Jim Kaat knew in 1957 – and maintains today – that the best place to launch his Major League Baseball career was in central Nebraska.
Kaat, who won 283 games as a pitcher, made three All Star games and is now a Hall of Famer, makes a compelling case for Nebraska. And he’s not alone.
In four years, Nebraska helped send more than 40 players to the majors through the Nebraska State League, a then-innovative minor league class exclusively for first-year players. Eight major league ball clubs had teams in central and western Nebraska.
Then the league collapsed almost as quickly as it had started, leaving the host communities with fond memories of an otherwise forgotten chapter in baseball history.
Players wore hand-me-down uniforms, paid to have their gear washed, traveled by bus to away games, and lived in motels, boarding houses or with host families across the state.
They didn’t complain, Kaat recalled, because they were playing professional baseball – and getting paid.
“We didn’t know any better,” he said. “We thought it was great.”
Seventy years ago, Major League Baseball had a problem. Teams waited until early June for high school or college players to turn pro. These rookies then were sent to Class D – the lowest minor league level at the time – where they competed against experienced players who had a head start on their seasons. Often, these rookies couldn’t keep up.
Longtime baseball executive Lee MacPhail offered a solution: Create a league solely for rookies. He reportedly proposed a winter league, but other minor league team directors suggested a late-summer league.
The rookie league was a first for MLB. The short season ran roughly from July 1 through Labor Day, and no player could have professional experience. Players either advanced in their club’s farm system after their Nebraska State League season or found themselves out of pro baseball.
States lined up to host the new league. A May 1956 Boston Globe story anointed Nebraska, West Virginia and Maryland as the front-runners.
Harold George, the league’s first executive-secretary, cited three reasons for Nebraska’s selection: its strong baseball reputation, central location and well-organized proposals from the eight host communities.
“It was a great accomplishment for Nebraska to get the league,” said John Liepa, a baseball historian from Iowa. “I have no doubt Iowa would have loved to have that rookie league.”
Eleven communities bid to host teams, and eight were matched with major league affiliates in a drawing. Alliance, Alma and Broken Bow didn’t make the cut.
The selected communities – Grand Island, Hastings, McCook, North Platte, Superior, Kearney, Holdrege and Lexington – agreed to provide a lighted field, pay the light bill, furnish a groundskeeper and sell 500 season ticket books at $10 each. The major league clubs provided the players and coaches.
“The ballpark was just a field,” recalled Jerry McNertney, who played for the Holdrege White Sox. “Our lockers were at the National Guard building. All it had was uncovered bleachers. No dugouts, just above the ground bench.”
McNertney, who played nine seasons in the majors, added, “I just loved playing and wanted to play as long as I could.”
McNertney earned $500 for the season and a $500 bonus. Kaat, who played for the Superior Senators before eventually making his major league debut in 1959, received a $3,200 payment at the end of his season in Superior.
“That was the biggest check I’d ever seen in my life. I think I bought a stereo and then gave the rest to my parents.”
The Nebraska State League gave status to the host communities, said Bruce Esser, a baseball historian from Omaha. “It was a matter of town pride.”
The league’s first opening day featured two future major leaguers. Jim Perry (17-year MLB career and three-time All-Star) struck out 16 McCook Braves batters in a 10-1 win for the North Platte Indians. Deron Johnson (16-year MLB career) hit two home runs for the Kearney Yankees in a 15-10 victory over the Grand Island A’s. Average paid attendance at the four opening-day venues was almost 1,700 fans.
The Lexington Red Sox won the league title that inaugural short season, which drew a total of 225,000 fans.
League president Mike Hollinger reported that fans, players and major league sponsors were pleased. Ossie Bluege, the Washington Senators’ farm director, called the league “the most constructive step baseball has taken toward player development in recent years.”
All eight teams returned for a second season. Regular rainouts, including three of the four opening day games, disrupted the season and forced league officials to improvise. Near the season’s end, Lexington played at Grand Island and in Kearney on the same day. Attendance dipped below 200,000 during the second season.
Then, the third season saw attendance plummet to 113,925. Superior had the worst attendance with less than 9,000 fans for the entire season.
By 1959, the league was in jeopardy. The Boston Red Sox pulled the Lexington team, and the Washington Senators folded their Superior team. Down to six teams, the league still produced 17 major leaguers. McCook dominated with a roster that featured five future big-leaguers, including Hall of Fame pitching legend Phil Niekro.
The Cleveland Indians withdrew their team from North Platte in early November 1959, followed by the Kansas City Athletics one month later. As reported in the Grand Island Independent, the A’s cited increasing costs and changes in MLB’s draft rules. The league folded when the Kearney Yankees withdrew, leaving just three teams.
The demise of the Nebraska State League reflected minor league baseball’s struggles across the country.
The minors exploded after World War II, growing to 59 leagues and 448 teams in 1949. By the early 1960s, after the emergence of TV let baseball fans watch major league games, just 18 leagues and 129 teams remained.
Seventy years after it folded, people still talk about the Nebraska State League, said Crystal Werger, Dawson County Historical Society executive director. “They did 11 years ago when I started at the historical society, and they still do.”
Greg Stickney’s summer job in 1956 and ’57 was picking up the Kearney Yankees’ clubhouse. He cleaned the players’ spikes and kept the soda machine stocked with Coca-Cola, pocketing the proceeds. At 14, he charged the players $2 per week to have his mother wash their gear. “I was a pretty rich kid.”
Al Short, a catcher for his American Legion team, remembers pestering Jim Perry to let him catch warm-ups in North Platte. “At least I got to say I caught Jim Perry. It hurt.”
Decades later in Minnesota, Short approached Perry and mentioned their brief game of pitch-and-catch. “He said, ‘You rode a Schwinn bicycle with knee action on it, didn’t you?’ I said, ‘That’s me.’”
Werger has a story of her own. An Illinois man, visiting Lexington several years ago, told her he played on the 1956 Lexington team. Rather than mention his .291 batting average and 24 stolen bases, he remembered his time in Lexington for another reason.
“He met his wife here.”
8 Comments
If only my baseball loving pops was alive so I could quiz him on this. Great story.
Me too!
Pat Jordan, who pitched for the McCook Braves, wrote an excellent book that includes description of his experiences in McCook. Jordan’s baseball career fizzled out, but he has been a successful writer. I highly recommend “A False Spring”.
I have a lot of disjointed memories from my time as a preteen batboy for the Hastings Giant. My father was a manager at the Hastings hotel where the vast majority of the Hastings Giants lived for the summer. This allowed me to manage to convince Leo Schrall, the manager to let me be the batboy. For the first season I just did home games, but the next seasons I road the bus with the team to Kearney, McCook, Holdrege, and others. I was the envy of my little league teammates.
Jim Bouton of “Ball Four” fame also played in the NSL, for Kearney. About 30 years ago the Holdrege newspaper did a story about a player who came back to revisit Holdrege and memories of “that wonderful summer.” He was from the St. Louis area and the White Sox signed him. But he got cut at spring training the next year so he knew he wasn’t going to be playing ball for a living. But he did stay in touch with his teammates and some who did make it to the Major Leagues. There is a successor of sorts today in the Independent League Baseball Association, a collegiate wood-bat summer league, which has teams in Hastings and Fremont.
Love hiring stories like this , cuz everybody has a story, just comes down to someone telling the story, and someone wanting to listen to the story
Bill Wood Field in North Platte is still there and still beautiful! Spent ALL my summers at that ballpark from ages 6-18. And now I’m gonna choose to believe that my Legion baseball locker in the 80s was the same one Jim Perry had in ’57! Thank you for this great article.
We even have a museum in Nebraska dedicated to Nebraska baseball legends. http://www.nebraskabaseballmuseum.com/