No Sunday Ball and No Television: The Ottawa Giants & Athletics, 1951-1954

1. THE INTERNATIONAL RETURNS

In the case of Ottawa’s return to the International (née Eastern) League, as has so often been the case in Organized Ball, one town’s misfortune proved to be another city’s gain, however briefly.

The New York Giants’ Triple-A club in Jersey City, affectionately or derisively known as the Little Giants, struggled in the standings and suffered at the gate,1 with attendance depressed by Roosevelt Stadium’s proximity to New York’s three resident big-league clubs, and the availability of television and radio broadcasts. By the close of the 1950 season the parent club’s leadership, led by owner Horace Stoneham, were looking to relocate their affiliate.

By contrast the 1950 Ottawa Nationals of the Class-C Border League enjoyed success both on and off the field, reaching the championship series (ultimately bowing to the Ogdensburg Maples) and leading the circuit in attendance by a wide margin.

When Stoneham and company considered alternative locales for their farm club, Scranton was a possibility, but Ottawa was preferred if it could be arranged. The city, when combined with Hull, Quebec, just across the river, boasted a population of a quarter million people, an absence of available baseball broadcasts, and in Lansdowne Park a stadium capable of seating 10,000 fans, with a plan to expand to 12,000.2 In late November, International League president Frank Shaughnessy (no stranger to the capital city) and Carl Hubbell—the old lefty screwball specialist, retired from play and serving as the Gothams’ director of minor league clubs—toured the park.3

They apparently found the facilities to their satisfaction, as a week later it was announced that Ottawa had acquired Jersey City’s International League rights, with the Giants name moving with the club. Charles A. (Charlie) Stoneham, cousin of New York owner Horace, retained his role as the club’s president and general manager. The arrangement entailed a payment to the Border League for territorial rights, while the Border League Nationals were to be transferred to Cornwall, Ontario. The departing team’s owner, Ottawa sports impresario Tommy Gorman, managed to insert himself into the operation of the town’s new team, too, explaining that he would “look after the business administration of the Ottawa Giants while the New York National League Giants will arrange for the players under the partnership deal.”4 Ex-Giant backstop Hugh Poland was announced as manager.5

To hear Austin F. Cross tell it, the whole chain of events was kicked off by a stray comment he made while covering the 1950 World Series for the Ottawa Citizen. Cross, a veteran journalist who also penned a column for The Sporting News, was extolling the capital’s many advantages to fellow writers, “then paused and, like a ham actor, said with emphasis: ‘…And no television.’” Encouraged to include this in a new column, Cross obliged and said Citizen piece was read by Gorman, who quickly dashed off a note to Horace Stoneham proposing this new arrangement. Stoneham replied by inviting Tommy to New York. “So a deal was mapped out,” said Gorman.6 Horace and Charlie Stoneham, Hubbell, and Polo Grounds PR director Art Flynn traveled to Ottawa together in January to jointly inspect Lansdowne Park.7 One expects that, surveying the bleak frozen expanse of Ottawa in midwinter, they required a little imagination to picture baseball being played there.

2. THE OTTAWA GIANTS’ FIRST—AND ONLY—SEASON

By mid-March the Little Giants were encamped with their big-league brethren in Sanford, Florida to train for the 1951 season. Twenty-seven players earmarked for Ottawa—ex-Jersey City team members, as well as new additions—made their way to camp, to be joined by manager Poland, en route from his home in Kentucky.8 The Giants, having finished fourth in the eight-city loop (albeit in a different city) the previous year, were expected to remain somewhere around the middle, their chances anticipated to get a boost via “considerable help from the New York Giants.”9

To observers, and likely to many if not most members of the Giants organization, the most exciting young prospect in camp was a player destined for Triple-A for some more seasoning. Alas, Willie Mays didn’t break camp and head north to Ottawa, but rather with the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association—the Giants’ other Triple-A club. When New York skipper Leo Durocher drove himself from Orlando to Sanford to take in an exhibition between Ottawa and the Millers, it wasn’t to see the Canadian side’s George Bamberger or Stanley Jok. It was to see Mays.10

When the Little Giants left Florida to begin regular season play, their first stop was Springfield, Massachusetts, home of the Cubs, then entering their second year in the International League, who’d finished just behind Jersey City in 1950. The two clubs were slated to play three games at Pynchon Field. For the start Hugh Poland tabbed righty Andy Tomasic, a Pennsylvanian who’d previously played football with the Pittsburgh Steelers.11

Pregame festivities in Springfield included Ottawa mayor Grenville Goodwin fouling off the first pitch as delivered by Dan Brunton, mayor of Springfield. An American Legion band featuring two majorettes entertained, and a ceremony was held to raise the flag, which flapped in a frigid breeze, bedeviling the fewer than 3,000 fans who’d braved the less-than-ideal conditions, though on warmer nights Pynchon could accommodate 7,000.

The game proved to be a harbinger of things to come for the Little Giants: good pitching, scarce hitting. Tomasic took a 1-1 tie into the eighth inning before running into trouble and ceding the bump to George Heller. Ottawa managed only three hits, but two them were triples—by corner outfielders Stan Jok and Milton Joffe—and the Cubs contributed two errors and six bases on balls. It all added up to an Ottawa victory. Said Hugh Poland, “It doesn’t matter how you win them, just so long as you wind up in front.”12

The club didn’t wind up in front for the remainder of their debut road trip, dropping the rest of the series in Springfield and going winless in Baltimore. They finally arrived in the Nation’s Capital ahead of their scheduled opener on April 25, only to see the contest washed out.

The extra day gave Poland time to get his second baseman into the game. The big club had expected Ottawa’s everyday man at the keystone to be Armando Ibanez, but the Cuban import broke his leg in camp.13 Into the fray stepped Bill Metzig—ex-Ottawa National, who’d been tabbed to manage the now-Cornwall-based Border League club. Metzig held down second on the Little Giants’ opening road trip while Poland awaited the arrival of Bobby Hoffman, most recently with Oakland of the Pacific Coast League. Hoffman joined the team in Ottawa in time for the home bow.14

The pregame pomp included Mayor Goodwin once more, this time delivering the pitch to External Affairs Minister, noted baseball fan, and future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, while Agriculture Minister James Gardiner played catcher. Pearson fouled it off.15

About 7,500 fans pushed through the turnstiles at Lansdowne Park that afternoon.16 The vast majority of the seating was in the north-side grandstand, with fewer scattered around the playing surface in bleachers placed at a considerable distance from the field of play. The park was never intended as baseball facility; its primary tenants were the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (and later the Canadian Football League). The single-decked covered stands buffeted the field’s football orientation, stretching in a straight line from end zone to end zone. With home plate situated just out of bounds at midfield, those seated at the grandstand’s outer extremes found themselves looking in on the action at a sizable remove.

The shared field was also the cause of some friction. When the Border League club was resident, the infield was nearly solid turf, broken only by “three-feet-wide strips running from base to base and from the pitchers’ mound to home plate,” per the team’s agreement with the Central Canadian Exhibition Association (CCEA), owners of Lansdowne Park. Giants farm director Hubbell scoffed upon first viewing the field, remarking that such a layout wouldn’t do for a Triple-A outfit. Said King Carl, “it wouldn’t take any more than a close loss for a visiting team on a bad hop, or an injury, before Ottawa would be getting bad publicity and a lot of squawks.” Poland and Charlie Stoneham apparently agreed, calling for the diamond to be “skinned.” The football club protested. As there was no International League rule demanding the removal of sod, and the contract signed by the Giants with the CCEA was clear in its requirements, the grass remained in place.17

Andy Tomasic was again handed the ball for the Lansdowne opener, and he rose to the occasion, turning in a complete game and chipping in a triple in a 5-3 Giants win. Center fielder Paul Mauldin and left fielder Stan Jok each added a pair of hits, and the latter drove in three. Other than the presentation of a horseshoe wreath to Poland on behalf of Les Tapaguers (“the rowdies”), a booster group of French-Canadian supporters, those were the highlights.

The losing recommenced the next day, as the Giants committed nine errors behind lefty Frank Fanovich. In the rubber match, the Giants’ Red Hardy tossed a one-hitter, shutting out Springfield 4-0.

Let it not be said that the club left their home worse than they’d found it: improvements during the homestand included new light towers to allow for night games, and a new batting cage sent all the way from New York by the parent club.18 The latter did not appear to have been of material benefit to the Little Giants, who struggled to hit .200 in the season’s early going.

But an anemic offense was not the biggest threat to the team’s well-being. Rather, two factors prevented the Ottawa Giants from achieving success and longevity in their new home: the minor leagues’ convulsions as baseball tried to find equilibrium after a postwar boom, and the continued embargo on Sunday baseball in the city.

In 1948, there were 263 minor-league ballclubs formally affiliated with the 16 National and American League organizations. By 1951, there were 180. The industry as a whole was experiencing a period of retrenchment; eight of 58 lower leagues had disbanded since the late-1940s peak, accounting for nine of the 83 severed connections. A bigger chunk of those cut from affiliation—21 teams—had been owned by their parent clubs (like the Ottawa Giants), their elimination reflecting decisions to reduce operating costs.19

Troublingly for Ottawa fans, Horace Stoneham made comments indicating the Giants would make the Minneapolis Millers their sole entry at the Triple-A level. “Here’s the truth about our minor league set-up,” Stoneham told Minneapolis journalist Charles Johnson in late July, “[w]e’ve got too many tie-ups, especially in Triple A… Our plan is to have only one Triple-A tie-up, and that will be Minneapolis.”20

One of the Little Giants’ problems surely dovetailed with the other: the trouble and expense of scheduling around the continued ban on Sunday baseball in Ottawa might have made the Millers the more appealing option. The embargo on staging games on the seventh day put the city of Ottawa out of step, standing as the lone entry in the International League obliged to keep the Sabbath baseball-free. As a result, homestands were interrupted by the need to go elsewhere on Sunday. Efforts to overturn the local dictum were repeatedly foiled by plebiscites which indicated the public’s desire to uphold the ban.21

Attendance remained decent, though, even when a disastrous month of June—21 losses in 30 games—dropped them from fourth place to seventh,22 where they would eventually wind up at season’s end with a record of 62-88, just a half-game up on Springfield. Though offensively challenged, and with their often-promising pitching23 frequently stripped for parts by the parent club, the Little Giants drew a total of 132,096 paid spectators to Lansdowne Park in 1951, better than twice as many as had shown up for the club’s final season in Jersey City (63,191)24—and all with no Sunday dates.

If the season had a high point, it came on July 9, when Leo Durocher and the big club visited Ottawa for an exhibition—a game brokered by Tommy Gorman when negotiating for his Border League side to vacate the city to make room for the Giants. The Internationals emerged triumphant over their big brothers, 4-1, and a gate-busting crowd in excess of 10,000 was on hand to witness it.25

But the writing was on the wall for the Ottawa Giants, with Stoneham and company looking to pull the plug on the club. By midseason the talk was that Gorman would be given the opportunity to exercise his option to purchase the Ottawa team for $125,000, allowing the Giants to pull back and Gorman to keep a team in the capital.26

But Gorman’s contractual deadline of November 15 came and went without a handshake or a signature, and the Little Giants hit the open market. Interested buyers in Newark got deep into the process, but couldn’t come to lease terms with the Yankees, who owned that town’s Ruppert Stadium.27 Scranton was briefly in the running, too, as was a return to Jersey City.28

 

A 1953 newspaper advertisement for Bob Trice Night at Lansdowne Park. (Ottawa Journal, August 13, 1953)

 

3. THE A’S SET UP SHOP

It so happened, while all this transpired, that Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics were in the market for a Triple-A team. The A’s had last had an affiliate in the top minor tier in 1950, when they’d been tied to the International League’s Buffalo Bisons for one season, and had passed the ’51 campaign with farms only at Class A and below. With the New York Giants looking to sell their way out of Ottawa, the A’s began to kick the tires.

Boosters in Ottawa were optimistic, as was Frank Shaughnessy, president of the International League. Ehlers and scout Bernie Guest were in town in early February, and they assured the public that they would operate the club differently than the Giants’ revolving-door approach to roster construction. Said Ehlers, “We won’t take anybody from Ottawa who is helping Ottawa. We want to promote baseball here and in the surrounding district. We don’t want to lose money and to make sure of not losing money you must have a contending team. We’re going to do our best to provide one.” Elmer Burkart was installed as the club’s business manager, and the well-traveled Frank Skaff named manager.34 The big club also poured a reported $75,000 into refurbishing Lansdowne Park, including new seats.35

The team set up camp in Leesburg, Florida, with the full squad reporting March 12. On hand were some familiar faces who’d stuck around when the Giants had declined to keep them in the organization—pitcher Frank Fanovich, catcher Neal Watlington, and outfielder Stan Jok all fit that description—and many new, Philadelphia-penned additions. Among those who looked to be gearing up for a promising season was Lou Limmer, a lefty-hitting bopper who’d led the American Association with 29 homers in 1950 while with St. Paul, and spent ’51 with the big A’s, nabbing time at first base when Ferris Fain broke his foot kicking a bag in anger.36

The A’s opened at Buffalo where they dropped two games, hitting well but giving up too many late runs.37 On to Syracuse they motored, losing three contests there. Once home, the pageantry and ceremony dispensed with, they went winless in three tries against Buffalo to put them at 0-8 on the young season.38

A win came at last when Charlie Bishop threw a five-hitter for a 6-4 win over Buffalo on April 26, in the last of the Bisons’ four-game visit to the banks of the Rideau Canal.39 But winning was not the norm: Ottawa was 2-12 and in last place in the International League come the first of May. And of equal concern was the public reception. Just 845 fans showed up on May 1, and 703 the next day.

Rays of hope took the form of outfielder Johnny Metkovich, who had nine steals through 19 games, and second-sacker George Moskovich, who reeled off an 11-game hitting streak.40 Starter Marion Fricano was quietly effective, keeping his ERA to 2.26, a figure that would wind up pacing the circuit and earn the righty a September call-up.

Bishop provided a highlight on Saturday, May 24 when, in the first game of a doubleheader with Syracuse, he threw a no-hitter for a 1-0 win in front of 5,676, the largest home crowd of the year. The A’s also scooped the capper, 6-5.41 By mid-August Bishop was 12-10, good enough for Philadelphia to buy him out of the International and employ him in half a dozen AL contests down the stretch.42

The club remained firmly in the second division, and things weren’t rosy off the field, either; in September the team was charged by Ottawa police with conducting a lottery after holding “Pot of Gold Night” on August 12. The promotion promised one fan a chance to grab as much loot as they could carry, but A’s administrators apparently failed to obtain the proper paperwork.43 A nominal fine of $10 was eventually imposed upon the A’s, reflecting a lack of nefarious intent.44

The A’s wrapped up the season in seventh place, though an attendance total of 167,000 apparently pleased the Philadelphia heads enough that, when GM Ehlers was approached by representatives from Toledo interested in moving the club to Ohio, he rebuffed the advance. Ehlers did take the opportunity to campaign in favor of Sunday baseball, citing both its benefit to attendance and simplified travel plans.45 A proposal to allow Sunday ball was once more presented to voters in December, and was resoundingly defeated, throwing some doubt into the A’s future in the city.46

Skipper Skaff returned in 1953 though, as did the mound trouble; said The Sporting News, “The pitching outlook [was] not good.”47 There were some notable names on the squad coming out of spring training: Kell and Shantz. Unfortunately they bore the wrong given names, with George Kell’s younger brother, Everett (“Skeeter”) set to play second, and Bill Shantz, kid sibling of Bobby, donning the tools of ignorance.48

Outfielder Taft “Taffy” Wright was hot early (his average stood at .405 on June 3), and the A’s rode a late-May streak of six wins and 11 victories in 18 games to the cusp of the first division. Crowds swelled as the weather warmed.49 But Lou Limmer hurt his shoulder, and Wright was dealt a fractured skull when hit by a pitch on June 24, sending the team sagging back down to seventh place.50

As the season wore on, against all odds, a hero emerged. Tall hurler Bob Trice began his pro career with the Homestead Grays, then spent three years in the Class-C Provincial League, going 16-3 for St. Hyacinthe in 1952. In 1953 he’d been moved up to Ottawa coming out of spring training, and quickly showed that the assignment was no mistake. He was 12-5 by mid-July, the first International League pitcher to a dozen wins.51 When Ottawa hit another rough patch, going 4 and 10 over 10 days in July, Trice secured three of the victories.52 He was no slouch with the bat, either, routinely helping his own cause, and occasionally being asked to pinch-hit in games he hadn’t started.

The club decided to honor their best pitcher with Bob Trice Night on August 13, during a doubleheader against Springfield. With the team in the midst of a grueling stretch—six games in three nights—Skaff tabbed Trice himself to pitch the opener on short rest.53 He responded by throwing a two-hitter, beating the Cubs 2-1 for his 16th win. Between matches he was presented with gifts, and surprised by the presence of his parents, flown in by the team for the occasion. There were 4,219 on hand to witness the celebration, and for good measure the A’s took the second game, too, 4-1.54

Trice wound up 21-10 on the year for Ottawa, earning a call-up to Philadelphia—breaking the color barrier for the A’s in the process, as Mack’s club had been among the last to integrate.55 At the end of the season, Trice’s trophy shelf required expansion, after he’d been named an All-Star, the International League’s Rookie of the Year, and the circuit’s MVP.56

Their ace’s accomplishments helped Ottawa squeak into sixth in the International League’s final standings, and attendance at Lansdowne Park crept north of 175,000, an increase over 1952. Ownership was pleased enough with how things had gone that they recommitted to the city. “We’re satisfied and happy,” said Ehlers in announcing that Philadelphia would leave its Triple-A entry in place (though he did take the opportunity to rally once more for Sunday baseball in the capital).57

Easing the pain of another second-division finish was the farm’s victory over the Philadelphia A’s when the latter visited Ottawa on September 4. Catcher Ray Murray’s homer proved the difference in the exhibition.58

The winter was marked by changes ahead of the 1954 season. Manager Skaff was out, having followed Arthur Ehlers to Baltimore, where the latter was appointed GM of the new American League Orioles (the relocated St. Louis Browns), and Skaff signed on as a big-league coach.59 Ottawa GM Elmer Burkart was out, too.60 Skaff’s replacement was Les Bell, promoted from Savannah,61 and filling the GM role was George MacDonald, who’d held the same post in St. Hyacinthe.62

Things started poorly for the 1954 team, and got worse from there. Uncertainty and rumors of financial insolvency swirled around the parent club, as well as intimations that the Macks were looking to sell.63 Connie Mack was aging and increasingly frail, his sons steering the ship in his absence, and losing money. Down on the farm, Ottawa fell to the International League cellar and stayed there.

Cause for excitement arrived in May when big-hitting Cleveland first baseman Luke Easter, working his way back from injury, was optioned to Ottawa.64 Initially reluctant to report—preferring instead an assignment to the Pacific Coast League—Easter did eventually land in town, where he set about sending towering home runs clear out of the stadium, including “the longest home run in the history of Lansdowne Park,” estimated at 435 feet.65

But things turned ugly on June 24 when Easter ignored his catcher’s shouts and cut a throw from the outfield, turning and gunning at the plate a runner trying to score. A spirited disagreement ensued between the slugger and his manager when Easter said he had heard Neal Watlington express his wish that the ball be allowed to travel but had chosen to cut it anyway. The result was a suspension for Easter (later changed to a $100 fine), and Bell losing the reins of his club, transitioning to a scouting job within the A’s organization.66

Reserve outfielder and baseball lifer Taft Wright (he of the fractured skull) was named manager, but his popularity among both players and fans couldn’t stir the club from their torpor. Securely in last place, the Ottawa A’s saw attendance slump accordingly, and the winds of change swirl all about them. The International League, in the person of Frank Shaughnessy, began making overtures to Miami, with Shags saying of Ottawa, “we have no chance there without Sunday baseball.”67 Local fans took note, and a committee was organized to try to drum up support for another vote on the matter.68

It was too little, too late. The A’s fate was sealed in late 1954 with the sale of the Philadelphia team from the Macks to Chicago real estate baron Arnold Johnson, who announced his intention to take the American League club to Kansas City. Johnson became owner of the Ottawa club as part of the deal, and suggested he’d move immediately to relocate them to Miami.69

In the end it wasn’t Miami, but Columbus, Ohio that marked the next stop on the franchise’s peregrinations. Pulling up stakes, the team adopted the name Jets, maintaining its relationship with the Athletics, and remained in the Ohioan capital for 15 years.

Tommy Gorman opined that the failure of the team in Ottawa was the responsibility of television, claiming the medium had “deteriorated all big-time sports,”70 though it’s clear from our vantage that lackluster on-field performance and turmoil among the club’s parent organizations played significant roles. But in all likelihood, the greatest culprit was the city’s continued insistence on keeping Sundays baseball-free.

Whatever the cause, when the 1955 baseball season opened there began a span of 38 years without affiliated baseball in Canada’s National Capital.

ANDREW FORBES is the author of three books on baseball: The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays (Invisible Publishing, 2016); The Only Way is the Steady Way: Essays on Baseball, Ichiro, and How We Watch the Game (2021); Field Work: Essays on Baseball and Making a Living (Assembly Press, April 2025). He is also the author of two collections of short fiction, a novel, and McCurdle’s Arm (2024), a novella about 1890s semipro baseball in southern Ontario. Born and raised, mostly, in Ottawa, Forbes now lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

 

NOTES

1 “Jersey City Giants,” BR Bullpen, Baseball Reference, last modified June 21, 2012, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jersey_City_Giants.

2 “Capacity of Ottawa Park to Be Expanded to 12,000,” The Sporting News, January 10, 1951: 11.

3 “Hubbell Inspects Ottawa,” The Sporting News, November 29, 1950: 12.

4 “Ottawa Gets Jersey Baseball Rights; Increase Lighting At Park,” Ottawa Citizen, December 6, 1950: 1.

5 The Canadian Press, “Stoneham Tells Of Transfer; Ex-Big Leaguer To Manage Club,” Ottawa Citizen, December 6, 1950: 1.

6 Austin F. Cross, “‘Ham Actor’ Remark Led to Club Move,” The Sporting News, January 10, 1951: 11.

7 “Caught On the Fly,” The Sporting News, January 17, 1951: 26.

8 “Contracts Sent to 27 Members of Ottawa International Club,” Ottawa Journal, February 19, 1951: 17.

9 Cy Kritzer, “Royals, Red Wings Loom as Standouts; Toronto Club Rated as Most Improved; Orioles Seen as First-Division Threat,” The Sporting News, March 14, 1951: 23.

10 Ken Smith, “Giants’ Only ‘If’ Is Their Ability to Hit,” The Sporting News, April 4, 1951: 11.

11 “Andy Tomasic,” Pro Football Reference, retrieved June 20, 2024, https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TomaAn20.htm, and “Andy Tomasic,” BR Bullpen, Baseball Reference, last modified January 26, 2011, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Andy_Tomasic.

12 Bill Westwick, “Giants Off to Winning Start in International,” Ottawa Journal, April 19, 1951: 17.

13 Cy Kritzer, “Powerized Orioles Pack Threat in Int,” The Sporting News, April 18, 1951: 18.

14 “Giants Set to Raise Curtain on Ottawa Baseball Season; Club Gets Warm Greeting On Arrival for Opener Here,” Ottawa Journal, April 25, 1951: 23.

15 Bill Westwick, “The Sport Realm,” Ottawa Journal, April 27, 1951: 26.

16 Bill Westwick, “7,469 See Giants’ Victorious Home Opening; Stan Jok Drives in Three Runs; Tomasic Hurls Well in 5-3 Win,” Ottawa Journal, April 27, 1951: 26.

17 “Not Skinning Baseball Infield Gorman Assures Football Club,” Ottawa Journal, December 29, 1950: 16.

18 “International League,” The Sporting News, May 9, 1951: 24.

19 Clifford Kachline, “Majors Still Cutting Farms; Total Drops to 180 for ‘’51,” The Sporting News, April 25, 1951: 22.

20 “Millers No. 1 Giant Farm—Stoneham Assures New Park,” The Sporting News, July 25, 1951: 36.

21 “International League,” The Sporting News, May 9, 1951: 22.

22 “International League,” The Sporting News, July 4, 1951: 26.

23 “If Ottawa’s attack was as strong as its pitching has been this season,” observed The Sporting News in August, “the club would be in the first division instead of trying to avoid the basement.” “International League,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1951: 32.

24 “International League,” The Sporting News, September 19, 1951: 34.

25 “Many Major Clubs Busy in Exhibitions,” The Sporting News, July 18, 1951: 15.

26 “International League,” The Sporting News, July 18, 1951: 15.

27 Cy Kritzer, “Drum-Beater Cooke Tells Int Officials How to Chase Gloom; Leafs’ Prexy Presents Brochure of Promotion Ideas; Way Being Cleared for Shift of Ottawa Club to Newark,” The Sporting News, December 12, 1951: 9.

28 Cy Kritzer, “Ottawa May Return to Jersey City; Scranton Also Indicating Its Interest; Giants Strip Franchise of All Players,” The Sporting News, October 24, 1951: 21.

29 Arthur Morrow, “Athletics Pass Up Chance to Acquire Ottawa Franchise,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1952: 23.

30 “Jersey City Makes Pitch, Now Awaits Macks’ Answer,” The Sporting News, January 16, 1952: 17.

31 Arthur Morrow, “A’s Take New Look at Jersey; Macks Reconsidering Site as Farm After Receiving Pledges of Co-Operation,” The Sporting News, January 16, 1952: 17.

32 Arthur Morrow, “A’s Pass Up Jersey Offer, Aim for Triple-A Club in ’53,” The Sporting News, January 23, 1952: 17.

33 Arthur Morrow, “Athletics Acquire Ottawa Franchise; Won’t Move Club,” The Sporting News, January 30, 1952: 21.

34 Bill Westwick, “A’s Promise Ottawa Players Will Stay Here; Frank Skaff Named Manager In New Deal for Baseball,” Ottawa Journal, February 6, 1952: 22.

35 “International League,” The Sporting News, April 30, 1952: 26.

36 Arthur Morrow, “Macks Clear Decks for Florida Exit by Shipping Out Eight,” The Sporting News, April 2, 1952: 18.

37 “Bisons Rally in 8th Inning to Beat Ottawa; Jack Conway Hits Home Run; Lou Limmer Gets Three Hits,” Ottawa Journal, April 19, 1952: 27.

38 Robert Mellor, “Bisons Explode in 8th to Keep A’s Winless; Come From Behind to Win, 6-4; Moskovich Knocks Homer,” Ottawa Journal, April 26, 1952: 25.

39 “International League,” The Sporting News, May 7, 1952: 32.

40 “International League,” The Sporting News, May 14, 1952: 36; “International League,” The Sporting News, May 21, 1952: 26.

41 Jack Koffman, “Top Ottawa Gate Treated to No-Hitter; Bishop Blanks Syracuse With 5,676 in Stadium,” The Sporting News, June 4, 1952: 27.

42 “A’s Buy Bishop From Ottawa,” The Sporting News, August 20, 1952: 19.

43 “Pot of Gold Night Brings Lottery Charge Against A’s,” The Sporting News, September 10, 1952: 38.

44 “Ottawa Fined $10 for Lottery,” The Sporting News, February 18, 1953: 34.

45 “Toledo Feeler for Ottawa Franchise,” The Sporting News, October 15, 1952: 32.

46 “Ottawa Sunday Ball Beaten; A’s May Look for New Site,” The Sporting News, December 10, 1952: 19.

47 Cy Kritzer, “International Loop Faces Old Question: Who’ll Halt Royals?,” The Sporting News, April 15, 1953: 16.

48 “Int Pre-Season Items; Shantz, Kell with Ottawa,” The Sporting News, April 22, 1953: 25.

49 “International League,” The Sporting News, June 10, 1953: 28.

50 Cy Kritzer, “Ottawa Loses Taft Wright, Skull Fractured by Pitch,” The Sporting News, July 1, 1953: 25.

51 Jack Koffman, “Lofty Trice Tops Int Hurlers With 7th-Spot Ottawa,” The Sporting News, July 22, 1953: 25.

52 “International League,” The Sporting News, July 22, 1953: 30.

53 “Trice May Pitch in Night,” Ottawa Journal, August 13, 1953: 18.

54 “International League,” The Sporting News, August 26, 1953: 28.

55 Arthur Morrow, “Trice, Ottawa Hill Ace, First Negro to Join Athletics,” The Sporting News, September 16, 1953: 5.

56 “Robert Trice Breaks the Color Barrier With the Philadelphia Athletics (September 13, 1953),” Barrier Breakers; The Negro League Baseball Museum, retrieved June 27, 2024, https://barrierbreakers.nlbm.com/player/bob-trice/.

57 “A’s ‘Satisfied,’ Will Retain Ottawa Farm Next Season,” The Sporting News, September 16, 1953: 10.

58 “A’s Lose to Int Farm,” The Sporting News, September 16, 1953: 15.

59 Jesse A. Linthicum, “Baltimore Fears Elephant Stampede; Wants More Athletes, Not So Many A’s,” The Sporting News, December 16, 1953: 1.

60 “Burkart Out at Ottawa,” The Sporting News, November 25, 1953: 23.

61 “Macks Revamp Farm System, Cut to Six Clubs; Three Are Dropped, One Added and Another Shifted,” The Sporting News, January 13, 1954: 9.

62 “Crowe Returns to Riders; Athletics Name MacDonald,” Ottawa Journal, November 20, 1953: 1.

63 “Wrigley and Veeck Deny A’s Will Transfer to L.A.,” “Two Philadelphia Groups Eyeing A’s,” The Sporting News, May 19, 1954: 8.

64 Carl T. Felker, “28 Extra Men on Major Lists After Cut Down; Bickford and Hal White Among Veterans Released,” The Sporting News, May 19, 1954: 11.

65 “International League,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1954: 38.

66 Jack Koffman, “Easter Out $100, Bell Fired After Run-In at Ottawa; Luke Draws Plaster as Result of Rhubarb on Bench; Wright Takes Over Helm of Slump-Ridden Athletics,” The Sporting News, July 7, 1954: 17.

67 Jimmy Burns, “Miami May Be Next in the Int, Shag Predicts; City Displays New Interest in O.B., Takes Steps to Buy Park from Aleman,” The Sporting News, September 8, 1954: 7.

68 Jack Koffman, “Ottawa Fans Plan Petition to End Sabbath Blue Law,” The Sporting News, September 1, 1954: 28.

69 Dan Daniel, “Johnson ‘Ear-Marks $1,000,000’ for Three-Year Player-Buying; New Owner Realizes that Athletics Need ‘Drastic Changes’,” The Sporting News, November 17, 1954: 6.

70 “Failure of Game in Ottawa Due to TV, Gorman Charges,” The Sporting News, February 16, 1955: 21.