Aldon Wilkie

Aldon Wilkie was a pitcher, mostly in relief, for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1941, 1942, and 1946. The major websites identify him as “Lefty Wilkie,” but during his career he was almost always referred to simply as “Aldon Wilkie” and occasionally as “Aldon (Duke) Wilkie,” “Aldon (Duke of Vancouver) Wilkie,” or “Aldon Wilkie, the Duke of Vancouver.” The only “Lefty Wilkie” instances were two mentions in his first professional season, so I don’t know where people got the idea that that was how he was usually called, and I will not be calling him that.

Aldon was born in Zealandia, a small farming town about an hour from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on October 30, 1914. His father, Armand, was a carpenter who was born in Ontario, and his mother, Ella, was born in North Dakota. Besides baseball, and hockey, young Aldon’s main interest was raising chickens; he and his father used to attend poultry shows together. After graduating from high school, where he pitched for the school team, he planned to attend college and major in poultry husbandry. But baseball pulled him in a different direction, and at age 19 in 1934 he started playing semipro ball. In 1936 he went 16-6 in a high-level Vancouver league and a scout sent him to 1937 spring training with the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals.

Immigration records for Aldon and his parents are confusing. His mother Ella moved from Saskatchewan to Newberg, Oregon, near Portland, in May of 1936. In October Armand, occupation carpenter, came for a visit, and his paperwork said that he was visiting both Ella and Aldon in Newberg. In February 1937 Ella had her American citizenship restored, and the paperwork for that said that Armand and Aldon were living in Vancouver. In March 1937 Armand, now listed with an occupation of poultry raiser, moved to Newberg. Aldon’s 1940 naturalization paperwork says that he, too, moved to the US in March 1937, but doesn’t say where he lived until September, when he lived in Tacoma.

Spring training 1937 ended with Aldon being sent by the Seals to the Tacoma Tigers of the Class B Western International League, where he went 15-13 with a 3.91 ERA in 237 innings, but was a little wild, walking 110. On May 30 he pitched a no-hitter against the Wenatchee Chiefs. During the off-season he lived in Newberg, presumably with his parents. He didn’t like the contract the Seals sent him in January 1938, but by the time spring training started in late February he had agreed to terms. On March 10 it was reported that he had finished third in a foot race among all the pitchers in camp, and on March 14 the San Francisco Chronicle said “Aldon Wilkie, another southpaw, has fair speed and a good sinker. He was farmed out by the Seals last year and he looks more like a pitcher than he did this time last year.” 

He made the team and was mostly used as a relief pitcher. In June he was again “another southpaw” in the Chronicle:

Aldon Wilkie, another southpaw, known to his mates as the Duke of Vancouver, will pitch for the Seals today. If he does not look good he may be sent back to Canada, and he likes it fine on this side of the line.

For the rest of his time with the Seals it was standard for the Chronicle to refer to him as the Duke of Vancouver, or just Duke. He finished the season with a decent 3.93 ERA over 110 innings in 33 games, including two starts, walking 57. His won-lost record was 1-8, which was the main way pitchers were judged in those days, so he was regarded as a failure.

In Seattle on Christmas 1938 Aldon married Jeannie Barbour of Yamhill, Oregon, who was one of the princesses at the 1937 Portland rose festival and whose father was Jack Barbour, “Seattle’s singing butcher.” They lived in Newberg until Aldon went off to 1939 spring training with the Seals. 

He made the team and spent the whole season with them again, but pitched poorly (6.32 ERA) and spent long periods on the bench, pitching only 57 innings in 19 games. In December it was announced that the Seals had optioned him to the Oklahoma City Indians of the Class A-1 Texas League. In the 1-18-40 Sporting News appeared the first mention I found of Aldon and chickens:

Aldon Wilkie, southpaw of the San Francisco Seals, isn’t certain whether he gets his biggest thrill from victories on the diamond or in poultry shows, for he enjoys both. He raises prize Rhode Island Reds on his ranch near Portland, Ore., and doesn’t miss a show in the Northwest.

Aldon started the 1940 season with Oklahoma City, but was weakened by a bout of the flu during spring training and only got into four games before the Indians dropped him on May 1, one of ten players cut to get the roster down to the required 18. (This brief stay in Oklahoma happened to coincide with the US census, which showed Aldon and Jeannie living at 718 NW 30^th St in OKC.) The Seals released him, and he went to Seattle and asked manager Jack Lelivelt for a job with the rival Rainiers. He passed the tryout, and Lelivelt suggested that he try pitching more overhand, less sidearm. This made a big difference in Aldon’s control, and after several relief appearances he was moved into the starting rotation in early June, which began the most successful stretch of his career. By mid-July he was 9-0 with four shutouts, was leading the league in ERA, and was the talk of the PCL; there were frequent mentions in the press of the fact that the Seals had given up on him and now he was starring for the competition. On July 23 there was an Aldon Wilkie Night in Portland, with his local friends descending on the park for the Rainiers’ game there.

On August 1 a number of big league scouts came to the game in Seattle expecting to see him pitch, but Lelivelt crossed them up; still, on August 28 he was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates, effective spring training 1941, for $15,000 and a player to be named later (months later, after the two teams couldn’t agree on a player, the deal was changed to a straight sale for $19,000).

When making the purchase the Pirates requested that Aldon become an American citizen as soon as possible. After a game in San Diego on September 11, he and some teammates made a visit to Tijuana, and when he told Immigration officials on their return that he was a Canadian citizen he was informed that he could not cross the border until he obtained a re-entry permit. His teammates went on without him, and got around to telling Lelivelt about the situation around noon on the 12^th. It was initially expected that he would have to wait three to ten days to come back, but on the 13^th the American consul issued him an immigration visa to permit him to reenter the US and remain indefinitely.

The Rainiers finished in first place in the PCL with a 112-68 record, as Aldon went 13-5 with a 2.69 ERA in 144 innings, and won the four-team playoff tournament. He petitioned for naturalization immediately after the season, but didn’t take the oath until March, when the Pirates realized he hadn’t done it and he was flown from spring training in Santa Barbara to Seattle for the ceremony.

Pirates manager Frankie Frisch took a liking to him, and after Aldon beat the Athletics in a spring game Connie Mack told Frisch that he thought he had what it takes. He started the season in the bullpen, but spent some time in the rotation in May and June; though he did fairly well he went back to relief. In June there were articles in the press about the rivalry between Aldon and Cubs coach Charlie Grimm—a poultry rivalry. While Aldon raised Rhode Island Reds, Grimm went for White Rocks on his Missouri farm. Aldon gave up eight earned runs in three innings in his final appearance of the year, which made his season ERA jump from 3.79 to 4.56. In 26 appearances, six of them starts, he pitched 79 innings, walking 40. The Pirates finished fourth in the National League, giving him a World Series share of $361.09.

Aldon spent the 1942 season with the Pirates as well. It was an uneventful year in which he didn’t pitch particularly well, finishing with a 4.19 ERA while the league average was 3.31. His control did improve, with 37 walks in 107 innings. On October 14 Jeannie gave birth to twins, and with the war now on Aldon took a job in a Portland shipyard.

In February 1943 he announced that he would remain at his shipbuilding job, on March 5 it was reported that he had signed his Pirates contract, on March 15 it was again reported that he would remain at his job, and on May 6 the Pirates announced that he had been placed on the voluntarily retired list. On May 30 he was the opening day pitcher for Commercial Iron Works in Portland’s War Industries Baseball League, but in early July he was drafted into the Army, ordered to report on July 28. Again he found himself playing baseball, pitching the Fort Lewis Warriors into the playoffs of the Puget Sound Service League.

In March 1944 Aldon was reported to be at Camp Roberts, California, learning to throw grenades, and in May he was identified as one of five major league pitchers on the Camp Roberts baseball team. The next mention of him was in May 1945, in the obituary of his father-in-law, the singing butcher, then in September he was reported to be pitching for the baseball team of the 70^th division, which had recently played in Mannheim, Germany, for the championship of the 7^th Army. In November he was still in Mannheim and had run up a 23-3 won-lost record for Army teams, though by now he was with the 36^th Division and the Special Service Section. He was discharged on Christmas, which was also his wedding anniversary.

Aldon started the 1946 season back with the Pirates, but wasn’t used much and in mid-June was sent to the PCL Hollywood Stars under a 24-hour recall arrangement. As it turned out, this ended his major league career; his Pirates ERA for the year was a horrible 10.57, but that was due to two bad outings among five good ones.

He pitched very well for the Stars, mostly as a starter, ending up with a 2.85 ERA in 142 innings, with only 41 walks. At the end of the season the Pirates’ working agreement with Hollywood ended and he was reassigned to Indianapolis of the American Association.

In early 1947 Aldon pitched well in relief for the Indians, but in May he was sent to the Oakland Oaks, continuing his tour of PCL teams, as a player to be named later from an earlier deal. He didn’t do so well there, finishing with a 4.67 ERA in 135 innings over 33 games, 15 of them starts.

After taking a pay cut for 1948, Aldon spent the whole season with the Oaks, though he suffered from a torn fingernail in May and two locked vertebrae in September. He finished with an 11-6 record and a 3.79 ERA in 185 innings in 41 games, split between starting and relieving. After the season Oaks pilot Casey Stengel was hired to manage the New York Yankees and was replaced by Chuck Dressen, who promised a youth movement.

Aldon reported to 1949 spring training in excellent physical condition, but unsigned, which probably removed any chance that he’d be kept around. He did start the season in Oakland, pitching poorly in six games before April 30, when he was sold to the Beaumont Exporters of the Class AA Texas League, in which he had pitched briefly in 1940. Initially he refused to report and announced he was quitting baseball, but after thinking it over at home he changed his mind and drove his family to Beaumont, arriving on May 16. He pitched well as a starter for the Exporters, with a 3.10 ERA in 58 innings, and was traded back to the AAA level, joining the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. The Blues returned him to the bullpen, and in 44 innings he compiled a 4.30 ERA.

The Blues sent Aldon a contract for 1950 but he didn’t sign it. The Portland Oregonian reported on March 13:

Aldon Wilkie, well known Newberg baseball twirler, said Sunday that he has refused to return to the Kansas City Blues for spring training.

Wilkie’s reasons for not returning were that he wants to keep his family at home in Newberg and that he feels he plays his best game on the coast—near home.

He got what he wanted, as the next mention of him I found (other than an article in the April 17 Columbus Dispatch that still showed him as one of Kansas City’s pitchers) was in the May 7 Oregonian, where he was listed as a pitcher for the Victoria Athletics of the Class B Western International League—the league where he had begun his pro career in 1937. From the Sporting News dated August 30:

Another Wilkie No-Hitter, Same Loop, 13 Years Later

VICTORIA, B.C.—Aldon Wilkie, Canadian-born southpaw who started his O.B. career in the Western International League and who saw service with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1941-42, pitched the second no-hitter of his 14-year career, August 18, when he blanked Vancouver, 1 to 0.

Wilkie, with Beaumont and Kansas City in 1949, hurled his first no-hitter for Tacoma against Wenatchee in 1937.

Only 31 batters faced the veteran lefthander. He walked Outfielder Charlie Mead twice and his teammates committed two errors. Only one of the four Vancouver batters who reached base went as far as second and Wilkie retired 17 men in order between his two bases on balls. He struck out five.

He pitched 206 innings in 1950, his high since that 1937 season, and had a 10-12 record and an ERA of 4.41, which wasn’t bad as the Western International was a high-scoring league that year.

In 1951 he failed to come to terms with Victoria and instead bought his contract from them to become a free agent, then signed with the Salem Senators of the same league. He was their starting pitcher on opening day, and finished the season with an 11-12 record and a 3.76 ERA in 201 innings. In April 1952 he announced that he was through with baseball.

Aldon opened a woodworking shop in Newberg and started devoting more time to his poultry. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s there are numerous mentions in the newspapers of his chickens winning ribbons at various fairs. In 1954 he was elected president of the Standard Breeders Association, and in 1957 Jeannie appeared in a photo of a group performing in “The Gay Nineties Revue” to raise money for lights at the Newberg High School athletic field. In August 1957 the Oregonian ran a feature article, with photos, on Aldon, headlined “A Star—In Bull Pen or Chicken Pen” and “Al Wilkie Big Winner On Hen Show Circuit.” Part of the article went:

Although settled down on his five-acre plot on the outskirts of Newberg, Al’s traveling days are far from over. It seems that the poultry show circuit is as far flung as the baseball circuit.

In the past year, for instance, Al has attended and competed in shows at Oakland, Cal., Great Falls, Mont., and Vancouver, B.C.

At the close of the county fair, chicken fancier Wilkie again packs his bags, a la baseball days, and hits the road. Now a fully accredited poultry judge, Al will help choose the winners in a show at Lynden, Wash., and at the Canadian National Exhibition in Vancouver, B.C.

In 1960 Aldon started playing in old-timers’ games, often held before Seattle-Portland PCL games between former players of those cities.

In June 1965 it was reported that he was helping out at a St. Louis Cardinal tryout camp in Newberg. In August 1968 he played in an old-timers’ game featuring former Oakland Oaks against former San Francisco Seals (he could have played for either), and that was the last mention of him I could find. He passed away on August 5, 1992, aged 77, in Tualatin, Oregon.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/W/Pwilkl101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wilkile01.shtml

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=19669