When the Buffaloes roamed the outfield

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2017 (3265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Professional baseball in Manitoba can be traced back to 1902 when the Winnipeg Maroons entered in the Northern League.

In the early years Winnipeg had teams in the Northern-Copper Country, Western Canada and Central International leagues. After being out of organized baseball since 1942, Winnipeg was back in the Northern League in 1954 with a Class C team named Goldeyes.

The highest level of organized ball in Winnipeg was played in 1970 and 1971. Partway through the 1970 season, the Montreal Expos Triple A International League team was moved from Buffalo to the Winnipeg Stadium and became the Winnipeg Whips. Travelling expenses doomed that franchise.
Arguably the best baseball Manitobans ever saw was played in the “outlaw” ManDak League, which was formed in 1950 with two teams based in Winnipeg, the Buffaloes and Elmwood Giants, along with the Brandon Greys and the Carman Cardinals. North Dakota was represented by the Minot Mallards. The league operated until 1957, when the Greys were the only Manitoba team.

In 1946, the face of baseball began to change when Jackie Robinson broke the race barrier with the Montreal Royals. This led to the eventual demise of the Negro American and National Leagues as the top black players were signed by teams in organized baseball.

Former Winnipeg author Barry Swanton called the ManDak League a Haven for Former Negro League Ballplayers in his book by that name. Veteran players saw opportunities in coming north, where they were treated well.

The ManDak had to contend with the Red River flood in its initial season, but managed a 48-game schedule. The local teams played at Osborne Stadium, so there was a game almost every day except for Sunday. The Buffaloes were headed by player-manager Willie Wells, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. The Giants had future major leaguer Solly Drake in the lineup.

Brandon topped the standings after the regular season, with Buffaloes second and the Giants last. In the playoffs, the Buffaloes beat Minot three straight while the Greys needed five games to eliminate Carman.

In the best of-seven final, Winnipeg took the first game 9-7 in 13 innings and followed up with 7-6 and 8-2 victories. Greys stayed alive with a 7-3 win in game four.

The series ended in Brandon on Sept. 14 with one of the best pitching duels in Manitoba baseball history. Wells sent Leon Day to the mound while the Greys countered with Manuel Godinez. The game lasted until the 17th inning when the visiting Buffaloes scored the only run. Batting champion Butch Davis singled to right and reached second when outfielder Charlie Peete bobbled the ball. Another Negro League great, Lyman Bostock, sacrificed Davis to third and Joe Taylor singled him home. Day then shut down the Greys in the bottom of the inning.

One amazing point about this game was that neither team used a substitute. Unlike the slow baseball of today, the game was played in just under four hours.

Day gave up six hits and walked six while striking out eight. At the plate, the 1995 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee had a double and single. Godinez allowed nine hits and didn’t give up a walk in his 17 innings of work After arguing a call, Wells was ejected from the game and watched the final seven innings from the top of the team bus outside the park.

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com