The 1950 Québec Braves

On September 20, 2002, the Los Angeles Dodgers played a doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks and scored five runs in the eighth inning to come back and take game one 6-5. This gave the Dodgers a season record of 103-44, a .700 winning percentage (briefly, as they lost game two), a feat rarely accomplished in Organized Baseball. Over a full season (minimum 120 games), a .700 winning percentage had been achieved only three times in the major leagues since 1950. From the list of the 100 Best Minor League Baseball Teams as selected by historians Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright in 2001, only 12 teams since 1950 achieved this feat. The ninth-best record takes us north of the US border to a perennially last-place team that in very short order built a dominant championship squad. Here is the story of the 1950 Québec Braves.

PROLOGUE

The Canadian-American League (also referred to as the Can-Am League) was a Class-C league that ran from 1936 to 1951, minus a hiatus in 1943-45 because of World War II. The Québec Athletics (“Les Athlétiques”) joined the Can-Am League in 1941 from the Provincial League, and in their first two seasons never rose above sixth place (of eight teams). After the war, the team, renamed the Alouettes, languished at the bottom of the standings for three years. In 1947, the Alouettes won less than a third of their games and finished a dismal 4014 games behind the league leaders. In 1948, though slightly improved, they finished with a lowly .406 winning percentage. Despite this, they remained a popular team throughout, ranking in the top three in the league in attendance each year. Fans were about to be rewarded for their unfailing support.

The 1949 season proved to be a dramatic turnaround for the team. Rebranded the Braves (much like Alouettes, another conveniently bilingual nickname), they began to operate independently, as their former agreement with the New York Giants was seen as less than beneficial: “There is no doubt that the Giants’ management had been less than generous in directing talent toward their Québec affiliate,” wrote a SABR researcher.1 As an independent team, the Braves were free to sign veteran players, many of whom brought experience of playing at higher levels (or the majors). These signings raised the average age of the players substantially (at 27.3, four years above the league average), but this experience, along with a new manager in former major-league All-Star Frank McCormick, helped Québec to finish first after regular-season play with a stellar record of 90-48, 1414 games ahead of the second-place Oneonta (New York) Red Sox. Fan support was also at an all-time high: Fan support was also at an all-time high: The team led the league in attendance and almost tripled the attendance of Oneonta, whom they swept in the playoff finals.

THE PLAYERS

An eventful offseason leading up to 1950 appeared to thwart a possible a championship repeat, starting with the announcement that the team was being sold to a new owner/president, Dr. Joseph A. Bellemarre.2 At virtually the same time, it became evident that the manager who led them to their first Can-Am championship, Frank McCormick, would likely not be returning. On January 20 it was confirmed that another former major-league All-Star, most recently with the Yankees, George McQuinn, would helm the Québec Braves for the 1950 season.

Despite the managerial change, it is likely that the similarities between McCormick and McQuinn effected a smooth transition. Neither had had managerial experience before their tenure with Québec but were both All-Star first basemen with strikingly similar major-league experience. (McCormick played in 1,534 major-league games, hit 128 home runs, and was named an All-Star nine times; McQuinn played in 1,550 games, hit 135 home runs, and was an All-Star seven times.) Each also won a World Series ring, McCormick with Cincinnati in 1940 and McQuinn with the Yankees in 1947, and both were player-managers. Though McQuinn was 39 when he started with Québec (McCormick was 37), he had more impact at the plate. (McCormick batted .143 in only 21 at-bats while McQuinn hit .318 over 242 at-bats.) McQuinn would stay on to manage Québec until 1954, then managed teams in Atlanta, Boise, and finally Topeka in 1958. He then returned “closer to his [Arlington, Virginia] home and became a scout for the Washington Senators”3 and “later scouted for the Montreal Expos before retiring from baseball in 1971 after 42 years in the game.”4

The 1950 season was heavily shaped by the previous season, and by the fact that a good number of the players from 1949 (14 of 24, including many of their regulars) returned to the Braves. The 1950 club was still independent and again was the oldest team in the league (average age 26.5, well above the league average of 22.8).

The 1949 Québec Braves pitching staff allowed the fewest runs in the league, and their top four starters, who had combined for a record of 65 wins and 36 losses, all returned to Québec for 1950. No starting pitcher on the Braves had an ERA above 4.00, which contributed in no small part to their outstanding season. The pitching staff for 1950 consisted of:

• Albert Fred Belinsky: From Norwalk, Connecticut, Belinsky had been with Québec in 1948, but with minimal run support, registered only six wins. In 1949 he almost doubled his win total, finishing 11-9, but he reached his peak in 1950, doubling his win total yet again, leading the team (and league) with 22 wins. He joined his teammate Hal Erickson as two of only four Can-Am pitchers who finished with an ERA under 3.00, sneaking in with 2.99. He would play briefly with Hartford of the Eastern League in 1951 before joining the US Army.
• Alexander Danelishen: Cleveland-born, he played Class-A and Double-A ball before joining Québec in 1949, when he pitched to an 18-12 record. He virtually equaled this in 1950 at 18-11 and remained with the team the following year and played a few more seasons in the Provincial League.
• Harold James Erickson: The senior member of the Québec pitching rotation, Hal Erickson had pitched for several minor-league teams, notably the Triple-A International League Syracuse Chiefs, before signing with Québec in 1949. Much like Danelishen, his 1949 and 1950 campaigns were virtually identical, though he was the only pitcher to win 20 games for the Braves in both seasons (21-6 and 20-7). He led the league in ERA (by a substantial margin—2.40 compared with 2.81 by Oneonta’s John Gilbert, who had the second best mark) and strikeouts (205). He was traded before 1951 to the Cleveland Indians organization and enjoyed another 20-game season with Cleveland’s Double-A Dallas Eagles in 1952. This caught the attention of the Detroit Tigers, who traded for him in the offseason and promoted him to the major-league team in 1953 as a 33-year-old rookie. He pitched in only 18 games before being sent down to Triple A.
• John Nansteel: The only left-handed pitcher on the team, Pennsylvania-born Nansteel played with Peekskill of the North Atlantic League before joining Québec in 1949 and went 15-9. He too enjoyed a similar campaign in 1950, finishing with a 13-8 record. He played the following season with Trois-Rivières of the Provincial League.
• Younger/Ambrose/Meau: The 1950 Braves pitching staff was rounded out by these three. Two of them, Bud Younger and John Ambrose, functioned as fifth starters when needed, while Alfred Meau was their primary relief pitcher. Younger had pitched with Québec in 1948 and had “proven his value with the Alouettes”⁵ by leading the team in ERA that year. “It was no secret to anyone that, since his departure from Québec, Younger had only one wish, to return to the old capital,”⁶ and so he and the Braves were equally content with the reunion, though he did ask, for personal reasons, to report to the team at the end of May. The addition of Younger might have prompted the reliever Meau to believe his playing time would become more sporadic and led to his decision to leave the club on June 12 to spend more time with his family. Younger meanwhile finished with a 10-5 record, while John Ambrose finished 9-2.

In terms of position players, here too we see a preponderance of players returning from the 1949 squad.

• 1B—George McQuinn & Vernon Shetler: For the first few months of 1950, first base was shared between player-manager McQuinn and Vernon “Moose” Shetler. Despite being named league MVP in 1949 after leading the league with 133 RBIs and amassing 64 RBIs in 55 games to start the 1950 season, the veteran Shetler was released by the Braves on July 12, only to be picked up within a few days by Auburn of the Border League. Upon Shetler’s release, McQuinn became the regular first baseman, and finished the season with a .318 batting average, second highest on the team.
• 2B—Wally Williams & Mike Fandozzi: Second base was also shared between primarily two players whose skills complemented each other nicely. While Chicago-born Wally Williams, one of two Black players on the team, was an exceptional hitter who batted .314 with 54 RBIs, Mike Fandozzi was the superior fielder, with a .971 fielding average (compared to Williams’s .929 average). Williams was signed as a 19-year-old by the Boston Braves while on tour as a saxophonist with a professional jazz band and stayed on with Québec in 1951. Fandozzi meanwhile became a local fan favorite who manned second base with Québec through 1955. He continued to play in the minor leagues at various levels up to Triple A until 1966.
  
• SS—Edward Hamel: Williams and Fandozzi also took turns playing shortstop when the regular shortstop, Edward Hamel, was not available. Hamel, too, had been on the 1949 Québec squad and batted a respectable .286 with Québec in 1950.
• 3B—William Sinram: The infield was anchored by the sure-handed third baseman William Sinram, from Long Island, New York, who also had been with Québec in 1949. Among regular third basemen, he led the league in fielding percentage, though his season was cut short by season-ending surgery in early September.
• LF—Garland Lawing: In left field, Garland “Butch” Lawing had cups of coffee with Cincinnati and the New York Giants in 1946, amounting to a total of only 15 at-bats in 10 games, but had great success in the minor leagues. After batting .379 with Ogdensburg of the Border League in 1948, he led the Can-Am League in 1949 in runs scored, doubles, walks, and slugging percentage, and came in second in batting average (.342) to his teammate Pete Elko. In 1950 Lawing again led the league in doubles and walks, but most notably won the Triple Crown (.346, 19 home runs, 141 RBIs). This earned him the league MVP, the second consecutive year the honor went to a Québec player (Shetler in 1949). Lawing moved on to West Palm Beach in the Florida International League for a few seasons, but never again reached the level he attained while with Québec.
  
• CF—Louis Palmisiano: Playing in all but four games for Québec, the most reliable position player was the diminutive but scrappy center fielder Louis Palmisiano. At 5-feet-7, he was among the shortest players in the league, but his productivity and versatility enabled him to be a regular fixture in the Braves lineup. He spent several seasons in the Cleveland organization as a pitcher and pitched in a few games while with Québec in 1949, but by 1950 had fully converted to playing center field. He finished the season with a solid .304 batting average and led the league in runs scored with 130.
• RF—Pete Elko & John Werner: Rounding out the outfield for the first half of the season was the hard-hitting Pete Elko, already mentioned as the league’s leader in batting average the year before at .348. The veteran Elko had had brief stints with the Chicago Cubs in 1943 and 1944, but much like Lawing, his greatest success was achieved in the minor leagues. He continued to hit well in 1950 (.305 with Québec) and was the Braves’ regular right fielder until he was sold to one of their rivals, the Rome (New York) Colonels, in the middle of a doubleheader on June 11. Elko’s departure allowed part-time catcher and first baseman John Werner to take his place in right field, and he proved a capable replacement, finishing second on the team with 15 home runs and hitting a very respectable .286. The Philadelphia native spent three more seasons with Québec.
• C—Charles Alltop & William Kivett: Indianapolis-born Charles Alltop had been the Braves’ most dependable catcher in 1949, and he continued to be among the best-fielding catchers in the league in 1950, while hitting a decent .254 and driving in 57 runs. He left in late August to join the Army, at which point the Braves picked up the light-hitting William Everett “Bernie” Kivett, recently released by Ottawa of the Border League, who remained behind the plate from August 18 until the end of the season. Though he did not fare too well at the plate, batting only .185, Kivett was as solid defensively as Alltop, both with .981 fielding percentages. John Werner also spent 28 games behind the plate for the Braves.

Four other players appeared briefly on the 1950 Québec roster, but their distinct and intriguing stories are each worth noting.

• Robert Adamson: Robert Adamson, only four years after Jackie Robinson’s debut in 1946 down the road in Montreal, was the second Black player to play for the Braves, playing sporadically in the outfield in 1950.
• Thomas Ambrose: Thomas Ambrose was brought in as a (very) late-season substitute (and potential emergency reserve for the playoffs if needed) at second base for the Braves. The older brother of pitcher John Ambrose, he appeared in the final four games of the regular season before giving way to regular Wally Williams for the playoffs, which avoided a minor controversy as the Oneonta Red Sox vehemently opposed his potential appearance in the playoffs.⁷
• Joseph Galioto: Only two players were present in Quebec’s rise from worst to first from 1948 to 1950—one was Albert Belinsky; the other was Joseph Galioto. Used sparingly as a pitcher in 1948 and 1949, he was used even less in 1950, as he was brought in as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning on Opening Day for the pinch-hitter Shetler. Not only did he not score, but he never again appeared in a game with the Braves, which ignominiously left his final season statistics as simply one game played. The papers mentioned in the middle of May that he simply “disappeared.”
• Jean-Louis Leclair: Lastly, perhaps a yet more intriguing addition to the club arrived on August 4 during a doubleheader against the Schenectady Blue Jays, when the Braves invited local sports star Jean-Louis “Jackie” Leclair to try out with the team as a catcher. His debut was to be the day before, but the game was rained out after only half an inning. But with almost 2,500 fans in attendance despite the weather, and Leclair impressing McQuinn enough in the short outing, he was slated to catch the first game of the doubleheader. The “catch” is that Leclair was better-known to fans as a hockey star, born in Québec City, and who played in several minor Québec hockey leagues, most recently with Québec in 1948, and with Ottawa in 1949-1950, while also playing amateur baseball for Levis. The Braves’ interest in him may have been in part publicity stunt, part out of necessity, with the team down a catcher with Alltop needing to rest because of a strained shoulder muscle. Though it was intended Leclair would play only the first game, between getting a hit in his first at-bat and adding a sacrifice later in the game, and committing no errors behind the plate, he was put in to catch in place of Werner for game two. This was also helped by the fact that he is said to have been “the focus of one of the best attendance numbers”⁹ of the season (in fact, the highest attendance figure for the entire second half of the season, including the playoffs). Leclair’s appearance almost seemed to eclipse the fact that his batterymate, Bud Younger, pitched a no-hitter in game one (and Erickson allowed only three hits in the nightcap). He was slated to catch two days later against Amsterdam, but Werner ended up behind the plate, with no mention of why Leclair was not present, or why Leclair never returned behind the plate for Québec. But by playing the doubleheader, he became the only local player, let alone Canadian, to play on the Braves in 1950. His hockey career continued to blossom, and he reached the NHL for three seasons (1954-55 to 1956-57) with the Montreal Canadiens, and his name can be found on the Stanley Cup as part of the winning 1955-56 Canadiens team.

THE 1950 SEASON

With an even more impressive roster than the year before, there was a good degree of confidence in the team repeating its success from 1949. April 26 was opening day for the 1950 Can-Am League, and Québec started off the season with a 5-3 road loss to the Rome Colonels. But they wasted no time racking up wins as they took the next four games, starting with a 20-4 drubbing of Pittsfield (Massachusetts). The Braves finished the month of May in a tie for first place with Schenectady with a record of 24-9.

June witnessed several stellar pitching performances by their elite pitching staff, including a one-hitter by Belinsky on June 5 against Schenectady, a two-hit-ter by Younger on June 7 vs. Amsterdam (aided by six RBIs by Shetler), and a two-hit shutout against Schenectady, again by Belinsky, on June 20. The worst pitching performance to this point in the season occurred on June 8, when three pitchers allowed 12 runs to Amsterdam. But even this did not result in a loss, as the offense came through with a season-high 24 runs, led by Butch Lawing who went 5-for-5 with seven RBIs (he drove in this same amount on July 23 against Gloversville-Johnstown (New York)). The otherwise dominant pitching contributed to a 28-6 June record, and by the Canada Day holiday on July 1, Québec had pulled 4 1/2 games ahead of Schenectady with an impressive 52-15 record.

July featured two more stellar pitching performances by Belinsky—a 2-1 one-hit win on July 16 vs. Rome and, in his next start four days later, a no-hit-ter against Pittsfield. The Braves continued to pull further ahead of the rest of the league in July, ending the month with a record of 72-23, 10 1/2 games ahead of the Schenectady Blue Jays.

The Braves started the month of August going 5-1, highlighted by the no-hitter by Younger on August 4, and grand slams on consecutive days by Lawing and Werner on August 5 and 6. But the rest of the month was less than spectacular, as personnel changes destabilized the lineup and the team was likely stretched due to nine doubleheaders, including four in a row, many of which were the result of games being rained out. A season-high five-game losing streak contributed to a mediocre August record and allowed Schenectady to pull to within four games as of September 1. But a six-game winning streak (all against the Trois-Rivieres Royals) and a strong 9-1 finish to end the season resulted in a final regular-season record of 97-40, fully 7 1/2 games ahead of second-place Schenectady.

At the close of the regular season, in addition to the individual accomplishments of players like Lawing, Erickson, and Belinsky, the Braves as a team led the league in batting average (.280), runs scored (899), and walks (1,009, not far from their hit total of 1,242), averaging over seven walks per game. The pitching staff also allowed the fewest runs per nine innings (4.23), which, combined with their offensive strength, positioned the Braves as the favorites heading into the playoffs.

THE PLAYOFFS

The Braves began the Can-Am Championship playoffs with a best-of-seven semifinal against the third-place Oneonta Red Sox. After a commanding 9-2 victory in the opening game on September 12, a double by right fielder John Werner in the bottom of the ninth to score Lawing gave the Braves a walk-off victory, and a 2-0 series lead. In game three on September 16 (after the game was rained out the previous day), the Braves and Red Sox were tied 2-2 after six innings, but the Braves’ eight-run seventh inning broke the game open and resulted in a 10-4 win. Facing elimination, the Red Sox scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning of game five to break a 4-4 tie and avoid being swept.

The Braves hoped to clinch the series on September 18 and came out strong in the first inning with five runs. But Oneonta fought back and took a sizable 11-6 lead after five innings. Alex Danelishen was the third pitcher for the Braves, and he shut down the Red Sox for the next three innings. He also went 3-for-3 at the plate to help the Braves claw back and tie the game, 11-11,after eight innings. In the ninth inning, Danelishen’s fourth hit of the day brought in the second run of the frame, and he kept the Red Sox scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to secure the victory and the series.

Meanwhile, in the other semifinal series, the fourthplace Amsterdam Rugmakers upset the Schenectady Blue Jays by defeating them 11-7 for a 4-2 series win. The Braves then faced the Rugmakers for the Can-Am Championship.

In the series opener, Albert Belinsky scattered seven hits, while the Braves scored seven runs in the first inning and were led by the light-hitting catcher Kivett and shortstop Hamel who each had three hits and three RBIs. Butch Lawing also hit the only home run of the finals to seal the 15-7 home victory.

The second game started off much like the first, with the Braves taking advantage of five walks by Rugmakers pitcher Wally Burnette and an error to score three runs. Lawing drove in Williams in the second inning with a single to increase the lead to 4-0. Meanwhile, Braves starter Hal Erickson had a no-hit-ter after six innings, but Amsterdam rallied to score one in the seventh and two in the eighth to make the score 4-3. Still in the eighth, the game now on the line, Rugmakers’ standout catcher (and future major-league All-Star) Gus Triandos came up with the bases loaded with two outs. But Erickson induced Triandos to hit a roller to Fandozzi to end the rally, and the Braves held on, despite getting only four base hits, with a 4-3 victory to take a 2-0 series lead.

The series moved to Amsterdam, and game three turned out to be a lopsided victory for the Braves, as they pounded out 15 hits and Danelishen scattered five hits to defeat the Rugmakers 9-2.

In game four, in front of a dejected Amsterdam crowd of 304, Québec took an early 5-0 lead after three innings. After a good start, Braves pitcher Nansteel was chased to the showers after allowing two runs in the fourth inning, but Bud Younger came in and threw 5 1/3 shutout innings to secure the win and complete the sweep with a decisive 6-2 win. The hitting standout of the series proved to be, surprisingly, catcher Bill Kivett, who added three more hits to finish the playoffs with a .571 batting average and five RBIs and was instrumental in helping the Braves secure their second consecutive Arthur E. Ford Trophy for winning the Can-Am Championship for 1950.

EPILOGUE

Québec remained a highly successful draw in 1950, with a total attendance of 123,352, almost triple the average of the other Can-Am teams (47,111). But despite their success on the field and at the gate, the return of the Provincial League to the National Association after “yet another fling as an ‘outlaw’ loop”10 proved too tempting. Québec and Trois-Rivières decided to “rejoin their countrymen”11 and transferred out of the Canadian-American League. This had the added benefit of dramatically decreasing travel time for the teams that remained. Despite this, the Can-Am League sputtered along in 1951 as a six-team league, but without its largest draw, and with growing competition from radio and television broadcasts, league attendance dropped by 60 percent. Every team lost money, and the Can-Am League ceased operations after the 1951 season.

The Braves meanwhile finished fourth in the 1951 Provincial League, with a more moderate record of 65-58, but returned to their winning ways and won the league championship the next four years, until the Provincial League like many minor leagues in the 1950s, succumbed, folding after the 1955 season.

MARTIN LACOSTE recently retired as a high-school music educator and is excited to have more time to devote to some of his interests, including baseball. Once an avid Montreal Expos fan, since their relocation he has refocused his passion for the sport toward its history, notably nineteenth-century Canadian baseball. He has presented papers at the Canadian Baseball History Conference, written biographies for SABR, and contributed articles for the 2022 SABR publication on the development of Canadian baseball entitled Our Game, Too. When not poring through microfilm or digital newspaper files, he continues to engage in his musical interests, either as a performer or director, and enjoys keeping active by playing squash, hockey, slo-pitch, and cycling.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article was edited by David Siegel and fact-checked by Kevin Larkin.

 

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Weiss, Bill and Marshall Wright. ‘Too Best Minor League Baseball Teams,” the Official Site of Minor League Baseball, https://secure.milb.com/milb/history/topioo.jsp.

Québec newspapers are available online at Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/).

 

NOTES

1 Daniel Papillon, “The Québec Braves: A Baseball Dynasty,” Dominionball (Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 2005), 114.

2 “La Franchise des Braves de Québec au Dr J.-A. Bellemarre,” Le Soleil (Québec), December 30, 1949: 18.

3 C. Paul Rogers III, “George McQuinn,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/George-McQuinn/, accessed September 6, 2022.

4 Rogers.

5 “Younger a signé pour les Braves,” Le Soleil, March 18,1950: 21.

6 “Younger a signé pour les Braves.”

7 “Oneonta s’oppose à la présence du joueur d’intérieur: Thomas Ambrose,” Le Nouvelliste, September 8, 1950: 10. Because he played in only four games, he is often not shown in official records.

8 “Pichenettes,” Le Soleil, May 19, 1950: 32.

9 “Partie sans point ni coup sûr,” L’Action Catholique, August 5, 1950: 12.

10 Daniel Pietrusza, Baseball ‘s Canadian-American League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co, Inc., 1990), 185.

11 Pietrusza, 85.