My Vintage Minneapolis Millers & St. Paul Saints Collection

[Tay1038]

1959 Minneapolis Millers vs. Havana Sugar Kings Junior World Series Program

This is one program I absolutely adore and likely one of the rarest in my collection today. Not only is this one of the earliest Millers programs to feature Carl Yastrzemski in the lineup, but from one of the most exciting Junior World Series – if not the most bizarre! Not only were two contests, including the decisive seventh game, decided in the last of the ninth inning and another two in extra innings, but it was the only Junior Series in which the submachine guns outnumbered the bats.

The 1959 Junior World Series was the 43rd meeting between the champions of the American Association and International League. The Minneapolis Millers had won the American Association playoffs for the second straight year, while the Havana Sugar Kings won the International League's Governors' Cup for the first time. The Millers, a Boston Red Sox farm team managed by Gene Mauch, were the defending Junior World Series champions, and were making their third appearance in the minor-league classic in the last five years.

Minneapolis was bolstered by the recent addition of a young second baseman named Carl Yastrzemski, who had joined the team during the Association playoffs. Havana, on the other hand, had finished the previous season at the bottom of the International League standings. In 1959, though, they rose to third during the regular season and then upset Columbus and Richmond in the playoffs for a berth in the Junior Series. Managed by Preston Gomez, the Sugar Kings roster was comprised of a mixture of Latin and American players, several of whom would go on to respectable careers in the major leagues, including pitchers Mike Cuellar and Luis Arroyo and infielders Leo Cardenas, Elio Chacon, and Cookie Rojas.

The series opened at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. The first three games were to be played in the Millers’ home park, but a premature blast of wintry weather brought an early close to their end of the series. Due to the cold temperatures, only 2,486 fans showed up for Game 1. As the weather grew colder the next day, the attendance dwindled to 1,062 for Game 2. It was on this day that a local newspaper correspondent snapped a photo showing a trio of Sugar Kings huddled around a fire they had built in a wastebasket in the dugout. By Game 3 the thermometer reading plummeted even further and not only was that evening’s game called off, but the decision was made by the minor-league commission to shift the balance of the series to Havana.

In Havana, nearly 3,000 soldiers were at the stadium during the game, many lining the field and others stationing themselves in the dugouts, their rifles and bayonets clearly evident. “Young people not more than 14 or 15 years old were in the dugout with us, waving their guns around like toys,” recalled Millers pitcher Ted Bowsfield. “Every once in a while, we could hear shots being fired outside the stadium, and we never knew what was going on.”

[Duluth Eskimo]

Nice find Taylor

[Tay1038]

Game-Used Bats from George “Showboat” Fisher, Buzz Arlett and Roy Patterson

Buzz Arlett. The man they called “Babe Ruth of the minor leagues”, spent most of his baseball years in his hometown of Oakland in the Pacific Coast League (13 Years). In the part of his career, Arlett was one of the leagues top pitchers, winning 29 games in 1920. He then became one of the circuit’s best hitters. Arlett spent one year in the majors, hitting .313 with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1931. Playing only 116 games with the Millers, Arlett had 132 runs batted in and led the American Association with 41 home runs. He played two more years with the Millers. Arlett ended his 19-year minor league career with an amazing .341 career batting average, 432 home runs and 2,726 hits.

Roy Patterson is best remembered for throwing the first pitch (and recording the first win) in American League History. The spitballing righthander was a 20-game winner for the Millers in 1908, 1910, 1911, and 1912. He returned to Minneapolis to help a thinned-out mound staff during World War I and pitched three more years. His 10-year record with the Millers was 135-73. Patterson also pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1901-07. He won 20 games for the Sox in 1901 and also delivered the first pitch for the American League when it became a major league. Patterson, a World Series winner in 1906 with the Chicago White Sox also started his professional baseball career in 1899 with crosstown rival St. Paul Saints.

George Aloys "Showboat" Fisher played four seasons in Minneapolis. He played in the 1930 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals and was the last surviving member of the 1924 Washington Senators, the only Washington, D.C.-based baseball team to win a World Series.

[ooo-ribay]

I don't know how you do it, Taylor!! Great stuff!!

[Tay1038]

1955 Minneapolis Millers American Association Championship 10K Ring!

Here we have an awesome piece of baseball memorabilia, an American Association Championship ring from the Minneapolis Millers 1955 season! The Millers defeated Denver and Omaha in the American Association playoffs to advance to the Junior World Series, in which they defeated the Rochester Red Wings of the International League, 4 games to 3.

This ring is the only one I have ever seen. Wonderful piece to add to my 1955 Minneapolis Millers Junior World Series Championship team display!

[Tay1038]

1955 Minneapolis Millers Baseball Schedules from Gluek Brewing Co., Mpls, Minn.

[Tay1038]

2010 Larry the Cable Guy History Channel “Only in America” St. Paul Saints film worn jersey!

I don’t have much to say about this one. I think it’s funny, cool, and my friends and family will get a kick out of it.

Larry filmed his show on June 30, 2010 at Midway Stadium while attending the game that night. The episode (S1:E11) first aired on the History Channel on April 19, 2011.

Watch History Channel Episode:

https://www.history.com/shows/only-i...eague-baseball

Funny home video of Larry giving a haircut to a fan that day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WAsrfqH5Mo

Enjoy folks!