Clovis Pioneers rise to glory

Eighty years ago this week, the United States was still hoping to avoid sending troops into a global war. The anxious nation had turned its eyes to Joe DiMaggio who was halfway through his still-record 56-game hitting streak. And here at home, the Clovis Pioneers were mired in last place in the West Texas-New Mexico League.

Some of those young Pioneers would go off to war and would never play baseball professionally again after the summer of 1941, but they were about to become diamond legends for generations of Clovis fans.

Heading into June that summer, the Pioneers had a 9-24 record, worst in the eight-team league. There was little reason to believe 1941 would be any better than 1940 when they'd finished next-to-last with a 58-80 record.

Then under the leadership of player-manager Grover Seitz, the strong right arm of Red Rollins and emerging sluggers Paul Schoendienst, Earl Harriman, Ray Surratt and Mac Quillin, the Pioneers went on a 67-34 run, which pushed them out of the cellar, out of the second division and into the league playoffs.

Once there, they beat the Borger Gassers 3 games to 2, advancing to the championship best-of-7 series against the regular-season-champion Big Spring Bombers.

Big Spring won the first two in Texas, the Pioneers took all three games in Clovis, Big Spring evened the series 3-3 at home. And then Clovis won the pennant. Mel Kramer tossed a complete-game 5-hitter and Schoendienst, the older brother of future Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst, hit a home run, drove in two runs and scored two more to lead the way in the finale.

"Pioneers rise to glory in final series game," the headline in the Clovis News-Journal trumpeted.

A day later the newspaper reported hundreds of fans came out to Bell Park, where the Clovis High School team still plays today, to celebrate what would be the Pioneers only league championship in three decades of trying. The crowd showed "no small amount of enthusiasm," the newspaper reported.

Less than one month after that championship season, Clovis catcher Walter Schmidt, 21, was in the Army. He played 219 games in two seasons with the Pioneers, but never played pro ball again after 1941.

The 1941 season was also the last for Rollins, who had a career-best 21-8 record, and pitcher Clovis Bridwell, who went 10-3 at age 22.

Schoendienst soon joined the U.S. Coast Guard. He played four more seasons in the minor leagues - including a few games with Jackie Robinson in Montreal in 1946 - but never starred like he did that summer in Clovis when he hit .369 with 51 extra base hits.

The history of the Clovis Pioneers

The professional baseball teams of Clovis played parts of 19 seasons, beginning in 1922 and wrapping up in 1957. Old-timers today mostly recall cheering for the Pioneers, but the team nicknames also briefly included the Buzzers, Cubs and Redlegs. Here are some things you might like to know about them:

The first known professional baseball club in Clovis was called the Buzzers. They were the only non-Texas team to play in the West Texas League in 1922. They finished third in the league with a record of 75-57.

One year later, the Buzzers were gone and the Clovis Cubs were competing in the Panhandle Pecos Valley League. They finished third among four teams with a 48-56 record.

Name came from Pioneer Days

The Pioneers first appeared in 1938 as members of the West Texas-New Mexico league. The team nickname was determined by a Clovis Baseball Commission, "partly on account of Clovis' annual Pioneer Days celebration," according to Clovis News-Journal reporter Dee Blythe. Games were played at Bell Park, where Clovis High School still plays today.

Winning in the beginning

Clovis won its first WT-NM League game, beating the Lubbock Hubbers, 8-7, at Bell Park on April 27, 1938. The Pioneers managed just four hits, all singles, in the season opener for both teams. They scored six runs in the first three innings without a hit, "taking full advantage of walks, sacrifices and a couple of errors," the Clovis News-Journal reported. School children were released early so they could attend the afternoon contest.

War interrupts potential championship

Possibly the best Pioneers team of all time chose to end its season early in 1942 due to "lagging interest and gate receipts," no doubt related to World War II. The entire league disbanded on July 5, 1942, with Clovis in first place with a 52-19 record. The league did not begin again until 1946.

Sometimes you win, sometimes ...

The Pioneers participated in 15 seasons of the West Texas-New Mexico League, producing winning records six times. They finished the regular season in first place at the end of the 1942 and 1952 seasons. Probably the worst Pioneers teams played from 1946 through 1951, when their best finish was sixth place in the eight-team league. The teams' records were 301 wins and 539 losses those six seasons.

The glory years and one title

Five times in their history, Clovis qualified for the Shaughnessy playoff system following the WT-NM regular season. The top four teams during the regular season competed for the league title in the system. In 1953 and 1954, Clovis lost in the final playoff round.

In 1952, the Pioneers won 96 regular-season games to finish in first place, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Pioneers won the WT-NM championship in 1941; after finishing in third place during the regular season, they beat Borger and then Big Spring for the crown.

That time Dizzy had pinch-hit single

Amateur baseball historian Mike Higgins of Amarillo reports at least nine Major League Baseball players also played for the Pioneers. By far the most famous were brothers Paul and Dizzy Dean who co-owned the Pioneers in 1949-50.

Paul managed the team, Dizzy, the Hall of Fame pitcher, made occasional appearances in hopes of boosting attendance. On July 8, 1949, the Pioneers celebrated "Dizzy Dean Night" with a 7-2 win over the Lubbock Hubbers. Dizzy spent time in the broadcast booth, coached a little third base and pinch hit, rapping an eighth-inning single.

After the Dean brothers, Harry Bright probably had the best big-league career among Pioneers graduates. He spent eight seasons in the Majors, from 1958 to 1965, playing 309 games and hitting 32 home runs. His best year in the bigs was 1962 with the Washington Senators when he hit .273 with 17 home runs and 67 runs batted in over 113 games. Bright played for Clovis in 1950, hitting .413 with 19 home runs, 29 doubles and 12 triples in 95 games. He was 20 years old that summer.

And then they were Redlegs

Clovis moved to the Southwestern League for the 1956-1957 seasons, where it had affiliation with Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Redlegs. The Clovis team was called the Pioneers in 1956, but became the Redlegs in 1957.

Lack of attendance led to end

The beginning of the end of professional baseball in Clovis presented itself in the spring of 1956. A front-page news report, on March 29, 1956, warned "Clovis in danger of losing its baseball franchise."

Fans were told they had a week to decide if they wanted the team. About 700 letters had been sent asking fans purchase season tickets; only 13 season tickets had been sold.

Team President Eddie Jones said he wasn't threatening fans, but said team owners were not going to "lose their shirts" if Clovis didn't want a team.

Redlegs went out winners

Money enough kept Clovis in the Southwestern League through 1956, but the Pioneers did little to attract crowds, finishing last in the 10-team league, 44 games behind first-place Hobbs. Records show home attendance averaged 588 fans per game that year.

In 1957, team operators changed their nickname to the Redlegs, matching their Major League affiliate. The product on the field improved dramatically, but fans had lost interest. The average attendance was just 142 per game by mid-season.

On June 15, 1957, the Clovis Redlegs beat the Hobbs Sports, 15-13, improving their first-place record to 36-12. But fewer than 100 people were at Bell Park for that last game. The league finished its two-year run with just seven teams.

David Stevens writes about regional history for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]