MANDAK MEMORIES

by Barry Swanton

In 1950 at the age of twelve I was witness to a baseball league that was formed in Manitoba, Canada and North Dakota in the United States. This was the ManDak League. Little did I realize until I was much older that some of the greatest Negro League players of all time played in this league.

It was only 3 years earlier that Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier. Many of the players who came to Canada had spent their best years playing in the Negro Leagues. Most were getting on in age, but retained much of their skills. It would appear that the major leagues thought they were just too old.

The original teams in the league were the Minot Mallards from North Dakota, Carman Cardinals and Brandon Greys, two centers outside Winnipeg and the Elmwood Giants and Winnipeg Buffaloes from the City of Winnipeg.

Rosters in the ManDak League during that time were comprised of local players, college players and aging minor league veterans. The league also featured veterans such as Mickey Rocco who played first base for the Cleveland Indians during the war years. With the Negro Leagues starting to shut down, many of their stars came North to continue their careers in this league.

The Minot Mallards contracted with Satchel Paige to pitch in 3 games that first season. He pitched 3 innings each in 3 games. In those 9 innings he gave up 3 hits and fanned 13.

The owner of the Buffaloes was a gentleman named Stanley Zedd. He was something out of Damon Runyan. He happened to be a neighbor of mine. If any youngster in the neighborhood needed a piece of equipment and came from a poor family, Mr. Zedd would help him out. It was said that Abe Saperstein from the Harlem Globetrotters put him in touch with Willie Wells and that was how the team was formed.

The Buffaloes under Willie Wells won the championship that first season. They had such notable players as Hall of Famer Leon Day, Lymon Bostock Sr., Spoon Carter, Smokey Robinson, Butch Davis, Sam Hill, Taylor Smith and Joe Taylor.

The next year they added Charlie White who went on to the big leagues with the Braves. In the second season they were leading the league when the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League came to town and signed Day, Davis and White. After that season the Buffaloes folded.

The first season the Elmwood Giants had a young centerfielder named Solly Drake. He was an exciting player who hit .300 and went to patrol the outfield for the Chicago Cubs.

The Brandon Greys had a Cuban flavor with players such as Rafe Cabrerra, Armando Vasquez, Alonzo Perry to name a few. Carman Cardinals had Lilliard Cobb, Chick Brewer and Gentry Jessop. I counted 75 players that had played in the Negro Leagues and then played in the ManDak League over the 4-year period.

The baseball was great. My dad would take me to the games and buy me a 10-cent scorecard and I would keep score. The next day I would cut the game report from the newspaper, place in the scorecard and throw it into a box. Many years later I found the box and reading the game reports brought back many good memories. What I remember most is after the games the players would stay around and sign autographs and talk to the fans. The players of today could learn a good lesson from them.