Nebraska Minor League Baseball
Lincoln Links 1934
Nebraska State League Champions

	The Links had a cellar finish in 1933 and their best player, Don Gutteridge, had moved up to Houston of the Texas League. Even so, hope springs eternal in a fans heart with the first crack of the bat. Pug Griffin looked on the 1934 season with great expectation. In early spring, the play of Tom Seats and local boy Ray Zimmerman gave hope to the faithful that Lincoln would not repeat their last place finish of 1933. The Links offered a season ticket for $10.00 and individual games would set a gent back 35 cents and a lady acquired entrance for 15 cents. Although rain delayed the opening of the season, Lincoln started the season on fire. Earl Langkop won the first game of the season for Lincoln and Pug Griffin's squad went on to win their first five games. Pug was the president of the club and Cy Lingle was the manager.
Tom Seats Lincoln Links 1934 League Strike Out Leader	Floyd Underwood Links Pitcher 1934
The Links won both halves of the season and they were not happy when the league decided that they had to play a "championship" series against the second place Norfolk club. They proceeded to lose the series to Norfolk but claimed the first place spot due to their regular season position. After the series with Norfolk, the Links arranged a series with Winnepeg of the Northern League. The nine game series was started but never finished as the weather in Winnepeg did not cooperate. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball states that Lincoln played Fargo/Moorehead as a playoff between leagues while the Lincoln paper stated they played Winnepeg. The Lincoln team was augmented by a number of players from Norfolk as some of the Lincoln players were promoted to a higher league and others had to return to their off season jobs. At the end of the season a number of Links were optioned by the Cardinals. The St. Louis club had an agreement with the league to take at least two players from each club in the circuit. The talent level was such that the Cards decided to buy twelve players out of the loop. Nelson Potter and Tom Seats were two of the pitchers taken by the Cards. Infielders Frank Morehouse and Darrell Ginzlinger were also taken. Local boy Ray Zimmerman was also selected to move to the greener pastures of a higher league outfield for the following season.

First base for the Links was held down by Alex "Pete" Filbert. He played in 83 games for the Links and batted .301 for the year.

Darrell Ginzlinger was an 18 year old all star second baseman for the Links. He batted .286 for the year and was optioned to the Cardinals at the end of the year.

In the dirt at short stop for 1934 was Frank Morehouse . The Detroit native was also picked up by the Cards at the end of the season. He batted .307 for the season and led the league with 99 runs scored.

The third sack was held down by Al Phillips . He hit .313 for the season.

Hugh Graham played in the infield for 44 games and averaged .221.

Eph Lobaugh played for Sioux Falls and Lincoln in 1934 and averaged .300 in 95 games.

The outfield positons for the 1934 season saw 18 year old Lincolnite Ray Zimmerman hitting .269 for the year and leading the links in fielding. He was bought by the Cardinals at the end of the season. He played for Lincoln in 1933 and 1934. He then played for Huntington, Union City, Springfield, Houston, Sacramento, Caruthersville, Pine Bluff and Vicksburg before ending his long minor league career with Lincoln in the class "A" Western League in 1948.

In the garden with Zimmerman was James Callahan who hit .307 for the year and Marvin Pelton who hit .294 in 39 games.

Bennie Warren, from Elk City Oklahoma put on the tools of ignorance 87 times for both Norfolk and Lincoln and averaged .300. He made it to the show with Philadelphia in 1939 and last played in the majors in 1947.

Warren was supported by Robert Yarashus who caught 40 games and manager Cy Lingle who put on the mask 20 times.

Earl Langkop who averaged .310 in 65 games.

President of the club Pug Griffin also played in 25 games and batted .269.

Pitching was a strong suit for the Links in 1934. The staff had two All Stars in Tom Seats and Nelson Potter . Tom was a 22 year old from Blythedale Missouri. Baseball Reference states that he was born in Farmington NC but the local paper puts him from Missouri. He led the league in strike outs with 221 for the year and had a record of 18-8 in 31 games. His contract was purchased by St. Louis at the end of the year. He had a 25-9 record the next year with the class "C" Springfield St. Louis farm club. He continued his successful ways for the next four years in the Cardinals organization. In 1940 he had a short stint with Detroit in the American League where he was 2-2 with 26 appearances. The 22 year old pitcher for the Links was a bats right throws left slinger. He played for many years in the Pacific Coast League. In 1944 he beat Sacramento in both ends of a double-header, pitching a shutout in both games. That led to a year with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1945 he was 10-7 for the Dodgers in 31 games. Returning to the PCL he played for the San Diego Padres and was one of the players in the 1949 Bowman Pacific Coast League Baseball Card Collection. Nelson Potter led the league with a 1.71 ERA. He had a record of 17-9 in 35 appearances and was also picked up by the Cardinals. He played for 12 years in the majors. Floyd Underwood was a 24 year old underhanded flinger who spent his winters in Superior Nebraska. in 1934 he was 14-10 in 38 games for the Links. Les Dunkle a veteran of the league was 7-1 in 15 games. Earl Langkop , predicted to be an ace for Lincoln in 1934 was 1-6 with the Links. Other pitchers included Breitfelder 1-1, Richard Tallamante 2-2, Coker 2-1 and Tom Railsback 4-4.

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