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Any baseball historians on board?

David Conwill

David Conwill

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Bennington, VT 05201
I'm curious to know what farm teams served the White Sox in the 1938 to 1940 era. My grandfather supported himself between graduating from Grinnell College and joining the Army Air Corps, playing minor league baseball for somebody within the White Sox system (he remained a loyal Sox fan). It would have been somewhere in the Midwest, I'm certain, probably around Chicago; Springfield, IL; or perhaps in Iowa. If I can find out, I'm going to try to obtain one of those reproduction hats for his team, not to mention try and further explore this little-known period of my family history. Any help?

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to dig out my scanned articles about his college basketball career and post them here.

-Dave
 
cooper

cooper

One of the Regulars
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David Conwill said:
I'm curious to know what farm teams served the White Sox in the 1938 to 1940 era. My grandfather supported himself between graduating from Grinnell College and joining the Army Air Corps, playing minor league baseball for somebody within the White Sox system (he remained a loyal Sox fan). It would have been somewhere in the Midwest, I'm certain, probably around Chicago; Springfield, IL; or perhaps in Iowa. If I can find out, I'm going to try to obtain one of those reproduction hats for his team, not to mention try and further explore this little-known period of my family history. Any help?

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to dig out my scanned articles about his college basketball career and post them here.

-Dave
Click to expand...
Try ebbets.com. They are a vintage supply and they know an awful lot about baseball. Will at ballcap.com, also vintage caps, may know as well.
 
Imahomer

Imahomer

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Danville, CA.
Here are all of the White Sox minor league teams for the years your asked about. I hope this helps.

1938:
Class AA: St. Paul Saints (American Association
Class A1: Dallas Steers (Texas League
Class B: Anniston Rams (Southeastern League
Class C: Monroe White Sox (Cotton States League - LEAGUE CHAMPION
Class C: Longview Cannibals (East Texas League
Class D: Rayne Rice Birds (Evangeline League
Class D: Lubbock Hubbers (West Texas-New Mexico League

1939:
Class AA: St. Paul Saints (American Association
Class A1: Shreveport Sports (Texas League
Class B: Anniston Rams (Southeastern League
Class C: Longview Cannibals (East Texas League - Also known as the White Sox
Class D: Greenville Lions (Alabama-Florida League
Class D: Jonesboro White Sox (Northeast Arkansas League
Class D: Grand Forks Chiefs (Northern League
Class D: Lubbock Hubbers (West Texas-New Mexico League - LEAGUE CHAMPION

1940:
Class AA: St. Paul Saints (American Association
Class B: Waterloo White Hawks (Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League
Class C: Longview Texans (East Texas League
Class D: Rayne Rice Birds (Evangeline League
Class D: Jonesboro White Sox (Northeast Arkansas League
Class D: Grand Forks Chiefs (Northern League - LEAGUE CHAMPION
Class D: Lubbock Hubbers (West Texas-New Mexico League
Class D: Wisconsin Rapids White Sox (Wisconsin State League
 
Tomasso

Tomasso

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David Conwill said:
minor league baseball for somebody within the White Sox system (he remained a loyal Sox fan). It would have been somewhere in the Midwest, I'm certain, probably around Chicago;
Click to expand...
The Sox had farm teams playing in leagues all over the country, why are you so certain that he played for a Chicago area team?


Anyway,here are the CWS ML affiliations in '38, '39 and '40. Good luck.


BTW, you might contact the Sox office as they may have some info in their records.
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

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Bennington, VT 05201
Tomasso said:
The Sox had farm teams playing in leagues all over the country, why are you so certain that he played for a Chicago area team?
Click to expand...

To my knowledge, he never lived outside of Illinois and Michigan, except when he was in college and in the Air Force.

-Dave
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

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Bennington, VT 05201
Bringing back this ancient thread. Just today, I learned via my grandfather's WWII enlistment record that he enlisted in 1941 in the 7th Corps Area, which was Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. Since he went to school in Iowa, I figured that was the logical choice. Then I looked at minor-league teams in Iowa in that period and rediscovered the Iowa Hawks. Then I found him in the 1940 Census, a lodger at 316 Jefferson Street, Waterloo, Iowa.

So, where can I get a 1940-vintage Waterloo Hawks ball cap and jersey?
 
LizzieMaine

LizzieMaine

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Contact a fellow by the name of Jerry Cohen of "Ebbets Field Flannels" in Washington state -- he's the most knowledgeable person in the country when it comes to minor league uniform designs, and he remanufactures them to order if you've got the cash to spend. A lot of his work has been featured in period movies over the last thirty years or so, and by teams running "Turn Back The Clock" promotions.

According to the 1941 "Spalding-Reach Base Ball Guide," the Waterloo Hawks competed in the Three-I League, finishing eighth in the 1940 season with a record of 36-85 with a percentage of .298. Ouch.
 
LizzieMaine

LizzieMaine

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Hmmm -- no Conwill is listed, but that's not necessarily conclusive. It was not uncommon for players to appear in the mid-level minor leagues under assumed names for various reasons. There's a Harold Cromer listed for Waterloo, who hit .255 in 122 games, and there's a player listed only as "Cornell," who appeared in less than ten games with no record given. I also checked the Guide for 1940, giving records for the 1939 season, and didn't see him listed there.
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
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2,854
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Bennington, VT 05201
Cornell is a pretty common misspelling of the family name, so it would make sense to use it as an assumed name. I wondered that myself, since his name never came up connected with baseball in the Des Moines Register, whereas it comes up pretty commonly in connection with basketball, both in college and afterward. I know it's rumored Eisenhower played baseball under an assumed name before going to West Point, but I always figured post-college it wouldn't make a difference.

In any case, thanks for looking!
 
David Conwill

David Conwill

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2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
The more I look at this, the more I think he may be "Lee Cornell." Cornell played for both the Waterloo Hawks and the Cedar Rapids Raiders in 1938, didn't play for anyone in 1939, and played for Waterloo again in 1940.

The pseudonym may well come from still being in college in 1938, the year off would mesh with the time he spent attempting to work as a traveling salesman (he had a business degree from Grinnell) and then 1940 would be another year attempting to support himself playing minor league baseball.

Grandpa died when I was 11 and never wanted to talk about the prewar years, something I attribute now to there being a first marriage that not even my dad knew about until after my grandfather died, so I've been slowly trying to piece together those years. I know that before the war he played baseball, worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, and worked as a traveling salesman selling candy bars. His involvement with the Rath Blackhawks makes me wonder if he didn't work in the Rath meatpacking plant too.

In his 1940 census listing, he's rooming in Waterloo with several other former Grinnell athletes.

...sorry if I'm rambling, this is helping me to sort my thoughts out...
 
LizzieMaine

LizzieMaine

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That certainly sounds like a company team -- especially in areas where industrial league sports was popular, companies would hire men solely for their ballplaying skills and find some make-work job for them to do in the plant to justify it. A talented player could make a good living playing industrial ball in the Era.

I don't have a copy of the 1939 Base Ball Guide, but I suspect it would yield a more complete statistical line for the 1938 season.

I wonder what would happen if the Rath Blackhawks took on the Nippon Ham Fighters?
 
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