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Quakertown
Blazers News |
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North Atlantic League
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
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 The War was over, the servicemen were home and the boom years were sweeping the country. The number of minor leagues increased from 12 in 1945 to 50 in 1946.
The Class D North Atantic League was one of the new leagues and was formed in Allentown under Ernest "Duke" Landgraft on January 16, 1946. The veteran Allentown baseball man was elected President, Secretary and Treasurer for the first season. The league planned for a 126 game season with opening day of May 8, 1946. The season would end on Labor Day with a four team playoff. Teams for the initial season included the Bloomingdale Troopers, Carbondale Pioneers, Mahanoy City Bluebirds, Nazareth Cement Dusters, Newburgh/Walden Hummingbirds, Nyack Rocklands, Peekskill Highlanders and Stroudsburg Poconos.
Peekskill won the initial season with a 82-32 record and defeated Carbondale in the playoffs. TONY NAPLES posted an 18-0 record for Peekskill, a New York Giants affiliate. STAN BENJAMIN hit .312 for Nazareth as a player/manager and the team finished second with a 78-40 log. Benjamin played outfield in part of five big league seaons and served as one of the Phillies' regular outfielders in 1941 when he hit .235 with three home runs. He joined the Astros as a scout in 1965 and remained with the organization for nearly 40 years. JOE ANTOLICK (Stroudsburg), BILL KALFASS (Nyack) and ALEX GARBOWSKI (Nyack) were other former major league players in the NAL.
Bloomingdale had an outstanding group of rookies. DANNY O'CONNELL, a 19 year old from St. Bonaventure High School in Paterson, signed a free agent contract with the Dodgers' affiliate and hit .327. O' Connell made his major league debut in 1950 with Pittsburgh and played ten seasons in the big leagues as an infielder with the Pirates, Braves, Giants and Senators. " SOUR MASH JACK" DANIELS hit .313 and was an outfielder for the Boston Braves in 1952. CARL "SWISH" SAWATSKI, an 18 year old catcher from Shickshinny hit .279 with seven home runs. He returned to the Troopers in 1949 and established a league record with 34 home runs. Sawatski played eleven big league seasons and hit .293 for the Phillies with nine home runs in 1959.
Shillington native, HARRY SCHAEFFER posted a 12-6 record for Stroudsburg and pitched in five games for the Yankees in 1952.
In 1947 the Kingston Dodgers replaced Walden and won the regular season with an 81-28 record. Carbondale won the playoffs over Peekskill and drew 85,500 fans to Russell Park during the season. Player/manager PAT COLGAN led the Pioneers and was promoted to manager of Terre Haute and Utica in the Phillies system. He served as a scout for many years and last managed at Burlington in 1963 where he developed a young Cuban refugee pitcher by the name of LUIS TIANT. Tiant made his debut with the Indians the following year and went on to win 229 games in nineteen MLB seasons.
In 1948 AL GARDELLA, player/manager for Peekskill, posted a 12-1 record as the Highlanders won the regular season with an 84-29 record. Gardella and his brother DANNY played for the New York Giants in 1945. Al only had 26 at bats while Danny had a big year with a .272 average and 18 home runs. Al played every position for Peekskill from 1946 to 1949 and in 1950 he was reunited with his brother on the Bangor team.
Carbondale swept the Highlanders in the playoffs under player/manager DAN CARNEVALE who hit 20 home runs. Carnevale played for for Scranton in the Eastern League from 1941 to 1947 with the war interuption in 44 and 45. He had 5492 at bats in fifteen minor league seasons and was the first base coach for the A's in 1970. He ended his pro career as manager of Portland in the Pacific Coast League in 1972.
The Lansdale Dukes replaced Kingston in 1948 and were noted for their lack of success both on and off the field. The Dukes had the usual blend of local rookies, out-of-town signees and seasoned veterans; however there was excess turnover of players and managers as the team floundered to a 28-101 record, 54 games out of first place. Of the 25 Class D leagues, only Dover of the Eastern Shore League posted a worse record, 26-100. DICKIE BATTAVIO was a local product who made it to Schenectady, an A level affiliate of the Phillies. Veteran TONY PARISSE also caught for the A's on 1943 and 1944. The Dukes drew a league low 14,100 fans and only 23 showed up on the tainy night of August 20 to see a doubleheader with Peekskill.
BILL BURICH was the player/manager for Nazareth and in 1944 hit .284 for the Phillies in 1946. JIM LEMON, a 20 year old outfielder from Covington, Virginia, was the top rookie as he hit .292 with eleven home runs for Bloomingdale, a Cleveland affiliate. He made his debut with the Indians in 1950 and hit 164 home runs with 529 RBI in twelve major league seasons. In 1960 he slugged 38 home runs for the Washington Senators and made the AL All-Star Team.
1949 was a big year for the Stroudsburg Poconos. The Cleveland affiliate posted a 101-36 record and finished 20.5 games ahead of the Lebanon Chix. ED VARHELY (20-2) and player/manager FRANK RADLER (12-2) topped the staff. Easton's JOHN ROTHENHAUSLER hit .377 which was second in the league to J.C. DUNN of Lebanon at .384. Rothenhausler had 800 hits and a .318 career average in eight years of pro ball which ended at Corpus Christi in 1955.
STAN PAWLOSKI, a 17 year old Wanamie native, hit .329 and played briefly for Cleveland in 1955. HARRY WARNER, a 20 year old from Reeders, posted a .347 average and went on to play and manage in pro ball through 1983. His carreer record was 1,381-1,226 and he managed Toronto in Roy Hartsfield's absence in 1978. He scouted from 1984 to 1990.
Palmerton native CLARENCE HEFFELFINGER returned to pro ball at age 31 and pitched 263 innings with 28 complete games for the Bangor Pickers. KENTON LLOYD BOYER was the big time rookie for the Lebanon Chix in 1949. The 18 year old from Missouri signed as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals and posted a 5-1 record. His .455 batting average and .818 slugging average indicated that his future would be as a position player. Boyer went on to become one of the best third basemen to ever play the game. Ken Boyer won gold gloves from 1958 to 1961 and was MajorLeague Player of the Year in 1964. He was a NL All-Star in 1956 and from 1959 through 1964. He played in the Majors until 1969 and hit 282 career home runs with 1141 RBI and a .287 career average.
Several local players also performed well on their way to the big leagues in 1949. NORM LARKER, a 18 year old from Beaver Meadows, hit .299 for Hazleton. The left-handed first baseman progressed through the Brooklyn Dodgers' system and made his debut with the LA Dodgers at age 27. Larker played six seasons in the Majors and finished second in the National League with a .323 average while making the 1960 NL All-Star team. RON MROZINSKI, an 18 year old LHP from White Haven, posted a 10-12 record for Carbondale with a 4.34 ERA in 172 innings. He madehis debut with the Phillies in 1954 after a midseason callup. He spent the entire 1955 season with the Phillies as a reliever and appeared in 22 games, closing out eleven of them.
The NAL perserverance award went to PRENTICE ALMONT BROWN. "Pidge" hit .303 for Peekskill at age 20 and arrived in the big leagues with Houston at age 33 in 1962. He hit .210 in 65 games for the Colt. 45s as a left handed hitting first baseman.
In 1950 Lebanon won the regular season with a 87-46 record and edged Stroudsburg, three games to two, as the playoffs were stopped by bad weather. Hazleton player/manager GEORGE PFISTER topped the league with a .334 average while FRANK RADLER won 21 games for Stroudsburg. Pfister caught a game for the Brooklyn Dodgers at age 22 in 1941. He was a farm director for the Yankees and a long time executive in MLB operations.
The league continued to serve as a first step for local players on their way to the big leagues. Blakely native STAN PALYS hit .318 for Carbondale and made his debut with the Phillies in 1953. He split the 1955 season with the Philies and the Cincinnati Redlegs while hitting .241 with eight home runs and 38 RBI. HAL WOODESHICK, a 17 year old LHP from the Wilkes-Barre area, pitched briefly for Carbondale. Woodeshick would pitch for eleven seasons in the big leagues and made the 1963 All-Star team with Houston. In 1964 he was the NL save leader with 24 saves.
In January 1951 Duke Landgraf called for a meeting to prepare for the 1951 season. Suprisingly officials of the league voted to disband the the league at a follow up meeting in Stroudsburg in February. The vote was controversial and fans expressed their disappointment especially in Carbondale. The Korean war took its toll on the players and television began to compete for night entertainment. The history of the NAL is much more than the forementioned players. Many other local baseball legends such as Braves scout JOE CAPUTO (Stroudsburg,1946), Lansdale's LEE SAVERIO (Mahanoy City 48, MC/Bangor 49) and Skippack's ART BUSTARD (Lansdale 1948) played in the league and developed players for many years. The current success of Major League Baseball derives from the many players who toiled in the minors after World War II. All of us owe a big thanks to these players for their contributions to the national pasttime.
A special thanks to Mark Coons for his info and to www.baseball-reference.com for the stats. Any additions or other info about the NAL may be sent to Tom Bonekemper 1760 Joanne Drive Quakertown,PA 18951.
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Vogelsong caps storybook season with win
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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 Ryan Vogelsong (Quakertown Blazers, 96-97) threw seven shutout innings as the Giants defeated the Rockies 3-1 on Monday night.
Vogelsong allowed only four hits with no walks and four strikeouts with 88 pitches.
This was his last
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Andrelczyk in World Cup
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
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 Pete Andrelczyk (Quakertown Blazers) was selected to play for Team USA in the upcoming World Cup in Panama scheduled for October 1 thru 15. Andrelczyk was a fifth round selection of the Marlins out of Coastal Carolina. He is one of their top pr
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Mets honor Gorski
Friday, September 16, 2011
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The New York Mets announced that Darin Gorski (Quakertown, Kutztown) earned the Sterling Organizational Pitcher of the Year award. Gorski, the Top ACBL Prospect in 2008, went 11-3 at St. Lucie (High A) with a Florida State League-best ERA of 2.08. The 6-4 LHP was also Pitcher of the Year in the FSL after striking out 140 while walking only 29 in 138.2 innings. Gorski started the Flor
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Blazers 2011 Season Wrap-up
Sunday, August 14, 2011
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The 2011 Blazers finished in third place in the Wolff Division with an 18-20 record and lost 5-2 to the Lehigh Valley Catz in the playoffs. A no-hitter by Lou Trivino was the highlight of the season. Trivino also posted a 4-2 record with 50 strikeouts in 45 innings. Dave Putman recorded a 3-0 log with two saves while Tim Mayza added two saves. Bobby Applegate and Cas
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Gorski wins again
Saturday, August 13, 2011
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 Darin Gorski (Quakertown Blazers, Kutztown Rockies) allowed only one hit in six innings on Friday night as the St. Lucie Mets defeated the Charlotte Stone Crabs 3-0.
The
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Blazer season ends with loss to Catz
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
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The Lehigh Valley Catz defeated the Quakertown Blazers 5-3 in the third place at second place playoff game on Tuesday evening.
Dennis Hocker, Dan Johnson and Tim Mayza each had two hits for the Blazers.
The Blazers finish the 2011 season with an 18-21 record.
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