Dave Thies

Dave Thies (pronounced teace) was a tall righthander who pitched in nine games for the 1963 Kansas City A’s. His career could have been summarized in a headline, “Thies Talent Teases A’s Top Brass.” Arm miseries diminished Thies’ pitching career, but they never dampened his enthusiasm for a life he said has been “blessed.”

David Robert Thies was born on March 21, 1937, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Walt and Ione (Bertch) Thies. Dave’s brother Paul was born three years later. Walt worked for the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad; he later received a certificate from the University of Minnesota and became a licensed funeral director. Ione received a degree in economics from the University of Minnesota and was an executive secretary to the CEO of General Mills. She suffered from multiple bouts of tuberculosis during her life.

Dave enjoyed sports growing up, especially baseball and basketball. He attended Ascension grade school. In eighth grade he pitched his team to the Minneapolis Catholic grade school championship. While at Ascension, he and other local boys served as mascots for teams competing in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball tournaments held at the school.

Thies attended DeLaSalle high school in Minneapolis, run by the Christian Brothers, located on an island in the Mississippi River. His high school athletic career started slowly, but playing American Legion baseball and Sunday church league basketball honed his skills and he became a standout player on both teams by his senior year. He grew from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-4½ between his sophomore and junior years.1

As a senior, Thies’ 1954-55 DeLaSalle Islanders basketball team was named the best Catholic high school squad in the country by the Catholic World.2 The Islanders defeated Hamline University’s and Augsburg College’s freshman teams. They employed the zone press defense. DeLaSalle won the Minnesota Catholic basketball tournament and ended the season 21-0, with a 31-game winning streak.3 Thies became a starter for De La Salle in mid-season and was offered a basketball scholarship by Saint Mary’s College (now University) in Winona, Minnesota. St. Mary’s was then considered a College Division team by the NCAA; it is now a Division III team.

In April 1955, DeLaSalle was invited to be a late substitute in the Minnesota AAU basketball tournament. Thies played in all tournament games for the Islanders. They defeated Hamline’s varsity and advanced to the finals before losing to the Crystal, Minnesota Bungalows, comprised of recent University of Minnesota grads. Bud Grant—who gained fame coaching the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL—played guard for Crystal Bungalows. He was a former Minnesota Gopher and Minneapolis Laker, then playing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He was impressed that Thies and his Islander teammates could employ the zone press and play well against more mature players in the AAU tournament. He called DeLaSalle a “great team.”4 Thies remembered Crystal’s forward Wayne Robinson, then a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, as a “mean” player.5

Thies played both baseball and basketball for four years at Saint Mary’s. He set the school scoring record of 1,794 points by scoring 14 points in his final college game.6 Thies pitched and played the outfield for Saint Mary’s baseball team. He ranks among school leaders in career victories and fashioned a 0.99 ERA during his junior season in 1958. He was an all-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) selection in both baseball and basketball in 1958 and 1959. Saint Mary’s tied for the MIAC baseball championship in 1957, 1958 and 1959.7 Thies was inducted into the Saint Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972.8

Arm problems first surfaced for Thies in 1956, after his freshman year at Saint Mary’s, while pitching for the Teamsters Union amateur team in the Twin Cities Park National League. He did the bulk of the pitching for the Teamsters team but did little in the Minnesota State Amateur baseball tournament, won by the Teamsters, because of a sore arm.9

In 1957, on the recommendation of Saint Mary’s baseball coach, American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Max Molock, Thies and teammate Dewey Kuehl were offered tryouts with the Huron, South Dakota Elks in the Basin League. The Basin League was a fast semipro league which operated with teams in South Dakota and Nebraska from 1953 through 1973. The league’s name referenced several teams situated in cities along the Missouri River Basin. Rosters were a mixture of professional and amateur players until 1962, when it became a collegiate league with no professional players.10

Thies and Kuehl both played for Huron in 1957. Thies was the opening game starting pitcher for the Elks. His pitching line showed a 5-4 record in 89 1/3 innings; he allowed 87 hits and 46 runs, just 33 of which were earned, leading to a 3.32 ERA. He walked 46 walks and struck out 71. Huron was 20-20 and finished fourth of eight teams during the regular season; the Elks lost to the champion Rapid City Chiefs during the playoffs. Thies pitched the team’s only playoff victory against the Chiefs.11 He recalled being paid the “exorbitant” salary of $850 per month during the two-month Basin League season.12

Thies returned in the summer of 1958 to play for the Huron team, which had become known as the Jims to signify the city’s location on the James River, while Kuehl played in the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system. Thies finished second in the Basin League with a 2.66 ERA. He was third with 76 strikeouts, trailing only future major league pitchers Dick Radatz and Frank Carpin. Huron was 23-22 and did not make the playoffs.13 A highlight for Thies came on June 16, when he pitched a two-hitter against the Mitchell (South Dakota) Kernels, winning 3-0.14

In addition to Radatz, Thies remembered Steve Boros, Ron Perranoski, Dick Howser, Frank Howard, Jim O’Toole, and Jerry Adair as some of his Basin League contemporaries.15

After the 1958 Basin League season, Dean Scarborough, a teammate at Huron who did some scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers, recommended Thies for a tryout with the St. Paul Saints, a Dodgers farm team in the American Association (Class AAA). Thies said he pitched before St. Paul’s general manager, Mel Jones, and several coaches and pitchers. The Saints’ big Cuban catcher, René Friol, was very impressed. He told Thies, “Hey Mon, you get big money!” The Dodgers offered $50,000 to sign and wanted Thies to go to Florida to pitch winter ball.

Thies was not interested in signing because he intended to return to school and earn a degree. His thinking was, “If they want me now, they will still want me in the spring.” Things did not work out as planned. Owing to a cold spring, Saint Mary’s was unable to practice outside prior to taking a trip to Kentucky to open the season against the Fort Knox army team. Thies and Coach Molock wanted to make a good showing against Fort Knox and pitch counts were generally not an issue in 1959. Dave pitched the entire sloppy game, won by Fort Knox 9-8.

Thies was unable to move his right pitching arm without a great deal of pain for several days after the Fort Knox game. Gradually, the pain dissipated and he was able to pitch again. Only scouts from the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City A’s were present on a cold, wet day when he opened the MIAC season by pitching a 3-0 win with 18 strikeouts over Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. The scouts eventually became aware that he was having some type of arm trouble.

The Cardinals had Thies come to St. Louis for a tryout. He remembered not throwing that well and never again heard from the Redbirds. However, Kansas City scout Marv Olson—a South Dakotan and Basin League vet—offered a contract with a $12,500 bonus, with an additional $12,500 if and when Thies signed a major league contract. Dave signed a contract with Portland, the A’s Triple-A affiliate, on June 4, 1959, and was optioned to the Albany (New York) Senators in the Class A Eastern League.16

Some Albany teammates made space for Thies in a rooming house they rented. He remembered adjusting from a Catholic men’s college to sharing quarters with worldly teammates, one of whom entertained a woman in their room after a game. He also had to adjust to pitching in pain. He appeared in six games for Albany and was generally ineffective.

He lost his only decision on July 5 when he started and was tagged with the loss in a 16-5 drubbing by the Allentown Red Sox. The Times Record of Troy, New York, reported that Allentown “. . . drove Dave Thies, a youngster just out of Saint Mary’s College in Indiana (sic), to cover in the first inning under a four-run barrage.”17 Four days later, Theis pitched his last game for Albany, a two-inning relief appearance in a 12-5 loss to the Lancaster Red Roses, in which he gave up two runs on three hits and three walks. The runs came on a two-run homer by Chicago Cubs prospect Lou Jackson, his second of the game.18

The following day, July 10, Thies was optioned to the Class B Sioux City (Iowa) Soos in the III (Illinois-Indiana-Iowa) League. He had a pitching epiphany with the Soos, becoming, in his words, “a pitcher, not a thrower” while throwing batting practice. Thies remembered most of his pitcher teammates did not like to “groove” pitches while throwing batting practice, allowing hitters to work on their timing and swing. Thies did not mind this duty. One day, facing future major-league player and manager, Dick Howser, Howser fouled a ball off his ankle and howled in pain, “That [bleep]in’ sinker!”

Thies said he really had not received much coaching or input from any scout, coach or manager as to what made him a good pitcher. The Howser incident convinced him that his pitches moved much more when they came in around a batter’s knees, as opposed to deliveries higher in the strike zone.19

Venerable Minneapolis Star Tribune sportswriter Sid Hartman reported on Thies’ progress on August 26, 1959. He noted that Thies had a 4-1 record with two three-hit shutouts.20 In fact, Thies pitched much better for Sioux City than Albany, ending the year with a 4-2 record in 13 appearances and a 4.27 ERA, with 41 strikeouts and only 16 walks in 59 innings for the 58-68 Soos.

Thies continued to be plagued by arm trouble. The A’s sent Thies to orthopedic clinics in Kansas City, Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to determine the cause of his arm pain. Much imaging was done but revealed nothing.21

After the 1959 season, Thies fulfilled his military obligation by enlisting in the National Guard. He was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for basic training and was later assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey. He was discharged in early February 1960 for his “seasonal occupation.” He had gained more than 30 pounds—up from 169—during his military service. He attended spring training with other A’s minor-league players, was reinstated from their National Defense Service list on April 24, 1960, and was sent to Sioux City again.

Thies was placed on the disabled list on May 24 and saw Dr. Paul Meyer, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Meyer tried an unorthodox imaging with an internal rotation of Thies’ right arm and discovered a bone spur on the acromion (the tip of the outer edge of the shoulder blade), which Thies described as looking like a “stalactite.” A second opinion at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota confirmed Dr. Meyer’s findings. Thies had surgeries to remove the bone spur and to remove his infected tonsils.22

Between two stints on the disabled list in 1960, Thies started 10 games for the Soos, completing eight, with a 6-2 record and a 2.42 earned run average in 78 innings. He again displayed good control by issuing only 22 walks, with 53 strikeouts. The Soos were 71-68, managed by former New York Giant Bobby Hofman.

Thies remembered there was no weight training for baseball players in the early 1960s. He worked out to rehabilitate his arm while attending graduate classes at Loyola University in Chicago after the 1960 season. He returned to Minneapolis in December and was able to work out with other professional athletes at the University of Minnesota. His arm felt great and he was throwing hard without pain when he reported to spring training for what would be a breakout year.23

In October 1960 the A’s had signed a working agreement with the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast league and verbally agreed to hire Tommy Heath, former St. Louis Browns catcher, as manager for 1961.24 The club was purchased by a Salt Lake City businessman, Nick Morgan, Jr., and transferred to Honolulu to become the Hawaii Islanders.25

Thies was originally assigned for 1961 to the Shreveport Sports team in the Southern Association (Class AA). However, Kansas City wanted to show support for their new AAA farm team and assigned several prospects, including Thies, to Hawaii’s spring training camp in Ontario, California. Morgan wanted ex-major league players and the A’s obliged by signing many veterans. Manager Heath said, “I’ve got so many letters from free agents asking for jobs, I can’t answer’em all.”26

Roger Bowman was hired as a pitching coach and occasional pitcher for Hawaii. He thought the strategy of signing veteran players was bound to fail. Bowman said that “He [Morgan] didn’t stop to think that the guys he was getting were all over the hill.”27 One of the players on the Hawaii team was convicted murderer Ralph Schwamb. However, Schwamb was released in May. It was rumored his release was not so much for his performance as owner Morgan’s reluctance to have a convicted murderer on the roster.28 The Islanders even hired a local semipro pitcher, diminutive 40-something southpaw Crispin Mancao, to help drum up fan support.29

Thies made the Triple-A Hawaii roster. On April 20, he pitched and won the first professional regular season game on the Hawaiian Islands, 4-3, over the Vancouver Mounties. The team was around .500 after an early June hot streak and Thies had won seven games.30

The season was not without more arm trouble. Thies breezed along with four shutout innings in one June outing. In the fifth inning, his arm felt “dead” and he bounced pitches to the plate. Thies was placed on the disabled list from July 2 until July 13. While on the DL, he went to Kansas City, where Dr. Meyer discovered the bone spur had regenerated.31

The Islanders stumbled down the stretch and finished 68-86, one game ahead of the eight and last place Salt Lake City Bees. However, Thies ended with a 15-7 record.

After his successful campaign in Hawaii, Thies was a non-roster invitee to spring training with the A’s in 1962. Hank Bauer was managing the A’s and told Thies to count on being the number four starter. The pain was too great, however, and Thies underwent a second surgery. He knew after the surgery the tensile strength in his arm muscles was not what it had been; he would not be able to perform as he had in the past.32

While Thies rehabbed his arm, the A’s public relations department had Thies pose wearing their new green and gold uniforms.33 He was reactivated from the disabled list on July 31 and sent to Portland, which had replaced Hawaii as Kansas City’s Triple-A farm team in the PCL. He made two strong starts for the Beavers in August, including one against Vancouver in which he allowed only three hits in a 3-1 win, with no runs and one hit over the last 8 2/3 innings.34 “Barnacle Bill” Posedel, Kansas City’s roving pitching coach and scout, saw Thies pitch that Vancouver game and said the A’s should put him on their 40-man roster. They did and Thies collected the second half of his 1959 signing bonus, $12,500.35 He finished 2-4, with a 4.20 earned run average for eight appearances, including four starts. He was impressive in allowing only 25 hits and six walks in 30 innings for the 74-80 Beavers.

Thies was on the A’s 1963 spring training and Opening Day rosters. The 1963 Baseball Register listed him as single, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Business Administration from Saint Mary’s, with graduate work in Psychology at Loyola. He listed golf, bowling and reading as his hobbies.36 The 1963 A’s were managed by Eddie Lopat, who succeeded Bauer after the A’s 72-90 ninth-place finish in 1962. Sid Hartman in the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on March 29, 1963, that Thies had pitched 8 2/3 innings in spring training and quoted him as saying his “arm feels good.”37

Umpires were told by the National and American League presidents to enforce the balk rule (Rule 8.01) in 1963. Thies had four balks called against him in one exhibition game against the Washington Senators.38 Otherwise, he had no balks called against him in six professional seasons, covering over 500 innings.

Thies made his major-league debut on April 20 when he pitched the ninth inning of a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at home in Municipal Stadium. Theis struck out two, but gave up three runs on four singles and a walk. Two days later, he was called in relief when Norm Bass was shelled in the first inning. The A’s trailed the Detroit Tigers, 5-0. Thies pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings. His sinker was working. “Bubba” Phillips double and Rocky Colavito’s single were the only balls not hit on the ground to an infielder. The A’s rallied to win it in the ninth inning, 6-5, and Bill Fischer got the win.

Thies got a start on May 4 at home against the Boston Red Sox. He was victimized by a first inning error error by shortstop Wayne Causey, allowing an unearned run to score. Another unearned run scored later in the inning. The A’s countered with six second inning runs, and after three innings Kansas City led, 11-3. Thies had a stroke of wildness in the fourth inning when he issued a wild pitch and a walk. He was relieved by Fischer with two outs in the fourth inning and the A’s still leading 11-3. Rain halted a five-inning, 14-3 A’s blowout. Since Thies had not completed five innings, the official scorer gave Fischer, the first effective reliever, the win. Thies had two hits in the game, a single off Jack Lamabe in the first inning and a double off Hal Kolstad in the third inning when he scored his only major league run.

He pitched a scoreless ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox in mop-up duty in a 5-1 loss on May 6. His first appearance in an enemy park was on May 19 in another mop-up job against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. He pitched two innings, allowing one run on three hits to finish up a 7-3 loss in the first game of a doubleheader.

The appearance that Thies recalled most clearly, 60 years later, came on May 22 in New York at Yankee Stadium. It was memorable in large part because of Mickey Mantle’s game-ending homer off Fischer in the 11th inning, giving New York an 8-7 victory. The blast hit the façade of the roof in right field and barely missed leaving the Stadium entirely. Mantle said it was the hardest he ever hit a ball.39 Thies, who’d pitched 4 2/3 innings in long relief earlier, remembered how the ball struck with such force that it bounced back near the infield.40 A full discussion of the game and other memories that Thies had of it is forthcoming on the SABR Games Project.

Thies pitched three hitless and scoreless innings on May 28 at home against the Baltimore Orioles in a 4-2 loss. He finally got another start on June 1 at home against the Washington Senators. He allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings and was tagged with the loss in a 9-1 Senators victory. The big blow for Washington was a three-run homer by Don Lock.

Eddie Lopat told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on June 4 he planned to give Thies three more starts, “before making up my mind on him. Thies has pitched well in relief.”41 However, Thies made only one more major-league appearance, in relief, on June 7 at home against the White Sox. He finished the eighth inning, but only after giving up a single to catcher Camilo Carreon and a two-run homer to a good-hitting pitcher, Juan Pizarro, in a 7-1 A’s loss. Thies retired the last batter he faced, Hall of Famer Nelson Fox, on a ground ball to the shortstop. His final major league log was 0-1 in nine appearances and 25 1/3 innings pitched. He allowed 26 hits, walked 12 and fanned nine, with a 4.62 earned run average. He batted .333 (2 for 6) and his fielding percentage was 1.000 in six total chances.

Thies was optioned back to Triple-A Portland on June 9. He pitched better than his 5-9 record indicates, toiling for another mediocre team that provided little offensive support; the Beavers finished 73-84. He pitched 104 innings and allowed 103 hits, 21 walks and six home runs, with a 3.89 ERA.

One exceptional performance came at home in the seven-inning second game of a doubleheader on July 20 against the Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers. This Minnesota Twins affiliate’s squad featured future Twins César Tovar and Hall of Famer Tony Oliva. Thies entered the seventh with a 1-0 lead but was denied a victory by two former Hawaii teammates. Ray Jablonski pinch hit a double off Thies to tie the score in the seventh and Jay Ward homered off a Portland reliever in the eighth to give the Rangers a 2-1 win.42

In the offseason, Thies began taking graduate courses in Industrial Relations at the University of Minnesota. He was engaged to Marlys Ann Anderson of Minneapolis, a teacher of blind students, in December 1963.43

Thies was a non-roster invitee to spring training with the A’s in 1964 and assigned to their latest AAA farm team in the PCL, the Dallas Rangers. John McNamara, who later managed all or parts of 19 seasons in the majors, was the Dallas skipper. Thies remembered him as a “quality” person.44 The Rangers did not hit, pitch, or field very well. They finished 53-104, dead last in the six team PCL Eastern Division, with the worst record in the league.

The May 9, 1964, issue of The Sporting News reported that four Dallas pitchers were sidelined with various injuries, including Thies and Norm Bass.45 (Bass embarked on a career in pro football, playing in one game in 1964 for the Denver Broncos as a defensive back.)46 By the time the article was published, Thies was done with baseball.

Thies started against the San Diego Padres in San Diego on April 28. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, despite having two singles as a batter, trailing 3-2. Dallas failed to score and was defeated, 5-3. Thies was tagged with the loss.47

Thies’ last appearance was at home on May 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies’ Arkansas Travelers team, which ended up winning the division, 42 ½ games ahead of Dallas. Thies and Dallas trailed 2-0 after five innings. He faced three batters in the sixth, retiring none. The opposing pitcher, Joel Gibson, hit a ball so far over the left field fence Thies said it must have landed in the Texas (sic) River.48 John McNamara came to the mound and said, “Sorry Dave, I gotta take you out.” Thies, frustrated with pitching in pain and less effectively than earlier in his career, handed the ball to his manager and said, “This is the last [bleep]in’ pelota [ball] I will ever throw.” Thies was placed on the voluntarily retired list on May 6, 1964.49

He returned to Minnesota and married Marlys on August 22, 1964, in Minneapolis. They were blessed with three sons: Brad in 1966, Jeff in 1968, and Troy in 1973. Dave says they have been a source of great joy for him and Marlys.

Thies received a Master of Arts Degree in Industrial Relations in June 1965 from the University of Minnesota. Shortly after graduation, he accepted a position as a stockbroker for Paine Webber. “I was a born peddler,” he says.

Dave met Ken Talle and together they worked to match investors and developers on various projects. In 1979, they formed their own company. As of 2023, Thies & Talle Management “has grown to managing properties in 116 communities in five Midwestern states.” Dave retired from the company in 1995.50

Thies put his “peddler” skills to use for several organizations over the years. He was a fundraiser and member of the St. Mary’s University Board of Trustees from 1976 through 1994. He served on the Board of Directors of Mount Marty University, a Catholic Benedictine liberal arts school in Yankton, South Dakota from 1998 through 2006. He also was active in fundraising and development for DeLaSalle High School for many years.

Dave said he had a spiritual epiphany in 1977 when a friend asked him to make a Cursillo, a spiritual retreat. Later, he went on an interdenominational church mission to Kenya.51

In 1985, Dave and Marlys bought a home on Gull Lake, near Brainerd in northern Minnesota. In their eighties, they split their time between Palm Desert, California in the winter and Gull Lake in the summer. The lake property has had various signs over the years to signify the owners: “Five Easy Thieses,” “Thieses of Eight,” and now, “Thies Corps.”

Dave says three strokes and two heart surgeries have helped him focus on the “big picture,” although they have also caused circulation issues in his right hand (tongue-in-cheek, he says this has adversely affected his curve ball). When he gathers with friends, he finds the conversation frequently turns to health issues or “organ recitals,” as he calls them.

Thies has many good memories from his athletic career. He appreciated his college basketball coach at St. Mary’s, Ken Wiltgen, Hank Bauer and even umpire Bill Haller. He said Charlie Finley could be “overly generous or overly vindictive” and said Finley’s early front office executives, Pat Friday and Hank Peters, were “solid people.”

Thies also has good memories of his teammates. Bud Watkins from the Hawaii Islanders was a friend until his death in 2010. He remembered Moe Drabowsky, Lew Krausse, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, Norm Bass, Julius “Swampfire” Grant (brother of Jim “Mudcat” Grant), José Azcue, and George Alusik, among others, as good guys.

Thies likes Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s song, “Time to Say Goodbye.” He knew when it was time to say goodbye to baseball in 1964 and he knew when it was time to say goodbye to golf in his early eighties. He said that came when some of his tee shots turned into “ground balls to the second baseman.”

This man’s only regret in baseball is that his arm problems meant he seldom was able to “match my best with their best.”52

Last revised: June 12, 2023

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Dave Thies for graciously providing interviews with the author.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Rick Zucker and fact-checked by Dan Schoenholz.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used:

The Sporting News 1961—64 issues covering the Pacific Coast League

SABR’s The Sporting News contract card collection

Baseball-Reference.com

Retrosheet.org

Notes

1 Dave Thies, My Story, an unpublished autobiography.

2 “Top U.S. Cage Rating Great Honor—Reinhart,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 20, 1955: 21.

3 “Islanders Top Duluth 57-33,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 7, 1955: 22.

4 Sid Hartman, “The Roundup,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 19, 1955: 19.

5 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, February 20, 2023.

6 “Fans Stop Game as Thies Sets St. Mary’s Record,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 1, 1959: 118. As of 2023, Theis remains third all-time in scoring at Saint Mary’s.

7 St. Mary’s University Athletics website (https://saintmaryssports.com/.)

8 St. Mary’s University Athletics website, Hall of Fame (https://saintmaryssports.com/honors/hall-of-fame).

9 Thies, My Story.

10 David Trombley’s Basin League history website (https://usfamily.net/web/trombleyd/BasinHistory.htm), Basin League history page from At the Plate (http://www.attheplate.com/wcbl/basin_league.html).

11 “Elks Finished in Fourth Place Despite Handicaps,” Daily Plainsman (Huron, South Dakota), August 28, 1957: 15.

12 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, February 20, 2023.

13 “Daily Plainsman Sports,” Daily Plainsman, August 26, 1958: 9.

14 Basin League history page from At the Plate.

15 Trombley’s Basin League history website. Thies, My Story.

16 Thies, My Story.

17 “Allentown’s Antinelli Beats Sens,” The Times Record (Troy, New York), July 6, 1959: 19.

18 “Homers Help Lancaster Subdue Albany 12-5,” The Times Record, July 10, 1959: 20.

19 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, February 23, 2023.

20 Sid Hartman, “The Roundup,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 26, 1959: 21.

21 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, February 23, 2023.

22 Thies, My Story.

23 Thies, My Story.

24 “Solon Future Bleak; Board Votes to Sell,” The Sporting News, October 12, 1960: 26.

25 Red McQueen, “Historic First for Hawaii,” The Sporting News, January 4, 1961: Section 2, 10-11.

26 Ray Gillespie (ed.), “Diamond Facts and Facets,” The Sporting News, February 22, 1961: 24.

27 Eric Stone, Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Baseball Player of All Time (Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press, 2004), 257-66.

28 Stone, Eric, Wrong Side of the Wall, 257-66.

29 Joel S. Franks, Asian Pacific American and Baseball: A History (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2008), 156.

30 Red McQueen, “New Faces Spark Spurt by Islanders,” The Sporting News, June 28, 1961: 29.

31 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 2023.

32 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 2023.

33 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 20, 2023.

34 PCL box scores, The Sporting News, September 8, 1962: 33.

35 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 2023.

36 The Sporting News 1963 Baseball Register: 250.

37 Sid Hartman, “The Roundup,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 29, 1963: 22.

38 Edgar Munzel, “Umpires Flash ‘Stop’ Sign on Balky Hurlers,” The Sporting News, April 6, 1963: 40.

39 Mickey Mantle, “The Hardest Ball I Ever Hit,” Themick.com (https://www.themick.com/hardestball.html).

40 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 2023.

41 “A’s Homer Hero: I Consider Myself Lucky,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 4, 1963: 19.

42 PCL box scores, The Sporting News, August 3, 1963: 32.

43 Thies, My Story.

44 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 2023.

45 “Coast Clippings,” The Sporting News, May 9, 1964: 40.

46 Norm Bass page, Pro Football archives (https://www.profootballarchives.com/).

47 PCL box scores, The Sporting News, May 16, 1964: 29.

48 PCL box scores, The Sporting News, May 16, 1964: 34. Burnett Field in South Dallas was near the Trinity River.

49 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, February 23, 2023.

50 Thies & Talle Management website (https://www.thiestalle.com/about.html).

51 Thies, My Story.

52 Dave Thies, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 2023.