Youngstown Gremlins

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The Youngstown Gremlins were a minor league club affiliated with the Mid-Atlantic League.[1] The club made its debut in 1946, the sixth consecutive season in which the National Amateur Baseball Federation tournament was hosted by Youngstown, Ohio.[2]

[edit] Record

The Gremlins were owned by Pittsburgh sportsmen Bill Koval and Nick Andolina, who "bankrolled" the reorganization of the Mid-Atlantic League in 1946.[3] Upon taking ownership of the club, Koval and Andolina changed the Youngstown club's name from the A's to the Gremlins. (The Youngstown A's enjoyed a working relationship with the Philadelphia Athletics.)[3]

The team went 67-62, good for third place in the six-team Mid-Atlantic League. They lost in the first round of the playoffs, three games to one, to the Erie Sailors. The owners acknowledged that the team had been a losing venture at the close of the 1946 season but indicated to Frank Ward, sports editor of The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, that they would continue to sponsor the club in 1947. [4]

[edit] Legacy

Youngstown's star performer was Johnny Kucab, who would eventually move on to the major leagues. As a pitcher for the Gremlins, Kucab posted a 13-1 record, followed up by 12-4.[3] He had the best winning percentage and pitched four shutouts in his 15 starts, tying him for second in the Mid-Atlantic League in whitewashes. Kucab was brought up by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1951.[3]

The team was renamed as the Youngstown Colts in 1947.[3] The Gremlins' brief run coincided with the 33rd NABF sandlot "world series", which won recognition for Youngstown among national observers.[5] A local newspaper editorial stated: "If any other city has comparable equipment, it is not generally known. Baseball Commissioner Chandler exclaimed in surprise that our sandlot fields are better than the parks of many professional teams".[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Filchia, Peter (1993). Professional Baseball Franchises: From the Abbeville Athletics to the Zanesville Indians. New York: Facts on File, p. 258. 
  2. ^ a b Ward, Frank B.. "Along the Sports Rialto", The Youngstown Vindicator, September 17, 1946. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Landolf, Charles A.. "Youngstown Once Main Link In Minor Loop Baseball Chain", Youngstown Vindicator, April 1, 1977, p. 7. 
  4. ^ Ward, Frank B.. "Along the Sports Rialto", The Youngstown Vindicator, September 18, 1946. 
  5. ^ "Youngstown Selected; Picked As The Site of Amateur Baseball Event in Fall", The New York Times, February 27, 1944, p. S-3.