Earl Bolyard

Earl B. "Whistlin' Earl"^[1] Bolyard (March 24, 1912 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA - November 29, 1988 in ?) was a minor league baseball player and manager. He also served in the Navy during World War II.

Playing career

Bolyard spent 12 years in the minor leagues, from 1932 to 1942 and again in 1946. He played in the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators farm systems. Over the course of his career, he played in 1,340 games.^[2]

In 1935, he was to play with the Binghamton Triplets in the NY-Penn League championship series, however he - along with four other players - were declared ineligible because they had not been under contract for a long enough time to be eligible to play.^[3]

In March, 1939, he was traded with Hank Harris to the Little Rock Travelers for Skinny Graham.^[4] In 1940, he led the Southern Association in triples.^[5]

Managing career

Following World War II, Bolyard managed for a few years. From 1946 to 1947, he managed the Twin Falls Cowboys, leading them to a loss in the league finals in 1946,^[6] and to a league championship in 1947. He managed the Norfolk Tars for part of 1949, before being replaced by Frank Novosel. He then managed the Victoria Athletics that year, replacing Ted Norbert. In 1950, he was originally supposed to manage the Newark Bears,^[7] however the Yankees sold the franchise. He instead managed the Salt Lake Bees, before being replaced by Robert White.

Over the course of his managerial career, he was ejected from multiple games. In one instance in 1947, he had to be escorted from the ballpark by police after refusing to go following an ejection by the umpire.^[8]

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