Jackie Sullivan got one at-bat for the 1944 Detroit Tigers.
Carl Mancel Sullivan was born February 22, 1918, in Altoga, Texas,
a small unincorporated town near the larger town of Princeton, where his family
had a farm, in Collin County, northeast of Dallas. He was the seventh of eight
children of J. William Sullivan and his wife, variously listed as Elter, L’ter,
Alter, and Leila. I don’t know much about his childhood other than he helped on
the farm and played baseball.
In 1939 twenty-one-year-old Carl, known by now as Jackie,
was signed by a scout from the Chicago White Sox. He reported to spring training
1940 with the Longview Texans of the Class C East Texas League, a farm team of
the Texas League Dallas Rebels; but first, on January 1, he got married, to
seventeen-year-old Odessa Lee Crowder, known as Lee. Jackie was the regular
second baseman for Longview that season, hitting .262 with no power but with a
.379 on-base percentage, and led the league’s second basemen in double plays.
After the season he played in some barnstorming exhibition games with Dallas.
The 1940 US Census seems to have missed Jackie and Lee; only
younger sister Wanda Lou was still listed as living with their parents.
Jackie’s draft registration from October 16 gives his residence as Princeton,
his employer as “farm labor for father,” and his description as 5-10, 165,
light complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair.
In 1941 Jackie went to spring training with Dallas and was
said to be competing for the second base job but was optioned to the Pensacola
Pilots of the Class B Southeastern League. He was again the regular second
baseman and hit .299 with 11 doubles, eight triples, three home runs, 53 walks,
and 11 stolen bases. At the end of the season he was returned to the Dallas
roster.
On January 30, 1942, Jackie and Lee’s daughter Sandra was
born in Brazoria County, which is near Houston and Galveston. I guess Jackie
must have had an off-season job there, but there’s no indication of his having
ever been there before or after this.
This year he made the Dallas roster as a
sub, and is mentioned in the stories of the game of May 9 as having broken into
the lineup and gotten three hits. However, those were his only three hits in 12
at-bats in nine games with the Rebels; apparently he quit baseball at that
point to take a defense plant job at North American Aviation in Dallas. He also
played second base for North American’s semipro team. In 1943 he was still
playing for North American, and in stats published on August 8 he was shown as
hitting .304, sixth in the Victory League. (Some later stories on Jackie make
reference to WWII military service, but that seems to have been a mistake.)
In 1944 Jackie was again playing in the Victory League,
though now with Karlen Brothers Used Cars (I assume he was still working in the
defense industry though). On June 20 he was listed as fifth in the league in
hitting at .385. The next day he signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers,
joining them in Detroit just in time to leave on a road trip. On June 26 he
started for them in an exhibition game with Evansville, and singled and scored
the winning run. On July 6, in Boston, he replaced second baseman Eddie Mayo in
the middle of the sixth inning with the Tigers down 11-1. In the top of the
eighth he fouled out to the first baseman in what would be his only plate
appearance in his only major league game. The next mention of him I have found
is on July 20, when he appears in the Jersey
Journal’s story of the previous day’s International League game between
Buffalo—for whom Jackie played—and Montreal. He played in 43 games for Buffalo,
mostly at second base, and hit .261/.340/.299.
1945 found Jackie back playing semipro ball in Dallas-Fort
Worth, now with Popular Clothiers, playing shortstop. The team won the
first-half championship, and first-half statistics showed him leading the
league in runs, RBI, and stolen bases, and in seventh place with a .343
average. The second half ended in early August with Jackie on the bench with a
leg injury; at some point after that he joined the Little Rock Travelers of the
Class A1 Southern Association in time to play 19 games with them, mostly at
shortstop, hitting .302/.421/.381 in 63 at-bats. On October 14 he played for a
Dallas All-Stars team (which also included a barnstorming Bob Feller) in an
exhibition game with Fort Worth All-Stars.
For spring training 1946 Jackie was back with the Dallas
Rebels, now Class AA, competing for the second base job. He made the team,
starting the season in organized baseball for the first time since 1942. He
played some second, some third, and some shortstop, and was hitting .220 with
no power in 45 games when, on June 27, he was optioned to a lower league.
Strangely, some reports said he had been sent to Montgomery of the Class B Southeastern
League while others said the Lubbock Hubbers of the Class C West Texas-New
Mexico League; it was the latter story that was correct.
The WTNML was a high-scoring league and Jackie hit the
ground running. He played second and batted third in his debut on July 1 and
got three hits; on July 4 he got ejected from a game for the first time; on
July 16 he was one of four Hubbers who spoke at a meeting of the Lubbock
Optimist Club; and on July 23 he was named to the South squad for the All-Star
Game, being held in Lubbock this year—and then he doubled in the winning run.
In 74 games for Lubbock (53 at 2B, 19 at SS) Jackie hit .341/.401/.526 with
nine home runs—three times as many as he had hit in his professional career up
to that point.
Lubbock finished fourth with a 71-70 record, beat first
place Abilene in the first round of the playoffs, then lost to Pampa in the
championship series. Meanwhile back in Dallas, the Rebels won the Texas League
championship and then beat Atlanta of the Southern Association in the Dixie
Series; Jackie was voted a third of a share of the Dallas portion of the
players’ pool from the series proceeds, which amounted to $212.97.
Jackie reverted to the Dallas roster after the season, but
on December 5 Lubbock owner Sam Rosenthal purchased his contract from the
Rebels and on December 21 he named Jackie manager. From the Lubbock Evening Journal, January 6,
1947:
Question most frequently heard is:
“Has Sullivan the quantity and quality of leadership essential to running a winning ball club and is he old and experienced enough to get the job done right?”
Well, nobody can answer that question but Jackie, himself—and even he won’t be able to answer it fully until after the 1947 Shaughnessy playoffs are over next Fall.
Until the answer definitely is known, Hubber fans will hope that Owner Sam Rosenthal guessed right. And they’ll give young Mr. Sullivan every chance to make good.
Without a doubt, Sullivan is the smartest, “naturalest” baseball player the Hubbers have had since the days of Francis “Salty” Parker. Always heads-up, Jackie is a fine competitor, a good hitter, fielder and base-runner and he will set a good performance example to the others on the team.
But whether he can run a ball club, handle pitchers wisely, inculcate his mates with the winning spirit and teach them the finer points of the game—well, all that’s just a guess…
January 10:
Sullivan Promises Hustling Ball Club For Lubbock Fans
Jackie Sullivan, newly-signed manager of the Lubbock Hubbers for this season, was a brief visitor in the city Thursday and came up with what should be a pleasing statement for Hubber fans in announcing that the Hubs would have a hustling ball club with plenty of fire.
Said Jackie in his first statement to the press since taking over the job vacated by his longtime friend Hack Miller last month, “We’ll have a team with plenty of fire and hustle…a team with youth and the will to win.”
Realizing the big job that lies ahead, the youthful Hubber skipper would make no predictions about winning the West Texas-New Mexico loop banner at this early date, but commented, “I believe we can build a ball club this year that will outhustle and outscrap the 1946 Hubber club.” That statement in itself should warm the hearts of Hubber fans.
Last year’s Hubber crew managed to climb into the first division in a heated last-minute drive, and dumped the Abilene Blue Sox out of the opening Shaughnessy playoffs before bowing to the Pampa Oilers in the finals. Sullivan played a major role in sparking the Hubbers in that late season scramble…
The new Hubber pilot will leave today to join Hubber Prexy Sam Rosenthal in Dallas for a short business session with the Dallas Rebel front office concerning spring training plans.
He will join Al Vincent and the Rebels at their Dallas training camp in March, and after two weeks with the Rebs, Sullivan will take over the Hubber reins for the final spring tuneup.
From the Lubbock
Morning Avalanche, February 11:
Sullivan arrived in Lubbock from McKinney Sunday and is busy looking for a house for his family before the season opens. He will return to McKinney Feb. 20 to serve on the staff of instructors of a McKinney baseball school. He will attend the West Texas-New Mexico league annual meeting in Pampa with Rosenthal next Sunday before returning to McKinney. The new Hub manager will report to Dallas for the opening of Rebel spring training Mar. 6.
Jackie led the Hubbers to an amazing season in 1947, as they
finished with a 99-41 record, 14 games ahead of second-place Amarillo, and
scored 1247 runs, almost nine per game, with a .315 team batting average and
210 home runs. Along the way, Jackie began a practice of moving himself from
second base to the pitcher’s mound in the late innings of high-scoring games,
getting into fourteen games as pitcher for the season. On June 15 the Abilene Reporter News mentioned in its
account of the previous day’s game:
A renewal of the diamond feud between the two clubs now running into its second season flared in the Abilene half of the sixth when Catcher Kenny Quevreaux and Hubber skipper Jackie Sullivan exchanged fisticuffs following a play at second base. No damage resulted, however, and players separated the pair without interference from the umpires.
Damage did in fact result, though, as Jackie’s left thumb
was broken, and he missed about two weeks, other than putting himself in to
pitch once. On July 2 he went 4-for-5 with three doubles in the All-Star Game.
In the July 20 Lubbock Avalanche Journal
Choc Hutcheson, in his “Sports Slants” column, discussed criticism of Jackie’s
managing:
A few observers maintain that Jackie has “back tracked” against sound baseball strategy in some instances. Maybe he has. And again, maybe he’s called his shots wisely.
Never having played professional baseball myself, I don’t feel qualified to debate the finer points of the game.
But, from the broader point of view of the average fan, I feel entirely safe in stating that Sullivan, in his first year as a manager, has satisfactorily passed two prime tests of any athletic field leader.
First, he has turned out a hustling, alert and eager-to-win ball club—one which has stayed at or near the top all the way, and which has certainly given the fans “a run for their money.”
Second, he has—insofar as I’ve been able to determine—treated his players squarely, and has exerted his full effort to fulfill his duties as manager. That’s all any manager can do, in my books, and if it’s not enough, then it was simply a case of picking the wrong man for the job.
Personally, you can have your strategist, and I’ll take the manager who produces a fighting, hustling ball club…
On July 25 Lubbock beat Lamesa 30-1, hitting ten homers, two
by Jackie. On August 11 he got ejected from a game against Amarillo, as
reported on in the next day’s Amarillo
Daily News:
When Chief Umpire Gunter ejected Manager Jackie Sullivan from the game and fined him $50 for unseemly protest of a called ball on I.B. Palmer, the umpire-appreciating Lubbock citizenry showered pop-bottles on the field and a couple of fans came down out of the stands to tell the arbiters what they thought of them.
The game was delayed more than five minutes while police restored order and got the belligerent customers back to their seats.
In August the Lubbock
Evening Journal ran a contest where readers voted for Most Valuable Hubber;
Jackie finished third behind catcher Mike Dooley and shortstop Bill Serena. At
the end of the season he was named second baseman on the league’s all-star
team, voted upon by the league’s official scorers. Lubbock defeated
fourth-place Lamesa in four straight games, then beat Amarillo in six games for
the championship; next they beat Kilgore of the Lone Star League in five games
in the Little Dixie Series for the Class C championship of Texas. They also led
the league in attendance, drawing 117,621 for the season.
Jackie hit .355/.421/.610, with 140 runs scored, 120 RBI, 36
doubles, 18 triples, 20 home runs, and 31 stolen bases, but didn’t come close
to leading the league in any of those categories. Leon Cato of Borger hit .410
with 163 runs, 155 RBI, and 48-18-32 in doubles-triples-home runs; George
Sturdivant of Lamesa hit .404 with 150 runs, 175 RBI, 54 doubles, 38 homers,
and 91 walks; Bob Crues of Amarillo hit .380 with 160 runs, 178 RBI, and
45-8-52; and Jackie’s shortstop, Bill Serena, hit .374 with 183 runs, 190 RBI,
140 walks, and 43-9-57, leading the league in home runs and RBI. The league
batting average was .304.
From the November 13 Lubbock
Evening Journal:
Jackie Sullivan, the wizard manager of the Hubbers, is going to open a filling station in the near future in this city and although he had been made a free agent, the zodiacal signs all point to his returning to the helm of the local ball club this spring. Sam Rosenthal, the owner of the pennant winners, gave Jackie his freedom after the past season, telling him that he was free to better himself if he wished. Jackie, in keeping with most Lubbockites, prefers this city to others and there is every indication, foreign cities to the contrary, that the likeable manager of the first-place team will return for the 1948 season.
Lubbock Morning
Avalanche, November 21:
Popular Lubbock Hubbers Baseball Manager Jackie Sullivan has opened up a filling station on the corner of Main and Avenue K. The grand opening was yesterday and dozens of friends stopped by to pay their respects and congratulate Jackie on his new enterprise. Royce Mills, one of the best relief hurlers in the West Texas-New Mexico league, will be on hand to lend assistance occasionally. Drop in and meet these baseball men out of uniform and talk shop, either baseball or gasoline, with them.
In early January Jackie signed a contract to play for and
manage the Hubbers in 1948; the news story mentioned that the AA Dallas Rebels
had ended their working agreement with the Detroit Tigers but the
Dallas-Lubbock affiliation would continue. On January 26 owner Sam Rosenthal
died of a heart ailment at age 43; Jackie served as a pallbearer. From the Lubbock Evening Journal, February 20:
If the weather remains as balmy as it has most of this week, Hubber Manager Jackie Sullivan will go stir-crazy. He’s had diamond fever all winter anyway and the uplift in the air has him going around talking to himself. Jackie is spending a lot of time these days at Rosenthal Field, checking up on new construction, repairs and generally puttering around the diamond he loves.
From an AP report that appeared in newspapers on March 14:
This could be the best Lubbock Hubber baseball team Jackie Sullivan ever managed, if the astute young second baseman is to be taken at his word.
“The boys looked great today in the first batting practice of the year,” Sullivan grinned. “It looks as though this might be the best ball club I ever managed in Lubbock.”
Sullivan, who only has six men to work with in Spring training, was jubilant about the initial showing of his charges here today, although it was only the first batting practice of the season. He said that he just had the feeling, after seeing the players in action, that this might be a really great club.
There isn’t too much that Manager Sullivan can do at the present time, outside of sharpening his own batting eyes and brushing up on his fielding.
The popular Irishman must wait until the Dallas Rebels, who have Odessa and Austin farm clubs here also, decide to unload some of their excess players. This won’t be for several days yet, but in the meantime Sullivan is looking around and hoping…
Lubbock wound up with only four players left from their amazing
1947, including Jackie and relief pitcher/filling station attendant Royce
Mills, and despite Jackie’s optimism things weren’t the same. On May 5 they did
hit nine home runs, including three straight by Jackie, to combine with
Lamesa’s three for a league record twelve, but the next day the same teams
combined for a record 13 errors, seven by Lubbock—including three by Jackie.
The May 26 issue of the Sporting News
included this article:
Rookie Hits Homer After Missing Sign, Gets Fine
LUBBOCK, Tex.—The question raging here is whether it is better for a ball player to hit a home run and miss the coach’s sign, or catch the signal and miss the homer.
The controversy developed after Catcher Floyd Walker, pinch-hitting in a recent West Texas-New Mexico League game against the Abilene Blue Sox, smacked a game-winning home run. But it seems that Royce (Rooster) Mills, Lubbock coach, had given Walker the “take” sign and the hefty Hubber catcher missed it.
As the rotund Walker rounded third on his way to the plate, Mills called to him: “That wa a swell hit, Floyd, but it cost you a buck!”
Walker almost stopped dead in his tracks, then continued on his way and, after crossing the plate, went back to find out what Mills meant. He learned he had missed a signal and the standing fine for said action is one dollar.
When the story appeared in print, Manager Jackie Sullivan was besieged with fans offering to pay the fine. Since then, the fine and others has been reduced to 50 cents.
From the July 28 Lubbock
Evening Journal:
Sullivan was in intense agony throughout the night and the day with a bad case of ptomaine poisoning picked up in Abilene. Chick Fowler was out of the lineup the night before with the same ailment and even Jackie Wilcox had some of the same. One of the Abilene players also came down with the food poisoning and it is suspected that they all acquired the strain at an Abilene eating house popular with the players.
An AP story from August 28:
Lubbock Pilot Gets Warning
DALLAS, Aug. 28 (AP)—President Milton Price of the West Texas-New Mexico league yesterday warned Manager Jackie Sullivan of the Lubbock club that he would be held responsible for any recurrence of the incident in which an umpire was pelted with rotten eggs.
Bill Brockwell, the umpire, left the park under police protection as the fans threw stale eggs on him and outside found the air had been let out of the tires of his automobile. The incident occurred Tuesday night [24th] at Lubbock after the Lubbock-Pampa game, won by Pampa, 10-8.
“The incident occurred after Sullivan had protested the umpire’s judgment in calling of balls and strikes, and was put out of the game,” Price said. “In the league’s view this incited the trouble. Any recurrence will be the manager’s responsibility.”
Price said the penalty could be a fine or suspension for the manager or a fine against the club.
Lubbock Morning
Avalanche, September 1:
The Hubbers are selling reserved seats for Jackie Sullivan night, which will take place tomorrow at Rosenthal Field. Already a large number of requests have been answered and more continued to come in yesterday. Everything indicates a capacity crowd being on hand to pay tribute to Jackie and the job he has done this year. If you haven’t already contributed something—and you want to help—you can stop by, or call, the Hubber office, taking any gifts you may have to them.
And, two days later, the same newspaper described the event:
A bashful, reticent Sullivan stood by as Will Austin, Lubbock caretaker, wheeled a wheelbarrow full of gifts up to home plate, then heard General Manager Larry Larsen and Chas. S. Guy, Avalanche-Journal editor, extol his merits.
There were 32 articles for him, ranging from a package of shotgun shells for his new shotgun to a set of Gorham silverware. There were gift certificates and there was a month’s rent from his landlord. There was a wristwatch and a traveling bag, a table cloth and an iron, a dressing gown and a necktie, a traveling kit and a hunting jacket…
In response to the gifts, Sullivan modestly stepped forward and said “There are two things to which I’m allergic; microphones and taking my hat off in public. I can’t say much, but I sure do thank you. Thanks a lot.”
The Hubbers finished the season in third place with an 81-59
record and lost in the first round of the playoffs to second-place Amarillo.
The team scored “only” 1156 runs, fourth in the league, and tied for second
with a .323 team batting average in a league that hit .310. Jackie actually had
a better year than in 1947, hitting .381/.445/.657 with 158 runs, 134 RBI, and
44-14-25 in extra-base hits, again not leading the league in anything. The Lubbock Morning Avalanche reported on
September 17:
Most of the Hubbers are breaking up their temporary homes here and returning to their homes. Manager Jackie Sullivan has gone to his home in McKinney for a week…
Jackie Sullivan, of course, sold his filling station mid-way through the season.
On October 1 the Lubbock
Evening Journal opined “The Hubbers flubbed, but it wasn’t for lack of
trying and Jackie Sullivan did a better job his second year than he did his
first.” In December he was re-signed for 1949.
There’s a famous quote from Rogers Hornsby: “People ask me
what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare
out the window and wait for spring.” This seems to have been Jackie’s frame of
mind, except that he doesn’t seem to have been able to stand still. From Joe
Kelly’s “Between the Lines” column in the Evening
Journal of February 28:
We mentioned the work that he has been doing this winter. He’s been painting the ball park from top to bottom until it shines. He’s been making repairs on the infield. Showing his ingenuity, he borrowed a tractor and levelled the infield, scraped part of the outfield and promises that when the Giants and Indians tangle here, they’ll find an even better playing surface. In the meantime he talked George Schepps [running the team for Mrs. Rosenthal] into re-painting that nifty Hubber bus eye-catching red, white and blue. Moreover, he talked the management into installing a radio with a speaker both in the front and in the rear. Now Rooster Mills can jitterbug in the aisles.
Lubbock shared spring training 1949 with Greenville of the
Big State League and Corpus Christi of the Rio Grande Valley League, all
affiliates of Dallas. The Avalanche
Journal reported on April 10:
Jackie Sullivan is in a fair way to bust loose and better everything he did last year. He complains that he has shin splints, that his legs are sore, his feet hurt and he has an awful time getting in shape. To hear him talk, you’d think he was a hospital case. That’s the way he was last year when he beat the cover off the ball. Jackie still is nimble around second, even more nimble appearing than he was last year. He’s a veteran campaigner and he knows what he has to do better than anyone else. He’s happy about the squad and it’s his opinion that they’ll be scrapping for the pennant every game of the season.
The season opened with Jackie once again at second base. On
April 26 he protested the game over an interference call, and on May 4 he got
ejected, as reported in the next day’s Evening
Journal:
SULLIVAN AND GRZYWACZ EJECTED AFTER ENCOUNTER
LAMESA, May 5. (Special)—If the grand stand isn’t filled here tonight for the Lamesa-Lubbock game, it won’t be the fault of Lubbock Manager Jackie Sullivan and Lamesa Pitcher Sam Grzywacz.
Both players were ejected from the game here last night by Umpire Charles A. Crain, after he and Umpire Henry A. Binz had broken up one of the few first-flight fights to occur in the West Texas-New Mexico League in a long time.
It all happened in the eighth inning, when Lamesa had men on first and third. Hank Melillo made a rolling slide into Sullivan, who dropped a double-play throw from Nelson Davis.
Sullivan and Melillo began to scuffle and players from both teams rushed on the field. Before the players were separated, Sullivan gave Grzywacz, who had hit him with a pitched ball earlier in the game, a solid right to the head…
In mid-May Jackie missed some time because of a swollen
thumb. In late June he was named as second baseman on the South team in the
All-Star Game, and was then chosen as co-manager of the team, due to a tie in
the voting. In August a new owner bought the Hubbers from Mrs. Rosenthal, and
re-hired Jackie for 1950, as reported in the August 30 Evening Journal:
Hiring of Jackie Sullivan for 1950 comes as no great surprise to the majority of baseball fans. A lot of persons expected it and would have been disappointed if the peppery second baseman hadn’t been given a chance to show what he could do with adequate material. We’re pleased that M.K. Wilkison has decided to stay with Jackie. As we’ve said before, the Hubbers have not been supplied with the players necessary to win the pennant—or even finish in the first division. Jackie’s done a good job under trying conditions. That he didn’t get the club into the first division is not his fault. Sure, we’ve all been peeved at some of the things he’s done. We’ve disagreed with his strategy and with his handling of pitchers at times. But the over all picture shows that he’s done the best he could with the material at hand. Glad to have ya back, Jackie.
The Hubbers finished with a 70-70 record, good for only
sixth place in the eight-team league. Scoring in the league was down a bit; the
Hubbers 982 runs, seven per game, was fourth in the league as was their .303
team batting average, in a league that hit .296. Jackie’s numbers were down
from his lofty 1947-48 standards, as he hit .305/.389/.508 with 95 runs, 91
RBI, and 26-7-19, very impressive stats under normal conditions.
In 1950 Jackie missed a little time in May “after suffering
a near concussion,” in June due to illness, and in July “with a cartilage knee
injury.” But he was playing well and was named to the All-Star Game for the
fifth consecutive year, was chosen to manage the South, and won 6-0. Lubbock
improved to 81-59, third place, losing 4 games to 1 to second-place Albuquerque
in the first round of the playoffs. Jackie missed only 12 games despite all his
ailments, and hit .327/.405/.492 with 103 runs, 76 RBI, and 40-4-10.
Immediately after the playoff loss Jackie was given his
release by the Hubbers in order to pursue the managerial job at Amarillo. From
the September 18 Morning Avalanche:
VETERAN HUB MANAGER RESIGNS
Sullivan May Get Post At Amarillo
Jackie Sullivan was expected to be able to announce tonight that he had signed a contract as manager of the Amarillo Gold Sox for the 1951 season.
Sullivan was offered his release as manager several days ago, Hubber President John V. McCallister announced last night, and Sullivan said that he was going to Amarillo today to talk with Buck Fausett, Amarillo general manager.
Fausett allegedly offered the manager’s position to Sullivan several days ago and only a few details remained to be ironed out. Sullivan declared that he felt certain that he would be taken care of at today’s meeting.
McCallister emphasized that he had offered Sullivan his release only so that he could accept a position as a manager. He stated that he would not give Sullivan his release so that he could sign as a player with any other team in the league.
The Hubber president declared: “I’m sorry to see Jackie go, but it’s probably the best thing. I wouldn’t do anything to stop his progress in baseball. We get along fine, he’s a fine manager and I wish him luck. I shall go slowly in selecting a manager to replace him.”
…Conditions had not been healthy this year on the Hubbers. Harry Faulkner, general manager, and Sullivan feuded most of the year, while Sullivan and the players also did not get along too well. In fact, the friction the last part of the season affected team morale noticeably, with the Hubbers failing to play their best possible ball.
However, Jackie’s optimism that he would be taken care of at
the meeting was misplaced. As the Morning
Avalanche reported the following morning:
“We did discuss terms and the possibility that Jackie manage the Gold Sox next year,” Fausett said. “But there is considerable difference between the salary he is asking and the amount we feel we can afford to pay a field manager, and we did not get together.”
“We are not going to be in a hurry to make a managerial selection anyway, especially since there are other candidates for the job whom we want to consider,” Fausett added.
And two mornings after that:
Manager Jackie Sullivan left Tuesday for his family home in McKinney, but may return to work in Lubbock this winter…
First there’s every indication that Jackie Sullivan will not be back as manager, whether he gets the Amarillo job or not. And the latest word from Amarillo is that Jackie doesn’t have much of a chance there. Stubby Greer of Abilene also is in the picture, as are several others, and they probably can be obtained at a cheaper price than Jackie was asking. Buck Fausett is high on Jackie, but he didn’t want to pay what Jackie asked, according to a statement he made Tuesday.
The Evening Journal
reported on October 4 that “Jackie Sullivan has sold his home here and is to
start work soon for the telephone company in Dallas,” and on October 26 that
“Jackie Sullivan told John V. McAllister in Dallas last week that he probably
would return to baseball. He’s working for the telephone company there and has
bought a house.” He remained out of baseball until mid-February 1951, when he
signed to manage the Odessa Oilers of the Longhorn League, also Class C.
On April 6, during spring training, Sports Editor Dick
Peebles of the San Antonio Express,
in his “Voice of the Peebles” column, concluded a column on Texas baseball
magnate George Schepps with the following anecdote:
George has his trouble, too. During the Browns-Missions game here, Schepps got a long distance call from Jackie Sullivan, the manager of his Odessa club, that was playing in Brownsville.
“I’ve got to option out some ball players, George,” said Jackie.
“Why?” yelled Schepps.
“Well, it’s like this,” said Jackie. “We came out of the clubhouse after the game tonight to get into our bus to start for Odessa, and I discovered I had three more players than I got room for on the bus. So what am I going to do with them?”
“Send ‘em to Shawnee,” answered Schepps.
On April 15, the Big
Spring Daily Herald ran this short item (ellipses part of the original):
Sullivan Says He’ll Stop Stalling
Look for fireworks when Odessa and Roswell get together this season…Jackie Sullivan, the field boss of the Odessa club, has already told intimates he will see to it that Al Monchak of Roswell doesn’t get away with his stalling tactics, even if he has to resort to force…
Jackie got off to a great start, hitting .396/.525/.583
through fifteen games, mainly at shortstop. At that point, on May 8, it was
announced that he had been sold, as a player only, to the Shreveport Sports of
the Class AA Texas League. I don’t know if there were perceived problems with
his managing, or if Odessa just had the chance to get some good money for him,
but after five years at Class C Jackie was getting another chance at a higher
level.
However. Jackie lasted just 19 games with Shreveport,
hitting .119/.224/.163. Shreveport gave up on him and sent him to the Class B
Gainesville Owls of the Big State League. With Gainesville Jackie played second
base and hit second in the order, and got Manager Hal Van Pelt to let him pitch
at the end of blowout games, as he had when he managed himself. In August he
missed some time after being struck in the knee by a bat. In 88 games with
Gainesville he hit .320/.379/.439, leaving his Shreveport experience behind
him, with 75 runs and 33 RBI, and 25-5-3 for his extra-base hits.
Jackie wanted to get back to managing, though, and in
February 1952 he signed a contract as player-manager for the Ardmore Indians, a
new franchise in the Class D Sooner State League. Ardmore had actually won the
Sooner State pennant in 1951, but that team moved to Sherman and Ardmore got a
new team. But as the UP article on the hiring said, “Ardmore still needs 17
players, a business manager, equipment, bus, uniforms and a baseball park
before fielding a team in April.” The February 10 Ardmore Daily Ardmoreite had more details:
Tribe Pilot Starts Player-Recruiting Drive for Indians
Jackie Sullivan, new player-manager of the Ardmore Indians, arrived in town Saturday to set up shop for the ’52 Sooner State season. The 30-year-old [actually almost 34] Texan will launch a one-man search starting next week for new player material to rebuild the class D club here.
All area youths who are interested in playing ball for the Indians this summer should contact Sullivan at the Hotel Ardmore before Monday afternoon or W.C. Peden, president of the Ardmore Baseball Association, Inc. A tryout camp for prospective players will be held when spring training opens.
Peden has called a mass meeting of Ardmore baseball fans here Monday night at 7:30 in the city hall. Fans will have a chance to meet the new player-manager and also to hear from the directors of the newly-formed corporation. Box seat tickets for the ’52 season are being sold first to those who held them last season, Peden announced.
Sullivan has planned to start his player-recruiting campaign in his native state of Texas and near his home town of McKinney, Texas. He will ask the local group’s permission to hold a pre-season tryout camp at Farmersville, Texas, located between McKinney and Greenville. One of the best semi-pro leagues in the Lone Star state operates in that area.
The new manager also said two chief scouts for big league clubs have promised to help him in finding players, but he would like to “get a working agreement with some major club.” Sullivan has already contacted around 10 semi-pro players in the Dallas area to make the Indians’ spring training camp…
Sullivan knows the Indians finished in first place at the end of the regular season last year, but commented, “I expect to finish in the first division myself.” The other Sooner State clubs will have a head start on “the general” who still has a full team to recruit before mid-March. Ardmore opens the ’52 season here in Tribe park against the Sherman Twins.
Harold Flood, local architect, is making an estimate on the remodeling of Tribe park north of town and work is scheduled to start soon.
Two days later, the Ardmoreite
reported on the results of the meeting:
Ardmore’s Indians will open spring training here at Tribe park on March 20, player-manager Jackie Sullivan announced last night at the close of the baseball meeting held in city hall. Around 40 baseball fans attended the meeting and pledged support for the Indians this season…
Peden told the group at least $16,000 would be needed to run the club through spring training. Around $10,000 of this total has already been raised through individual donations. Signs on the outfield fence at Tribe park have been reduce to $75 per 20-foot space. This is a 50 per cent reduction in the price asked last year.
Jackie Sullivan, newly-hired pilot for the Indians, made a big hit with the fans last night. He told them his main job right now would be recruiting of players before spring training opens. Sullivan left the meeting last night headed for Corpus Christi, Texas, where he hopes to secure some training uniforms and ball players. He plans to go ahead with a proposed tryout camp at Farmersville, Texas, near his home town of McKinney, early in March.
Sullivan told the fans not to expect too much of the Indians during the first month of training and exhibitions. After the Class B and double A clubs start reducing their rosters, the Tribe pilot expects to pick up some good players.
In early March Jackie started receiving signed contracts in
the mail from an associate holding tryouts in Havana, and on March 9 he signed
old buddy Royce “Rooster” Mills.
The team wore surplus Dallas uniforms during
spring drills, and Sherman Machine Shop made and donated a batting cage. On
April 6 the Indians played an exhibition game against West Texas-New Mexico
League champs Abilene, managed by another old buddy, Hack Miller, and lost 17-7
while walking 22 batters—though Jackie went 3-for-5 with a double and a home
run.
The regular season began April 17, with the Indians hosting
the Sherman Twins, the team that had been the first-place Ardmore Indians in
1951. Ardmore lost 6-3 while making six errors; Jackie played second base and
batted second. On April 21 Jackie was ejected, and on the 25th he
was ejected again. On the 26th he finished the game at pitcher as
the Indians lost 24-2, and on the 27th they lost 12-4 while walking
11 as Jackie finished the game at catcher. On May 1, with a 3-5 record, Jackie
resigned. As told by the Ardmoreite
on May 2:
Royce Mills, veteran righthander who came here from Borger, Texas, will continue as acting manager replacing Jackie Sullivan, who handed in his resignation yesterday in a dispute over a $25 fine the local club refused to pay. Sullivan said friction between himself and club president W.C. Peden had been “brewing for a long time” before the sudden resignation took place.
On returning from a road trip yesterday, Sullivan found to his surprise that the fine levied against him April 25 hadn’t hadn’t been paid by the local club and Ucal Clanton, league president, had him on the suspension list. He immediately resigned as manager and later mailed the unpaid fine to Clanton.
A board meeting of the Ardmore Baseball Association Inc. is scheduled sometime soon to take action on hiring a new manager and straighten out other problems facing the club…
Leaving one buddy as the interim manager at Ardmore, Jackie
went straight to Abilene and got a job from his other buddy, Hack Miller, and
debuted at second base for the Blue Sox on May 2. He settled in there and in the third spot in the lineup, and through games of May 14 was hitting .408.
On May 15 he was one of five Abilene players with five hits as the Blue Sox
beat Pampa 28-12. Jackie moved to third base for a stretch, then to shortstop
for a stretch, then even to catcher for a stretch; then on June 26 it was
announced that he had signed a two-year contract to manage the Lamesa Lobos,
also of the WTNML. “Terms of the contract were not available, although it was
reported that Sullivan was to receive a new car in the deal,” said the Amarillo Globe Times. Lamesa manager Jay
Haney had been forced out with the team in sixth place.
Jackie started himself playing second base and hitting in
the third spot for Lamesa, but soon moved himself lower in the order, usually
sixth or seventh, and eventually played a lot of third base. He was named to
the All-Star Game, just as he always had been in Lubbock, but an injury
prevented him from playing. His time in Lamesa seems to have been pretty uneventful,
other than a couple of ejections, and he moved the team up one notch to fifth
place, finishing with a 69-73 record. His combined stats with Abilene and
Lamesa were .322/.408/.435 with 87 runs, 66 RBI, and 29-3-6. He played 63 games
at third, 44 at second, ten at shortstop, and less than ten at catcher and
pitcher. Since he played less than ten games with Ardmore, his 1952 stats there
do not appear in the official Sooner State League averages.
In January 1953 the Lamesa team was sold to a group from
Plainview. As the Sporting News
reported in its January 21 issue:
PLAINVIEW SUCCEEDS LAMESA
Plainview, Tex., is entering Organized Ball for the first time this season as a member of the West Texas-New Mexico League. The franchise, players and equipment of Lamesa were purchased in a deal completed January 12. A $35,000 corporation, known as the Plainview Baseball Association, was formed with B.O. Cooper as president and Ernie Brock, the largest individual stockholder, as executive vice-president. Jackie Sullivan, who finished the 1952 season as manager at Lamesa, was signed to continue as playing pilot. Plainview has a population of 14,023, as compared with 10,706 at Lamesa…
A contest was held to choose a nickname for the new team,
and the winner was the Ponies. The Ponies opened spring training on March 20 in
Ballinger, Texas; on March 25 the Amarillo
Globe Times reported that Jackie was planning to play shortstop and
described him as “personable off the field but an intense competitor during a
game.” The next day Jack Holden, in his “Sports Spotlight” column in the Abilene Reporter News, wrote:
Jackie is worked up over the prospects at Plainview. He said Wednesday that the new park, which will hold 4,000, was expected to be sold out opening day and that Plainview was going to close up shop for the curtain raiser.
The Plainview park is a former softball diamond, enlarged for the regular hardball sport. The fence was moved back, new concrete box seats installed, and a $10,000 lighting system put up…
The season opened with Jackie playing second base and
batting third in the order, though he ended up playing a lot of shortstop as
well as his mop-up pitching. On July 11 the Lubbock
Morning Avalanche mentioned that Jackie’s wife Lee—remember her? We haven’t
run into her in quite a while—was in attendance at the Plainview at Lubbock
game. Then, on July 20, Jackie’s arm was broken when he was hit by a pitch from
Amarillo’s Charles Deal, and he was out for the rest of the season. Plainview
finished the year in third place with an 80-62 record, and Jackie split the
Manager of the Year award with Albuquerque’s Tom Jordan. The Ponies played
second-place Clovis in the first round of the playoffs and lost in six games,
with Jackie being ejected from the final game.
The WTNML was still a high-offense league, with a .299
league batting average, and Plainview’s 1109 runs, almost eight per game, just
third in the league. In Jackie’s 84 games he hit .348/.436/.566, with an
impressive 97 runs and 73 RBI, and 27-1-15 for his extra-base hits. He played
54 games at second, 32 at shortstop, and fewer than ten at pitcher. And little
Plainview finished third in the league in attendance, behind just Albuquerque
and Lubbock and far ahead of the other five teams.
On December 1 the Amarillo
Daily News, reporting on the National Association of Professional Baseball
Leagues’ yearly convention, in Atlanta, said “Jackie Sullivan, a conspicuous
success in Plainview’s gratifying first term as a league member, is handling
the Ponies’ business here; he has been reemployed, of course, as field and
business manager.”
Spring training 1954 opened for the Ponies on March 20, and
on April 6 Jackie hit a pinch-hit home run in his first appearance in an
exhibition game. When the regular season began on April 21 Jackie was playing
second and batting fourth. On May 15 the Amarillo
Daily News reported:
Baseball fans who have the opportunity should watch the street stunts of the Shrine ceremonial this morning. One of Khiva Temple’s ring candidates is Jackie Sullivan, manager and second baseman of the Plainview Ponies, and you may be sure that Shrine novice Sullivan will be run through the wringer and may not be much good to the Ponies for awhile. A veteran baseball manager should be able to take it, though.
On May 23, in the words of the Abilene Reporter News, “Manager Jackie Sullivan of Plainview was
banished after jerking the mask from Plate Umpire Fred Blundell and after
directing abusive language to both umpires.” In June, in a batting slump that
reduced his batting average from .370 to .271, he demoted himself to sixth in
the order, though he was selected to the All-Star Game for a record seventh
time. On July 19 the Amarillo Globe Times
reported:
Meanwhile the Plainview Ponies are having their troubles as it was announced that Frank Green, the home run leader for the league, has been suspended. It was reported that a fist fight occurred between Green and Pony Manager Jackie Sullivan in the club house Sunday [the 18th].
The All-Star Game was played on July 22, and a finger injury
limited Jackie to a pinch-hit appearance; he hit a double. On the 25th
Joe Kelly, in his “Between the Lines” column in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, wrote:
There’s a new business manager for the Plainview Ponies for 1955. It’s Jackie Sullivan, who Thursday signed a new contract to return to the Ponies. Jackie next year will be a non-playing field manager and take on the duties of business manager as well.
Jackie told us a week ago at the league meeting that that was what he wanted.
“I’m not getting any younger,” he declared. “I think there might be more of a future in the business end of the game. Besides, I can do more good as business manager because I won’t have to go running around to all the members of the board every time I need a player.”
Jackie said that he hadn’t had any trouble at all, but that he merely wanted to be set without complications. Apparently he is and Plainview is to be congratulated.
On August 8 there was some excitement at the ballpark in
Lubbock, described here in a possibly biased account from the following
evening’s Lubbock Evening Journal:
Melee Ends In Near Riot
What do you like, baseball or boxing?
If you like both, you should have loved yesterday’s disgrace at Odom Field, when Plainview players started an attack on Lubbock players that lasted 10 minutes, brought out four policemen to bring order, injured two or three players, none seriously, caused damage to a civilian and brought on the biggest scrap in years and years here.
It all stemmed from Pitcher Cecil Davis, Wayland College basketball player, who apparently threw at Bobby Fernandez, the hard-hitting Hubber outfielder.
Nothing happened the first time up, but on the next trip Fernandez backed well away from a high, inside pitch that would have hit him if he hadn’t been moving.
That was all until the eighth, when Fernandez led off. There was no mistake about the first pitch. It came high and fast inside and Fernandez went sprawling on the ground. The next pitch, an outside curve, was swung at by Fernandez and his bat sailed past Davis toward second base.
Davis took a couple of steps off the mound as Fernandez slowly walked out to pick up his bat. Suddenly, Tom Curley rushed over from third base and said something to Fernandez.
Manager Frank Benites rushed out from the Hubber dugout and tried to get between Fernandez and the Plainview players. That brought out Manager Jackie Sullivan of the Ponies and he took a swing at Fernandez after a few words.
That set off the brawl. Players of both teams rushed out and there was a lot of general pushing and milling around. Sullivan took another swing at a Lubbock player and the donnybrook was on. Rocky Leslie rode Sullivan to the ground and minor fights broke out around home plate. Fernandez grabbed a bat, but was restrained by Umpire Charles Butler, who hustled him toward the dugout.
Jack Johnson, who had been in the middle of things, was standing at home plate behind Benites. The fighting had quieted down. A Plainview and Lubbock player were holding Johnson’s hands down to his side in an effort to bring peace.
Without an apparent warning, Sullivan swung on Johnson and caught him twice—in the right eye and in the mouth, chipping a tooth and sending the blood gushing—while the helpless Hubber sagged to the ground, out. It was then that he was kicked, too.
Benites started after Sullivan, who ran away from him. He tried to get one of the policemen, standing helplessly by, to stop the Hubber manager. In the meantime, other fights had started up again and it took more minutes to clear the field.
An unidentified spectator rushed out on the field during the melee and threw a block from behind on Bill Adelhelm, Plainview first baseman. Pony players quickly grabbed him, threw him to the ground, kicked him and spiked him with their feet.
Finally, Umpires Gene Bothell and Butler and local police were able to get the situation under control. Curley and Sullivan were escorted to the local police station for safe keeping from the angry crowd and Fernandez was ejected from the game.
The following night the Plainview bus was attacked with
rocks following the game. Jackie hit well the rest of the season and moved
himself up to the second spot in the order, but the Ponies finished a
disappointing sixth, with a 60-73 record, and slipped to fourth in attendance,
well behind Albuquerque, Abilene, and Lubbock and not far ahead of Clovis and
Amarillo. Jackie played in just 94 games despite not suffering any long-term
injuries, hitting .332/.414/.570 with 76 runs, 65 RBI, and 26-3-16.
On January 18, 1955, the Abilene
Reporter News said “Sullivan is a full time employee of the Plainview ball
club now. He’s worked all winter organizing the backing for this year’s
operation.” On March 27 the Amarillo News Globe reported that Plainview was
favored for the pennant, and in early April Jackie was being spoken of as still
being an active player. He did play some early in the season, hitting .341 in
16 games before taking himself off the active list, but on June 30 he was
informed in a phone call that he had been fired, despite the team being in
second place. On July 7 the Amarillo
Daily News reported that “As for the Plainview situation, it had been known
all season that the club’s directors were displeased because Sullivan didn’t
continue active as a player, which they preferred him to do for reasons of
salary economy.” Which seems strange because Jackie had made it plain that he
intended not to play in 1955 when he signed his new contract in July 1954.
At any rate, Jackie went home to McKinney and became a
police officer there. At some point he became a Dallas County sheriff’s deputy;
meanwhile Lee was going from being the secretary to the chief of staff at the
Veterans Hospital in McKinney to being a clerk in the US Attorney’s office in
Dallas. In 1970 they moved to Lubbock, where Jackie became a Lubbock County
deputy and Lee went to work as a secretary in the Lubbock US Attorney’s office.
In May 1970 a photo Jackie took of a soft drink bottle driven into the side of
a utility pole by a tornado appeared in the Lubbock
Avalanche Journal.
Around that time Jackie got involved with, or maybe he
started it, an effort to organize a reunion of former WTNML players. Jackie
took the lead in finding and contacting the “old-timers,” and a three-inning
game between former Hubbers and a team of Lubbock city employees, augmented by
some of the old players, was scheduled to be played on July 25 before a regular
Lubbock Hubber game—the name now being used by a semi-pro team. Jackie managed
the Hubber alumni, playing second and batting third; others in the starting
lineup included Bill Serena, Mike Dooley, and I.B. Palmer, while Royce
“Rooster” Mills was also on hand. The game was followed by a reception at a
country club. Apparently the whole thing was a success, and in October it was
announced that an organization called the West Texas and Eastern New Mexico
Baseball Association had been formed, with Jackie as president, “to promote and
sponsor baseball activities in the South Plains and Panhandle area of West
Texas and Eastern New Mexico.” On December 5 the group had another WTNML
reunion, “at the Party House at Lake Ransom Canyon.”
A story in the December 30, 1970, Avalanche Journal announced the retirement of a longtime deputy
clerk in the Lubbock US Attorney’s office, and the appointment of Lee to
replace her.
In June 1971 the WTNMBA held another reunion and old-timers
game, this time in Lamesa, with a game between former Lamesa Lobos and other
former league players. There was no game in 1972, and in 1973 they were back in
Lubbock, with a Lubbock alumni vs. Amarillo alumni game.
Kenneth May’s “One Man’s Opinion” column in the July 21,
1975, edition of the Avalanche Journal
included the item “Heard on the street: Jackie Sullivan, former baseball player
and deputy sheriff, is said to be considering a race for sheriff next year.”
And he was. From the Avalanche Journal
of October 26:
Machine Gearing for Sheriff Race
C.H. “Choc” Blanchard, in the eleventh hour of what some critics have called a stormy term in office, may find himself battling one of the smoothest and best-financed sheriff’s campaigns in the history of Lubbock County.
Gears already are grinding to unseat the 48-year-old incumbent sheriff. And those gears are well-oiled, both financially and politically.
Former professional baseball player Jackie Sullivan, a one-time Blanchard deputy and former Dallas County officer, has announced his intention to take his former boss’ job and is aligning a potentially powerful political organization behind him…
Sullivan’s finance chairman is prominent Rip Griffin, owner of a chain of truck service centers and an owner of Texas Bank.
The Avalanche-Journal also learned that the 57-year-old Sullivan has retained the Webster-Harris Advertising Agency to coordinate his campaign.
December 20:
Sullivan Files For Sheriff Race
Former professional baseball player Jackie Sullivan has made his so-far-informal campaign for sheriff a formal one by filing with the county Democratic chairman to run in the May primary.
The one-time Lubbock County Sheriff’s deputy, who announced his intention to run at a news conference earlier this month, will try to unseat his former boss, incumbent sheriff C.H. “Choc” Blanchard…
Sullivan was a captain and headed the identification section in the sheriff’s department here. He also worked many years in the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department.
He now operates a service station with another former pro baseball player. [Royce “Rooster” Mills?]
If elected, Sullivan has promised more effective leadership in the sheriff’s department, isolation of potential sex abusers in the jail, and better crime investigative work.
By February 1976 there were five candidates, all Democrats.
The
primaries were held on May 1, and Jackie got 6117 votes, second to Blanchard’s
7312, but since Blanchard did not get a majority the two advanced to a runoff
on June 5 (which, since there was no Republican candidate, would decide the
office).
Jackies’ campaign kicked into high gear. On May 30 the Avalanche Journal ran a story at the top
of Page One that reads more like an editorial:
Foe’s Vitriolic Ads May Be Helping Blanchard
Picture, if you will, the Lubbock County Jail as a powder keg.
That being true, Choc Blanchard, the man who wears the gold star of Lubbock County Sheriff, by virtue of the location of his first-floor office would be sitting atop the explosive charge.
Outside, Jackie Sullivan, a man who has been in the office as a visitor, but never as an occupant, frantically is trying to ignite the fuse with three flamable [sic] radio tapes.
There is no subtlety in the challenger’s intent: he’s trying to blow Blanchard out of office.
But, according to some radio listeners, Sullivan’s aggressive means may not justify his end. His three-day radio series of highly personal attacks on Blanchard could be like watering your lawn in the eye of a West Texas duster: the mud could come back on your shirt…
Sullivan’s ads minced no words: he accused Blanchard, his former boss, of “illicit, immoral and perhaps illegal activities in the county jail.” Previous ads jabbed at Blanchard’s record through innuendo; recent ads, however, claim “Choc Blanchard is the worst sheriff Lubbock County has ever had…he’s created a record of shame.”
Jackie was naturally irked by the article; a headline in the
next day’s paper read “Sullivan Irked By Article.”
On June 4 the newspaper came
right out and ran an editorial endorsing Blanchard, and in the election the
next day Jackie lost, 11,089 to 4,455, actually losing votes from the primary.
In August another WTNML old-timers game was held in Amarillo,
and that seems to have been the last one. I don’t know anything about what
Jackie did for the rest of his life; maybe he hung out at the service station
with Royce “Rooster” Mills, talking baseball and gasoline with the customers,
until Rooster passed away in 1982. Jackie died at age 74 on October 15, 1992,
in a Dallas hospital, and was survived by Lee, daughter Sandra, and three of
his sisters. Lee passed away in 2007.
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