out in the 10th frame, Briles took the mound and struck out all four batters he faced to ensure the win. A 15-strikeout performance from Briles also took place during a 2-1 win over Lethbridge on July 26th and the righthander closed out the month with 12 more Ks in a 6-3 triumph over McGraw and the Cardinals on July 30th.
Washington was living up to the hype that preceded his arrival to the league, cranking out homers and big hits with consistency, and Rene Lachemann – who played alongside Washington at USC and with the Oilers – was developing as a hard-hitting catcher.
Lachemann played for the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics between 1965 and 1968. He became a Triple-A manager in the late 1970s before embarking on a lengthy MLB career as both a coach and a manager with numerous big-league teams. Lacheman won a World Series as the third base coach of the Oakland A’s in 1989.
As compelling as the WCBL circuit was, the biggest spectacle involving the league involved an exhibition matchup between the Commodores and Satchel Paige’s All-Stars in Medicine Hat on July 31st.
More than 1,000 fans showed up to Athletic Park to see the home team defeat Paige’s squad by a 3-1 score.
“Satchel, who is believed to be in the neighbourhood of 63, pleased the crowd by hurling the first two innings, giving up only one hit as nine Commodores trooped to the plate,” read Medicine Hat News sports editor Neil Naismith’s account of the visit, which was captured on video by CHAT TV.
Children crowded around the visitor’s dugout for autographs at the game, which also featured Leroy Paige Jr. in left field and Satchel’s youngest son, Willie, hustling around the field as a bat boy.
Things were looking so good for the WCBL that the league was already looking ahead to next season. All four Alberta teams pledged to return for that campaign and expansion was also on the table.
“Owners of the four existing entries … all revealed intentions to enter the league next year. Four additional cities have expressed interest in joining the league,” read an article in the Calgary Herald.
“Reports indicate that the league will expand to six teams in 1964.”
Groups in Moose Jaw, Regina, Lloydminster and Shelby, Montana had all considered joining the WCBL and seven MLB teams were also kicking tires on sponsoring franchises in the league, including the Reds, Angels, Orioles, Mets, White Sox, Tigers and Colt. 45s.
Carbray, whose Giants had the best attendance in the WCBL, was also seeking a new home stadium for his team. Buffalo Stadium was slated for demolition after the 1963 season. (Its replacement, Foothills Stadium, was constructed later that decade and first opened to the public in 1968).
“If there’s a place to play in Calgary, the Giants will continue to operate there,” said Carbray.
“There is baseball interest in Calgary. The league is not at all worried about the status of Calgary as a baseball city.”
FRAN-TASTIC YOUNG PLAYER
When the calendar flipped to August, Orv Franchuk was still finding his way alongside and against some talented baseball players.
The 19-year-old from Lac La Biche, Alberta spent two months at a Dick Howser baseball camp in Florida earlier that year, gaining attention from scouts with the Philadelphia Phillies. He earned a spot with the Oilers through a tryout invitation. Franchuk – who was dealt to Lethbridge in August – was a useful arm out of the bullpen, a solid starting pitcher, and a capable outfielder.
He was one of many WCBL players from that 1963 season who went on to do great things in baseball. After playing college ball at Pepperdine University, Franchuk took a job as a teacher in Edmonton and later began coaching in the minor leagues, ultimately working as a hitting coach for the Trappers – then a Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics – in the 1990s.
“Oakland said we want you to come on full time, you need to make a decision,” Franchuk recounted in the Edmonton Examiner newspaper during a 2011 interview.
“You’re either going to continue teaching or you’re going to come and do the baseball thing. It just seemed like the right time and I’m happy that I did.”
The “baseball thing” certainly did work out for Franchuk. He managed the Vancouver Canadians in 2002 and then worked as the minor-league hitting coordinator for the Boston Red Sox between 2003 and 2006, earning a World Series ring for his efforts.
More hitting coach gigs in the minors followed and Franchuk returned home to Alberta’s capital in 2011, where he served as manager of the Edmonton Capitals of the independent North American League. The Capitals won the championship that season. He later coached alongside Ray Brown for the Edmonton Prospects of the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL).
GRUMPY UMP
The grind of the season, which allowed very few days off, and rivalries that were intensified due to all the familiar foes that a four-team circuit brings, seemed to result in a number of heated contests in August.
Controversy erupted during a mid-week clash between the Oilers and Giants at Buffalo Stadium on Aug. 20th. The home plate umpire and Oiler backstop Rene Lachemann – who homered in the fourth frame – began arguing in the fifth inning and the California catcher was sent to the showers “for obscenely voicing his feelings on a called third strike,” noted reporter Larry Wood in the Calgary Herald, adding the game “wound up on a ratchety note in the eighth inning.”
Edmonton was leading 2-1 late in the game. Briles of the Giants and Jack Hare of the Oilers were embroiled in a pitching duel. Briles, the WCBL strikeout leader, had 17 Ks through 7.1 innings and was trying to pick up his 12th win, while Hare registered eight strikeouts in the game. When outfielder John Allison was called out on strikes, tensions rose yet again.
“After some 10 minutes of nose-to-nose wrangling with Oiler manager Clark Rex and outfielder John Allison, plate umpire Jim Prior waved the game in favor of Giants and strode to the dressing room. Rex and company, of course, were none too happy. They’d been giving their views on a third strike called against Allison, the lead-off batter in the eighth. But Prior wasn’t about to have his judgment swayed. He officially tossed Allison out of the game, took on Rex in a marathon exchange of heated words and finally terminated the dispute by awarding Giants a 9-0 win,” wrote Wood, adding the Oilers filed a protest with the commissioner’s office following the game.
“Angry Oiler players began tossing bats on the field and there was some question as to when play would resume. It never did. And the screaming continued long after the field lights cut out.”
In the fallout from the game, Scolinos fined Allison and suspended him indefinitely. Fines were also issued to Rex, Lachemann, Washington, Dwayne Adams and Tom Pederson.
POSTSEASON PUSH
The WCBL regular season closed with some impressive individual performances highlighted atop the statistical leaderboard.
Tim Cullen, infielder with the Calgary Giants, won the triple crown with a .345 batting average, 19 home runs and 62 RBI.
Edmonton right-handed pitcher Walt Peterson finished tops with a 1.40 ERA in 96-plus innings. Briles had the third-best ERA (2.47) and the most strikeouts (184) on the circuit during his 131-plus frames.
The Commodores dominated the regular season with a 42-26 record, finishing a full nine games up on second-place Edmonton to capture the pennant. Medicine Hat also posted the best team batting average (.260) and top fielding percentage (.947).
Calgary battled Edmonton in the opening series of the playoffs, while Lethbridge faced Medicine Hat.
Briles struck out 13 batters in the first tilt, but suffered a tough-luck 2-1 loss to the Oilers. Calgary responded with a 3-2 victory in front of 1,000 fans in Edmonton to knot the series at one game apiece. Dukes was excellent on the mound for the Giants in Game 3, shutting the door in seven no-hit innings. Calgary prevailed 4-1 with Dukes fanning eight batters and issuing no walks.
The Giants didn’t look back after that. Dukes and Cullen both homered during a 6-3 Calgary victory in the fourth game, and they sealed the series with a 14-hit barrage in Game 5. Briles had another 13 Ks in the 9-5 victory that catapulted the Giants into the championship series.
In the other semi-final series, Medicine Hat continued their winning ways. The Commodores dominated the first two contests with wins by scores of 12-4 and 12-5. McGraw was tagged with the Game 2 loss for the Cardinals after surrendering nine hits and 10 walks.
Lethbridge played better but could not avoid being swept after dropping consecutive 6-4 games to the Commodores. The final game of the best-of-seven series went into extra innings. Player/manager Lyle Olsen delivered the knockout blow for the Commodores with a 14th inning homer off McGraw, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth.
CLUTCH COMMODORES
In a championship series that pitted Medicine Hat against Calgary, the Commodores just kept rolling. They opened the final series with a 7-5 win over Dukes and followed that up with a 4-3 victory to claim the first two games at Athletic Park.
Calgary leaned on Briles to get them back into contention when the action shifted to Buffalo Stadium, where more than 1,000 spectators showed up to watch the Giants mount a comeback over the visitors. Calgary trailed 4-1 until the eighth inning, when a Charles Marcenaro infield single with the bases loaded helped tilt the score to 5-4 in the Giants favour. Briles was brilliant as ever, piling up 14 Ks and allowing just five hits in the victory.
The Commodores replied with a high-scoring 9-8 win in Game 4, and Calgary turned to Briles on just one day’s rest to keep their postseason hopes alive in the fifth game. The strikeout leader performed admirably under the circumstances, allowing just one unearned run in his four innings of mound work, but he tired before the halfway point of the game. The Giants committed three errors in staking the Commodores to a 6-2 lead before striking for three runs in the ninth inning. But the late comeback fell short and Medicine Hat outlasted Calgary for a 6-5 win and a 4-1 series triumph.
Wearing “Saskatoon” across their jerseys, Medicine Hat won the Governor-General Trophy in front of 675 fans in Calgary, delivering one of the unlikeliest championships the Gas City has ever experienced.
The regular season, the exhibition games and the playoffs provided sports watchers with one of the most exciting summers of baseball in Alberta’s history, a mix of excellence, errors and oddities.
LASTING LEGACY
The summer of 1963 also foreshadowed the future of baseball, not only in Western Canada but across North America.
The affiliation between MLB teams and Alberta squads was essential for the emergence of the Pioneer League and the Pacific Coast League to operate north of the border. Strong relationships between college programs and Canadian teams exist to this day, particularly in the current Western Canadian Baseball League (not to be confused with the Western Canada Baseball League of the 1960s).
Another revolutionary aspect of the four-team circuit that summer was the focus on pace of play.
Gorde Hunter of the Calgary Herald took notice of the efforts of Carbray in this area.
“Carbray has also done something for baseball and the fans who pay the freight. He’s attempted to speed up the game by cutting out some of the unnecessary time consumers. He has, for instance, done away with warm up pitches prior to the start of each inning. Now the pitchers warm up on the sidelines while their own club is at bat,” wrote Hunter in the Sept. 4th edition of the Herald.
“He’s done something about the ridiculous intentional walk. Under Carbray’s set of rules, if a team wants to issue a free pass down to first base, the pitcher merely tells the umpire and the batter trots down to the bag. None of this throwing four wide pitches to the batter. Small things, maybe, but things that do consume time and obviously Carbray is one baseball executive who feels baseball could use a concerted speed-up campaign.”
Hunter pointed to a game between the Giants and Oilers that was completed in two hours and two minutes as evidence that Carbray’s time management methods were effective.
Many of these initiatives and other game-condensing directives were introduced as league rules when the WCBL returned to action in 1964. Regulations included addition of a 20-second pitch clock, to be timed by the umpiring crew, and the elimination of throwing the ball around the infield after an out. Another unique rule called for a special pinch runner to come in for a pitcher or catcher on base when there were two outs in an inning.
The 1964 campaign marked the final season of the short-lived Western Canada Baseball League. Carbray didn’t get his new stadium in Calgary and expansion never took place. Instead, the WCBL reset with four teams in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Saskatoon.
Thus ended one of the more thrilling and strange chapters of Alberta’s baseball history. But, if you wait around long enough, you just might see history repeat itself.
