Minor League Baseball Players

[Cusick]

Per a request on the major league thread. This is from the Wausau (WI) Daily Herald of June 22, 1968.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Here is a photo of John Shearer from his 1966 Carlise High School Yearbook.

[CONN CHRIS]

I love posed shots! I hope he decides on a great pitch to throw because there isn't too much help behind him.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Here is a photo of Paul Click from his 1964 Muir High School Yearbook.

[Penale52]

Henry Bittman pictured with the 1887 Syracuse Stars

[Penale52]

Harry Smith as the manager of the 1889 Danville Browns

[Penale52]

Andrew Tully with the 1889 Danville Browns

[Penale52]

Larry Welch with the 1889 Danville Browns

[Cusick]

Catcher Archie Skeen, who was on the 1964 Boston Red Sox spring roster, died a week ago on June 2. The attached obituary photo shows him with the Johnstown Red Sox. He also appeared on 1964 Topps rookie card #428.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/re...d=skeen-001arc

[Supermercado]

The swear filter troubling 1966 - 1970 Boston ML player Katsuhiro ****anishi (http://www.baseball-reference.com/re...d=****an001kat) from http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.com/lot-42386.aspx

[FatJack]

Sometimes I troll the necrology sites in the hopes of finding photos of minor leaguers that would otherwise not surface.

Clifford Copeland passed away on June 17. He played but one season of pro ball in the minor league chain of the Indians. A pitcher, he went 2-7 split between Fargo-Moorhead and Vidalia in 1956 following 4 years of service in the military. After the season, he decided baseball didn't offer much of a career guarantee and opted for college instead. He got a pharmaceutical degree and began working for the Liggett Rexall chain in Atlanta. While there, he noticed how much additional business the chain did when they offered 20% off coupons for Sunday shopping. In 1960, he opened his own drug store, undercutting his competition by 20% every day. Copeland Drugs expanded to 42 stores, mostly in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.

The baseball photo, here, isn't the greatest. But, hey, how many images of Clifford Copeland, minor league pitcher, have you seen? Also attached are a portrait (possibly high school) and an image of Mr. Copeland the pharmacist.

[Cusick]

Second baseman Francis "Fran" Haus died recently on June 17, 2017. He was on the St. Louis Cardinals' spring roster in 1949.

After his playing career ended, Fran became the President and CEO of F. L. Haus Company, a printing firm in Pittsburgh, PA.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/re...d=haus--001fra

[FatJack]

Carmine "Zeke" Melignano was born and raised in a part of Manhattan that was then known as "Italian Harlem". He loved baseball, but his school didn't field a baseball team, so he would play pick-up games whenever he could. At 17, Carmine had an opportunity to try out for a professional team in the western part of the state, the Wellsville Yankees. His father agreed, so long as the youngster returned to finish his schooling. Zeke was 5-8 for Wellsville, but proved especially effective out of the bullpen. The team won the PONY league title that year and Zeke won the additional name of "Fireman", for his exemplary work of extinguishing the rallies of opposing teams.

After Zeke finished high school, he returned to the Yankees system, in which he pitched through 1951, finishing up his pro career in 1952 with an affiliate of the Red Sox.

Zeke earned plenty of national press as a Yankee prospect. He spent 2 years with Beaumont of the Texas League. In 1949, they were the Exporters. In 1950, they were the Roughnecks and their manager was Rogers Hornsby. The latter group captured the title that year with Zeke claiming honors as the league's top relief pitcher. He pitched in 54 games, going 14-6 and was one of 7 players the Roughnecks sent to the Texas League All-Star game (the others were Clint Courtney, Keith Thomas, Gil McDougald, Rex Jones, Ernie Nevel and Bob Marquis).

1951 brought Zeke one of the biggest thrills of his career. He was assigned to the Kansas City Blues that year. Mid-season, Mickey Mantle was demoted to KC, so the two got a chance to play together for a time. If you see a 1951 KC team photo (and they're around because a young Mickey is included), you'll see Zeke in the back row.

After leaving the professional game, Zeke worked for Mobile Gas and coached Little League and Pony League for years. He retired from Mobile in 1992 and became an avid and accomplished golfer. Zeke passed away on Thursday, June 22, 2017. He was 91.


Zeke's obituary is accompanied by plenty of pictures, several of which are from his baseball playing days. All have been grayscaled. The portrait shot is from his time with Beaumont (1949-50). Then we've got two images of Zeke with the Binghamton Triplets (I remember that "TC" on the cap, even in the 60s and 70s...I think it was for "Tri-Cities"); those are from 1945-46. From 1946, Zeke with the Augusta Tigers. And the last is a 17 year old Carmine Melignano with the Wellsville Yankees. The only KC image included was the team photo from 1951. I gotta type up the names for that.

[FatJack]

(L to R) Top Row: Andy Carey, Zeke Melignano, Bob Wiesler, Rex Jones, Bill Ramsey, Bob Muncrief, Joe Page, Bob Ross
Second Row: Bob Thomson, Dick Carr, Cliff Melton, Kite Thomas, Bob Cerv, Mickey Mantle, Gene Markland, Hank Wyse
Front Row: Ernie Nevel, Don Bollweg, Clint Courtney, George Selkirk (MGR), John Schulte (coach), Kal Segrist, Bob Marquis, Roy Partee

[FatJack]

Louie Lyle, who played one season in the Phillies system in 1945, passed away on Saturday, June 24, 2017. He was 91. Louie loved the game, but played most of his baseball in the textile leagues. He was employed at the Greenwood Mills Mathews plant and the attached image shows him with the Mathews Wildcats, a team for whom he played shortstop and, ultimately, managed. He also served in the Navy during WWII and played a little ball then, as well.

[FatJack]

Outfielder Tex Warfield had an 8 year career in the minor leagues in the 40s and 50s, playing in the systems of the Dodgers, Athletics and Tigers. He also played winter ball in Cuba for many years. He was said to be an excellent fielder with both power and speed, but he never rose higher than Class B, in spite of some impressive home run totals between 1949 and 1951. Playing in the Panama Canal Zone one year, he led the circuit in every category except RBIs. He was friends with Mickey Mantle and Duke Maas and got an unintentional nickname of "Bat Boy", early in his career, from Frank Sinatra who thought he looked too young to be a player. Tex passed away on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at the age of 88.

The attached photos accompanied his obituary. The larger one shows Tex in the uniform of the Durham Bulls, for whom he played his final two seasons in 1952 and 1953. The smaller one looks to be from one of his seasons in the system of the Philadelphia A's. Both have been greyscaled by me, with no other cleanup work.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

[1965 Peninsula Grays Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliation. Front row 1st Person Jim Morio.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Does anyone have photo's of these 1973 Trois-Riveres Aigles? in 1973 7x9 photo's were put out by the Aigles. Looking for these players from that set. 1. Juaquin Andujar 2. Marc Bombard 3. Eric Boyd 4. Kent Burdick 5. Art Cover 6. Tony Franklin 7. Ken Hansen 8. Mike Heintz 9. Greg Sinatro 10. Jim Snyder 11. Tom Spencer 12. Rusty Ward. THANKS to any response

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Here are some of the 1973 Trois-Riveres Aigles. Part 1

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

here is part 2 of 1973 Aigles