For 1939 the Lincoln team had a working agreement with the St. Louis Browns of the American League. Pug Griffin was the manager of the Links. Like all teams in the spring there was much optimism about the upcoming year.
The Links were a good team during the regular season and finished with a winning record. They finished in fourth place, 11 games out of first. This put them in the playoffs. They met Sioux Falls in the first round of the finals. Although the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball states they won the series 4 games to 2 the Lincoln papers state that it was a five game series. The first two games were played in Sioux Falls and the next two were played at Lincoln. Tied 2-2 after four games, the agreement was that the location of the fifth game would be decided by a coin toss. Lincoln won the coin toss but Sioux Falls refused to play another game in Lincoln and Stucker, their manager and his team went home. Eventually they agreed to play in Sioux City a neutral site and Lincoln won the game.
Lincoln led the league with 235 stolen bases during the season and they were also first in club batting with a .295 team average.
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Roster:
Hans Krueger led the team with a .348 average. He was named to the All Star Team in an outfield position. Ted Kakaloris led the league in RBI's with 114 and had a .342 average for the year. He was the only returning veteran on the team. He was named to the 1939 All Star Team at third base. Bob Dillinger was a 19 year old rookie from Glendale California. He averaged .314 for the year and led the league with 139 runs scored. Bob also had 67 stolen bases for the year. He made it to the Browns in 1946 and had a six year major league career. Ed Jeselnik batted .281 with 393 at bats in 101 games at first base and in the outfield. |
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Bob Dillinger 1950 Bowman Card photoshopped :-) |
Floyd McDaniel was named an All Star at short stop and hit .299 for the season.
John Noversal hit .299 in 105 games in the outfield garden. John Cernovich played in 12 games and averaged .170.
Behind the mask for Lincoln in 1939 was Ralph Smith . He played in 110 games and averaged .293.
Nick Gregory hit .352 in 125 at bats while playing in the outfield.
Pitchers:
John Miller was acquired by Pug Griffin from the
Topeka Club in the Western Association. He led the league in wins with 21
against 11 losses. He also had 208 strike outs to lead the league.
Cliff White was 10-7 for the year with 101 strike outs.
Anthony Carr from Fredrickstown Pennsylvania was 12-10 as a pitcher and batted .299 in 144 at bats. He also played catcher.
Harold Boham was 3-3 in 9 games.
Eddie Yelkin from Johnson was a right handed pitcher and finished with a 4-7 record.
Larry Kennedy managed a 4-2 record in 7 games. Henton was 1-2 and Blackwell was 0-1 for the year.