7, 1941 - a date that would live in infamy.ĭennis McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. with a lot more than baseball on their minds. The Hollywood Stars were about to join a much bigger league as they got back on the bus after the game and headed home to L.A. He can’t remember who won that last game, but it really wasn’t important. I remember my dad got on me for not paying attention.” “It bounced up and hit me in the face across the nose. “I didn’t go because I wasn’t paying attention the game before when one of our players threw his bat on the ground after striking out,” Bob Triggs said. 6,999. Ironically, it was against the Mexicali Aguilas team - an overnight bus ride from Los Angeles - that Gilbert Triggs’ Hollywood Stars played its last game in 1941. A check of the record book shows Pulford had 95 wins and 90 losses in his career with the Abberville Athletics, New Orleans Pelicans, Wilkes-Barre Barons, Nashville Vols, Hollywood Stars, Portland Beavers and Mexicali Aguilas. “Probably our best player was Don Pulford, a pitcher,” Triggs said. How do you beat that? If someone better came along to take their position, Piggly Wiggly or O’Shea’s Lounge always needed a shortstop. They were playing baseball and getting paid. They knew what it was like living paycheck to paycheck, and didn’t complain. Often, they lived in the same neighborhoods. Vaughn started reading off our assignments. Many of the players rode the same bus to the ballpark as the fans. Those of you who are going to isolated villages will be getting a foot locker of books to keep you company. They worked regular jobs and had rent and gas bills to pay, just like the fans, who didn’t have to take out a second mortgage for season tickets and parking.Ī hot dog and beer didn’t cost the price of a steak and glass of fine wine. And no one ever tried to renegotiate a handshake. Players didn’t have big contracts, they had handshakes. Semi-pro was baseball at its purest - at the grassroots level. Who can ever forget those great teams fielded every Sunday by the Bartenders Union, Jack’s Barber Shop, O’Shea’s Lounge and Piggly Wiggly? “Paramount Studios had its own team and home ballpark, Cole Field, and the Rosabell Plumbers from Pasadena was one of our main rivals.” “Most of the semi-pro teams represented stores or local businesses,” Triggs said.
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