Jan 21, 2007 - 04:02:20 CST
The 1935 Bismarck semipro baseball team featured two players now in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and a host of African-American all-stars. It is believed to have been the best semipro team of all time.In 1934, Bismarck finished with a record of 61-18. However, the owner and manager of the team, Neil Churchill, was not satisfied.
In 1935, he signed the key players from his 1934 team, which included pitcher Barney Morris; catcher Quincy Trouppe; infielders Red Haley, Beef Ringhofer, Joe Desiderato, and Harold Massman; and outfielders Bill Morlan, Bob McCarney and Mike Goetz.
He signed pitcher Satchel Paige, who had appeared in nine games for the Bismarck team in 1933. Churchill also signed Vernon "Moose" Johnson and Charlie Bates, two sluggers with the Western League.
The last key member to join the Bismarck team was Axel "Al" Leary, a young, power-hitting shortstop from Great Falls, Mont.
Pitchers Paige and Morris got off to a terrific start, but Morris began to experience elbow problems in June. With a schedule that included almost a game a day, it became too much to expect Paige to pitch all the time.
To bolster his club, Churchill signed pitcher-catcher Ted "Double-Duty" Radcliffe and infielder Danny Oberholzer, the stars of the Jamestown team in 1934.
Wanting even greater pitching depth, Churchill pulled off a coup when the powerful Kansas City Monarchs came to Bismarck in late July. The star pitcher on the team was Hilton Smith, considered by many the second best African-American pitcher of the time.
When the Monarchs left Bismarck, Smith remained as part of the Bismarck team. With a pitching staff of Paige, Radcliffe, Morris and Smith, Bismarck was almost invincible, winning 28 of 29 games. To improve the team even more, in early August, Churchill signed outfielder Art Hancock, the best player on the Valley City team.
One event in 1935 helped solidify Bismarck's position of the best semipro team in the nation. Newspaperman Raymond "Hap" Dumont was busy organizing the first National Semipro Championship tournament to be held in Wichita, Kan., beginning on Aug. 14.
Dumont sent out invitations to the best teams in the nation. One of the earliest invitations was sent to Churchill, and he quickly accepted. Churchill then upped the number of games that Bismarck would play against quality teams so that his players would be in top form.
Churchill signed two more players for the tournament in Wichita: Chet Brewer and Ed Hendee. Brewer was a premier pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs who had also been, the ace of the staff for the semipro team in Crookston, Minn., two years earlier. Hendee was a veteran infielder of the Mississippi Valley League who won the batting crown in 1929.
Bismarck was not the only team in the tournament stocking up on key players. Most of the teams enlisted former major league ballplayers or stars from the minor or Negro leagues.
Bismarck played its first game on Aug. 15 as Paige faced the Monroe Monarchs from Louisiana. Paige got in trouble early, and Bismarck trailed 3-2 going into the seventh inning. Bismarck scored four runs and won 6-4. Game two was against the hometown Wichita Waterworks. Bismarck won 8-4.
Paige returned to pitch game three against the United Fuel team from Denver. He limited them to one run and drove in two runs himself for a 4-1 victory. In game four against Shelby, N.C., Brewer pitched a two-hitter winning 7-1. Game five was against the best offensive team in the tournament, the Halliburton Cementers from Duncan, Okla., who were averaging 13 runs a game against their opponents. Paige held their potent offense to one run and struck out 16 batters winning 3-1. Game six against the Omaha V-8s turned into a slugfest for the Bismarck team, who won 15-6.
In game seven, Bismarck once again faced the Halliburton team, who had moved up through the loser's bracket. However, Bismarck's major offensive weapon did not show up. Moose Johnson had gotten drunk the night before and was later found passed out in the street. Regardless, Bismarck won 5-2 and Paige was again the winning pitcher as Bismarck won the tournament.
Many of the players came back to Bismarck in 1936, but the team was not the same without Paige. Bismarck returned to Wichita and won the first five games, but lost game six to Halliburton because Bismarck's star pitcher was too drunk to be effective.
All of the African-Americans on the 1935 Bismarck team went on to become all-stars in the Negro Leagues and likely would have been outstanding players in the major leagues.
Paige and Trouppe eventually made it to the majors but were well past their prime. Churchill returned to his auto dealership and was elected mayor of Bismarck in 1939.
(Written by Curt Eriksmoen and edited by Jan Eriksmoen. Reach the Eriksmoens at cjeriksmoen@;cableone.net)
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