Chapter 6
The managers, part I (1895-1940)
The managers, part I (1895-1940)
PETE WECKBECKER -- The first listed Shreveport manager (Grays, 1895), he was a small catcher-outfielder (5-7, 150) in the first of five managing jobs. He played for a decade, mostly in the 1880s and sparingly until 1900 and was in the "majors" -- Louisville, American Association -- for 32 games (.238 average) in 1890. Died May 16, 1935, in Hampton, Va., at age 70.
GEORGE REED -- The first to manage Shreveport in multiple years (1899-1901-1902), he was a second baseman/third baseman/outfielder whose career began in 1892. He was in Houston for three seasons (1896 Texas Association, 1897-88 Texas League) before taking over the Shreveport Tigers. Died May 13, 1947, in Albuquerque, N.M., at age 76.
BOB GILKS -- Primarily a third baseman and outfielder by the time he was the player-manager in Shreveport for four years (1903-06), a decade earlier he had been a major-league pitcher. For Shreveport, he hit .270 and .258 in parttime duty his first two years, then played sparingly the next two. He pitched in MLB for two Cleveland teams -- Blues in the American Association (1887-88) and Spiders in the National League (1889-90) -- and then was with the 1893 Baltimore Orioles. He played six years in Toledo after that, and managed five more years after Shreveport, winding up with Galveston (Texas League, 1909) and Montgomery (Southern Association, 1914). Died Aug. 20, 1944, in Brunswick, Ga., at age 80. 
DALE GEAR -- A pitcher in the majors for the 1896 Cleveland Spiders and 1901 Washington Senators, he was an outfielder as player-manager for the Shreveport Pirates (Texas League) in 1908-10. He played at least 138 games each season and batted .270, .277 and .254. A University of Kansas student (1896), he pitched for Kansas City (American Association) for seven seasons, with best records of 25-14 and 19-11. He managed four years before Shreveport, went with the team when it moved to Austin, and managed four more years. He had three-year managing stint in Kansas City and Topeka, and became president of the Western League. Died Sept. 23, 1951, in Topeka at age 79.
LEE GARVIN -- A catcher, in the middle of his 15-year pro career, he played for the Shreveport Pirates in 1909 (97 games, .226 average) and 1910 (57 games, .166), then returned as the player-manager for part of the 1915 season (20 games, .226). That was his last season, and his third managing job (Oklahoma City, 1911, and Portsmouth, Virginia, 1913).
SYD SMITH -- A pro baseball career that began in 1904 in South Carolina ended in Shreveport, where he managed the Gassers for most of 1915, all of 1916-17 and again for a time in 1925 (the first year the team nickname was the Sports). A catcher-first baseman nicknamed "Chubby," a football tackle at the University of South Carolina in 1903, he played in 146 games over five major-league seasons (between 1908 and 1915) for four teams, hitting .247. He quit the Little Rock team in 1915, then was signed by the Gassers and had 145 hits in 140 games, batting .282 with 29 doubles. His last year as a player was 1916 when Shreveport was second in the Texas League with an 84-61 record. It finished seventh in 1917 and Smith resigned, but -- reportedly driving a new Buick that the Shreveport team had given him -- stayed in town as a car salesman for about a decade before returning to South Carolina. He returned to manage the Sports in mid-June 1925, finishing the season; his team was 39-61. Died June 5, 1961, in Orangeburg, S.C., at age 77.
MIKE O'NEILL -- A left-handed outfielder (also a pitcher at the start of his career), he was 41 and in his last season as a player when he managed the Shreveport Gassers in an abbreviated 1918 season (the Texas League disbanded on July 7). He played in 87 games and hit .243 in 305 at-bats, with 16 doubles, five triples and two home runs. He already had been a player-manager for six years in the New York State League (three years at Utica, three at Syracuse). His pro career began in 1899 in Scranton, Pa. -- where he died 60 years later -- and by 1901 he was in the majors as a pitcher-outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals. In four Cardinals seasons, he had a 32-44 pitching record and hit .255 in 380 games, with two homers and 41 RBI. He had one more brief MLB stop (1907, Cincinnati), then spent eight seasons in the NYSL and returned to manage two more years there (1928-29). Died Aug. 12, 1959, at age 81.
BILLY "CAP" SMITH -- The last four of his 25 seasons as a minor-league manager were with the Shreveport Gassers, and his 1919 team claimed Shreveport's first Texas League championship, winning the playoffs after a third-place, 81-64 regular season. An outfielder, Smith began playing pro ball in 1889 at age 16, and played 16 seasons. His managing career started in 1895 and included nine seasons in the Southern Association (seven in Atlanta, two in Chattanooga). He was relieved of his Shreveport managing duties 32 games (May 28) into the 1922 season.
JOHN VANN -- A catcher, he was in his fourth season with the Shreveport Gassers when he was named to replace Billy Smith as manager early in the 1922 season. By then he was deep into a 17-year playing career that began in 1909. He joined the 1919 Gassers during the season, which wound up with a Texas League championship, and played regularly the next three years, with a .260 average in 1921 his best year. In 1913, he hit .328 for Sioux City (Western League), then had his one major-league at-bat -- a strikeout for the St. Louis Cardinals. After managing Shreveport, he moved on to the Southern Association for a year, then managed (and played for) Corsicana (Texas Association) for three years. He returned to Shreveport and became a 19-year city police detective and died June 10, 1958, at age 68.
IRA THOMAS -- A major-league catcher for a decade, a backup starting with the New York Highlanders (later the Yankees) in 1906-07, then mostly with the Philadelphia Athletics (1909-15), his only time as a manager was with the Shreveport Gassers in the 1923 and 1924 seasons (both eighth-place finishes). He also was head of the team ownership group. The first of those teams included future Hall of Fame outfielder Al Simmons. Thomas played in three World Series, with the Detroit Tigers in 1908 and the champion Athletics in 1910 and 1911. In 1911, his 103 regular-season games was a career high. Died Oct. 11, 1958, in Philadelphia at age 77.
FRED LUDERUS -- The durable first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies for nine seasons (1911-19) -- he set a National League record for consecutive games played (533) -- the first manager of the renamed Shreveport team (Sports) in 1925 came in two years after managing Oklahoma City (Western League) to a pennant. But in Shreveport, he did not hit as well as he wanted (.296, seven home runs in 44 games) and his team did not win (17-28). As June began, he was given a leave of absence, reportedly to visit his ill wife in Wisconsin. He never returned, instead going back to Oklahoma City to manage (he was there seven seasons, before and after his Sports' tenure). A left-handed hitter, he averaged 141 games for his Phillies' years. His MLB totals: 1,346 games, .277 average, 1,344 hits (251 doubles, 54 triples, 84 home runs). His best power season was 1913 (18 homers, 86 RBI); his best season (.315 in 1915) helped the Phillies to the World Series, when he went 7-for-16 (.438) against the champion Boston Red Sox. He managed 10 years in the minors through 1933. Died Jan. 5, 1961, in Three Lakes, Wisc., at age 75.
BOB TARLETON -- A so-so minor-league first baseman from 1903 (first stop: Monroe, La.) through 1919, he was in the Texas League -- with several teams -- for five seasons (1914-19), winding up as player-manager in Galveston. By 1925, his title was business manager for the Shreveport Sports, thus in charge of finding player personnel. He took over as interim manager for a short time (3-5 record in early June) and began the 1926 season as manager, but left in mid-June on a scouting trip to the Midwest and gave way to a new manager. He managed again in the TL in 1928 for Dallas. Died Feb. 3, 1972, in Ramsey Co., Minn., at age 91.
ART PHELAN -- He took over as Shreveport Sports' manager for the last 90 games of the 1926 season, then managed the next four years, with two good teams -- a second-place finish in the Texas League in 1929 (91-66 record) and third in 1930 (86-65). An infielder (second and third base) for five years in the majors -- Cincinnati (1910, 1912) and the Chicago Cubs (1913-15) -- he hit .236 in 402 games. He came to the TL with Fort Worth in 1920, was the top assistant to manager Jake Atz in the Cats' title dynasty and played six full seasons, plus the first part of '26. After Shreveport, he managed Fort Worth in 1931 and 1933, then came back to Louisiana to manage Alexandria (Evangeline League) in nine seasons (full seasons 1934-39, part seasons in 1947, '48 and '49). He died Dec. 27, 1964, in Fort Worth at age 77.
JAKE ATZ -- He was already a legendary Texas League manager -- seven consecutive league championships (1919-25) at Fort Worth -- when he managed the Shreveport Sports in 1931. The record that year was dismal, 66-94 (sixth place). He managed 20 years in the TL, 17 at Fort Worth, and 27 years in the minors (through 1941), and his 1,972 regular-season victories and .549 win percentage are hard to top. A middle infielder, he played briefly in the majors in 1902 and 1907, then full seasons with the White Sox in 1908-09, and for eight years (1914-21) in the TL (Galveston, then Fort Worth). Died May 22, 1945, in New Orleans, at age 65.
GEORGE SISLER -- At age 39, the future Baseball Hall of Fame selection was the player-manager of the 1932 Shreveport Sports, whose season was interrupted by a stadium fire, forcing the team to move to Tyler, Texas, in mid-May. The first baseman quit after his team ended the first-half race with a 26-51 record and went home, having batted .287 in 70 games. This was after a brilliant 15-year MLB career in which he hit .340. (Full sketch in chapter 2, Baseball Hall of Famers.)
J. WALTER MORRIS -- In a long baseball career that included a variety of positions -- player, president of the Texas League, team owner, team business manager, he was the field manager of the then-Tyler Sports in the second half of the 1932 season (they were the Shreveport Sports at the start of the year). (See more in a future chapter titled "contributors.")
GUS WHELAN -- Augustus P., "Gus," was a slick fielding first baseman and occasional third baseman for Shreveport, who set a minor-league record in 1931 by handling 838 consecutive chances without an error, and also was proficient at drawing walks (114 times in 1929, 118 in 1930). He was a .270 hitter in 686 Texas League games (1928-32) for the Sports, then in his last year as a player was manager of the 1933 Dixie League team. Its regular-season record was 74-49, good for second place, and it lost the league final playoff series to the Baton Rouge Solons, four games to two with one tie. After one pro season in his hometown of Lynn, Mass. (New England League), he came to Shreveport and stayed. After baseball, he worked for Cities Service Oil Co., and for 25 years was a baseball umpire and football official for area college and high school games. He died Dec. 12, 1966, in Shreveport, at age 65.
JERRY MALLETT -- A pitcher early in his career, he was a 28-year-old outfielder as player-manager for Shreveport in the East Dixie League in 1934. His team finished third in the first-half season with a 33-31 record, then was 12-9 when the club was transferred to Greenwood, Miss., on July 17. He played in 99 games and hit .358 with 125 hits (27 doubles, seven triples, six home runs) and a league-high 75 RBI, earning him a promotion to Beaumont (Texas League) at the end of July. Veteran pitcher Slim Brewer took over as manager for the rest of the season. Mallett, out of high school in Princeton, Ark., spent a year at the U.S. Naval Academy, then joined the Navy and was in the medical corps and also a pitcher. Signed by the Washington Senators, he pitched batting practice for their 1924 World Series champions, then became a minor-league pitcher, going 10-6 for Beaumont (TL) in 1930. There he met Mildred Long, and they married in Shreveport during the '34 season (June 10) at the home of club co-owner Major B.A. Hardey. He wound up his baseball career as manager of Abbeville, La. (Evangeline League) in 1936-37, settled in Beaumont and worked in the petroleum industry; his son was a star athlete in Beaumont, then Baylor and played four games with the 1959 Boston Red Sox.
FRED NICHOLSON -- An outfielder from Texas, he first played for Shreveport/Tyler in 1932 and three years later was the team owner-president and field manager/player for a West Dixie League team that left town -- for Gladewater, Texas -- after an 8-30 beginning to the season. Neal Rabe finished the year as the manager. Nicholson hit .241 in 16 games for the Sports in 1932, and .287 in 46 games in 1935. In a pro career that began in 1913 when he was 18 -- he was in the Texas League (Dallas) for 16 games that year -- he first made the majors for a short time in 1917, then spent full seasons with Pittsburgh in 1919-20 and Boston (National League) in 1921-22, but spent the rest of his career -- through 1935 -- in the minors (six years, 1926-31, in Kansas City). His MLB totals: 303 games, .311 average, 12 home runs, 108 RBI. He retired to Kilgore, Texas -- near Gladewater -- in 1936 and lived there the rest of his life, dying Jan. 23, 1972, age 77.
CLAUDE JONNARD -- The player-manager of the 1938 Shreveport Sports -- for a half year until an eye injury cut short his season -- was a lanky right-handed pitcher from Tennessee. He was mostly a reliever in six major-league seasons (14-12 record, 137 games), including three New York Giants teams (1922-24) that reached the World Series. A four-time 20-game winner in the minors, he was in his 18th pro season and had been in the Texas League for four seasons, the last two with Galveston, whose team moved to Shreveport in '38. Jonnard managed only through July 5; his season ended -- with the Sports at 35-51 and in last place -- when he was struck in the face in a fight with one of his players outside of a San Antonio hotel, causing a severe eye injury (critical condition). He recovered, but did not manage the Sports again, and the next year began another decade of managing (at the Class C and D levels). He died Aug. 27, 1959, in Nashville, Tenn., at age 61.
HOMER PEEL -- Sports manager, 1939 and most of the 1940 season (full sketch in next chapter).
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Hub Northen (right), with Murrell Jones, Shreveport Sports, 1940 |
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