Fargo Raids Winona Supply

Fargo's 1897 club was the beneficiary of apparent financial instability on the part of the Winona, MN team. Though the Winona team continued to play late into the summer, in early June they lost three of their key players to the Divorcees of the Red River Valley League. Fargo, interested in bolstering its roster after a slow start, added Bill Zink, outfielder Hopkins, and infielder Jack Murphy to try to provide a boost in run production. All three men, likely seeking better pay, had starred for the Winona club earlier in the summer of 1897. Their departure left pitcher Ignatius Comiskey, brother of then St. Paul manager Charles Comiskey, to lead the Winona team.

Winona Daily Republican Summer 1897.

On This Date: Fargo Players Appear; Millers' Home Finale

Sept. 19, 1897 - Trying to squeeze in just a little more summer, the workers of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads scheduled a game in St. Paul. Slated to appear for the Northern Pacific team were three players who appeared for Fargo earlier in the season. The most notable of these was Jimmy Banning, the only man to appear on both the 1887 and 1897 Fargo league teams. Banning made a few playing and umpiring appearances in Fargo earlier in the summer of 1897. Also appearing for the NP were Frank Schumansky, who was slated as the starting pitcher, and the unfortunate Hornsby, whose brief appearance for Fargo had been an embarrassment.

An awful weather day greeted the railroad men on the afternoon of Sunday, September 19. The cold conditions made controlling the ball a difficult task for Schumansky, who walked ten Great Northern batters. But he may have survived his wildness if not for the eighth inning. In the eighth frame, Schumansky allowed five consecutive singles as the Great Northern club extended their lead from two runs to six. The Northern Pacific men couldn't make up any of the deficit, and fell 12-6.

Meanwhile, the woeful Minneapolis Millers scored two ninth inning runs to defeat the equally woeful Kansas City Blues in the Millers' home finale. The teams finished sixth and seventh respectively in the standings of the eight team Western League. Minneapolis would lose its season finale 20-3 to Connie Mack's Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 21, the season's final day. Deacon Phillippe pitched poorly for the Millers, though only seven of the runs he surrendered were earned. The St. Paul Saints held onto third place in the standings, just a half game ahead of the Brewers.

The final Western League standings
1) Indianapolis 98-37
2) Columbus 89-47
3) St. Paul 86-51
4) Milwaukee 85-51
5) Detroit 70-66
6) Minneapolis 43-95
7) Kansas City 40-99
8) Grand Rapids 35-100.

St. Paul Globe Sept. 19, 1897 p.8 "Fun for Railway Fans"
St. Paul Globe Sept. 20, 1897 p.5 "Safe on Third" and "Great Northern Won"
St. Paul Globe Sept. 22, 1897 p.5 "It Was Sufficiently Easy"

Metaphorically Speaking

The baseball accounts from the dead-ball era were often unusually and excessively descriptive. The writing certainly played an important role regarding perceptions of baseball in an era before radio and television. The newspaper descriptions about the games of the Red River Valley League are a key piece in understanding the flavor of the league. Here are some of the more entertaining gems:

During the summer of 1897, several pitchers who struggled to control their pitches were deemed to be "as wild as a March hare" by the Sunday Argus. Among the out of control rabbits were Wahpeton-Breckenridge's Ollie Berg, Grand Forks pitcher Charlie Hutton, and Fargo's Gus Munch. On a separate occasion, during a particularly poor weather day in which Ollie Berg surrendered 15 runs, the weather was described as "being as wild and wooly as Berg's delivery."*

Solid pitching performances elicited even richer descriptions. Deacon Phillippe was credited for being "as steady as a clock" in a game in late June. Wahpeton-Breckenridge pitcher O'Donnell's alertness in a game in late May caused The Moorhead Independent to credit him for watching base runners "like a hungry hyena".** Moorhead's Pike Mullaney was complimented for a start in which he "shot the ball over the plate with Denzer-like steam," a reference pitcher Roger Denzer, who threw for the St. Paul Saints and Chicago Colts in 1897.*** Moorhead's other ace, Bob Brush, pitched an impressive game allowing hits and runs "as scarce as mosquitoes in January."**** Perhaps the most creative embellishment of a pitcher's dominance came courtesy of the Sunday Argus. The paper remarked that Pike Mullaney's pitching against the Wahpeton-Breckenridge club "had the Methodists feeling around as aimlessly as pedestrians trying to escape the Fargo street sweeper, or huge cats from whose muzzles the whiskers had been cleanly shaven."*****

*The Moorhead Independent June 11, 1897
**Independent May 28, 1897
***Independent June 25, 1897
****Independent June 11, 1897
*****Sunday Argus May 30, 1897

Player Profile: Gus Munch

Gustave E. “Gus” Munch made his Fargo debut on July 8, 1896 in an 8-7 ten inning loss against Crookston. The young left-hander went eight innings in the box for the Fargo club, giving way to manager/pitcher Lee Roberts, who pitched the final two innings. Despite giving up three runs in the eighth inning, Munch left the game with his team ahead 7-6, having struck out an impressive twelve Crookston players. The Crookston club scored once in the ninth to tie the score, and Ignatius Comiskey scored the game winning run after leading off the tenth inning, as he reached home on a triple and a throwing error.

The 1896 season was the beginning of a long career for Munch in professional, semi-pro, and amateur baseball in the Midwest. Leading up to the 1897 season, Munch was considered among the best young talent in the St. Paul area. The St. Paul Globe touted him as a “robust young fellow, with plenty of speed and good curves, and …a disposition to play ball.” (3-28-97)  He began the season with the St. Paul Saints of the Western League, pitching well in an exhibition win in mid-April. With this impressive performance, the fans were anxious to see the talented twirler make his regular season debut against the Minneapolis Millers on May 16. It was not a happy ending for Munch or the 5,500 home fans in attendance, as the Saints were pummeled 16-5. Munch was hit hard by the Millers, but didn’t receive any help from his defense, which committed an atrocious 11 errors. Despite only allowing five earned runs, the St. Paul Globe still was not convinced that Munch was ready to compete against the talent of Western League.

Munch’s poor debut for the Saints meant more seasoning in the Red River Valley League, and the beneficiary was the Fargo club. Munch made his 1897 debut for the Divorcees on June 4, facing the Grand Forks Senators in Fargo’s home opener. He pitched well, striking out nine men and allowing just eight hits, but the Senators’ F. W. Harris (a.k.a. Myers) was the better pitcher on that cold Friday afternoon in Fargo. Harris walked seven, and the Senators committed five errors, but Harris surrendered only two hits in the 4-2 Grand Forks win.

Munch pitched the remainder of the season with Fargo, and after the RRVL disbanded, he bounced around the region playing for town teams. On September 6, he was in the box for Brainerd, MN in a contest against Staples, MN. Munch was impressive and struck out 13 in his team’s win.  Later that month, Munch led the West Superior, WI amateurs to the interstate championship against the club from Marquette, MI. Impressively, the young lefty pitched complete games on both Saturday and Sunday in front of 3,000 excited fans.

Throughout the next decade, Munch played mainly for amateur teams in the Upper Midwest, including clubs from his home town of Chicago. Showing immense talent as a crafty left-handed pitcher, Munch’s best pitch was his curveball, and he also had a solid fastball and respectable changeup in his pitching repertoire. His deceptive sidearm delivery further fooled batters, who struck out against Munch often. He likely would have made the major leagues if he had devoted himself to baseball full-time. Instead, Munch was more satisfied with his job at a street lighting company in Maywood, IL. In 1900, he was treasurer of the company, and would eventually become its president. Seemingly not wanting to be tied to a contract with any single baseball club, Munch instead rented out his services to the highest bidder.

Munch became a coveted commodity for any club wanting to beef up its roster for a big game or series. This led him to appearances with amateur, semi-pro, and professional clubs in St. Paul, Chicago, Davenport, IA, Minneapolis, and Springfield, IL. During this stretch, Munch flirted with the idea of playing major league baseball, drawing strong interest from ­­­the New York Highlanders of the American League and their manager Clark Griffith. Though he never appeared in a major league game, Munch became part of a series in 1907 in Chicago that drew great interest in that city and beyond. Interestingly, his greatest moments in baseball would result from the dominance of Chicago’s talented all-black team, the Leland Giants.

Throughout the summer of 1907, the Leland Giants had dominated all competition in Chicago, leading the team to look for a more challenging opponent. As a result, a group of “All-Professionals” from the Chicago area was assembled by former major leaguers “Turkey” Mike Donlin and Jimmy Callahan. The select group of ballplayers would play a seven game series against the best team in the city not named the Cubs or White Sox. Negro League innovator Rube Foster was the star of the series, which went to the Giants four games to two. Foster was on the mound for all four of his team’s wins, pitching four complete games while allowing just seven runs to the All-Professionals. Though he didn’t face Foster head-to-head, Gus Munch pitched brilliantly in the two victories by the All-Professionals. In game two of the series, Munch scattered seven hits in a complete game win, 6-2. In that game, he picked off two runners, demonstrating another deceptive piece in his collection of pitching tricks. In game five, Munch was even more dominant, surrendering just two hits and striking out seven Giants in a 3-1 win. Despite Munch’s efforts, Rube Foster's Leland Giants became the “undisputed champions of Chicago” (p.115)

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican

July 3, 1896 “At the Ball Park” p. 8

July 9, 1896 “Played Ten Innings” p. 4

St. Paul Globe

February 14, 1897 p.9 “Drafting Local Ball Talent”

March 28, 1897 p. 8 “ ‘Commy’ Has Signed Munch – The ‘Packers’ Star Pitcher of a Year or So Ago”

May 17, 1897 p. 5

Sept. 7, 1897 p. 5 “Munch’s Good Record”

Sept. 28, 1897 p. 5 “Munch Was the Twirler”

The Sporting News

May 8, 1897

May 22, 1897 p.3

Andrew “Rube” Foster: A Harvest on Freedom’s Fields by Phil S. Dixon. p.109, 114-116

The Comiskey Connection

Charles Comiskey managed the St. Paul Saints of the Western League from 1895 to 1899, occasionally taking the field for the team. A career .264 hitter in 13 major league seasons, Comiskey later gained recognition as the cheapskate owner of the Chicago White Sox of the American League. Interestingly, his brother Ignatius, who was a deaf/mute, played baseball for the Crookston team in 1896. The Crookston Giants club played teams from Fargo and Moorhead during the course of the summer. On August 13, the younger Comiskey broke his arm in two places when one of the team's wagons tipped over following a game against Morris, MN. Sadly, Ignatius Comiskey died of a heart condition at age 25. He was found in Charles's house in Chicago on July 3, 1900.

St. Paul Globe August 14, 1896 p.5 "Young Comiskey Injured"

St Paul Globe July 4, 1900 p.8 "Ignatius Comiskey Dead"

Where Did Everyone Go?

Minor league baseball players in the late 19th Century often led a nomadic life. Minor leagues and teams were independent, not having the direct support of a Major League club as they do today. A league or a team that failed to draw enough fans and remain financially solvent couldn't hang on for very long without folding. As a result of this constant state of flux, players could not always count on staying in the same city throughout the summer. Even if their team and league were stable, it was still common for players to play a few games with other local teams when their league team was idle. For the Fargo Divorcees in 1897, these factors, along with a late start to the season (late May), the July 31st folding of the Red River Valley League, and the craving of baseball fans in the valley produced a perfect storm in which Fargo's players appeared in many different uniforms throughout the summer.

A working list of teams that featured Fargo players sometime during the summer of 1897:

Jimmy Banning - Umpired in the RRVL
Bergstrom - Minnehahas (MN)
Flannery - Perham, MN
Jimmie French - Hope, ND (2 games)
Reilly Green - Kenyon, MN
Haverty - Detroit Lakes, MN
Hayes - Omaha, NE (Western Association)
A. J. Hessler - Foster County, ND
C. R. Hickey - Wadena, MN (1 game)
Henry "Harry" Howe - Moorhead Barmaids and Denison-Sherman/Waco, TX (Texas League)
Charles Jahnke - Moorhead Barmaids
George Keas - a team in Southern Minnesota (after the league folded)
Arthur "Tige" Lyons - Sheldon, ND, Perham, MN, and served as umpire for RRVL games
Gus Munch - St. Paul Saints (Western League), Staples, MN (1 game)
Oscar Peterson - Minneapolis Millers (Western League), Wadena, MN (1 game), Wheatland, ND (1 game)
Charles "Deacon" Phillippe - Minneapolis Millers (Western League)
Josh Reilly - Kansas City Blues, Indianapolis Indians (both Western League), Springfield, IL Governors (Interstate League), Kenyon, MN
Lee Roberts - Mandan, ND (several games), Sheldon, ND, Detroit Lakes, MN
Fred Steele - Milnor, ND (1 game), a team in Western Iowa possibly
Bill Zink - a team in Western Iowa possibly

Level of Play

It's hard to definitively describe the level of play in the Red River Valley League in 1897, but an educated guess can be made. A few facts to make up our formula:

First, consider that Fargo's team had two former major league players (Jimmy Banning and Josh Reilly) and one future major league player (Deacon Phillippe). Grand Forks and Moorhead each had one future major league player on its 1897 team. Wahpeton-Breckenridge featured no past or future major league players. There were a few stars on each team that also enjoyed long minor league careers, often with higher-level leagues.

With the promising young stars and baseball veterans, however, were a mixture of local players whose baseball resumes were not impressive.

Also consider that the Red River Valley League was considered an informal "farm" league of the 1897 Western League. The Minneapolis Millers, St. Paul Saints, and other Western League teams sent players to the RRVL for parts of the 1897 season. The Western League could fairly be called what we would consider a AAA level league today.


With these facts taken into consideration, it would probably be fair to describe the 1897 RRVL as a A or AA level league - probably something in between these two modern designations. In fact, most of Fargo's minor league teams over the last 125 years would be described similarly in terms of level of play.