The St. Paul Saints
Known as the Apostles during the early years of their American Association tenure, newspaper accounts frequently referred to the team as both the Apostles and the Saints during this same time period (roughly through 1910). The team will be referred to as the Saints in throughout this description.
The St. Paul Saints started their inaugural season in the American Association by landing in third-place with a record of 72-67 under manager Mike Kelley.
Originally playing at Lexington Park, the Saints were moved to a new venue in 1903 called Downtown Park where they remained until part way through the 1909 season.
Under Mike Kelley, the Saints scored their first American Association championship in 1903 while residents of Downtown Park. Kelley was a player-manager who occupied the first-sack during the team’s first league championship, hitting .306 in 252 at-bats (67 games) while leading the Saints to a record of 88-46. The Louisville Colonels finished the 1903 season 4.5 games in second place behind Kelley’s crew.
Saints’ Outfielder-thirdbaseman Phil Geier was the league’s hitting leader with his .361 batting average. Second-baseman Miller Huggins and outfielder Spike Shannon both hit .308 for the first-place Saints.
Charlie Chech captured 24 wins against 9 losses to propel the Saints to their first American Association title.
The following season the Saints were back on top, finishing with a record of 95-52, again under Kelley in 1904. Charlie Chech again topped the team in wins with 27 against only 8 losses, a .771 mark (high league in wins and winning pct.), sharing the top-wins mark with Sessions who took 10 losses.
Outfielder Jimmy Jackson posted the team’s only .300+ batting average, with 194 hits in 579 at-bats (.335) for the champion Saints.
As a team the Saints hit .276, third in the league. The Saints next rose to American Association ascendancy by posting a 94-60 record in 1919 with Mike Kelley again at the helm in his third stint managing the club.
During the first year of prohibition, Kelley’s Saints sported hot-hitting outfielder Elmer Miller whose .314 batting average led the club. Miller topped the American Association in triples (16) and home runs (15) while appearing in all 154 games for the Saints during their 1919 championship campaign.
On the mound for St. Paul was Dick Niehaus whose 23 wins led the Saints’ squad (23-13, .639) in 1919. Dan “Rusty” Griner came in at a close second to Niehaus with 21 victories against 14 setbacks (.600). Howard Merritt’s 19 wins against 9 losses (.679) deserves honorable mention.
Hitting only .268 as a club, the Saints were still able to land in the league’s top spot for the season. Second-place Kansas City had a team batting average of .284, while the league average was .262.
St. Paul met the Pacific Coast League’s Vernon Tigers in the Junior World Series in 1919, being devoured by a margin of 5 games to 4.
Not to be assuaged, the Saints came back to their superior splendor in the American Association in 1920 under Mike Kelley. With a record of 115 wins and 49 losses (.701), St. Paul reached a pinnacle in the league’s wins column. No team in American Association history has ever won more games in a single season, nor did any other A.A. team achieve a higher winning percentage.
Joseph Aloysius “Goldie” Rapp wrapped up the leagues’ top honor in hitting with a .335 batting average in 558 at-bats. The third-baseman hit no homers, but swatted 37 doubles and 9 triples for Kelley’s Saints in 1920. Eugene “Bubbles” Hargrave accomplished the same feat by hitting .335 but his 496 at-bats excluded him from achieving the Association’s batting crown. Hargrave’s 22 home runs should have figured into the judges’ consideration. Elmer Miller’s .333 at the plate is worthy of mention.
Charlie “Sea Lion” Hall (aka Carlos Clolo) amassed 27 wins for the Saints in 1920 against only 8 losses for a league leading win-percentage of .771 through 337 innings. Howard Merritt (21-10, .677) and Reese Williams (20-6, .769) were the team’s other amazing 20-game winners.
As spectacular as the Saints’ 115-win season was in the annals of American Association history, their prowess on the base paths did not serve them as well during the 1920 Junior World Series.
Meeting the Baltimore Orioles for the elusive minor league distinction, the champions of the International League proved an intimidating competitor. St. Paul could muster only a single victory in the six-game match-up with the Orioles outscoring the Saints, 29-23 as the O’s under Jack Dunn captured the honors of Junior World Series Champions.
But in 1922, the Saints were back in the swing. Posting 107 wins against 60 losses during Mike Kelley’s second-to-last season as skipper for St. Paul, the Saints ran away with the American Association crown by 15 games over runner-up Minneapolis.
Bruno Haas excelled at the plate for the Saints, as the outfielder hit .331 in 547 at-bats with 35 doubles and 14 three-baggers, topped of by 24 stolen bases. Outfielder Joe Riggert’s .316 average included 27 doubles and 14 triples.
As a team, the Saints hit .287, belying their potent offense, as the league average was .290 and the Association leader, Kansas City, put up a scorching .315 team batting average.
Tom Sheehan was the mound ace for the Saints in 1922. Appearing in a league-leading 53 games, Sheehan also led the league in wins with 26 while losing 12 (.684). Charlie Hall’s record of 22-8 (.733) held high marks, while John “Rube” Benton’s 22-11 record rounded out the Saints’ remarkable pitching threesome.
Again facing the Baltimore Orioles for the Junior World Series Championship, the Saints faltered in 7 games.
Staying true to their 2-year pattern, St. Paul capped the American Association teams by capturing first place in 1924. Under player-manager Nick Allen, a catcher by trade, the Saints absconded with 95 wins against 70 losses (.576).
Leading the hit parade for St. Paul was first-baseman Johnny Neun whose .353 batting average drew the attention of fans at Lexington Park. Neun led the league in stolen bases with 55. Inveterate baseball man Charlie Dressen occupied the hot-corner for the Saints, appearing in 164 games while leading the Association in RBI with 151 and building a batting average of .347. Dressen also led the Saints with 18 home runs in 1924.
Cliff Markle displayed pitching prowess as a professional hurler by posting a record of 19-9 (.679) and a handsome ERA of 3.02 for Nick Allen’s Saints. Howard Merritt’s 19-17 record helped the Saints go marching along while soaking up 277 innings. Local boy Tony Faeth put up an amazing record of 15-4 (.789) in 219 innings of work while posting an ERA of 3.46.
The Junior World Series match-up with Red Killefer’s Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League may as well have never been scheduled as a spate of bad weather resulted in a one-game playoff with the Saints topping Seattle, 12-4, in a contest played soggily on Sunday, October 26, 1924.
In 1931 the St. Paul Saints occupied the American Association’s top spot with a record of 104 wins, 63 losses. Manager Al Leifield led his club past Dutch Zwilling’s Kansas City crew by 14 games.
Tops among Saints’ hitters was burly first-sacker Oscar Roettger who banged out a memorable .357 in 608 at-bats. His 38 doubles was second only to outfielder Cedric Durst’s 43 two-baggers. Outfielder George Davis put up an impressive .343 in 623 at-bats while driving in a team-leading 136 runs. Keystone-sacker Jack Saltzgaver hit .340 in 679 at-bats while absconding with a league leading 26 stolen bases.
Walter “Huck” Betts won 22 games while losing 13 (.629) and posting the Saints’ best ERA of 3.60 in 285 innings as the Saints’ sterling hurler. Bryan Harriss took 20 wins against 11 losses (.645) with a 4.43 ERA for Leifield’s men.
The Saints were unable to capitalize on their talents in the Junior World Series. In a Fall meeting with the Rochester Red Wings, St. Paul defaulted in 8 games, despite an opening game shutout pitched by Huck Betts which the Saints won 4-0 on a grand-slam by Oscar Roettger at Lexington Park in St. Paul. Rochester took the series, 5 games to 3.
Not until 1938 would the Saints again top the American Association. Foster Ganzel was their new pilot as they put up 90 wins against 61 losses (.596). Bill Meyer’s Kansas City Blues landed 6 games out in second-place.
Leading the Saints’ charge in 1938 was second-sacker Ollie Bejma who hit .326 in 555 at-bats while assuming top duty on Ganzel’s crew with 25 homers and 114 RBI. Outfielder Malin McCullough was the team’s only other .300 hitter, achieving the .301 mark in 499 at-bats and leading the American Association with 41 doubles.
Vic Frasier took top honors in the win category with 17 against only 7 losses (.708) while mound-mate Art Herring wrapped up a record of 16-6 (.727) in 200 innings of work. Ray Phelps (12-8) had 3 shutouts while posting a team-best ERA of 2.96 in 219 innings with 16 complete games, each of those figures a team-high for the Saints.
After defeating Milwaukee in the first-round of the playoffs, St. Paul took on Kansas City in the finals with the Blues coming out on top, 4 games to 3, nullifying the Saints’ attempt to reach the Junior World Series.
In their final ascendancy to the peak of the American Association through 1952, the Saints held the league flag for the last time in 1949 while posting a record of 93-60 (.608) under second-year manager Walt Alston.
Outfielders Bob Addis and Hank Schenz hit .346 and .345, respectively. The Saints sported 6 hitters with batting averages over .300 for the ‘49 Saints.
Wisconsinite Phil Haugstad won a league-leading 22 wins against only 7 losses in 1949 for Alston’s Saints. Haugstad’s ERA was a lean .285 through 243 innings of work, tops on the team in both respects.
But the Saints faltered in the playoffs, losing out in the first round to Milwaukee, 4 games to 3. The Brewers lost in the final round to Indianapolis, sending Al Lopez’ Indians to the 1949 Junior World Series.
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copyright 2005 by Rex Hamann and The American Association Almanac.
