Cubs Baseball: Visalia’s Boys of Summer

Words by Terry Ommen

Exactlywhen the game of baseball began in the United States is open to debate, although most historians put its start sometime during the first half of the 1800s. It began as a crude game with loose rules, played with handmade gear. But as the years went by, the sport matured, formalized rules were created, and equipment improved. It became very popular and earned the title of “national pastime.”

When baseball came to Visalia is also a mystery, but clearly the game was being played in town as early as 1866 when the Visalia Weekly Delta on Saturday, November 24, 1866 invited “all lovers of base ball” to come and play at the west end of Main Street.

The first organized Visalia team was formed by Visalia businessman Thomas Fowler in 1879. He owned the Empire Store on Main Street and sponsored his Empire Club team. During the next decades, the game grew in popularity with schools, fraternal groups, and neighboring towns organizing teams. The earliest years of Visalia baseball recorded many teams with names like Nighthawks, Pirates, Colored Giants, Tigers, Mexican Athletic Club, Mexican Baseball Club and the Colts.

In the late 1800s, several half-hearted attempts were made to create a minor league professional baseball league in California. In 1941, the California Baseball League got its serious footing and began with eight teams—Anaheim, Bakersfield, Fresno, Riverside,

San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Merced, and Stockton. However, as World War II escalated, many young men were drafted or enlisted into military service, which reduced the number of available players. As a result, the league shrank to four teams before ultimately suspending play altogether.

In 1945, the league was back, returning this time with additional teams, including one in Visalia. On October 30, 1945, the Visalia Times-Delta newspaper announced the good news with the incorporation of the Visalia Cubs, Inc. as the Chicago Cubs’ farm team entry in the state league.

With Visalia entering the California League, the town’s Recreation Park baseball field would need to be improved. The city council agreed to go financially “part way” for the upgrade. They were willing to allot $2,000 for grandstand repairs, moving the fence, installing additional lights, and planting grass. J.I. “Pete” Shepherd, a Visalia baseball promoter and early spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce baseball committee, estimated an additional $5,000 would be needed for field repairs. He was confident the money could be raised by his committee because, according to Shepherd, the arrival of the Chicago Cubs farm team to town was “locally popular.”

As the season opener approached, the team and field were almost ready, but at least one problem needed to be addressed. With the end of World War II, soldiers were returning home, and Visalia was experiencing a serious housing shortage. So the newly arriving 19 Cub players were without a place to live. Housing had to be found, so Cubs’ management and city officials turned the ballpark clubhouse into player dormitories complete with city-owned beds. As a result, visiting ballplayers went without locker rooms, and used their hotel to get ready for the games. Despite this less than desirable arrangement, the 1946 season began.

On the evening of May 7, 1946, the Visalia High School band played as 2,000 fans filed into Recreation Park to watch Visalia’s first professional baseball home game. Mayor William R. Beckwith ceremoniously accepted the new $30,000 light system on behalf of the citizens. He then threw out the first pitch to open the first game of a 3-game series with the Bakersfield Indians, the Cleveland farm team.

Cubs player/manager Bobby Schang picked Ed Lotti to pitch the opening game, and he “gave a superior show” with perfect control. The Cubs won the nine-inning game 8-6.

The following night, the Bakersfield squad got revenge, beating the Cubs 15-6, thanks to the big bat of Edward “Mike” Garcia. Ironically, the former Visalia High School star had returned to his hometown, to play as a member of the opposing Bakersfield team.

The Visalia Cubs’ first year in the California League was far from spectacular. They finished in last place. But the following season, the hometown squad roared back and finished 2nd in the league. The fans responded to the good year, and broke an attendance record with over 104,000 for the season. But for the remainder of the 1940s, the Visalia team played mediocre to poor baseball.

The seasons in the early 1950s weren’t much better. In 1953, the local fans were surprised. The Chicago farm team left town, replaced by the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. That one-year affiliation ended with the Visalia Stars finishing mid-way in the league. By 1954, the Cubs were back. For the next three seasons—1954, 1955, and 1956—the struggling team finished near or at the bottom of the league. The 1956 season was the last one as the Visalia Cubs.

From 1957 on, the Visalia farm club had an affiliation with many major league teams. The local squad took on names that included the Redlegs, Athletics, Mets, White Sox, Oaks, and Rawhide. Today, the Visalia Rawhide is affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The local farm team wasn’t always in struggle mode. In 1971, the Visalia Mets won the town’s first California League championship. For almost 80 years, Visalia has had a farm team in the California Baseball League. Recreation Park has hosted some amazing players who went on to greatness in the major leagues, and has provided talented hometown athletics a chance to shine in front of the adoring eyes of proud family members and fans.

I owe a special thanks to Donny Baarns, the former radio voice of the Visalia Rawhide, who in 2011 wrote an excellent book called “Goshen & Giddings—65 Years of Visalia Professional Baseball”. His research was helpful to me and has contributed much to our understanding of Visalia’s rich baseball history.