The Hollywood Stars
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About this ebook
Richard Beverage
Author Richard Beverage is the president of the Pacific Coast League Historical Society and has written extensively on the Pacific Coast League. He is also the president of the Society for American Baseball Research. In his day job, he is the secretary-treasurer of the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America, a charitable organization that assists former professional ballplayers who are in need.
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The Hollywood Stars - Richard Beverage
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INTRODUCTION
It’s been almost 50 years since the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers left the East to come to California in 1958. A generation of baseball fans have grown up in the West, cheering for these two major-league teams and others that followed. But long before the majors arrived, there was a very strong baseball presence in California. The game was brought west during the gold rush days, and at least as early as 1859 there were organized teams playing baseball. There were many professional teams during the balance of the 19th century before the California State League began play in the 1890s. That league evolved into the Pacific Coast League (PCL), which formed in 1903.
The PCL celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2003 and is the second oldest minor league in existence, surpassed only by the International League, which began in 1884. The makeup of the league today is much different than it was in 1903, with only Portland, Oregon, remaining from the original year. For over a half-century, the PCL was the premier baseball league on the West Coast. Although it was nominally a minor league, the caliber of play was better than most, only slightly below the quality of the major leagues, which operated in the Eastern United States. For years, the PCL operated as a breeding ground for the major leagues. The Western clubs signed their own talent, developed their stars, and later sold their contracts to the major leagues at substantial profits. Some of the greatest players in baseball history had their start in the Pacific Coast League—Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Harry Heilmann, Earl Averill, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Tony Lazzeri, and Ernie Lombardi were all originally signed by PCL clubs and are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
This book is an overview of the history of one of the PCL’s important clubs, the Hollywood Stars. Today the city of Hollywood is a part of Los Angeles, having been annexed in 1910. It was founded by a group of temperance reformers and was formally registered as a town in 1886. Hollywood soon became very attractive to new home buyers and the population grew rapidly. It became a city in 1903, prior to its annexation.
Movies were first produced in Hollywood in 1909, and the first studio settled there in 1911. Other companies soon followed and by end of the decade there were more than 20 studios in town. The population exploded as a result, from less than 5,000 in 1910 to an estimated 157,000 by 1929.
The Hollywood ball club came into existence in 1926 after a series of transactions that saw the Vernon club move from the greater Los Angeles area to San Francisco and the Salt Lake Bees shift to Southern California. The new club was labeled Hollywood, but it wouldn’t play its games there. Owner H. W. Bill
Lane agreed to play in Wrigley Field in south central Los Angeles as tenants of the Los Angeles Angels. The Stars would play there through 1935.
RIOT AT GILMORE. It is August 2, 1953, at Gilmore Field and Stars pinch-runner Ted Beard is sliding viciously into third base, where Angel third baseman Murray Franklin awaits. In the first game of a doubleheader, the Stars and Angels went at it after Frank Kelleher had been ejected for throwing a punch at pitcher Joe Hatten. (Roger Bowman collection.)
FIGHTING ABOUT TO BEGIN. Umpire Joe Iacovetti calls Beard out as Franklin pins him to the turf. Beard came up with fists flying and the brawl began. Before the game was over, a brigade of Los Angeles police was deployed to maintain order and players were banished from both benches. (Roger Bowman collection.)
1
THE WRIGLEY FIELD YEARS
The newly named Stars expected to be a pennant contender in their first year in Southern California, but that was not to be. They finished in sixth place and spent some time in last place before a late-season winning streak enabled them to finish ahead of San Francisco and Portland. Nor was 1927 any better. Hollywood finished in sixth place again with a weak offense offsetting an improvement in pitching with the addition of Frank Shellenback. But the team’s fortunes improved dramatically in 1928. The offense was much better with Mickey Heath, Julie Wera, Johnny Kerr, Johnny Bassler, and Babe Twombly all hitting over .300 as did Elmer Smith, who arrived from Portland in August. Better hitting and continued good pitching kept Hollywood in contention all year. The PCL split their seasons for several years in this period (with winners for both the first and second half), and 1928 was one of them. The Stars finished in second place during the first half and were in first place during most of the second half before falling to third the last week of the season.
In 1929, Hollywood bats boomed loudly. The Sheiks—their unofficial nickname, after Hollywood High School sports teams—batted .311 as a team, and they scored over six runs a game. Mickey Heath and outfielders Elias Funk, Bill Rumler, and Cleo Carlyle all batted over .345. The season was split again, and this was fortunate for Hollywood. The team was just average during the first half, but became a serious contender with better hitting. The Sheiks won the second half by one game over the Mission Reds, who had won the first half by a wide margin, and beat them in a playoff to give Hollywood its first PCL championship.
The Sheiks repeated as champions in 1930, with its finest team to date. In another split season, Hollywood won the second half with ease, after finishing in second place during the first half, and decisively defeated the Angels in the championship playoffs. Once again they had the most potent offense in the league. The team batted .309 and hit 182 home runs—a club record. All starters, except third baseman Mike Gazella, hit over .300 and catchers Bassler and Hank Severeid had a combined average of .367. Night baseball was introduced in 1930 and it was an immediate success.
Hollywood hoped to make it three pennants in a row in 1931, but after winning the first half, the club suffered