My Vintage Minneapolis Millers & St. Paul Saints Collection

[Tay1038]

Game used bats from Paul Richards, Jack Harshman, Wes Westrum, Sammy Bohne, Bob Lennon (63 home runs Southern Association), Joseph Bracchitta and Willie Kirkland.

[Scott Garner]

Ty,

FYI, Wes Westrum was the pitching coach for the NY Mets while Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan and Gary Gentry pitched for the 1969 Miracle Mets.

[Runscott]

Great collection.

I will keep my eyes open for vintage St. Paul stuff and do what I can to help make sure it ends up with a good collector!

[Doglips57]

I found these in the yard at a garage sale a few years ago, the kids had been playing with them.IMG_2804.jpg

IMG_2805.jpg

[Tay1038]

Hi Steve, very neat bats and thanks for sharing! Both bats are circa 1952-55. They look professional model. If you would like, send me the dimensions and model number of the Rigney and I can compare it to the one I own.

[Tay1038]

Original 1920 St. Paul Saints Baseball Club 14x20 Team Photograph – American Association Champions!

This Original Baker Art Gallery photograph was previously owned by Saints P Steamboat Williams. The 1920 Saints were recognized as being the 6th Greatest Minor League Team of All-Time! They finished the season with 115 Wins, 49 losses and captured the American Association Championship.

Top Row: Rapp, McMenemy, Shanley, Haas, Miller, Duncan
Middle Row: E. Hargrave, Merritt, Hall, Griner, Williams, Riggert, W. Hargrave
Bottom Row: W Dressen, Berghammer, M.J. Kelley, Foster, Browne, Boone

Local antique shop find today. As I started to disassemble the frame I found another piece of paper tucked behind the cardboard mat. To my surprise it was an original Montana Public Schools Diploma certificate signed and dated 22 April 1905. The diploma was issued to Rees Williams. Rees “Steamboat” Williams won 20 games for the Saints in 1920! He played for the St. Paul Saints in 1915, 1917, 1920-21 and played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1914 & 1916. Extremely excited to trace the origins of the photo!

[Tay1038]

Original 1903 St. Paul Saints Baseball Club 11x14 Team Photograph featuring HOFer Miller Huggins - Very 1st American Association Championship!

Back Row: Wheller, Shannon, Corbett, Chech, Hurley, Ferguson, Geier
Middle Row: Sullivan, Kelley, Schaefer, Davis
Front Row: Pierce, Huggins, Volz, Marcan, Jackson

There is an amazing story behind this photo. In 1947, the Saints ran a contest at Lexington Park which provided fans the special opportunity to correctly guess all members of the Saints very first championship team. The winner was handsomely rewarded with this photograph as the prize!

It is believed this photo is original to 1903. These photos were only given to players and management of the team. Mike Kelley was the team manager/player for the 1903 team. The photo has sepia, and done in flat tones. The image is high quality and has strong and clear silvering, which I was told is indicative to a turn of the century photo. Photo attribution is to Harris of Little Rock, Arkansas and copyrighted by the St. Paul Daily News. The St. Paul Daily News ceased publication in 1938.

There are two vintage news clippings on the back of the matt. The first is the player identification roster and the second is the write up about the contest. The article mentions, “The picture belongs to Mike” referring to current team owner Mike Kelley.

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by Tay1038

Game used bats from Paul Richards, Jack Harshman, Wes Westrum, Sammy Bohne, Bob Lennon (63 home runs Southern Association), Joseph Bracchitta and Willie Kirkland.

My Great Great Uncle played for the St Paul Saints in the late 1918 through 192 before the Yankees brought him up to the majors mid 1921. Ended up playing Center field in the 1921 World series. H was one of the leagues best hitters in 1919 ans 1920. Lool up Elmer Miller

[Tay1038]

Thanks, Andrew!

Ken - that's amazing! Your great uncle played on some of the best teams in Saints history! Very, very cool. He even played with George Halas in 1919! .300+ hitter in each of his three season in St. Paul. Definitely a primary contributor to the teams success. I posted one of my team photos of the 1920 team in an earlier post. Any idea which player is Elmer? Thanks for sharing.

[Tay1038]

1896 St. Paul Saints Season Ticket Pass

[Tay1038]

Dave Bancroft Millers & Walter Alston Saints Type I Press Photos

Here we have a pair of original Type I press photos of two HOFers!

The first photo from the Associated Press is of Minneapolis Millers manager Dave Bancroft and Columbus Red Bird pilot Ray Blades before the AA Playoff game on Sept. 15, 1933.

The second photo is of St. Paul Saints manager Walter Alston before the AA Playoff game on Oct. 18, 1948.

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

Anything on Lou Limmer? Love those lefty first basemen.

[Tay1038]

c. 1930s Autograph Booklet Featuring 1935 St. Paul Saints Team with Monty Stratton!

19 total signatures featuring Monty Stratton and Phil Todt. In 1925, The Yankees offered Lou Gehrig to the Red Sox, to repay for the Babe Ruth trade. The player they requested was Todt. Neat find.