Ralph Kirchner was named manager of the Blues for the 1922 season. He welcomed a lot of yannigans to Beatrice for the open tryouts. The newspaper reported that over 60 players attended the daily workouts. The paper was high on Andy Doemeier of Ohiowa Nebraska and McCLary of Auburn Nebraska but neither of them made the final cut.
More than 3,000 fans attended the opening contest against Fairbury. The local boys lost in the 9th inning and los the series 2 games to one. The opening day box score included a number of players for Beatrice who are not listed in either the Spalding Guide or Baseball Reference. "Toad" Adams was in right field for the Blues at the start of the year. His picture was in the local paper on a number of occasions. Frank Schroder and Campbell were also listed as opening day players in the outfield and both of them were featured with a picture in the local paper. Finally "Lefty" Willey was listed as the pitcher and also was pictured in the paper. None of these four are listed in the official record.
In late May the paper reported that "Toad" Adams was injured during a game and his name does not appear in any additiona box scores. By mid June the club was mired towards the bottom of the standings and management was looking for a change.
William "Ducky" Holmes took over the Beatrice team in July. Ducky played from 1895-1905 in the major leagues. He was the first manager in Lincoln when they entered the Western League in 1906. He was manager of Sioux City in 1908 and wound up in Nebraska City in 1912. The Des Moines native started the year at Fort Smith but wound up in Beatrice in July. He brought in four players from the disbanded Western International League. DeLaGuerra, Wiggens, Marquis and Mooney were added to the squad. He won four of the first five games as manager for Beatrice. Joe Pizer who was a fan favorite was released. Joe then went to Hastings where he finished the season batting over .300.
The club made a small run towards the first division and there was some hope that they could still win the second half of the season. On August 22nd, "Jiggs" Parker was ejected from a game. This was not his first ejection as he was had been fined and suspended for a number of games earlier in the year. Ducky then got into a bruhaha with the umpire and was escorted from the field by the local police. He was ordered out of the lot for assaulting umpire "Dutch" Meyers. Ducky was fired and Parker was released. Fred "Dyke" Bowman was named manager for the remainder of the year.
Beatrice had a lot of light bats in 1922. The club only had three players who managed to play in at least 100 games. They had a hard time at the plate with only two players averaging over .300 for the year.
Roster:
Jack Mooney was one of the players Ducky brought to Beatrice from the Western International League. He played first base for 66 games and averaged .277.
Second base saw a lot of players in 1922. L.J. LaBarge was acquired from Norfolk during the season and he averaged .246 for the Blues.
Lewis Delaguerra was another Ducky pickup. He played in 54 games and averaged.240.
Glisan averaged .295 in 23 games. He was listed in the paper as "the old man".
Joe Pizer was a fan favorite. He averaged .313 in 24 games and finished the season with Hastings.
Warnstaff averaged .243 in 46 games.
James "Jiggs" Parkerwas the leadoff hitter for Beatrice on opening day. He played in 61 games and averaged .176.
Third base was held down by Carl Wiggens for 61 games and he averaged .244 for the season. He was another one of the players picked up by Ducky in July from the Western International League.
Short stop was held down by Robert or William Quinn . He averaged .309 in 103 games. The local paper called him Robert but Baseball Reference calls him William Quinn.
H. S. Unger was behind the plate for 99 games and averaged .206.
Oufield:
McKee averaged .228 in 52 games.
Fred "Dyke" Bowman averaged .336 in 107 games leading the Blues in batting average. He also pitched in 14 games and had a 5-5 record. He was named manager in August after Ducky was released for assaulting an umpire.
R. J. Kirchner was in the garden for 114 games and averaged .225 for the year.
Others who played in less than 20 games for the Blues include: Carman, Edwards, Hill, Johnston, McFarland, Shimerda and Streator.
Pitchers:
McKee was 14-14 in 31 games.
Jim Marquis was picked up by Ducky in July from Vancouver in the Western International league. The 21 year old flinger was 7-6 in 17 games. The Beatrice papers called him Don and his given name was Milburn. He played for Oakland in the PCL in 1923 and played in two games for the Yankees in 1925. He then played for Reading, Buffalo, Atlanta and Little Rock.
Holly Dull was 3-6 in 12 appearances. He was on the opening day roster.
Bonnelley was 3-5.Hackett was 0-2.
R. E. Linder was 3-2 in 7 games
Carle 1-2 record.