The Pennsylvania State Association, 1934-1942

Minor League Baseball has enjoyed great success in western Pennsylvania from the earliest days of professional baseball through the 1950s. Leagues such as the Iron and Oil League, Western Pennsylvania Association, Ohio- Pennsylvania League, and others operated in the region. While many of these leagues came and went, the two most prominent minor leagues to play here were the Middle Atlantic League (1925-1951) and the Pennsylvania State Association (1934-1942). Both were particularly blessed to have been led by Elmer Daily of Ebensburg, who brought professional baseball to people all over western Pennsylvania.

The Middle Atlantic League had teams in almost all of the region’s cities including Wheeling, West Virginia; Youngstown, Akron, and Canton, Ohio; Cumberland, Maryland; and western Pennsylvania cities such as Altoona, Johnstown, Erie, New Castle, and others. In addition, the Middle Atlantic League had a unique farm league, the Class D Pennsylvania State Association, that operated from 1934 to 1942. During the Great Depression, the Middle Atlantic League remained viable, but was left with few teams from western Pennsylvania. The league that boasted four of the eight teams from western Pennsylvania in 1930 (Charleroi, Jeannette, Johnstown and Scottdale), only had Johnstown from the region in 1933. Middle Atlantic League President Daily and Secretary-Treasurer Russell Hockenbury (Scottdale, Pa.), who were both from the region, saw the creation of the Pennsylvania State Association as a solution to two problems.

The Pennsylvania State Association was formed in 1934 with six teams, all located less than fifty miles from Pittsburgh. The six original teams included Jeannette and Greensburg in Westmoreland County; Charleroi, Monessen and McKeesport along the Monongahela River to the east and south; and Washington, Pennsylvania. According to the history of the Middle Atlantic League, Daily “… conceived the idea of a closely knit circuit whereby the teams could travel to distant towns and back to its [sic} home port the same night,” thus dramatically reducing operating expenses. Most of these cities grew on the backs of varied industry in the region including steel, glass, coal and coke.

The closest league city to Pittsburgh was McKeesport, the home to nearly 55,000 people and the huge steel mills of American Sheet and Tin Plate Company and the National Tube Company of National Steel. Charleroi was a city of just over 10,000 and a center for glass production and coal mining on the Monongahela River. Charleroi was also the home of National League President and Pennsylvania Governor John Tener. Monessen was the classic industrial boomtown and was founded in 1898. By 1940, the population was just over 20,000, with a great deal of its work force employed at either American Sheet and Tin Plate Company or Pittsburgh Steel.

In Westmoreland County, Jeannette (population 15,126) and county seat Greensburg (population 16,508), were industrial and coal-mining centers with factories producing machinery, glass, and plumbing supplies Washington (population 24,545) is the county seat of Washington County, located south of Pittsburgh. Like other cities in the region, Washington’s main industries were coal and glass and other natural resources including oil, clay, and limestone.

In the nine years that the Pennsylvania State Association operated, teams played in other regional cities including Beaver Falls, Butler, Johnstown, Oil City, and Warren, Ohio. Beaver Falls (population 17,000) is an industrial city located on the Beaver River near the Ohio River. Butler’s population in 1930 was over 23.000 and was the home of the Pullman-Standard railroad car company and ARMCO. Oil City (population 22,075) was a major oil center located on the Allegheny River north of Pittsburgh. Although western Pennsylvania was no longer the center of the national petroleum industry in the 1940s as it had been in the 19th century, businesses in the city still were prominently connected with the oil industry.

Located in Cambria County to the east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is one of the largest industrial cities outside the Monongahela and Ohio River valleys and the home of the Cambria Plant of Bethlehem Steel. With a population of 66,610 in 1940, Johnstown was the largest city to participate in the Pennsylvania State Association. Games played in Johnstown were at Point Stadium, located at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek Rivers.

Many Pennsylvania State Association players went on to major league careers, with a few attaining great prominence. Possibly the greatest player in the Association was Monessen’s 1934 all-star center fielder Tommy Henrich, later one of the stars of the New York Yankee championship nines. Henrich played his second professional season in the Middle Atlantic League for the Zanesville Greys and hit .337. Another great was Butler Yankees first baseman Hank Sauer, who in his second season in the league, led the Association with a .351 batting average. Born in Pittsburgh in 1919, Sauer played the 1939 season for the Akron club of the MAL before playing for the Reds, Cubs, Cardinals and Giants. Other players who graduated from the Pennsylvania State Association to the major leagues include: Harry Craft, Al Rubeling, Kenny Heintzelman, Mike McCormick, Joe Mack, Steve Souchock, and Joe Page.

For its first year, the Pennsylvania State Association adopted a split-season, with a season-ending playoff. The Association played all day games. In 1934, Greensburg, winner of the second half, defeated Washington, winner of the first half, four games to two, to claim the first league title. While its initial season was generally a success, the Association suffered its first casualty afterward when the Jeannette franchise was replaced by Butler.

Butler became the most successful club in the Association, winning five championships in eight years. The Butler franchise also was consistently among the leaders in attendance. Monessen defeated Washington in the 1935 playoffs. For the 1936 season, Jeannette returned to the league as a Pittsburgh Pirate affiliate, replacing the Washington franchise that was unable to find a suitable stadium in which to play. In 1936, Charleroi also left the Association and was replaced by Beaver Falls. The neighboring cities Jeannette and Greensburg won the first and second-half titles respectively, with Jeannette winning the playoffs.

The 1937 season was the most trying in the Association’s history. The season opened with cold and rainy weather that forced teams to cancel numerous games. Furthermore, western Pennsylvania cities were particularly hard hit during the Depression year of 1937 as factories routinely closed or cut back the workforce. The financially weakened six-club league finally opened on May 13, but within one month, two clubs shut their gates. Both McKeesport and 1936 champs Jeannette folded on June 10 and were not replaced, leaving the league with four teams. At that time, the Butler Yankees were well in front with a 19-4 record. Jack Dunlevy, president of the Butler club, offered to restart the season, allowing the remaining three teams a fair chance at catching the Yankees. The “new” season was also split, half running from June 11 to July 20 and the second half from July 21 to August 29. Butler still won the first half crown and took the playoffs four games to three over Beaver Falls.

To curb declining attendance, lights were installed in the Greensburg and Butler ballparks in 1937 The Association continued as a four-club league in 1938 with Monessen being replaced by McKeesport, a club that had folded one month into the previous season. Despite being affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the McKeesport Little Pirates almost did not start the year, citing many of the same economic problems that had caused them to fold in `37. Early 1938 was also plagued by inclement weather, causing the cancellation of the first two days of the season. Butler eventually won their second straight championship, defeating McKeesport, four games to one.

In 1939 the Pennsylvania State Association returned as a six-club league. Washington rejoined the association and a team was placed in Johnstown to replace a Middle Atlantic League club that had moved to Youngstown, Ohio. The Johnstown franchise was supported by the community group, the Johnnies, that sought to keep professional baseball in Johnstown. This group was later instrumental in getting a franchise in the Middle Atlantic League after World War II. For 1939, the league changed their format to incorporate Shaughnessy playoffs for the top four teams in the six-club league. Washington defeated Butler three games to none to win the championship.

Problems in the Pennsylvania State Association continued in 1940 Before the season opener, charter club Greensburg was transferred to Warren, a city in eastern Ohio. As in 1937, bad weather conditions early in the `40 season presented many problems for league president Daily. That year’s recap in The Sporting News Baseball Guide stated that”… it took all of President Daily’s long experience and thorough acquaintance with conditions to keep things going — or even get started.”

The volatile franchise in McKeesport folded for the second time on July 5, 1940 and was moved to Oil City, Pennsylvania. With the support of the local newspaper, the Oil City Blizzard, residents staged a “whirlwind campaign to obtain the franchise,” and the publisher of the Blizzard guaranteed any shortage for the financing of the team. Butler continued their winning ways by downing Beaver Falls in the 1940 playoffs, three games to none.

1941 opened with the same six teams and ended with Butler taking the Shaughnessy playoffs over Washington. The only stadium not lit by this time was Johnstown’s Point Stadium. Warren and Beaver Falls failed to open the 1942 season, leaving the league once again with just four teams — the Butler Yankees, Johnstown Johnnies, Oil City Oilers, and Washington Red Birds. It was the Pennsylvania State Association’s last season in 1942 and it ended as most of the others had, with the Butler Yankees as the champion. The Yankees were the Association champions in five of the last six years of the league. The sole team to prevent them from landing six straight titles were the Washington Red Birds, victors over Butler in the 1939 playoffs.

Like most minor leagues at the end of the 1942 season, the Pennsylvania State Association ceased operations in 1943 for the duration of World War II. Baseball supporters in Butler held an annual “Community Baseball Bond Drive” from 1943 until 1945 and raised $175,000 each year for the war effort. While Daily and Hockenbury planned to commence play at the end of the war, the league never reorganized. However, many of the cities that hosted Pennsylvania State Association teams rejoined the Middle Atlantic League after the war including Butler, Johnstown, and Oil City. The presence of Pennsylvania State Association teams keeping their communities interested in professional baseball made possible the placement of numerous western Pennsylvania teams in the Middle Atlantic League after the war. With the exception of Erie, Pa., in the New York-Penn League and Johnstown in the independent Frontier League, minor league baseball has all but disappeared in this region since the mid-1950s. Still, the legacy of minor league baseball in the region should he greatly attributed to the work of Elmer Daily and the presence of the Pennsylvania State Association.