That enthusiastic crowd would stay faithful to their Sea Hawks all summer long as
the team drew 66,861 fans despite being a miserable team on the field. Harry Baker
(16-10, 2.71) was the best pitcher on a team that featured Charles McGhee
(1-7, 7.47) and Dempsey Sterling who posted an 11-19 record (the league's all time
record for losses) despite his relatively low 3.38 ERA. The ballpark was filled
with fans who were here to see one thing… Charles Harper who hit .322 with
36 2B and a league leading 24 HR… the only player on the team in double digits
in power. Harper also led the league in RBI with 126. Port Arthur finished in
last place with 91 losses but the fans kept coming to their beautiful new ballpark.
By 1951, they were already a better team … losing only 84 games instead of
91 (baby steps?) and finishing 28.5 games behind 1st place. Al Kaiser (24 2B,
15 HR, .334) replaced the amazing Charles Harper who was promoted after his fantastic
season. Eugene Depperschmidt (9 2B, 16 3B, 10 HR, .370) was an flat out
"hitter" with great speed, and George Corona (35 2B, 17 HR, .309) led the team
in the power department. Bud Chipman was brought in to be the team's new ace, and
ace he was pitching to a 22-15, 4.31 record. You may wonder how a team with
this many great players managed to finish in 7th place. The problem was that after
Bud Chipman, James McDowell posted a 1-5, 7.10; Dempsey Sterling, a 1-6, 5.66
and Ed Cole posted a 4-12, 4.88. Despite the frightening statistics, a very
enthusiastic crowd of 79,000 came to Seahawks Stadium. They were the worst team
in the league over two seasons… but they were still a "hit". |