York Prohibitionists
1911
|
| Image courtesy of Frank Macon |
York was awarded the Red Cloud franchise for the 1911 season. Although they acquired the franchise they did not acquire the players and basically had to build a squad from scratch. This put them at a disadvantage when compared to the other teams in the league who had returning veterans.
The team played their games at Parks Park. The York boosters in early May arranged to visit all the nearby towns via automobile and promote the opening day activities. The auto convoy visited Aurora one vehicle went all the way to Grand Island. From Aurora five cars visited Stockham, Henderson, Lushton, McCool and Charleston. Others visited Marquette, Hordville, Polk, Stromsburg and Benedict. To the east boosters visited Waco, Utica, Gresham, Thayer and Houston. The visits were considered a great success and many expected the crowds at York to exceed their fourth of July extravaganza.
Opening day saw McCalls band providing the music and a large crowd filled the stands and new bleachers. York lost to Columbus 11-9 in a high scoring affair.
The team started without a nickname. After their first away game at Fremont a Fremont writer gave them the nickname Prohibitionists and the name stuck. The town was known as a dry town and a town that did not allow Sunday baseball. They went through two managers during the season and a number of pitchers. The Prohibs started the year in last place and remained in 8th for the entire season. On July 24th they played in a 16 inning game against Hastings, winning the game 4-2. The last week of the season, Kearney took a nose dive and joined the Prohibs in the cellar. The lack of experience and lack of pitching resulted in a last place finish in 1911. Their 48-64 record tied them with Kearney for cellar honors 23 games out of first place.
Regulars
Charles "Chas" Melvin Payne was a regular at first base
for York. He was signed by Red Cloud during the winter of 1910. When
the franchise moved to York, Charles became a Prohib. In one story he
was identified as being from Belleville Kansas in others he was listed
as being from Guide Rock Nebraska. He played in
112 games and was second on the team with a .315 average. He played with
the Prohibs
in 1912 and 1913 also.
C. Smith played in 78 games at second base in 1911. He averaged .198, while playing in a total of 79 games.
Bradbrook was in the dirt at second for 28 games. He averaged .174 in 36 total game appearances.
Dye was a regular at shortstop in 1911. He averaged .247 in 100 games.
Johnny "Jack" "Chick" Farrell was the Prohibs third baseman for the year. The nineteen year old infielder from Chicago was acquired by Omaha and given a tryout with the Rourkes. He played for York again in 1912 and batted .297 in 110 games. In 1913 he played for Chicago in the new independent Federal League. In 1913 the Federal League was considered to be a minor league. In 1914, the Federal League declared itself to be a major league, Farrell played in 156 games for Chicago in 1914 and batted .235. In 1915 he batted .216 in 70 games for Chicago.
The catcher for the prohibs in 1911 was handled by committee.
Copple was behind the mask for 39 games.
He held a light bat and averaged .194.
Kelley caught for 36 games. He averaged .305 in 44 total
games. He became the regular catcher for York in 1912. (Kelly)
Steward caught 19 games and averaged .181.
Buchanan caught 18 games and averaged .308.
Outfield:
Goerge Harms was listed as manager of the prohibs and played in the garden for 111 games. He averaged .341 for the season.
Davis played in the outfield for 86 contests. He averaged .301.
Hanisey played in 112 games and averaged .288
Pitchers:
Fentress was a stalwart for the Prohibs. His playing was such that he was acquired by Omaha at the end of the NSL season and given a tryout with the Omaha Western League club. He played in 21 and had an 11-10 record. He played in 25 games for "Pa" Rourkes club in Omaha and had a 6-8 record.
Timmersman was in 31 games, had a 16-15 record with 168 k's.
Wilkins was 11-18 for the Prohibs.
Masters was 2-8 for the season. Nebraska State League Standings 1911