Ottawa in the 1922-23 Eastern Canada League and the 1924 Quebec-Ontario-Vermont League

Following the demise of the Canadian League after the 1915 season and departure of the Montreal Royals of the International League in 1917, baseball promoter Joe Page dreamt of a baseball league that would cover Quebec, Ontario and even further west.1 That the Canadian Pacific company, his employer, would provide transportation for these teams probably played a part in his plans.2

After many failed attempts, the Eastern Canada League was created in 1922. While it did include teams in the two provinces, the initial league was modest in scope: to the Quebec teams in Montreal, Valleyfield, and Trois-Rivières was added a single team in Ontario – Ottawa. Still, the addition of the federal capital was seen as a stepping stone to the future addition of teams further west.

The Ottawa Senators played their first season at Lansdowne Park, initially managed by Dick Dawson. After a slow start, the team had a successful season on the field, battling until the end and finishing 2 1/2 games behind first-place Trois-Rivières. Key to the turnaround was a gutsy 14-inning complete game by young pitcher Fred Frankhouse on May 24 against Trois-Rivières.3 Frankhouse, who on his way to 106 wins in a 13-year career in the majors, won 18 games for Senators, and even hit .284 in part-time duty in the outfield. The change of fortune was also due to a string of acquisitions, including semipro slugger Paddy Hogan (.326 average in 36 games) and George Underhill from Trois-Rivières (.300 with 10 home runs in 107 games between the two teams). Hogan took up the manager role from Dawson in June, before leaving the team to report for duty in the US army.4 Catcher George Army finished the season as the manager.5 Another highlight of the season was the no-hitter thrown by Red Parkes on July 25.6 Parkes would win 40 games over his three seasons with the team.

After a relatively successful first season, Joe Page offered to merge his league with the Michigan-Ontario League.7 But not only was his offer rejected, he was in for a surprise when Ottawa officials granted exclusive use of Lansdowne Park to amateurs. Page was said to have jumped in a train to Ottawa and stormed city hall, where a tumultuous meeting took place. He was unable to change their minds.8 With no time to secure a field on such short notice, it was decided that the Ottawa club would play its games in Montreal.9 While still listed as Ottawa in the Spalding Guide and other official documentation (including Baseball-Reference to this day in 2024), the team, now known as the Canadians, would only play one regular-season game in Ottawa (another was rained out).10

The Canadians joined the Royals in Montreal, with Trois-Rivières returning, and Quebec City replacing Valleyfield. The Canadians won the first-half pennant, and when a best-of-15 championship series was organized against the second-half champions Royals, the first two games were scheduled for Ottawa. The two teams split the games played on September 5 and 6. The first game attracted 1,000 spectators, with a smaller audience witnessing the second.11

Having failed to expand west, Page went south in 1924, adding two teams in Vermont: Rutland and Montpelier. He also did manage to get some time in Lansdowne Park for the Ottawa team, who also played on Sundays across the river in Dupuis Park in Hull (now Gatineau), Québec. Adding to the confusion, this was the same franchise as the 1922 Ottawa Senators and 1923 Canadians (who played in Montreal), while a new franchise, the Montreal Canadiens, replaced Trois-Rivières. The newly minted Canadiens were owned by Léo Dandurand, also the owner of the NHL team of the same name.12 The league, now expanded to six teams, was rebranded as the Quebec-Ontario-Vermont League.

Former major leaguer Jean Dubuc, who had been a part owner of the team in 1923 while pitching for Syracuse in the International League, moved as player-manager of the newly named Ottawa-Hull Senators for 1924.13

Expectations were high, with the core of the 1923 finalist team almost intact, but as the team played around .500 ball, the wheels fell off as Dubuc suspended star slugger Frank Delisle in late June. Delisle, who hit a combined 40 home runs in 1922-23, was hitting well but was accused of indifferent play in the outfield and breaking team training rules.14 The team finished the first half in third place with a 26-25 record, a distant seven games behind Quebec City.

With the expanded travel, most teams were struggling financially, and the two Vermont teams dropped out after the first half. Ottawa-Hull, cutting its losses, sold many of its best players during the second half, notably Delisle, back after 15 games of suspension, to the Canadiens. Frank Jacobs (.338 average) and NHL player Jess Spring were also sold to the same team. The Senators finished in last place in the second half with a 20-30 record.

The lackluster play of the Senators gave ammunition to those who were opposed to the decision to bring back the professionals to Ottawa. For the second season in a row, their use of Lansdowne Park was contested, as with the upcoming annual fair, the team was warned that it would lose Lansdowne Park after September 1. This led the league to cut short its season, with Quebec City the runaway winner anyway.15 The Ottawa Citizen had already cut bait with the team, ending its coverage after an August 10 ugly incident on the field, in which players yelled obscenities at the home-plate umpire.16

At the end of the season, all teams except Quebec City were in the red.17 The next spring, the project was still in limbo in April, but when Ottawa did not even send a representative to a meeting in Montreal, it was evident that the league was dead.18 Given its tumultuous experience in the league, it is no surprise that Ottawa was without professional baseball until 1936, when it joined the Canadian-American League.

CHRISTIAN TRUDEAU is a professor of economics at the University of Windsor. He is a game theory specialist by day, and a historian of Quebec baseball by night.

 

SOURCES

Baseball-Reference.com was the main reference for standings and list of players, as well as the list of players constructed by the author from newspapers accounts. Many Quebec newspapers (as well as Le Droit, from Ottawa) were consulted (available on the website of the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec).

 

NOTES

1 “Canadian Nat’l Baseball League,” Quebec Chronicle, January 27, 1922: 6.

2 Patrick Carpentier, “Joe Page,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/joe-page-2/, accessed July 20, 2024.

3 Gary Belleville, “May 24, 1922: Ottawa Senators’ Fred Frankhouse tosses 14-inning complete-game win over Trois-Rivières,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-24-1922-ottawa-senators-fred-frankhouse-tosses-14-inning-complete-game-win-over-trois-rivieres/, accessed July 20, 2024.

4 “Senators by 7-5 Beat Three Rivers,” Ottawa Citizen, June 20, 1922: 11

5 “Senator Pilot Will Be Out for Few Days,” Ottawa Citizen, August 29, 1922: 11.

6 “Parkes Credited With No-Hit Game,” Montreal Gazette, July 26, 1922: 12.

7 “M.-O. League Magnates In Session Today To Discuss Plans for 1923,” Hamilton Spectator, January 4, 1923: 16.

8 “Joe Page Bangs Bombs at Council,” Ottawa Journal, March 1, 1923: 17.

9 “Continuous Ball for Montreal,” Quebec Chronicle, March 26, 1923: 3.

10 “Canucks Beat Trios Pro Baseball Game,” Ottawa Citizen, August 18, 1923: 10.

11 “Canadians Even Count In Eastern Canada Playoff,” Ottawa Citizen, September 7, 1923: 13.

12 Patrick Carpentier and Christian Trudeau, “Léo Dandurand, nationalisme canadien-français et baseball: Quand la sainte flanelle transpose sa formule aux autres sports,” Revue du baseball canadien, Vol. 1, 2022 : 26-37.

13 This is the name found in the Spalding Guide and other official documents. The team was more often called Aces or Dubucmen in the press.

14 “Pepper Box Army Back in Action Again to Help Aces in the Weekend Fixtures,” Ottawa Citizen, June 28, 1924: 22.

15 “Sport Gossips,” The Labor World/Le Monde Ouvrier, August 23, 1924: 4.

16 “Underhill’s Three Bagger Wins Final From Canadiens,” Ottawa Citizen, August 11, 1924: 9.

17 “Fin de la saison du baseball professionnel,” Le Devoir, September 2, 1924 : 7.

18 “La ligue Québec-Ont. ne sera pas réorganisée cette année,” Le Soleil, April 13, 1925: 9.