The Oyster League

1946 Oyster League Souvenir Booklet
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This text below was taken from a booklet
word for word, typos and all.

 

The 1946 Campaign
Oyster League fans saw the strong Maurice Maurice River Township team lead the loop in both halves and will agree that they played well and deserved to win. There was really no consistently good opposition although the Port Norris aggregation which finished in second place twice, did manage go beat the leaders three times in their scheduled six games.

Maurice River Township’s team of this season will go down in Oyster League annals as one of the best league fans have seen. Manager Belford Cox can boast of having most of the best individual players for 1946 on his Oyster League team roster. Sparkling Charlie Errickson showed championship form at third base all season, and was consistently making the kind of play that meant the difference between victory and defeat for his outfit, Louis “Dud” Camp proved that he was one of the best catchers in the league in every department. His throwing arm was good, he held up every pitcher he caught, and his batting average was near the .100 mark in over 90 times at bat. Earl Mints, Howard “Mike” Tomlin, with his pitching record of 10 wins and one defeat, Benny Wuzzardo, Les and Mike Sutton, Millard Veach, all helped to make a team that couldn’t be beaten.

Cox made sure of one important factor. His men were always told to take advantage of every break, and to be especially alert while base running. These precautions paid off several times and it was very seldom that a Maurice River Township base-runner was caught napping.

Good Preview – Good Start
In a non-league baseball game played on the Port Norris diamond Memorial Day, the Maurice River Township Hawks gave fans a preview of what to expect from the boys across the river when they handed Port Norris a 10 to 1 setback before a large holiday attendance Mike Tomlin pitched that one, limiting Port Norris batters to but six safeties. The records show that Mike was plenty effective even before the season got under way because in the aforementioned game the Port Norris team left eight men stranded on the bases.

At the end of the first week of play the Hawks led the pack with two victories, Port Norris and South Port Norris were tie for second place with one win a piece, and Cedarville and Newport trailed with two defeats each.

When the first three weeks were finished, which ended the half-way mark of the first half, Maurice River still led Port Norris by half a game with five wins and one defeat as compared to four wins and one defeat for the second place team. Maurice River’s one defeat came when they met Port Norris for the first time in official league play and lost an 8 to 2 decision to Bob Rudoplh, who started and finished on the mound for Port Norris. On Tuesday of that third week the two teams met again, this time on the Port Elizabeth field, and Hawk Manager Belford Cox started Mike Tomlin on the hill who delivered Port Norris its first defeat by the score of 3 to 2.

That third week also saw the swifts ascent of a rejuvenated Newport team aided by the catching of Glenn “Jiggs” Robbins and the pitching of Sam Hasher. They moved up into a tie with South Port Norris with two wins and three defeats at the half way mark. Cedarville had dropped all five of its contests.

Second Three Weeks Decisive
It was evident from the outset that, barring upsets, the outcome of the pennant drive would depend on the games between the Hawks and Port Norris. The upset came on Wednesday. June 26th when Newport trounced Port Norris 14 to 6. Newport later jumped on Maurice River for a 10 to 9 victory but it was a postponed game played after the first half championship had been decided, so that it had no effect on actual outcome but meant the world in personal satisfaction to Newport.

The spectacular rise of the Newport team in that first half was the talk of the league. They were especially effective against the Port Norris team when the chips were down as the upset so aptly proves.

The Hawks won five of their six games in those three final weeks of the first half, meeting no serious opposition in going on to take the pennant. Port Norris lost in their only scheduled game with them in the final weeks by the score of 14 to 6. It was Mike Tomlin against Bob Rudolph again.

The Maurice River Township team ran up the two most lop-sided scores of the season against Cedarville in that period 21 to 2 and 20 to 5.

The final first half standing was as follows:
W L Petg.
Maurice River ……………………………………….10 2 .833
Port Norris …………………………………………… 9 3 .750
Newport ………………………………………………. 7 5 .583
South Port Norris …………………………………. 4 8 .333
Cedarville …………………………………………….. 0 12 .000

Beginning the second half, Maurice River was off to a shaky start when they came to an 8 to 8 deadlock with South Port Norris on the bases loaded in the first inning with no outs. The situation looked bright for them until Estadt ?anned the next three batters.

Until the eighth inning Cedarville played a good game against the Hawks in the second half race. For seven and half innings Vince Estadt, on the mound for Cedarville, held the hard-hitting league leaders to an 8 to 8 tie. The Hawks collected six runs on four hits in a big eighth inning, however, to put the game on ice.

Maurice River Takes Lead
It was at this point that the classic slump of Port Norris took place. They had won four straight contests and were leading the league a ull game and a half ahead of the Hawks. Then he Hawks won from Newport to cut the end to one game. The following evening South Port Norris hung one on Port Norris to the tune of 6 to 1, and the lead was cut to only half a game. Maurice River Township tied Port Norris in the standings the next evening by defeating Cedarville 7 to 3, and went into the lead when Newport handed Port Norris its second consecutive defeat, 10 to 1, to close the final three week period of the second half.

So the Hawks were in the lead again, and they evidently didn’t even consider relinquishing it, for they were on top the rest of the way.

Estadt Pitches Second Win
Franny Estadt was the only Cedarville mounds man who could hit the win column, and he nicked it twice in the second half. Considered a powerful right handed hitter, he played various positions on the infield as well as the outfield. Finally, in Cedarville’s second game of the new half he went on the mound to hand Newport a 6 to 4 defeat in a seven inning dual with Newport hurler Warren Blackman. Then hitter to left field, poled a Charlie Errickson pitch far out over the tracks and galloped around for a home run-the first of the season. Estadt’s brother Vince was on first at the time.

Later, against Cedarville again, the elimination of the two base rule paid off for Cox. Right fielder Les Sutten lined one out in the same place Estadt put his for the second and last round-trip-per for 1946.

Final Race Tight
With the first and second place teams looking like this.
W L GTP*
Maurice River 8 1 3
Port Norris 7 4 1
(*Games to play)

Maurice River traveled to Newport with high hopes of clinching the pennant. The Hawks needed but one game to achieve this goal, and had, besides the game with Newport, one game with Port Norris and the first game of the season with South Port Norris, which ended in a tie, remaining to play.

Belford Cox used his best pitcher, Mike Tomlin, against Newport that evening, and Make was looking for his tenth victory of the season. So if records meant anything at all the game should have ended in favor of Cox and Tomlin. However, past records went to the winds, because no one took into consideration the previously unspectacular pitching of Warren Blackman. Blackman forced the Hawks to go on into their postponed games to get the pennant by defeating them by a score of 9 to and Mike Tomlin, instead of getting victory number ten, was knocked out of the box in the fourth inning and was charged with his first and only defeat of the year.

That made the standing look like this just before the Hawk contest with
Port Norris:
W L GTP
Maurice River 8 2 2
Port Norris 7 4 1

Bob Rudolph engaged the Hawks for the sixth time with his, and the team’s, record against them standing at two wins and three defeats. Cox elected to start Millard Veach who had beaten Port Norris previously 8 to 0, Port Norris came out on top in this postponed game by a score of 5 to 3, which put all of the responsibility of tripping the Hawks directly on the shoulders of South Port Norris.

Who Were The ‘Iron Men’ of the Oyster League?
The Oyster League counterparts of the Major Leagues’ Lou Gehrig, who ran up a consecutive game record of over 2000 with the New York Yankees, were representatives of four teams who played in every game during the season. It takes a great deal out of a man to work all day then come home, gobble some supper, and don a baseball suit for the rest of the evening. To those fellows go the laurels in this article. Many of the Oyster Leaguers not mentioned below participated in all but one or two of their team’s contests during the season, but to form a record of one hundred per cent attendance—here are those who did it:

Pete Askins and Stanford Gibbsof South Port Norris. Askins was also a member of the All Star team. (25 games).
Clarence “Snook” Batten, regular left fielder for Newport, member of All Star team. (24 games).
Earl Mints and Louis “Dud” Camp, Maurice River Township. (25 games).
Jimmy Bernard, Port Norris catcher. Member All Star team. (24 games).

The All Star Series
Due to the fact that there was a double win in the two halves by Maurice River Township, representatives of the four losing teams met in Port Norris on Friday, September 6th to chose candidates for an All Star team. This team was scheduled to play a series of five games with the champion Hawks alternating between the Port Norris and Port Elizabeth diamonds.

The following players were elected to the team:
**Couldn’t read blurry-see download below.

The Stars and Maurice River started seven times to get a satisfactory series of four decisions completed before darkness set in. The first two were ties, 5 to 5; the third was a 4 to 2 victory for the hawks; the fourth and fifth went to the Stars, 3 to 2 and 4 to 2; the sixth was a four inning incomplete 2 to 2 tie; and the seventh and final contest won the series for the Stars by a score of 9 to 4 in five innings.

The first game was played at Port Elizabeth and it was Port Norris’ Bill Shropshire on the mound opposed by Mike Tomlin for Maurice River. The Hawks scored once in the fourth inning and the score stood that way until the beginning of the sixth when singles by Harvey Metsger and Al Chestnut accounted for the tying run for the Stars. Maurice River went ahead on two runs in their half of the sixth on singles by Charlie Errickson, Dud Camp and Millard Veach and three Star errors.

The All-Stars picked up three runs in the top of the seventh to go ahead 4 to 3. They did it on five consecutive hits. Maurice River was held scoreless in the bottom half of the seventh and after Al Chestnut had doubled and scored on Lawrence Hickman’s single in the Stars’ half of the eight, Mike Tomlin left the fame and was succeeded by Charlie Errickson who retired the next three men in order.

Belford Cox and his men showed beyond doubt that they could come through when the chips were down when they came to bat in their half of the eighth and final inning. Charlie Errickson led off and was retired, second to first. Dud Camp popped out to third baseman Harvey Metsger. Then Shropshire was pounded for two singles and a double which accounted for the two tying runs. Final Score – All Stars, 5; Maurice River, 5.

Contest number two of the playoff series, which took place on the Port Norris field, was a five inning affair that saw the All Stars get off to a fast start in the first inning with two big runs followed by one in the second and two more in the the third.. The Hawks also crossed the plate twice in the third inning on one hit by Benny Wuzzardo, two errors and three stolen bases. They came over with three more in the final fifth inning to tie the score on a double by Charlie Errickson, a single by Millard Veach, one error, a walk and two more stolen bases. 

Final Score – All Stars, 5; Maurice River, 5.

Port Elizabeth was the scene of the first decision in the series and it went to the home team. The Hawks started Millard Veach on the hill and Johnny Ringgold sent Cedarville’s Franny Estadt out to oppose him. The Stars went down in order in their half of the first inning and Maurice River came back to score four runs on three hits. The All Stars scored twice in the second frame on three errors and a stolen base, but Millard Veach gave them no hits. Although the game went on through the sixth inning, the same score prevailed. Final Score—All Stars, 2; Maurice River, 4.

Mike Tomlin and Bob Rudolph put on one of their interesting scraps at Port Norris in the fourth game, and although the Hawks outhit the Stars 9 to 5, the latter team came out on top. Maurice River drew first blood in the third on a single by Mike Sutton and two errors. They picked up one more in the top half of the fourth on singles by Dud Camp, Millard Veach and Earl Mints. Then the Stars hit the run column in their half o f the fourth. After two were out Charlie Maxfield sent a single into right field, and Lawrence Hickman followed with a double to center. Paul Milbourne scored Maxfield with a blow to right and Hickman scored when Dud Camp dropped the throw to the plate. The Stars picked up the winning run in the last of the fifth on a walk to “Snook” Batten and a single by Sam Dopirak. Final Score – All Stars, 3; Maurice River, 2.

With the series all tied up at one victory apiece, the two teams met on the Port Elizabeth diamond for the fifth contest. Franny Estadt started for the second time for the Stars and he was opposed by Ivan Newcomb, who had pitched in the second game which ended in a 5 to 5 tie. Maurice River scored first again in the second inning, bringing in two runs on a single by Les Sutton, an error by Paul Milbourne at third base, and a timely single by manager Belford Cox which accounted for both tallies. The Stars got half the number of runs they needed to tie in the first of the third on singles by: Snook” Batten and Sam Dopirak, a Newport combination. Then in the fourth they forged ahead by accounting for three runs on three hits, including doubles by Hobe Hines and Paul Milbourne. Maurice River scored a home run in the fifth inning but failed to bring across the tying run. Final Score—All Stars, 4; Maurice River, 3.

The sixth game was an unofficial one. The first inning was thirty minutes long and by the time this sixth game came along approximately only an hour was available each evening, into which the teams tried to squeeze a regulation contest. The Stars started the game with singles by “Snook” Batten and Harvey Metsger, and a one triple hit left off the bat of Sam Depirak. Maurice River came back in the first of the fourth with two runs of their own to tie the score. Final Score-All Stars, 2; Maurice River, 2. (Four innings)

Johnny Ringgold’s All Star team took the decisive third victory in the seventh contest played at Port Norris with Franny Estadt going the route for his second series win against one defeat. Mike Tomlin was the losing pitcher, relieved again by Charlie Errickson, who did a good job in stopping a big third inning rally by the All Stars.

Going into the last of the third the Hawks were leading by one run after two free scoring frames. The Stars finished Tomlin in that inning however, by batting around and scoring five runs on three singles, a walk, and three errors.

Maurice River collected seven hits during the evening, four of which were doubles. Final Score—All Stars, 9; Maurice River 4.

Jimmy Bernard’s No Hit, No Run Game
When Port Norris met Cedarville on June 12th for the first time Port Norris pitcher Jimmy Bernard came up with the only no hit, no run game of the season. He was in trouble only in the first inning when three men reached first base on infield errors. From then on he retired all batters in order.