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DEADBALL-ERA MILLERS

1902–1920

In 1902, the American Association formed in part as a response to the introduction of the American League in 1901. Minneapolis was one of eight clubs that belonged to the American Association, and the Millers were joined by their neighboring St. Paul Saints, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Kansas City Blues, the Columbus (Ohio) Senators (later, Red Birds), the Indianapolis Indians, the Louisville Colonels, and the Toledo Mud Hens. These eight teams remained a cohesive circuit for five decades before the reach of major league organizations began to infiltrate Association nests.

The Millers held fast as members of the league, remaining a steady contestant after the departure of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1952 and enjoying some of their best seasons in the twilight of the league. But the early years set things in motion for fans of the Mill City Nine. After a slow start as a league contestant, Minneapolis enjoyed its first solid season during the 1904 campaign under the leadership of William H. Watkins. The following year, the Millers had one of their finest runs of the next two decades, posting a record of 88-62 and finishing in third place. But in 1910, the doors blew off thanks to a magical combination of superb pitching and powerful hitting. It was during that year, the first season under the managerial purview of “Pongo Joe” Cantillon, that the Millers achieved a club-record 107 wins, losing 61, while running away with the American Association pennant. It was their first of nine first-place finishes during their six-decade stint in the circuit.

During what was typically known as the “deadball era,” the Millers came away with four league championships through 1920, narrowly missing out against the Milwaukee Brewers in 1913 when they recorded 97 wins against 70 losses. The 1915 race, perhaps the most intriguing in American Association history, came down to the two local rivals, the Millers and the Saints, but Minneapolis captured the crown that year by a mere game and a half. From 1902 to 1920, the Millers posted a win-loss record of 1,516-1,379 for a winning percentage of .524 (a percentage that would match their 59-season record).

LEE QUILLIN (1902, 1908–1909). Born in North Branch, Minnesota, on May 5, 1882, Leon Abner Quillin was one of the few Minneapolis players with local ties. He originally came to the Millers as a mere lad of 20, batting .217 in 97 games for the 1902 Millers. The Chicago White Sox gave him a look in 1907 when he squeezed out 29 hits in 151 at-bats (.192). In 1908, the versatile Quillin played 70 games as a third baseman and 28 in the outfield, batting .204 with 20 stolen bases. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

WALT WILMOT (1902–1903). At the age of 38, Wisconsinite Walt Wilmot took the reins of the Minneapolis Millers during their first season in the American Association. Playing right field in addition to his managerial duties in 1902, Wilmot batted .262 with a club-leading 33 doubles while appearing in 135 of the club’s 140 games. Wilmot’s final resting place is at the Plover Cemetery in central Wisconsin, located about three and a half hours east-southeast of Minneapolis. (Reach’s Official American Association Base Ball Guide for 1903.)

THE 1902 MINNEAPOLIS MILLERS. Pictured from left to right are (first row) Denny Sullivan (center fielder), Angus Grant (second baseman), and Lee Quillin (shortstop); (second row) Walter Mullin (pitcher), Mike Lynch (third baseman), Walt Wilmot (manager/left fielder), Bill Byers (catcher), and George Yeager (catcher); (third row) Dan Lally (left fielder), Otto Newlin (right-handed pitcher), Perry Werden (first baseman), Dave Martin (right-handed pitcher), Cy Torrence (pitcher), and Joseph “Lefty” Sporer (left-handed pitcher). The Millers finished in seventh place with a record of 54-86 under Wilmot in 1902 as the first American Association season got underway. (Reach’s Official American Association Base Ball Guide for 1903.)

BILL FOX (1904–1906). Fox poses for the camera at Nicollet Park in 1904 in this exceptional vintage photograph. A native of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, the second baseman came to the Millers in his 12th professional season. After tasting big-league play during two abbreviated seasons, Fox became a charter member of the Indianapolis Indians during their first American Association season in 1902. His years in Minneapolis were characterized by strong fielding but weak hitting. His most noteworthy season came in 1904, when he batted .222 with 19 doubles in 149 games. William Henry Fox died at 74 in 1946 and is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in south Minneapolis. (Author’s collection.)

FORREST “FROSTY” THOMAS (1903–1907). As a 22-year-old, Missouri native Thomas lost 20 games in 1903, winning just eight. But the right-hander turned it around the very next year, picking up 21 victories against 15 losses as the Millers surged from a seventh-place finish into the fourth slot, thanks to the work of Thomas and fellow hurlers Gene Ford, Archie “Lumbago” Stimmel, and Cy Morgan. Thomas and Stimmel both struck out 118 men that year. The minor league career of Frosty Thomas was essentially a draw, with 147 wins and 146 losses. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

MATCH-UPS: TOLEDO VS. MINNEAPOLIS. The May 6, 1904, edition of the Minneapolis Tribune included this detailed representation of Nicollet Park, where the Millers were scheduled to open the season at home in a series against the Toledo Mud Hens. According to the graphic, the following match-ups were in place. Paired off in right field were Billy Maloney, for Minneapolis, and Otto Deininger, for Toledo; in center field, Denny Sullivan and Charlie “Bunt” Frisbe [sic; Frisbee]; in right, Art “Cy” Coulter and Bill O’Hara. At first base, Dan “Bud” Lally was paired with Willard Hazleton; at second, Bill Fox with John Burns; at shortstop, Andy Oyler with Herman Long; and at third base, Frank McNichol with Art Brouthers. The scheduled catchers were Art “Buck” Weaver and Sam Brown. The starting pitchers for the afternoon’s contest were Archie “Lumbago” Stimmel and Bill Crystall [sic; Cristall]. The only change from the depiction was the placement of catcher Charles Reading in place of Brown in the actual lineup that day. Toledo won the affair 4-2. (Author’s collection.)

DAVY “KANGAROO” JONES (1905). Active in four major league seasons (nearly 400 games) before joining Minneapolis in 1905, Jones, a Wisconsin native, had his best season with the Chicago Cubs prior to becoming a Miller as an outfielder. Under manager William Watkins, Jones worked wonders with the bat, hitting at a .346 clip with 18 doubles and 210 total bases for the third-place Millers. His club-leading 33 stolen bases underscored his value to the team; he led the league with 126 runs. It was good enough for him to head back to the major leagues the next season, this time to Detroit. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

ED “BATTLESHIP” GREMMINGER (1904–1907). Although he appears somewhat distracted in this rare 1905 photograph, Gremminger was anything but since his first season as a Miller in 1904, when he played in 52 games and batted .278. The stocky Canton, Ohio, native had his best year in a Millers uniform at the age of 32 in 1906, when he appeared in 144 games, most of them at third base, hitting .302 with 216 total bases. It was a career year for the former National Leaguer. The Millers finished in third place with a record of 79-66 under Mike Kelley. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

THE 1905 MINNEAPOLIS MILLERS. After winding up in seventh place its first two seasons, and landing fourth in 1904, Minneapolis was on the rise. With William H. Watkins in his second year at the helm, the Millers finished third in the race, 11 games behind the Columbus Senators. The identification of this photograph, originally published in the Minneapolis Tribune, proved particularly challenging, as it was found that the players were misidentified. From left to right are (first row) Win Kellum (left-handed pitcher), Ed Siever (left-handed pitcher), Gene Ford (righthanded pitcher), Jesse Stovall (right-handed pitcher), Frosty Thomas (right-handed pitcher) and Peaches Graham (outfielder/right-handed pitcher/first baseman/shortstop); (second row) Andy Oyler (shortstop), Boss Schmidt (catcher), Billy Fox (second baseman), William Watkins (manager), Denny Sullivan (outfielder), and Davy Jones (outfielder); (third row) Bill Friel (third baseman/ outfielder), Ed Gremminger (third baseman), Jerry Freeman (first baseman), Doc Marshall (catcher), Cy Coulter (outfielder), and Mike Kahoe (catcher). (Author’s collection.)

WARREN “DOC” GILL (1909–1912). First baseman Gill spent six minor league seasons in Classes B and C before making the leap to the Class A Millers in 1909 at the age of 30 (the league would alter its classification system in 1912, when the American Association became a Double-A league). While Gill never hit above .263 in his four years under Joe Cantillon, he was a base-stealer extraordinaire, swiping 41 sacks his first year to lead the club. He led the league in steals in 1911 with 55 snatches to his credit, helping the Millers “steal” their second straight league championship. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

THE NEXT VICTIM. Subtitled “Columbus Making Another Discovery,” this symbol-laden comic depicts the Columbus (Ohio) Senators about to receive their comeuppance from Minneapolis. The artwork expresses a darkly humorous viewpoint of the league race as it entered the final weeks of the 1905 season with Columbus on the verge of taking its first of three straight pennants. (Minneapolis Tribune, August 29, 1905.)

BILL “TIP” O’NEILL (1907–1910). After performing for the 1906 World Series champion Chicago White Sox under Fielder Jones, in 1907, O’Neill appeared with Minneapolis in 146 of 154 contests, batting .296 with 24 doubles and stealing 39 bases, the league’s third-best mark. He suffered from typhoid fever during the off-season of 1909–1910, delaying his appearance with the Millers during his final season in professional ball in 1910, when his contract was picked up by the Louisville Colonels for a portion of the season. In 1920, he died at the age of 40, a victim of tuberculosis. (Author’s collection.)

“POOR OLD ST. PAUL.” The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul were home to one of the most intense and long-lived rivalries in professional sport: the Minneapolis Millers and the St. Paul Saints. As evidenced by this drawing from the pen of artist Naughton, the Millers were getting the upper hand against their eastern neighbor at that point in the 1905 season. (Minneapolis Tribune, August 19, 1905.)

FRED OLMSTEAD (1909, 1912–1913). This photograph of Olmstead was originally featured, along with images of other Millers, as a sort of promotional item in the Minneapolis Tribune. In his first season with Minneapolis in 1909, the 27-year-old right-hander helped push the Millers to a second-place finish with his club-best 24 wins against only 12 losses, leading the league with a .667 winning percentage under Jimmy Collins, the team’s regular third baseman. The Millers were in the race right up until the season’s final week, when the Louisville Colonels pulled away and became the American Association champions. (Author’s collection.)

IRVING “YOUNG CY” YOUNG (1909, 1912–1913). The stocky left-hander lit up the local scene for Minneapolis with 23 wins in 1909, but Fred Olmstead’s 24 victories led the club that year. That combination brought the Millers to within a week of the pennant, but Louisville captured the flag. The next year, Young was with the Chicago White Sox under Hall of Famer Hugh Duffy, scratching out a 4-8 record. When he returned to Minneapolis, the Maine native appeared in a career-high 51 games, winning 16 against 14 losses. The Millers sent Young to Milwaukee in 1913, where he finished his minor league career. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

ROY PATTERSON (1908–1914, 1917–1919). Known for his effective spitball, the “St. Croix Boy Wonder” posted 22 wins against 12 losses, combining with Tom Hughes for a powerful one-two punch in the Millers’ rotation to set the course for their first championship season in 1910. After getting his start in professional ball as a member of the St. Paul Apostles/Saints of the Western League in 1899, he spent 10 seasons in a Minneapolis uniform beginning in 1908, amassing 218 decisions with a record of 134-84 (.615). After his first seven seasons with Minneapolis, Patterson pitched and managed in the Class C Northern League before returning to the Millers for abbreviated stints. He is known for throwing the inaugural pitch at the start of the American League in 1901 as a member of the Chicago White Sox. The final resting place of this former great lies within the picturesque grounds of the St. Croix Cemetery near the town of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, just an hour’s drive northeast of Minneapolis. (Author’s collection.)

RED DOWNS (1909). While his fielding average of .924 was worst among league second basemen, Downs made up for his mistakes by hitting 44 doubles and 11 triples, with a .271 batting average to boot, just after playing for the Detroit Tigers. He was later a star of the Pacific Coast League and helped start the Professional Ballplayers of America organization to help baseball’s sick and needy former players, eventually acting as its director. The Great Depression took its toll on Downs, and he fell into criminal activity, robbing a jewelry store in Los Angeles in 1932 and serving three and a half years prison time. He died of cirrhosis of the liver in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at the age of 56 in 1939. (Author’s collection.)

JIMMY COLLINS (1909). Acting as player-manager for Mike Cantillon’s Millers, future Hall of Famer Jimmy Collins fielded what was arguably the Millers’ most competitive club to date. Appearing in 153 of their 167 games in 1909, Collins covered the hot corner, batted .273 with 21 doubles, and managed the team to a third-place finish with a record of 88-79, just a few games behind the Louisville Colonels. Collins, 39, whose reputation as a fielder for the Boston Americans preceded him, finished the season with a rather subpar .919 fielding average based on 45 errors in 152 games. The Buffalo, New York, native was “a magician with the glove and a terror with the bat,” not to mention a “feared clutch hitter for the Boston clubs,” according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website. (Author’s collection.)

GAVVY “CACTUS” CRAVATH (1909–1911, 1922). The son of a Southern California prune farmer, Cravath came east after banging up the Pacific Coast League and strutted his stuff for three years in a Millers uniform. His quintessential claim to fame was establishing the new American Association home run record in 1911, swatting 29 long balls and demolishing the old record (set by Buck Freeman of the Millers with 18 in 1907), while batting .363 with 53 doubles. He became a member of the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1912, remaining there through the 1920 season. When he returned to the Millers after over a decade, he had lost a step or two but still thrilled crowds with his bat. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

JOE RAPP (1909). Like the Olmstead photograph, this early rotogravure image was originally featured as a promotional item in the Minneapolis Tribune, perhaps for clipping by scrapbook dedicatees. These images appeared in the Sunday paper in order to help acquaint fans with the players. While Rapp appeared in only 28 games in Miller garb, he had the good fortune of being one of the featured players in 1909. However, he also had the misfortune of being the backup backstop to John “Bruno” Block, an iron man behind the plate who appeared in all but a handful of games (146), leaving Rapp little playing time. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

OLLIE PICKERING (1909–1910). After completing eight years of service in the major leagues with a variety of teams, Pickering came to Minneapolis in 1909 at the age of 40, appearing in 70 games and batting a modest .213, a mark below his major league career mark of .271. The right fielder was traded to Louisville in July 1910 for former Miller Bill “Tip” O’Neill. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

DAVE “FILIPINO” ALTIZER (1910–1918). After a cup of coffee with the Toledo Mud Hens in 1903, “Daredevil Dave” Altizer perfected his game at the major league level with the Washington Senators. He returned to the Association with Minneapolis in 1910, batting an even .300 with a league-leading 65 stolen bases. During his nine-year tenure with the Millers, Altizer batted .305 with 299 stolen sacks. The Illinois native’s participation in the Spanish-American War and military record overseas must have helped mold him into the superb athlete he became on the baseball field. (Author’s collection.)

NICOLLET PARK, 1912. Modes of transportation around the city of Minneapolis contrasted sharply during the first season after a Nicollet Park renovation. The distinctive ticket office, adorned with its clay-tile roof, elegant dormers, and gracious Tudor styling, was a recognizable fixture at Nicollet through the 1955 season. In later years, it sported colorful signage to draw patrons toward the park. (Author’s collection.)

HOBE FERRIS (1910–1912). Known locally as “the Billiken,” Hobe (pronounced “HO-bee”) Ferris was a central figure in the Millers’ three-year championship run (1910–1912). Born Albert Samuel Ferris in Great Britain in 1874, he was a longtime Boston Red Sox second baseman prior to his arrival in Minneapolis. In his first year as a Miller, Ferris played third base in 125 games, having converted to that position with the St. Louis Browns two years before. In 1911, Ferris had his best season as a professional ballplayer, batting .303 with 14 home runs and 34 doubles (fourth-ranked on the club) and tying with outfielder Claude Rossman with 273 total bases (fourth-ranked on the club). (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

JIMMY WILLIAMS (1910–1915). Williams provided steady work at the keystone sack during his lengthy stay with Minneapolis. An 11-year career in the major leagues was behind him when he became a fixture in the Miller infield. During his first season under Joe Cantillon, Williams, 33, appeared in 148 games at second base, batting .315 with 37 doubles as Minneapolis captured its first American Association championship. The next year, he took his swinging supremacy a step further by hitting 43 doubles, six triples, and seven home runs while producing a .332 batting average over the course of 162 games. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

JOE CANTILLON (1910–1923). Born in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1861, Cantillon played his first season of professional ball at the age of 24. In 1890, he went west to play in the California League and remained a fixture there for the next few years; it was there that his moniker “Pongo” came about. His first American Association season came with Milwaukee in 1903, when he managed the Brewers to a 77-60 third-place finish. Cantillon was hired by his brother Mike to manage the Minneapolis Millers, a post he held from 1910 until the end of the 1923 season, amassing 1,108 wins against 935 losses. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

PILGRIM PONGO AND THE NIGHT TERRORS. Enough to spook any reader, this intricate caricature of the various league members confronting Millers manager “Pongo Joe” Cantillon during the 1911 league race seems more suited to a Halloween edition of the newspaper, but the season was in full swing when it appeared in the Minneapolis Journal on August 2, 1911. The grammatically skewed caption accompanying this drawing reads, “Pilgrim Pongo and his cohorts in the invasion in which is depicted the terrors confronting which starts westward tonight.” (Author’s collection.)

WIB SMITH (1910–1914). Wilbur Floyd Smith began his professional career as a catcher at the age of 19 in 1906, coming to Minneapolis in 1910. Valued primarily for his skills as a backup catcher, Smith appeared in a combined 357 games for the Millers. During the club’s 1912 pennant drive, Smith appeared in 80 contests, batting a career-high .288. As the club’s primary catcher in 1914, he swatted 14 doubles in 109 games. Smith, a Michigan native, is buried at the famous Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

OTIS “GRUMP” CLYMER (1909–1915). Only after he turned 38 did the Pennsylvania speed merchant finally begin to slow down, and he was consequently let go early in the 1915 season. But had it not been for his ability to get on base with supreme consistency out of the leadoff position, the Minneapolis championship machine would have been missing a vital valve. From 1910 to 1912, a time frame corresponding with the club’s three consecutive championships, Clymer stole 150 bases. Clymer was killed when he drove his automobile off the Seventh Street viaduct in St. Paul, Minnesota, the night of February 27, 1926, one month after his 50th birthday. (Author’s collection.)

THE 1910 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION CHAMPION MINNEAPOLIS MILLERS. The children in this photograph are unidentified; the men are, from left to right, (first row) Dave Altizer (shortstop), Gavvy Cravath (outfielder), Tip O’Neill (outfielder), and Doc Gill (first baseman); (second row) Lou Fiene (right-handed pitcher), Barry McCormick (second baseman), Wib Smith (catcher), Jimmy Williams (second baseman), “Pongo Joe” Cantillon (manager), Nick Altrock (left-handed pitcher), Hobe Ferris (third baseman), Frank “Yip” Owens (catcher), and Claude Rossman (outfielder); (third row) Leo Sage (right-handed pitcher), Roy Patterson (right-handed pitcher), Hub Dawson (catcher), Mike Cantillon (owner), Tom Hughes (right-handed pitcher), Otis Clymer (outfielder), and Bill Lelivelt (right-handed pitcher). The Millers won their first league championship in 1910, posting an all-time club record of 107-61, the most wins by a league contestant to date. (Reach’s Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1911.)

LEE TANNEHILL (1913–1914). The younger brother of former National League pitching ace and former Minneapolis pitcher Jesse Tannehill, Lee Tannehill came to Minneapolis to play third base after 10 straight seasons with the Chicago White Sox. After splitting the 1913 season between the Millers and the Kansas City Blues, the 33-year-old finished the 1914 campaign covering the hot corner in all 170 games the Millers played, sharing the league lead for games played with teammate Dave Altizer, who played all 170 games at shortstop. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

HENRI RONDEAU (1913–1924). The lefty-batting, righty-throwing pride of Danielson, Connecticut, carries the all-time record for most seasons played as a Miller. Beginning at the age of 25, just after a brief major league debut, Rondeau became a Miller outfielder. By the time his tenure at Minneapolis was through, Rondeau had an impressive record: a .295 batting average, 259 doubles, 108 stolen bases, and even one life saved. On July 4, 1922, near his home in Minneapolis, he rescued a young girl whose clothing was ablaze from a fireworks accident. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

IRA HOGUE (1914–1915). Kentucky native Hogue’s one full season with the Millers came in 1914, his first year at the Double-A level. He appeared in 48 games with Minneapolis, winning 12 and losing 17. This photograph was likely taken at the farm of manager Joe Cantillon, near Hickman, Kentucky, where preliminary spring-training exercises were conducted at the time. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

BILLY SULLIVAN SR. (1915). A 16-year major league career catching, including 12 straight seasons with the Chicago White Sox, was not enough to discourage Billy Sullivan Sr. from playing one more professional season. The Wisconsin native coupled with the Minneapolis Millers for the honor of his final season in professional ball. The five-foot, nine-inch, 155-pound backstop was an influential contributor to the Millers’ pennant drive as Minneapolis captured its fourth flag in six years. Batting a relatively low .215, the 40-year-old maintained plenty of his former iron man status, catching in 104 games. He was behind the plate during Harry Harper’s no-hitter in May 1915. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

EARL “CHINK” YINGLING (1915–1916, 1921–1923). Yingling’s two exceptional seasons with the Toledo Mud Hens (1910–1911), during which he won 40 games, put the stamp of success on his early career path. With Minneapolis, the southpaw contributed to the Millers’ championship season. With a record of 19-17, the native of Chillicothe, Ohio, led the league with a 2.17 ERA in nearly 300 innings of work. A strong hitter as far as pitchers go, Yingling was a valuable asset that year, but his stock was improving. In 1916, he won 24 games, losing 13 as the Millers finished third under Joe Cantillon. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

JACK BENTLEY (1915–1916).Bentley, a Maryland-born lefty, made his Miller debut at age 20, pitching in 36 games and compiling a 7-4 record his first year, 8-6 the next. He then had several successful seasons with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League—after his conversion to first base. In 1921, he batted an astounding .421 in 141 games for the Orioles. Bentley returned to the major leagues as a pitcher in 1923 for the New York Giants, appearing in 52 games, posting a record of 13-8, and batting .427! (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

HARRY HARPER (1915) NO-HITS SAINTS. A young—and very wild—right-handed pitcher, Harry Clayton Harper, was responsible for throwing the only no-hitter to take place between the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints in their six-decade rivalry. This box score provides a summary of events from the May 19, 1915, game, in which the Millers defeated their downriver neighbor 4-0. An exceptional leaping catch by shortstop Morley Jennings in the second frame robbed Saints first baseman Lee Dressen of a hit. At the age of 20, Harper, from Hackensack, New Jersey, was in his first and final season in the minors. (Author’s collection.)

JOE ENGEL (1915). Engel, a 22-year-old southpaw from Chattanooga, Tennessee, came to Minneapolis after three seasons with the Washington Senators. In his lone season with the Millers, he was 5-3 in 15 games. Engel was lucky to have a winning record, posting a 6.47 ERA. After a subpar season in 1914, the Millers won their fourth American Association championship, nosing out their archrival St. Paul Saints by just a game and a half in one of the league’s most heated finishes. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

MUTT WILLIAMS (1915–1919). Shown here in a 1917 photograph, the 22-year-old opened a few eyes around the league with his amazing 29-win season in 1915 for Joe Cantillon’s league champions. Born David (possibly Davis) Carter Williams on July 31, 1892, the six-foot, three-inch, 195-pound Arkansan gave the Millers the ticket they needed to make a late push against the St. Paul Saints that year. He earned his trophy record of 29-14 the hard way, appearing in 64 games and putting in a near-record 441 innings. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

MORLEY JENNINGS (1915–1922). Born January 23, 1890, in Holland, Michigan, Jennings never played below Class A during his nine-year baseball career (he spent eight years with Minneapolis). With exactly 3,200 at-bats in 874 games in a Millers uniform, the shortstop averaged .278 at the plate, with 888 hits. His most productive season came at the age of 26 in 1916, with 203 total bases and a .286 batting average. He hit .307 in his first year as a Miller, appearing in 127 games with 24 doubles. Jennings was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1973. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

GROVER LAND (1916). The Kentucky-born catcher began his professional career in 1904 at the age of 19 before starting an 11-year career (1905–1917) in the American Association. Appearing in 774 Association games, Land hit .235, with just one home run. Hitting 83 doubles, 14 triples, and 66 stolen bases, the six-foot, 190-pound catcher was a bit of a speedster. Splitting the 1916 season between the St. Paul Saints and the Millers, Land appeared in 96 games, batting .259, his career best matching his average from 1906. In seven years of major league duty, Land batted .243. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

WALLY SMITH (1915–1916, 1918, 1920–1921). During his initial season as a Miller, 27-year-old Philadelphia native Smith covered third base in all 154 games for the league champions, batting .315 and leading the club with 31 doubles under Joe Cantillon. In 1920, he converted to first base and batted .287 with 27 doubles. Smith was just 42 when he died of tuberculosis in Florence, Arizona. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

CARL “HUCK” SAWYER (1917–1920). Sawyer, a native of Seattle, came to Minneapolis in 1917 at the age of 26, playing the entire season at second base and batting .244 with 27 doubles. He would entertain patrons before games with his comedic antics and agility as an acrobat. In his final season with the Millers, Sawyer approached the club’s single-season record for doubles with 50, three short of Gavvy Cravath’s 1911 mark; he is one of only six players to hit 50 or more doubles in a season. Sawyer batted .282 and covered second base that year. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

SANDY BURK (1916–1917, 1919). After a very brief season with the Federal League’s Pittsburgh Rebels in 1915, the 29-year-old pitcher from Columbus, Ohio, posted a record of 21-16 for the third-place Millers, with a club-high 333 innings of work (ranked second in the league). His mound mate Earl Yingling led the league with 24 wins and was the next man in line with 323 innings toiled. Burk served his country during World War I in 1918 before returning to the Millers for a short stint in 1919. It was at that time that the former soldier became known locally as “Sergeant Burk.” (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

THE 1917 MINNEAPOLIS MILLERS. After winning three straight championships from 1910 to 1912, the Millers continued to battle but could not ascend the league ladder as they had at the start of the decade. Minneapolis landed in sixth place with a record of 68-86, still under the tutelage of “Pongo Joe” Cantillon. Apparently, flashing those jailbird socks did little to distract the opposition that year. Pictured from left to right are (first row) Earl Yingling (left-handed pitcher), Carl Sawyer (second baseman), Sam Crane (third baseman/shortstop), and Henri Rondeau (left fielder); (second row) Red Massey (center fielder), Jack Knight (first baseman/third baseman), Joe Cantillon (manager), Mutt Williams (right-handed pitcher), Clarence Tiffany (pitcher), and Dave Altizer (third baseman/right fielder); (third row) Charlie Boardman (right-handed pitcher), Lou Bachant (catcher), Jeff Thieman (pitcher), Les Stevenson (pitcher), Yip Owens (catcher), and Claude Thomas (left-handed pitcher). (Author’s collection.)

CLAUDE “LEFTY” THOMAS (1917–1918). Shown here completing his warm-up tosses, Thomas demonstrates the fine form that stuffed 20 wins into his basket during the 1917 season. Thomas, who hailed from the “Show-Me State,” Missouri, showed a vigorous will to compete after a disappointing stint in 1916 with the Washington Senators, during which he won just one game. Instead of backing down from that experience, Thomas put the culmination of eight professional seasons to his advantage, finishing the season with a 20-24 record for the sixth-place Millers. He showed meritorious resiliency by leading the league in appearances with 62, compiling 374 innings of work. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

CHARLIE ROBERTSON (1918–1921). A 22-year-old in 1918, Charles Culbertson Robertson left the Millers to serve in the US Army Air Service. When baseball resumed its full slate of games the following year, the Texas lad took up again with the Millers, putting up 11 wins and losing 13. Robertson posted winning records for Minneapolis in each of the next two seasons, showing amazing endurance by pitching 322 innings on his way to an 18-16 record in 1920. During the next year, he amassed exactly 300 innings of work, striking out 175 (second-ranked in the league) on his way to a 17-15 record. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

DOLLY GRAY (1918). The former star pitcher in the Pacific Coast League, Gray converted to catcher and caught on with the Millers during the war-shortened 1918 season, batting .262 in 27 games. A lefthander, William Denton Gray was born in Houghton, Michigan, and was 39 years of age in 1918. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

EMILIO “PAL” PALMERO (1918–1919). Palmero, a native of Cuba, found a home in the American Association at an early age, first pitching for the Louisville Colonels in 1916 and compiling a record of 11-6 at the age of 21. The southpaw came to Minneapolis in the war-shortened season of 1918, going 3-1 in nine games. He split the 1919 season between Louisville and Minneapolis, posting a combined record of 4-11 in 25 games with a 3.39 ERA. He later became one of the better pitchers in the Association, helping pitch the Toledo Mud Hens to their first and only championship with a 14-5 record in 1927. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

IKE DAVIS (1919–1920). Ike Davis, a five-foot-seven, 140-pound third baseman from Pueblo, Colorado, became a Miller in 1919, batting .258 in 107 games. The next season, the 25-year-old upped his game, posting a .290 average with 34 doubles in 163 games while improving significantly in the field. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

FRANK SHELLENBACK (1919–1920). A big Joplin, Missouri, native, Shellenback had talent from the get-go, starting his professional career as a pitcher in 1917 at the age of 18 with two Double-A teams: the Providence (Rhode Island) Grays and the Milwaukee Brewers. After making just three appearances for Minneapolis in the abbreviated 1918 season, Shellenback pitched in 20 games in 1919, winning seven and losing three with a 3.22 ERA for the fifth-place Millers under Joe Cantillon. Because he threw the spitball, Shellenback was banned from the major leagues in 1920, but he put up an incredible 315-192 record in his 21 years in the minors. He could not resist the call of the upper Mississippi when he returned to the Millers as their manager for a portion of the 1948 season at the age of 49. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

MOLLY CRAFT (1919–1920). Born Maurice Montague Craft in 1895 in Portsmouth, Virginia, Craft first became a professional ballplayer at age 19 in 1915. As a member of the fifth-place Millers in 1919, Craft pitched 18 games, winning six and losing seven. In 1920, he played for both the Millers and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League, earning a 6-7 record for Minneapolis in 22 games and then going 8-0 for the Maple Leafs later that season. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

JACK LELIVELT (1919). Several years after his brother Bill last pitched for the Millers in 1912, the Chicago-born outfielder came to Minneapolis in 1919 at the age of 33 in his 15th professional season. After appearing in three seasons with the Kansas City Blues and one with Louisville Colonels, Jack proved an expert with the bat, hitting .346 with Kansas City in 1915 and .325 during the war-shortened season of 1918. In what was essentially his final season at the Double-A level, he batted .287 and swatted 34 doubles with Minneapolis, appearing in 153 games with exactly 600 at-bats. His professional résumé was impressive: in 18 minor league seasons, he batted .332 with 531 doubles and a combined sum of over 3,700 total bases. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

SHOWBOAT FISHER (1919–1920, 1924–1926). Born George Aloys Fisher in Wesley, Iowa, in 1899, the lefty-batting, righty-throwing outfielder was hitting the cover off the ball in the Class D South Dakota League before getting his first look in Minneapolis, a trend he continued in the American Association. After batting .309 in 112 games in 1924, he boosted his average to .350 with 19 home runs and 23 doubles in 1925 for Mike Kelley’s fourth-place Millers. Fisher died in 1994 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

REB RUSSELL (1919–1922). The former star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox converted to outfielder when he joined the Millers in 1919, later establishing himself as a home run hitter (having given up very few while pitching for the Sox). After hitting a combined 15 home runs his first two seasons in Minneapolis, his inner slugger emerged, belting 33 circuit clouts in 1921 and leading the club with 132 RBI. The Mississippi native’s American Association numbers were exceptional, with a .332 batting average, 166 long balls, 219 doubles, and 85 triples (1919–1923, 1925–1929). (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

TED JOURDAN (1919, 1922–1925). The five-season Miller first baseman was off with a bang after hitting .302 with 30 doubles in 1919, allowing him to return to the Chicago White Sox (with whom he spent a combined four seasons). Standing six feet tall and weighing 175 pounds, the native of New Orleans seemed built to play first base, a position at which he improved over time as a Miller. In 1925, he fielded .992, an excellent mark and his best in Minneapolis. A strong hitter throughout his tenure in the Mill City, Jourdan’s most productive season came in 1922, when he hit .312 with 302 total bases. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

BILL “BIG BILL” JAMES (1920–1921). James came by his nickname honestly: at six feet, four inches tall and 195 pounds, he was built for success as a pitcher, and he used his natural gifts to the utmost, achieving 21 wins during his opening season as a Miller. The 33-year-old Detroit native logged nearly 300 innings in 1920, sharing the club lead in appearances (45) with Charlie Robertson. His club-leading 149 strikeouts and 3.22 ERA provide some insight into his abilities. As a switch-hitter, James enjoyed his best season at the plate that year as well, hitting .286 with three home runs. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

GROVER “SLIM” LOWDERMILK (1920–1921). Nine-year major league veteran Lowdermilk joined the Millers at the age of 35 after successful seasons with the American Association’s Louisville Colonels (1912–1914) and piling up 25 wins with the Columbus Senators in 1917 before heading for St. Louis to pitch for the St. Louis Browns. In his first season with Minneapolis, the six-foot-four Hoosier native won 14 games and lost 12, with an ERA of 2.99, for Joe Cantillon’s crew, following it up with an 11-9 record the following year. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

LEFTY GEORGE (1920–1921). The Minneapolis Millers represented a mere stepping-stone for Thomas Edward George, who began his 35-year baseball career in 1909 at the age of 22. George was still playing ball at the age of 57 with the Class B York (Pennsylvania) White Roses, with whom he spent many seasons. Joining the Millers in 1920 after spending part of the year with the Association’s Columbus Senators, the string-bean southpaw posted a combined record of 12-19. In 1921, he assumed a full-time role with the Millers, appearing in 42 games with a 10-8 record as Minneapolis finished in second place, four and a half games behind Joe McCarthy’s Louisville Colonels. (Author’s collection.)

TIP OF THE SPEAR. From left to right in this photograph are Millers president George Belden, former ace Minneapolis pitcher Roy Patterson—who managed the 1916 St. Joseph (Missouri) Drummers of the Western League—and Millers manager Joe Cantillon. The photograph is dated 1921, but it was likely taken earlier. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

DICK “RIP” WADE (1920–1922). The lefty-batting, righty-throwing native of Duluth, Minnesota, had three strong seasons in succession as a key cog in the Miller machine. As an outfielder, he showed considerable improvement in each of those seasons. His performance in 1921 stands supreme in his lengthy professional career. Amassing 339 total bases, the 23-year-old ranked third on the club, outflanked only by slugger extraordinaire Reb Russell’s 372 and Bob Fisher’s 352. Wade was second in slugging with a .569 mark with 37 doubles and 31 home runs. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

WALT SMALLWOOD (1921–1922). After two scant seasons with the New York Yankees, the six-foot-two righty won 12 and lost eight for the second-place Millers in 36 games in 1921, posting the club’s best winning percentage (.600) at the age of 28. Among his mound mates were Charlie Robertson, Grover Lowdermilk, and Lefty George. Smallwood ran his record to 189-194, pitching well over 3,000 innings in 16 seasons of minor league ball, and wrapped up his career managing in the Western League and New York–Pennsylvania League. (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)

GEORGE SHESTAK (1921). Posing for the camera during spring training, Shestak appears ready to receive any and all curve balls, fastballs, or any other kinds of pitches. Shestak batted .235 in 45 games for Joe Cantillon’s second-place Millers in 1921, platooning next to Wally Mayer (110 games catching, .277 batting). (Courtesy of Hennepin County Library Special Collections.)