Southern California Trolley League

The Southern California Trolley League was a short–lived Class D minor league baseball league that played in the 1910 season. The six–team Southern California Trolley League consisted of franchises based in California. The Southern California Trolley League permanently folded before completing the 1910 season.

Southern California Trolley League
SportMinor league baseball, Class D
Founded1910
CeasedJune 13, 1910
No. of teams6
Country United States
Most titles1
Redondo Beach Wharf Rats (1910)

History

The 1910 Southern California Trolley League was organized by James McCormick and Ed Crolic. Jim McCormick owned a local pool hall and had owned and managed a local team called McCormick's Shamrocks, who played in numerous exhibition games. Ed Crolic would be the league secretary and become a manager in the California Trolley League, while McCormick served as the league president.[1][2]

The Southern California Trolley League was formed for the 1910 season as a six–team Class D minor league under the direction of league president Jim McCormick. The 1910 Southern California Trolley League began play hosting franchises from Long Beach, California (Long Beach Clothiers), Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles McCormicks and Los Angeles Maiers), Pasadena, California (Pasadena Silk Sox), Redondo Beach, California (Redondo Beach Wharf Rats) and Santa Ana, California (Santa Ana Walnut Growers). The Los Angeles Maiers were named for a local brewery and the Los Angeles MCormicks were named for their owner. Both Los Angeles teams played home games at Maier Park, sharing it with the Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

With all the league franchises being located in the greater Los Angeles area, the ballparks were accessible via trolley, leading to the league name.[17][18][19][20]

Maier Park, home of the both the Los Angeles Maiers and Los Angeles McCormicks had been built in Vernon, California in 1909 by local brewery owner Pete Maier for his Vernon Tigers, a Pacific Coast League club, who were the primary tenants. In an era where laws prevented alcohol within the city of Los Angeles, Maier Park was located directly adjacent to Doyle's Bar, which was advertised as the "longest bar in the world." Doyle's Bar had its own separate public entrance into the ballpark. It was noted that even players used the entrance to the bar in between innings.[21][22][23]

When the Southern California Trolley League was formed, it was with the intent to schedule games only on Sundays and play year around. Playing once a week, teams needed few pitchers on their roster. The Southern California Trolley League officially began play on April 3, 1910. As an enticement for fans to attend an early season game in Santa Ana, it was noted that a civic leader would bring a goat to the game. After three weeks, both Santa Ana and Redondo Beach had 3–0 records, after seven weeks they were both 6–1 and after ten weeks they were tied with 8–2 records. In week eleven, Redondo Beach ended the tie in the standings and beat Santa Ana 8–2. This was the final week of league play.[24][15]

The Southern California Trolley League struggled on and off the field. On May 1, 1910, it was reported that the Los Angeles McCormicks committed 11 errors in a 7–2 loss to Long Beach. On May 3, 1910, both the Los Angeles Maiers (1–3) and Pasadena Silk Sox (0–4) franchises folded. Then, the entire Southern California Trolley League disbanded on June 13, 1910. At the time the league folded, the Redondo Beach Warf Rats (9–2) were in 1st place followed by the Santa Ana Yellow Sox Growers (8–3), Long Beach Clothiers (4–5) and Los Angeles McCormicks (2–7).[17][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]

It was reported that league president Jim McCormick had organized a league meeting at his pool hall on South Spring Street for the purpose of settling the league's affairs and that some of the teams would possibly play independently in the future.[15]

1910 Southern California Trolley League teams
Team name City represented Ballpark Year(s) active
Long Beach Clothiers Long Beach, California Belmont Park Grounds[32] 1910
Los Angeles McCormicks; Los Angeles Maiers Los Angeles, California Maier Park[33] 1910
Pasadena Silk Sox Pasadena, California Unknown 1910
Redondo Beach Wharf Rats Redondo Beach, California Unknown[34] 1910
Santa Ana Walnut Growers Santa Ana, California Hawley Park[20] 1910

1910 Southern California Trolley League standings
Team StandingsWLPCTGBManagers
Redondo Beach Wharf Rats92.8180George Love
Santa Ana Walnut Growers83.7271Ed Crolic
Long Beach Clothiers45.4444S.J. Abrams
Los Angeles McCormicks27.2226Harris
Los Angeles Maiers13.250NANA
Pasadena Silk Sox04.000NAJoe Judge / Frank Abbott

[17][35][20]

References
  1. "Los Angeles Herald 15 February 1910 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu.
  2. "Los Angeles Giants". Baseball History Daily.
  3. "1910 Southern California Trolley League". Baseball-Reference.com.
  4. "1910 Long Beach Clothiers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  5. "1910 Los Angeles Maiers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  6. "1910 Los Angeles McCormicks Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  7. "1910 Pasadena Silk Sox Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  8. "1910 Redondo Beach Sand Dabs Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  9. "Southern California Trolley League (D) Encyclopedia and History". Baseball-Reference.com.
  10. "1910 Santa Ana Walnut Growers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  11. Reichard, Kevin (November 5, 2008). "Southern California Trolley League".
  12. "Professional Baseball in Los Angeles". www.laalmanac.com.
  13. "Southern California Trolley League". minorleaguesource.com.
  14. "Does Pro Baseball Really Want to Make Another Splash in Long Beach? • Long Beach Post Sports". lbpost.com.
  15. Berman, Jay (2000) "Little Big League" Orange Coast Magazine. June, 2000. p.149-152
  16. Berman, Jay. "A True Brew Story". Los Angeles Downtown News - The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles.
  17. "Southern California Trolley League - BR Bullpen". www.baseball-reference.com.
  18. "Does Anyone Remember Santa Ana's Yellow Sox?". San Juan Capistrano, CA Patch. June 13, 2014.
  19. "In the Pipeline: Author touches all the bases". Daily Pilot. June 11, 2012.
  20. Epting, Chris (2012) Baseball in Orange County. Arcadia Publishing, p.30. ISBN 0738593281
  21. "PCAD - Vernon Park #1, Vernon, CA". pcad.lib.washington.edu.
  22. "Erased and Invisible History: Doyle's Bar & Vernon Stadium Arena". May 25, 2016.
  23. Creason, Glen (March 2, 2016). "CityDig: Vernon May Be Boring Now, but in the Early 1900s It Was Bumping".
  24. "1910 Southern California Trolley League (SCTL) on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  25. "1910 Southern California Trolley League (SCTL) Standings on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  26. "1910 Santa Ana Yellow Sox Growers Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  27. "Los Angeles Maier Statistics and Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  28. "Redondo Beach Warf Rats Statistics and Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  29. "Long Beach Clothiers Statistics and Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  30. HarveyColumnist, Steve. "ONLY IN LB: Raccoon Bandits; Neighborhood Nudity, Baseball Season". www.Gazettes.com.
  31. "May - Professional Sports History". sites.google.com.
  32. "Belmont Park Grounds in Long Beach, CA history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  33. "Maier Park in Los Angeles, CA history and teams on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  34. "1910 Redondo Beach Warf Rats Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  35. "Los Angeles McCormicks - BR Bullpen". www.baseball-reference.com.
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