Mississippi-Ohio Valley League 1949

All-Star Games

Game 1: South 5, North 2

Paducah, Monday, July 11, 1949

Game 2: All-Stars 9, Centralia 2

Mount Vernon, Saturday, August 6, 1949

Game One

The first 1949 Mississippi-Ohio Valley League All-Star Game was played at Paducah's Brooks Stadium on July 11, 1949.

Two All-Star teams were selected by the Valley League managers and met on a wet diamond in Paducah; the South won the sloppy and error-ridden game. Doug Campbell of host Paducah was the winning pitcher; Belleville's Jack Urban was pinned with the loss. No batters had notable outings, but Paducah's Art Oliver had two RBIs and Floyd George of West Franfort knocked in the game-winner with a long double.

NORTH                       AB R H BI      SOUTH                       AB R H BI
Don Breidenbach (MAT/NA) SS  4 0 0 0       Bill Asal (WF/STN) SS        5 0 0 0
George Gatto (CEN/NA) 3B     4 0 0 0       Ricky Martz (PAD/NA) LF      1 0 0 0
George Murphy (MAT/NA) 1B    4 0 1 0        Jesse Nelms (MTV/NA) RF     3 2 1 0
Hal Taylor (BEL/NYY) LF      4 0 1 0       Floyd George (WF/STN) 1B     4 1 1 0
Bill Hornsby (CEN/NA) CF     4 1 0 0       Art Oliver (PAD/NA) 3B       2 1 1 2
Bill Herman (MAT/NA) 2B      4 0 1 1       Don Wagner (MTV/NA) CF       3 0 1 1
Don Harman (BEL/NYY) RF      4 0 0 0       Dave Jesse (WF/STN) C        2 0 0 0
Socrates Anthony (BEL/NYY) C 2 0 1 0       Paul Keeling (PAD/NA) 2B     4 1 1 0
Bill Ecklund (CEN/NA) P      0 0 0 0        Doug Campbell (PAD/NA) P    1 0 0 0
 Jack Urban (BEL/NYY) P      0 0 0 0       Carl Hrovatic (PAD/NA) LF    4 1 0 0
 Tom Gatts (CEN/NA) C        2 1 1 0       Jim Rudolph (PAD/NA) P       1 0 0 0
 Joe Mattis (MAT/NA) P       1 0 0 0        Lloyd Westhoff (WF/STN) PH  1 0 0 0
 Joe Prucha (CEN/NA) P       1 0 0 0        Howard Wilkes (PAD/NA) C    2 0 1 1
                                            Jim Michalec (WF/STN) P     1 0 0 0
 TOTALS                     34 2 5 1                                   34 5 6 4

North             000 001 100 - 2 5 7
South             000 201 101 - 5 6 4

  E - Breidenbach (2), Gatto, Murphy, Herman, Anthony, Gatts, Asal, George,
Oliver, Keeling. SH - George, Eckland. DP - South 1 (Gatts and Murphy).
  2B - George, Wilks. SB - Nelms, Oliver, Hornsby. 

NORTH            IP H R BB SO
Ecklund         3.0 1 0  1  6
Urban (L)       1.1 2 2  2  3
Mattis          1.2 0 1  0  2
Prucha          3.0 1 2  1  1

SOUTH            IP H R BB SO
Campbell (W)    3.0 1 0  0  1
Rudolph         3.0 3 1  2  1
Michalec        3.0 1 1  0  3

  Umpires - Clebert Cox, James Cappozi, Irvin Hatzenbueler, Richard Phillips

Time: 2:25.  Attendance: 1,559

Notes, Issues, Sources, and Mysteries

• Based on the game account in the Mattoon Journal-Gazette of July 13, 1949, which included a box score in a rather different format. Some information comes from the July 7, 1949, J-G, which listed the players selected for the game.
• Zeke Bekeza (Centralia) managed the North, with the assistance of coaches Chuck Hawley (Mattoon) and Bunny Mick (Belleville). The South was managed by West Frankfort's Bob Stanton, with Carol Peterson (Paducah) and Bill Trotter (Mount Vernon) as coaches.
• There's something about the North team's batting order that bothers me. And Innings Pitched are based on the game account and may be slightly inaccurate.
• Selected, but did not play: Right fielder Andy Smith (Mattoon--more often a catcher), second baseman Roger Della Betta (Centralia), pitcher Jim Edgar (Centralia), second baseman Tom O'Connor (West Frankfort--also usually a catcher), pitcher Ben Fiori (Mount Vernon), and infielder Wade Stalions (Paducah).
• Pitcher Lloyd Westhoff appeared in the game, and got an at bat, but apparently didn't pitch. The J-G box is not clear about his plate appearance; I've assumed he was a pinch hitter for lack of any other likely role.
• The July 7 roster listing believed that all six league umpires would be used in this game. The box score only listed four.
• No MVP or similar award seems to have been awarded for this game.

Game Two

The second 1949 Mississippi-Ohio Valley League All-Star Game was played at Mount Vernon's Vernon Field on August 5, 1949.

An All-Star team selected by M-OV League fans faced the league-leading Centralia Cubs. According to The Sporting News, "Everett Joyner, West Frankfort outfielder, highlighted the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League All-Stars' 9 to 2 victory over Centralia, August 6, with a single, double, and home run in five trips."

I've been unable to locate a box score for this game, but the following players were selected for the All-Stars:

ALL-STARS
George Murphy (MAT/NA) 1B
Art Sullivan 2B
Art Oliver (PAD/NA) 3B
Bill Asal (WF/STN) SS
Ricky Martz (PAD/NA) LF
Everett Joyner (WF/STN) CF      - 3 for 5; single, double, home run
Don Wagner (MTV/NA) RF
Tom O'Connor (WF/STN) C
Andy Smith (MAT/NA) C
Joe Mattis (MAT/NA) P
Doc Bracken (BEL/NYY) P
Dick Loeser (WF/STN) P
Doug Campbell (PAD/NA) P
Ed Santulli (MTV/NA) P
Floyd George (WF/STN) IF
Jesse Nelms (MTV/NA) OF

Attendance: 1,867?

Notes, Issues, Sources, and Mysteries

• Based on the game account published in The Sporting News on August 17, 1949, which I quoted in full above. Some information comes from the August 5, 1949, Mattoon Journal-Gazette, which listed the players selected for the Stars. NewspaperArchive.com, my usual source for this information, lacks August 6 editions for all of the papers which routinely covered the Valley League.
• I have no idea who managed the Stars. Presumably Zeke Bekeza managed his Cubs.
• The attendance figure matches the number published in the 1950 Sporting News Guide--mostly on the basis that the July 11th game's count wasn't 1,867. It would be as logical to guess the crowd was actually 308, except that very low number seems pretty unlikely.
• No MVP or similar award seems to have been awarded for this game.