ON THIS DATE

THIS DATE IN GREAT DESERT LEAGUE HISTORY

(Arizona State League, Arizona-Texas League, Southwest International League and Sunset League, and successor Arizona-Mexico League.)

February 15, 1952. The first black umpire in Organized Ball, Emmett L. Ashford, signed to work in the Class C Southwest International League.

April 6, 1932, In one of the highest scoring games in pro baseball history, Albuquerque defeated El Paso 43-15 to open the Arizona-Texas League season. Playing at Tingley Field in Albuquerque, El Paso scored 11 runs in the top of the first inning. The game was played in 2 hours and 40 minutes, despite the two clubs combining for 46 hits, 58 runs and 12 errors. The contest saw only one home run, but 13 triples and 10 doubles were hit.

May 4, 1956, Eight homers were clubbed in Cananea’s bandbox park as the Mineros beat Phoenix 17-12 in an Arizona-Mexico League encounter, for a total of 19 in two successive games, Cananea outfielder Claudio Solano, who hit a pair of round-trippers the day before against Douglas, came up with three more against Phoenix for a total of five in two games. Cananea set a loop mark by stealing 10 bases as another feature of the victory.

May 9, 1957, Phoenix blanked Mexicali 29-0.

May 19, 1958, The Arizona-Mexico League standings showed a rarity when it read all six clubs tied for first place with identical 9-9 records.

May 26, 1957, Cananea scored 17 runs in the seventh inning and swamped Douglas 30-9.

May 26, 1957, Las Vegas, Arizona-Mexico League,  made 13 errors in a 12-6 loss to Douglas.

May 30, 2003, The Arizona-Mexico League returns after a 45-year hiatus. Bisbee-Douglas, playing at Bisbee’s Warren Ballpark hosted Cananea and lost 5-2 in front of 1,800 Bisbee fans.

June 13, 1957, Outfielder Barry Shetrone of Phoenix, was collared by Cananea after having hit safely in 33 straight games.

June 13, 2003, The Cananea Mineros, playing it’s first Arizona-Mexico League game in 45-years at home, hosted Bisbee-Douglas and lost 5-2 with 2,802 fans attending.

June 17, 2003, The return of the Arizona-Mexico League was short lived for the 2003 season. An emergency league meeting was called by the Bisbee-Douglas team, and it was voted 4-0 to suspend operations immediately, due to all four teams having financial difficulty.

July 7, 1951, Emmett Ashford, the first black umpire in Organized Ball, broke in on the Southwest International League staff, working behind the plate for the game between Yuma and Mexicali.

July 22, 1954. The Arizona-Texas League came up for a new reason for postponing a game: bad roads. Rain almost completely washed out the road to Cananea, Mexico, making it impossible for Tucson to get through to fill a date with the Mineros.

August 4, 1952, Tony Ponce of Phoenix, Arizona-Texas League, made five hits in five trips at bat in posting a 12-3 win over Bisbee-Douglas.

August 6, 1957, Walt Tyler, outfielder-first baseman, with Tucson, Arizona-Mexico League, was collared by Cananea after having hit in 36 straight games.

August 19, 1951, Wenceslao Gonzalez of Juarez, Southwest International League, became the first pitcher in Organized Ball to win 30 games when he blanked El Centro 2-0.

August 19, 1958, A home run feat never accomplished before in Organized Ball was recorded when every member of the Douglas Copper Kings contributed one home run in a 22-8 rout at Chihuahua in an Arizona-Mexico League game. In addition to the nine homers, the Copper Kings collected 14 other hits.

September 1, 1951, Tony Ponce of Phoenix, Southwest International League, was believed to have established a modern Organized Ball record by pitching his 38th consecutive game of the season without relief. Ponce marked his 25th win of the year compared to 16 losses, when he defeated Yuma 4-2. He hurled 38 complete games.

September 5, 1947, Pete Hughes closed the season with Phoenix in the Arizona-Texas League with 193 base on balls for the year, believed to be an all-time Organized Ball record. He scored 180 runs on only 164 hits, 36 doubles, 8 triples and 38 homers, drove in 167 tallies and batted .371.