Paul Calvert

Arguably the best prospect produced by the province of Quebec in the 20th century, Paul Calvert’s recurring arm problems prevented him from reaching his full potential. Still, Calvert had an eighteen-year career full of ups and downs. This was never truer than in 1949, during which he had his time in the spotlight, early in the season, as the uncharacteristic star of a briefly surprising Washington Senators team, before dropping his last 14 decisions.

Paul Leo Emile Calvert was born in Montreal on October 6, 1917. He was the eighth of nine children. His father was John Calvert, a carpenter who had emigrated from England in 1892. As a result, the surname was pronounced the English way, with a hard ‘t’ as opposed to the French Cal-VAIR. His mother was Maria Bélanger, a French-Canadian.1 Calvert spoke both of the city’s languages but grew up primarily speaking in French. He kept his French accent, and occasionally reported some difficulties in making himself understood in English.2

Paul Calvert was immersed in baseball from an early age, acting as a mascot for his older brother’s teams. He began playing in a church-sponsored league at age 7. By age 15 he was already a good enough to pitch for senior teams. Spotted by former major leaguer Ed Wingo, he moved in 1936 to the Federal League, a semipro circuit, after being recommended to Charlie Culver, player-manager in Chambly, a Montreal suburb.3

After setting multiple strikeout records in the Federal League, Calvert was recruited by Sherbrooke (Quebec), which played in the Provincial League. Although officially semipro, this league, which had some players that had been suspended from Organized Baseball, was considered “outlaw.” It had a dozen players who had already played in the major leagues or who would reach the majors. Calvert finished the season with a 10-5 record, and he opened many eyes with his explosive fastball and a league-leading 127 strikeouts. He cemented his prospect status by striking out 14 in a playoff game.4

The right-handed pitcher attracted the attention of legendary scout Paul Krichell of the New York Yankees, who made him a contract offer that would have seen him finish the season with the Newark Bears of the Class AA International League. The bonus attached was rumoured to be as much as $10,000.5 At the suggestion of his teammates, he rejected it, a decision he still regretted decades later.6 Instead, Calvert joined the local Montreal Royals of the International League. He signed a contract for the remainder of the season, allowing him to become a free agent afterwards.7

Calvert made an impressive debut on September 4 in a doubleheader against Rochester in Montreal. In relief of Oad Swigart in the second inning, he gave up only two hits in five and 1/3 innings. However, he yielded five walks and three runs. He struck out three batters and got his first win as a professional. It was reported that his speed was giving opposing batters trouble, and that he had more velocity than anyone else on the Royals.8

He pitched in two more games with the Royals, finishing with a 1-1 record and a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings. He was later invited to New York City by the Giants, who could have added him to their roster immediately. Unfortunately, the trip was a disaster. The Montreal Gazette and the Montreal Daily Star offer different versions, but agree that rain postponed the tryout for three days before Calvert could throw for 15 minutes in front of manager Bill Terry and his staff, possibly during batting practice. It soon became apparent that Terry was no longer interested, in part after Calvert expressed his desire to obtain his college degree. The Giants’ offer was reported to include a $700 signing bonus, with yearly bonuses of $1,000 in 1939 and 1940 if he remained in the organization. 9

Calvert’s prospect status would soon be derailed. Sometimes before the 1939 season, Calvert began experiencing arm pain, which would follow him for the rest of his career. Many years later, Calvert would trace the origin of his pain to that off-season, as he forgot to put on his long underwear after emerging from a YMCA swimming pool on a chilly day.10 The cold did enough damage to afflict him with a lifeless arm almost every spring, as well as eating up several miles per hour off his fastball.11

Back with Sherbrooke in the Provincial League, the injury delayed Calvert’s start to the season and slowed him down well into the summer. To alleviate the pain, Calvert put his arm through several heat treatments. When he finally returned, Calvert was left on the mound for 13 innings in his second game. In all, he would pitch only 10 games, having to take the entire month of July off. He had a 4-3 record with 52 strikeouts.

Despite the shortened season, Calvert did enough to impress the Cleveland Indians. General manager C.C. Slapnicka sent him an offer for the 1940 season.12 When his signing was announced, he was listed as 20 years old, when in fact he was 22.13At his first spring training, he impressed manager Ossie Vitt, who liked how his fastball “sang,”14 but the arm pain soon caught up with him. Nevertheless, the Indians saw in him a good prospect. He was sent to Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) in the Class A Eastern League. After only four games, in which he gave up 12 earned runs and walked 16 in 21 innings, he was demoted to Cedar Rapids, in the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League. He did much better at that level, with a 6-4 record and a 2.57 ERA in 91 innings.

The 1941 season was similar to the previous one, as Calvert was optioned to Cedar Rapids before the season began. He pitched well (6-3, 2.30 ERA) but was plagued by injuries, which limited him to 82 innings. His usual arm pain was compounded by tonsillitis and dental problems early in the season.15

It was finally in 1942 that Calvert took the step forward the Indians had been waiting for. Changing his winter and spring routines, he decided not to push his arm until he was fully fit. He did only a few indoor sessions in Montreal during the winter, then ramped up his pitching regimen slowly during spring training. Back with Wilkes-Barre,he started his season a little late, but when he got going, he had his first long run of success since 1938. He won 10 straight to start his season, allowing him to momentarily eclipse teammate and star-in-the-making Allie Reynolds.16Calvert concluded the best season of his career with a 17-7 record and a 2.22 ERA in 207 innings. His good performance was rewarded: He was recalled by the Indians at the end of the season, along with Reynolds. Otherwise, he would have been eligible for the Rule V draft.17 Calvert was used only once, making his debut against the White Sox on September 24. He did well, giving up two bases on balls but no hits or runs in two innings of relief in a 3-1 loss. As he confided to the Montreal Gazette after the season, “There are no corners on the plate they use in the majors.” 18

After spending the offseason in a winter league in Cuba with fellow Montrealer Jean-Pierre Roy, Calvert reported to the 1943 Indians’ camp, where he managed to carve out a spot in the bullpen. He was not used much, however, and in early June he was sold to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. He had pitched five times for the Indians, mostly in doubleheaders.

Barely a week after transferring to Baltimore, Calvert was involved in an off-field incident, a fight that left him with a broken left wrist and a sprained right thumb. According to his story, Calvert didn’t appreciate the foul language used by an individual while he was walking a young lady down the streets of Baltimore. Although he said he was not a fighter, he could not help but mention that he won his fight.19

When he returned, Calvert had his worst moments in Organized Baseball, and even thought about quitting. His manager, former major-league pitcher Tommy Thomas, helped him hang on. After changing his motion, raising his arm, Calvert finished the season with four good performances, bringing his record to 4-11 with a 4.55 ERA.20

By 1944, the war had taken its toll on the player pool. Calvert’s poor vision prevented him from being drafted, even though he was single, but he had difficulty obtaining his visa. Calvert was college educated, having graduated from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Montreal before signing with the Indians. Because of his training as a chartered auditor, the Canadian government felt he could be useful to the war effort. He argued that like other apprentices he had to complete 12 months of training but had only completed seven in the off-seasons. It took the intervention of businessman and sports promoter Léo Dandurand, through whom he could explain his story directly to the Minister of Labour in Ottawa.21

He still arrived at the Indians’ camp early enough to earn a spot. While he made his first career start on April 29 against the Tigers, he was used primarily in relief early in the season. Through May 21, he had given up one earned run in 12 and 2/3 innings. He then moved into the rotation and had a breakout performance on May 28 against the A’s, limiting them to two earned runs in eight and 1/3 innings for his first win in the majors. In his next two starts, he gave up four runs in six and 2/3 innings against the Yankees, then failed to make it past the fourth inning against the Tigers, before returning to the bullpen. The rest of his season was up and down. By the end, his arm was in bad shape. Shortly after the season, he was back in Montreal for treatment.22 Still, a year after almost giving up on his career, he spent the entire season in the majors, posting a 1-3 record and a 4.56 ERA in 77 innings.

In the spring of 1945, Calvert arrived at the Indians camp with virtually a job in hand. Unfortunately, arm pains returned, preventing Calvert from showing what he could do. He didn’t make his debut until May 11, giving up three hits and two runs in an inning and 1/3 against the Red Sox. A few days later, at the deadline to trim rosters, the Indians sent Calvert back to Baltimore.23 In addition to his sore arm, the Indians criticized his lack of control and inconsistency. Because he had been optioned to the minors three times in the past, he was sold to the Orioles.24

His season with the Orioles was unremarkable. The highlight of his season came on June 12, when he defeated Buffalo and had four hits, including a home run.25

The end of the war brought back dozens of players. Calvert’s chances of returning to the majors were reduced and he predictably returned to Baltimore for the 1946 season. It was a memorable season in the International League, as Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Montreal Royals. When the Royals visited Baltimore early in the season, Calvert became the first pitcher in Organized Ball to hit Robinson with a pitch. A resulting sore wrist kept Robinson on the shelf for a few days.26 While some doubted Calvert’s intentions, given Calvert’s own minority status, lack of control and personal history, it would be very surprising if this was anything more than a pitch that got away.

After 16 games — four starts — with the Orioles, his contract was transferred to the Toronto Maple Leafs, also in the International League, where he pitched in five games, all starts. Seeing himself on a downward slope, Calvert joined fellow countrymen Jean-Pierre Roy, Roland Gladu and Stan Bréard in Cuba in the winter of 1946. For these players facing a professional dead end, the idea was to monetize their skills as much as possible while trying, perhaps, to open some eyes and turn things around. Calvert joined the Marianao team in the Cuban Winter League. Unfortunately, there was a high price to pay. The league had signed several players suspended from Organized Baseball a few months earlier for signing contracts with the Mexican League, a new professional league that wanted to compete with the major leagues. Notably, Calvert played with Max Lanier and Roberto Estalella in Marianao.27 This earned Calvert an indefinite suspension from Organized Baseball.

Calvert, who did well in Cuba, leading the league with three shutouts, was left with little choice but to join the Mexican League for the 1947 season. He played with San Luis Potosi and Tampico, with whom he had a 6-9 record and a 4.02 ERA.

After the season, he returned to Cuba, joining the Santiago team of the newly formed Cuban Players League, organized by the Mexican League ‘jumpers.’ Pointing out that he was not under contract with a major-league club when he had joined the jumpers the previous year, Calvert was able to convince Organized Baseball officials that his suspension had gone on long enough. In mid-January 1948, he regained his eligibility. He immediately switched to the Cuban Professional League, approved by Organized Baseball.28

With his contract still owned by Toronto, Calvert returned for the 1948 season. After only four games in relief, he left the club without warning, dissatisfied with his usage. Manager Eddie Sawyer was acting under the direction of the parent club, the Phillies, to give youngsters a chance.29 Meanwhile, in Quebec, the Provincial League was becoming baseball’s premier “outlaw” league, having attracted several of the suspended players. Stan Bréard was manager in Drummondville and Roland Gladu in Sherbrooke. Calvert ended up in Sherbrooke. A few weeks later, Toronto traded him to Atlanta in the Southern League. Calvert had no intention of reporting and did not even answer the telegrams. As a result, the trade was cancelled, and Calvert was suspended again by Organized Baseball.

Meanwhile, Calvert made a triumphant return to Quebec, obviously getting the starts he was denied in Toronto. On May 30, he pitched a sensational game at home against Saint-Hyacinthe. In nine innings, he gave up no hits, striking out six against four walks and a hit batter. However, the opposite pitcher, Armand Saulnier, was also doing very well, so it was still scoreless when Calvert came to bat in the bottom of the ninth with two runners in scoring position. Calvert beat out a bunt between third base and shortstop, ending the game, giving him a feat that may be unique in professional baseball, throwing a no-hitter and getting the game-ending hit.30

Calvert continued his dominance throughout the year, finishing the season with an 11-1 record and helping his team to playoff honors. Calvert wanted to return to Cuba for the winter, but with the Players League no longer in operation, his suspension was preventing him from signing with the Cuban Professional League. He managed to get reinstated by personally buying out his contract from the Toronto Maple Leafs for $1,500. While pitching for the Habana Leones, he caught the attention of Joe Cambria, the scout for the Washington Senators. Manager Joe Kuhel remembered Calvert and his sinkerball and offered an invitation to spring training. The pitcher took advantage of a few injuries in camp to earn a spot with the big club.31

The Senators, defeated 97 times in 1948, needed all the help they could get. With injuries ravaging the club, Calvert found himself starting the third game of the season, although he had only pitched in relief in training camp. In a complete game, he gave up only five hits to the Yankees but lost, 3-0. He did make an impression, though. In mid-season form thanks to the trip to Cuba, he was a major factor in the Senators’ surprising early-season performance. From April 30 to May 11, he won all four of his outings, including three starts. On June 3, after pitching a complete game in a 12-3 win over the Browns, he found himself with a 6-3 record and a 3.90 ERA in 62.1 innings. The Senators, meanwhile, were the surprise of the American League with a 24-19 record, putting them in second place.

Calvert then found himself in the spotlight. In May, The Sporting News called him “undoubtedly the strangest man ever to come to the major leagues,” describing how he got his teammates to talk at length about something other than baseball or women by innocently asking if the days seem longer or shorter when you’re young, leaving Eddie Yost and Ray Scarborough to argue. He was also able to talk for hours about the emerging cold war, becoming the expert on the subject even though his teammates Buddy Lewis and Sam Dente were the ones who had been in actual combat.32 In addition to French and English, Calvert had learned Spanish during his stays in Cuba and Mexico. In mid-July, a United Press feature labeled him as the most intellectual player in the majors and as the successor to Moe Berg.33

Unfortunately, the success was not to last. In fact, Calvert would not win again all season. Fatigued after pitching all winter, blisters affecting his drop ball, the Senators’ return to reality, and the adjustment made by American League hitters would all contribute to his downfall. After that June 3 game, Calvert went 0-14 record with a 6.50 ERA in 98.1 innings. That losing streak was at the time the third longest in MLB history, and, as of 2013, was still tied for 10th longest.34 Calvert’s fall from grace was so steep that when the Senators sent him to the mound against the Red Sox in late September, Casey Stengel complained that Washington was doing everything it could to help the Red Sox hold off the Yankees.35A few weeks earlier, Stengel had seen Calvert set, with three of his teammates, a record with 11 walks allowed in an inning.36 Calvert finished the season as the American League leader in losses with 17.

Having just spent the year in the majors, Calvert was ineligible to return to the Cuban Professional League and instead returned to Montreal for the winter. He confided to the Montreal Gazette that he did not see a future with the Senators anymore and had asked Clark Griffith to send him elsewhere.37 Rumours flew all winter, with Calvert ending up with the Detroit Tigers after being claimed on waivers.

The Tigers were hoping to make Calvert their ace reliever, believing they had found the missing piece to lead the team to the playoffs. Manager Red Rolfe thought that Calvert’s sinker would wreak havoc in relief. Also, after being bothered by blisters in 1949, short outings seemed like a better way to limit the damage.38

Despite the Tiger’s confidence in him, Calvert had a rough start. Early in training camp, he suffered from back pain that slowed him down.39 Then, a few weeks later, he raised the ire of his manager when he tried to skip a drill. Rolfe’s response was unambiguous: “Get the hell in there and pitch!”40 Despite this, Calvert did start the season as the ace reliever they were looking for. In the first 10 games of the season, he was used six times, including in four consecutive games, in which he gave no earned runs in six and 2/3 innings. On April 26 in St. Louis, he was the winning pitcher against the Browns, ending his losing streak.

Calvert’s season, if not his career, was then tainted by an unfortunate incident. On June 9, pitching against the Yankees in New York, he hit pitcher Bob Porterfield in the face. Porterfield lost consciousness and was evacuated on a stretcher. He did not regain consciousness until 45 minutes later in the hospital. In addition to a broken jaw, Porterfield suffered a significant concussion that kept him in the hospital for several weeks and off the field for most of the season. Calvert describes the pitch as a sinker that didn’t sink.41 Fortunately, Porterfield would still have a good career ahead of him. Calvert, however, was not out of the woods. On June 12, as the Tigers were playing the Reds in an exhibition game, Calvert sent another player to the hospital by hitting him in the head, this time outfielder Danny Litwhiler. It was a strange sequence for Calvert, who hit just one other batter that season.

While never offered as an excuse, these incidents might have been a factor in Calvert’s season, which did not live up to expectations. In mid-July, he was bothered by elbow pain. His control suffered, leading to a series of poor performances. He lost the confidence of his manager and was only used sporadically thereafter.42 He finished the season with a 6.31 ERA in 51 and 1/3 innings over 32 games, as the Tigers finished three games behind the Yankees, despite winning 95 games.

Hardly used at the end of the 1950 season and no longer seen as a key player, Calvert remained with the Tigers at the beginning of the 1951 season but was not used in the first dozen games of the season. In an 11-6 loss to the Yankees on May 6, he was sent to the mound in the ninth inning, giving up one hit and no runs. A few days later, on the eve of the deadline to cut rosters, his contract was sold to the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League, managed by Rogers Hornsby.43 Calvert would never see the major leagues again.

However, Calvert returned to the minor leagues in grand fashion. After a few games in relief, he got his first start on May 27. His sinker worked wonderfully, allowing him to pitch a no-hitter against Sacramento. He needed only 71 pitches to get through nine innings. He retired the final 11 batters to face him.44

Calvert maintained a good level of effectiveness throughout the season, although his blister problems came back. He bounced around between the rotation and the bullpen and won the championship-clinching game in relief for the Rainiers.

Back with the team in 1952, the highlight of his season was a 17-inning outing on May 17. He surrendered only one run but ended with a no-decision as Seattle won in the 19th inning.45 Shoulder problems plagued him soon after46 and his role diminished, making just five starts.

In the spring of 1953, he was traded to the Charleston Senators of the American Association, for whom he never pitched.47 Instead, he resurfaced in the Quebec Provincial League, with Granby, for whom he pitched a few games. However, the league had changed significantly since his last stay in 1948, now being affiliated with Organized Baseball and focused on development. Veteran players were moving to the unaffiliated Laurentian League, and so Calvert joined his old friend Jean-Pierre Roy in Saint-Jérôme, QC for the 1954 season. Franco-American and former major leaguer Ralph LaPointe was also on the team.48

Calvert attempted a return to Organized Baseball in the spring of 1955 but was cut by the American Association’s Omaha Cardinals in spring training. The following year, at age 38, he tried his luck with Modesto in the California League. He made the team but ended up playing only three games with the club before being released.49

These would be Calvert’s last official appearances, but the newly retired pitcher remained in California for six years, working as an accountant. He also spent a year in Florida before returning to Quebec, accepting a position as a property appraiser for Revenue Canada, in Sherbrooke.50 He transferred his athletic talents to the golf course, even though his right arm had permanent damage from his playing days. He won an amateur tournament in Modesto in 1957 and participated a few times in the National Baseball Players’ Golf Championship.51

Calvert mostly refused to talk about baseball after his retirement, claiming that it was in the past and that he now preferred talking about golf.52

Calvert had married Carmen Bello in Cuba in the 1940s. The couple had a daughter, Micheline, born in 1948. They divorced when Calvert resettled in Canada in the 1960s. Calvert then wed his high school sweetheart, Lucille Houde, in 1966. She died in 1993, and Calvert remarried soon after, to Laura-May Delorme. Suffering from cancer, Paul Calvert died at age 81 on February 1, 1999, in Sherbrooke. His ashes were laid to rest in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery, in Montreal. 53

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Darren Gibson and Andrew Sharp and fact-checked by James Forr.

Sources

Baseball-reference.com

Retrosheet.org

Much information about Paul Calvert’s personal life was obtained from 2010 discussions with members of the Calvert family, including his nephews Harry, Raymond and Russ Calvert, and his daughter Micheline.

Notes

1 Library and Archives Canada, 1921 Canadian census.

2 Ed McAuley, “First English Lesson: Wanna Fight? Pitcher Paul from Montreal,” The Sporting News, April 6, 1944, 4.

3 “ ‘Je lancerai pour le club qui paiera le mieux déclare.’ le jeune Calvert, ”La Patrie (Montreal, QC), September11, 1938,70.

4 “Début prometteur du jeune Paul Calvert, ”La Patrie (Montreal, QC), September 6, 1938,23.

5 Simon Kretz, “Flashback: Leo Paul Calvert, 1950,” Sport Magazine (Montreal, QC), October 1994, 66.

6 Denis Messier, “Regards sur le passé,” La Tribune (Sherbrooke, QC), October 11, 1975, 27.

7 “Calvert, Sherbrooke Mound Ace, To Play Out Season with Royals,” Montreal Gazette, September 3, 1938, 14.

8 “Début prometteur du jeune Paul Calvert,” La Patrie (Montreal, QC), September 6, 1938, 23.

9 “Giants Drop Calvert After Short Practice,” Montreal Gazette, September 23, 1938, 16, and Lloyd McGowan,

10 “Riddels Solves Grid Riddle…Calvert Tells of Terry Trial,” Montreal Star, September 30, 1938, 30.

11 Associated Press.“Montreal Rookie with Indians,” Ottawa Journal, April 5, 1943, 17.

12 “Reynolds and Calvert Setting Double Quick Pitching Pace as Wilkes-Barre Win Twins,” The Sporting News, July 30, 1942, 2.

13“Brief Bits of Gossip,” The Sporting News, February 1, 1940,10.

14 Associated Press, “Training Camp Briefs,” Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times Leader, March 6, 1940, 20.

15 “Marquardt, the Home Stretch Kid, Keeps Raiders at .500,” The Sporting News, May 29, 1941, 16.

16 “Reynolds and Calvert Setting Double Quick Pitching Pace as Wilkes-Barre Win Twins,” The Sporting News, July 30, 1942, 2.

17 “Tribesmen Choke Up and Lou Turns Blue,” The Sporting News, September 10, 1942, 3.

18 Dink Carroll, “Playing the Field,” Montreal Gazette, November 18, 1942, 16.

19 McAuley, “First English Lesson: Wanna Fight?” (see note 2).

20 McAuley.

[21] McAuley.

22 Jean Barrette,“Autour des buts,” La Patrie(Montreal, QC), October 15, 1944, 90.

23 “Paul Calvert Sent to Baltimore Birds,” Montreal Gazette, May 15, 1944, 16.

24 McAuley, “5 Indians Wait For ‘Greetings’,” The Sporting News, May 24, 1945.

25 “International League,” The Sporting News, June 21, 1945, 22.

26 Jules Tygiel, Baseball’s great experiment: Jackie Robinson and his legacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 122.

27 Isaac Rives, “Lanier Routed in Cuban Debut with Gonzalez’ Havana Team,” The Sporting News, November 20, 1946, 22.

28 Pedro Galiana, “Calvert Changes Cuban Uniform to Rejoin O.B.,” The Sporting News, January 21, 1948, 20.

29Associated Press, “Calvert Buys His Way to the Front of Nats’ Mound Staff,” Evening Times (Sayre, PA), April 22, 1949, 8.

30 Jean-Paul Lainé, “Paul Calvert lance une partie parfaite contre les Saints,” La Tribune (Sherbrooke, QC), May 31 1948, 6.

31Associated Press, “Calvert Buys His Way to the Front of Nats’ Mound Staff,” Evening Times, April 22, 1949, 8.

32 Bob Addie, “Calvert, Scholarly Nat Hurler, Studies Languages, Batters,” The Sporting News, May 18, 1949, 2.

33 United Press, “Intellectual Rating Given Paul Calvert: Bespectacled Pitcher Rivals Moe Berg for Linguistic Ability,” Hartford Couran), July 15, 1949, 14.

34 Vin Getz, “MLB: Most Losses in a Row by a Pitcher in History,” https://sportsweeksportslist.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/.

35 United Press, “Stengel Wants Nats to Use Weik, Sox Raps A’s Naming Marchildon,” St. Albans (VT) Daily Messenger, September 28, 1949, 5.

36 Bruce Harris, “September 11, 1949: Four Senators pitchers set major-league record with 11 walks in one inning,”SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-11-1949-four-senators-pitchers-set-major-league-record-with-11-walks-in-one-inning/

37 Dick Carroll, “Playing the Field,”Montreal Gazette, December 6, 1949, 18.

38 “Rolfe Sees Calvert as Two-Inning Ace for Tigers,” The Sporting News, March 22, 1950, 5.

39 Associated Press, “Paul Calvert Develops Sore Back Ligament,” Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA), March 4, 1950, 13.

40 Oscar Ruhl, “From the Ruhl Book,” The Sporting News, April 5, 1950, 22.

41Associated Press, “Yank Batter Left Unconscious When Tiger Sinker Didn’t Sink,” Ottawa Journal, June 10, 1950, 25.

[42]Jean Barrette, “Autour des buts, »La Patrie, August 27, 1950, 109.

43 Watson Spoelstra, “Wertz Aims for Third 100-RBI Mark,”The Sporting News, May 23, 1951, 15.

44 Royal Brougham, “No-Hitter by Paul Calvert in Debut for Seattle,” The Sporting News, June 6, 1951, 15.

45 “19-Inning ’Frisco-Seattle Marathon Ties S.F. Mark,” The Sporting News, May 28, 1952, 24.

46 “Pacific Coast League,” The Sporting News, July 2, 1952, 30.

47 “Deals of the Week – Majors-Minors,” The Sporting News, March 4, 1953: 33.

48 Robert Desjardins, “En Pleine Lumière, ”Le Petit Journal (Montreal, QC), May 23, 1954, 59.

49 “Nos Joueurs à l’Étranger, ”Le Petit Journal, June 17, 1956, 75.

50 Denis Messier, “Regards Sur le Passé, ”La Tribune, October 11, 1975, 27.

51 Jimmy Burns, “Jim Hearn Stumbles in Stretch, Hangs on to Cop Links Crown,” The Sporting News, March 2, 1963, 29.

52 Simon Kretz, “Flashback: Leo Paul Calvert, 1950,” Sport Magazine (Montreal, QC), October 1994, 66.

53 André Laroche, “Le lanceur Paul Calvert s’éteint à 81 ans,” La Tribune, February 3, 1999, C3.