San Francisco Seals, 1946-1957: Interviews With 25 Former Baseballers

Rating:
Summary: A championship San Francisco baseball team
Review: A championship San Francisco baseball team. Those words seem so incongruous. They seem dumb and odd and made-up. Like a self-effacing politician. How can a professional baseball team from San Francisco win a championship? How is that possible?

To ask that question is to see the world from a post-1957 perspective. Before 1958, it was VERY possible. The San Francisco Seals from the old Pacific Coast League (PCL) - a high-level Triple A league - won no fewer than ELEVEN - count `em, ELEVEN - championships - more than any other PCL team.

Granted that a championship under PCL rules was arrived at through more direct routes than the multi-tiered playoff system extant in major league baseball today, there were still ELEVEN occasions when the Seals beat everyone there was to beat! Compare that with the record compiled by the team that has played in The City since 1958. The Seals outdistance that team by a total of ELEVEN! Jesus wept!

As the title indicates, this book is not so much a history of the Seals or a highlight of Seals glory as it is a retrospective of the Seals teams that the author, Brent Kelley, grew up with. This includes a lot of lean years; 1946 through 1957 was not all gravy for the organization, and in fact, it was only by going public in 1954 that the team was able to survive at all. Kelley provides a good overview on the story of the Little Corporation that saved the Seals - for four years.

Some information on the relationship that the Seals had with the major leagues is also provided. During the time frame in question, they had working relationships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox - and ironically enough, even with the National League team in New York.

Kelly also recapitulates Lefty O'Doul's stature as king of both San Francisco and Japan. The Seals' post-war reconciliation tour to Japan, led by O'Doul, is still remembered on both sides of the Pacific Ocean and it was made at the urging of none other than General MacArthur himself.

The chapters are divided by the years in question, as Kelly interviews surviving players that he found from the teams that played during those years. The interviews themselves are unremarkable and seem to uniformly contain the patterns that one would expect of interviews with retired PCL baseball players: some players I stay in touch with; some I haven't seen in years; some are no longer with us; the money was nothing like the players are making today, but we worked harder and had more fun and I made more money on the Coast than I did (or would have) in the bigs and we didn't have to travel too far from home and we even had Mondays off and I'd do it again.

The uniformity doesn't matter; the names should live forever in the annals of West Coast baseball: Frank Seward, Jeep Trower, Jack Brewer, Roy Nicely, Neill Sheridan, Joe Brovia, Bill Werle, Con Dempsey, Dario Lodigiani, Ed Cereghino, Bill Bradford, Rene Cheso, Nini Tornay, Jerry Zuvela, Jim Westlake, Ted Beard, Chuck Stevens, Bob DiPietro, Don Lenhardt, "Riverboat" Smith, Jack Spring, and Bert Thiel. Young fans once pronounced these names with reverence.

Con Dempsey's story should be of particular interest because it removes some of the luster associated with the name of Branch Rickey. Dempsey's contract was ultimately sold by the Seals to the Pittsburgh Pirates of the major leagues. After he reported to the Pirates, Rickey, the innovative Hall of Fame executive who integrated the major leagues and invented the modern "farm" system for development of minor league players, ruined Dempsey's arm and his career by trying to force him to become an overhand pitcher, in spite of the success that Dempsey had attained by throwing sidearm and three-quarters. Evidently, the corporate mentality is no less prevalent in baseball than elsewhere, even among the best executives.

Kelly also interviewed two players whose names that will be familiar to major league historians: Ferris Fain and Lou Burdette. Both had successful major league careers. I had not known that either of them had a resume that included a stint with the Seals. A credible case is made for Burdette's deserving membership in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

And although they are not interviewed in this book, it is equally interesting to see that the Seals roster also included such familiar-sounding names as Frank Malzone, Ken Aspromonte, and Albie Pearson.

And fans of the baseball team that currently plays in San Francisco (the one with no championships) will be interested to read the interview with ex-Seals shortstop Leo Righetti, father of Dave Righetti, whose major league career includes a stint in San Francisco as both a relief pitcher and a pitching coach. Befitting of an Italian surname, the Righetti family history in San Francisco baseball extends for two generations.

The Seals saga has a bittersweet ending. After a number of years of futility, they win the 1957 PCL championship just before major league expansion from New York to San Francisco chases them out of The City. Most San Franciscans were delighted with the arrival of major league baseball, as can be seen from the tremendous welcome that Willie Mays & Company received when they arrived and from the intense interest displayed after the season started.

But there yet remained a strong minority of PCL fans who mourned the loss of their beloved Seals and regarded the invading strangers from New York as unworthy substitutes - especially the audacious presence of Willie Mays in Seals Stadium's centerfield threatening to appropriate the memory of the great Joe DiMaggio. How provincial those fans must have seemed at the time -- but did they possess some sort of crystal ball that foretold how the usurpers from New York would bring giant heartaches, endless futility --- and no championships?

Rating:
Summary: A championship San Francisco baseball team
Review: A championship San Francisco baseball team. Those words seem so incongruous. They seem dumb and odd and made-up. Like a self-effacing politician. How can a professional baseball team from San Francisco win a championship? How is that possible?

To ask that question is to see the world from a post-1957 perspective. Before 1958, it was VERY possible. The San Francisco Seals from the old Pacific Coast League (PCL) - a high-level Triple A league - won no fewer than ELEVEN - count 'em, ELEVEN - championships - more than any other PCL team.

Granted that a championship under PCL rules was arrived at through more direct routes than the multi-tiered playoff system extant in major league baseball today, there were still ELEVEN occasions when the Seals beat everyone there was to beat! Compare that with the record compiled by the team that has played in The City since 1958. The Seals outdistance that team by a total of ELEVEN! Jesus wept!

As the title indicates, this book is not so much a history of the Seals or a highlight of Seals glory as it is a retrospective of the Seals teams that the author, Brent Kelley, grew up with. This includes a lot of lean years; 1946 through 1957 was not all gravy for the organization, and in fact, it was only by going public in 1954 that the team was able to survive at all. Kelley provides a good overview on the story of the Little Corporation that saved the Seals - for four years.

Some information on the relationship that the Seals had with the major leagues is also provided. During the time frame in question, they had working relationships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox - and ironically enough, even with the National League team in New York.

Kelly also recapitulates Lefty O'Doul's stature as king of both San Francisco and Japan. The Seals' post-war reconciliation tour to Japan, led by O'Doul, is still remembered on both sides of the Pacific Ocean and it was made at the urging of none other than General MacArthur himself.

The chapters are divided by the years in question, as Kelly interviews surviving players that he found from the teams that played during those years. The interviews themselves are unremarkable and seem to uniformly contain the patterns that one would expect of interviews with retired PCL baseball players: some players I stay in touch with; some I haven't seen in years; some are no longer with us; the money was nothing like the players are making today, but we worked harder and had more fun and I made more money on the Coast than I did (or would have) in the bigs and we didn't have to travel too far from home and we even had Mondays off and I'd do it again.

The uniformity doesn't matter; the names should live forever in the annals of West Coast baseball: Frank Seward, Jeep Trower, Jack Brewer, Roy Nicely, Neill Sheridan, Joe Brovia, Bill Werle, Con Dempsey, Dario Lodigiani, Ed Cereghino, Bill Bradford, Rene Cheso, Nini Tornay, Jerry Zuvela, Jim Westlake, Ted Beard, Chuck Stevens, Bob DiPietro, Don Lenhardt, "Riverboat" Smith, Jack Spring, and Bert Thiel. Young fans once pronounced these names with reverence.

Con Dempsey's story should be of particular interest because it removes some of the luster associated with the name of Branch Rickey. Dempsey's contract was ultimately sold by the Seals to the Pittsburgh Pirates of the major leagues. After he reported to the Pirates, Rickey, the innovative Hall of Fame executive who integrated the major leagues and invented the modern "farm" system for development of minor league players, ruined Dempsey's arm and his career by trying to force him to become an overhand pitcher, in spite of the success that Dempsey had attained by throwing sidearm and three-quarters. Evidently, the corporate mentality is no less prevalent in baseball than elsewhere, even among the best executives.

Kelly also interviewed two players whose names that will be familiar to major league historians: Ferris Fain and Lou Burdette. Both had successful major league careers. I had not known that either of them had a resume that included a stint with the Seals. A credible case is made for Burdette's deserving membership in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

And although they are not interviewed in this book, it is equally interesting to see that the Seals roster also included such familiar-sounding names as Frank Malzone, Ken Aspromonte, and Albie Pearson.

And fans of the baseball team that currently plays in San Francisco (the one with no championships) will be interested to read the interview with ex-Seals shortstop Leo Righetti, father of Dave Righetti, whose major league career includes a stint in San Francisco as both a relief pitcher and a pitching coach. Befitting of an Italian surname, the Righetti family history in San Francisco baseball extends for two generations.

The Seals saga has a bittersweet ending. After a number of years of futility, they win the 1957 PCL championship just before major league expansion from New York to San Francisco chases them out of The City. Most San Franciscans were delighted with the arrival of major league baseball, as can be seen from the tremendous welcome that Willie Mays & Company received when they arrived and from the intense interest displayed after the season started.

But there yet remained a strong minority of PCL fans who mourned the loss of their beloved Seals and regarded the invading strangers from New York as unworthy substitutes - especially the audacious presence of Willie Mays in Seals Stadium's centerfield threatening to appropriate the memory of the great Joe DiMaggio. How provincial those fans must have seemed at the time -- but did they possess some sort of crystal ball that foretold how the usurpers from New York would bring giant heartaches, endless futility --- and no championships?

Rating:
Summary: The San Francisco Seals...
Review: I was one of those kids who hated seeing the carpetbagging Giants come in from New York in 1958. I grew up with the Seals and spent many days in the right field bleachers getting there early to get autographs and balls - lots of balls ended up in those bleachers. I was there when Tony Ponce threw and won both games of a double header and when Earl Rapp of the Padres hit one out over the right field wall and on to the park across 16th Street - not many were ever hit out of the park to Right or Center Field in those days. For a long time then Mayor George Christopher started the Christopher Milk Club and it cost all of 9 cents to get in. I saw most of the players featured in the book and was a big fan of Con Dempsey, Joe Brovia, Reno Cheso, Nini Torney, and Jim Moran. It was great to read the interviews the author did with them and all the others.
One of the biggest thrills I had as a kid was playing on the Seals Stadium field during a 1957 AAA Championship game between Polytechnic High and Sacred Heart. I was called up from the Poly JV's to catch batting practice and to man the bullpen for that big game.
It was tough being an avid Seals fan to realize that the Seals actually faded away into history. In 1958 I played in a high school band up on a truck platform for the parade held for the incoming Giants - It was not a happy day for me. Of course over the years I started to like the Giants when my son Chris was growing up and started following players like Willie McCovey, Will Clark, Mike Sadek and Mike Ivey. But in my mind it will always be the Seals when I think about baseball at its finest in those pre-steroid days...