As all the Home Runs were making the football grandstands the place to catch Guettler's
consistent barrage of HR balls, Frank D. Lawrence decided to change the
name of the team finally now that the Chicago Cubs franchise were 6 years gone. In 1953 they had become the Portsmouth Merrimacks and
despite the continued status as a co-op team... they would produce their next
future Major League All-Star. Led by manager and Hall of Famer Buck Leonard (who
batted .333 in 10 games) the 1953 Portsmouth Merrimacks saw the rise of All-Star
Brooks Lawrence (18-13, 2.37) who would win 19 games for the Reds in 1956.
The Merrimacks had a lot to live up to after the Portsmouth Cubs had made it
to the playoffs in 12 straight seasons. Of course Frank D. Lawrence and his new
superstar Ken Guettler would make sure that they would do just that... making
it to the playoffs in each of the next 3 seasons for 15 straight post-season appearances.
Now that Guettler was back from his injury induced vacation, he would
have the best performance of any player ever to put on a Portsmouth uniform at
any ballpark in the city's history... slamming 41 league leading and Portsmouth
record setting Home Runs with 113 league leading RBI while batting .325. The
1955 Merrimacs made it to the finals yet again behind the incredible bat of Ken
Guettler and of course lost in the finals. While the team should still have been
celebrating an incredible season... some very dark clouds moved in on the horizon. |