Caltech teams of the 1940s

You know the drill by now. Here's pictures of the Caltech Varsity baseball teams, this time from the 1940s. Being a technical school, I'm assuming that Caltech turned their attention to the war effort in the mid-40s. I didn't find teams for 1944 or 1945.  The jersey design didn't change much this decade.  A bit of piping here or there and a few older beaver jerseys show up in 1943.

1940 Varsity Team

1941 Varsity Team

1942 Varsity Team

1943 Varsity Team

1946 Varsity Team

1947 Varsity Team

1948 Varsity Team

1949 Varsity Team

Now on to some players.

1940

1941

1942

1943

1946

1947

1948

And the Frosh Squads.

1940 Freshman Team

1941 Freshman Team

1942 Freshman Team

1943 Freshman Team

For the rest of the decade the Frosh Squads seem to have gone away.

images from the Cal Tech Pubs site

Caltech teams of the 1930s

Another in the series of Caltech teams by decade.  This go around it is the Thirties.

Nothing great to note, save that in 1938 the team seems to have ditched the beaver logo and gone to the school name on the front of the jersey.

1930 Varsity Team

1931 Varsity Team

1932 Varsity Team

1933 Varsity Team

1935 Varsity Team

1936 Varsity Team

1937 Varsity Team

1938 Varsity Team

1939 Varsity Team

And now for some individual players.  The individual poses in the 1937 annual show the Cal Tech jersey, not the beaver logo.  Note the cameraman's shadow in the 1935 player photo.

1930

1931

1933

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

Now on to the Frosh Squad.  The cameraman's shadow appears in the 1933 Freshman photo.  Maybe he was practicing for the 1935 player above.

1931 Freshman Team

1933 Freshman Team

1935 Freshman Team

1936 Freshman Team

1937 Freshman Team

1938 Freshman Team

1939 Freshman Team

images from the Cal Tech Pubs site

Caltech teams of the 1920s

Yesterday Terry Cannon, Executive Director of the Baseball Reliquary, posted a photo of an early Cal Tech baseball team on the facebook page of the Institute for Baseball Studies.

At the time of posting it wasn't clear to me when that photo was taken.  I went off sleuthing for a bit and found the answer on the Caltech Archives site.

Before I got there I did find some other photos of the team through the ages.  I thought it might be fun to look at them one decade at a time.

From the Caltech Campus Pubs site, I was able to download and search the yearbooks.

Not all years are represented, but here's what I could find of the varsity team for the Roaring Twenties.  Interesting to see the change in uniforms.

1921 Caltech Varsity Team

1922 Caltech Varsity Team

1923 Caltech Varsity Team

1924 Caltech Varsity Team

1925 Caltech Varsity Team

1927 Caltech Varsity Team

1928 Caltech Varsity Team

1929 Caltech Varsity Team

And now for some individual players.

1925

1927

1928

1929

Paul Lukas, of Uni-Watch.com has a great story (and wonderful photos) of the 1956 Portland Beavers uniforms.  I'm wondering if Caltech had the first beaver on a jersey.

Just so the Freshman teams don't feel neglected with straight hand-me-downs, here's a look at the Frosh Squads of the Twenties.  Looking at their faces, I don't think that it was Roaring.

1922 Freshman Team

1923 Freshman Team

1924 Freshman Team

1927 Freshman Team

1928 Freshman Team

In the coming weeks I'll move ahead in time.  Eventually, I'll look back at the teams of the teens.

4,000 Professional Hit Club

Recently Ichiro Suzuki surpassed Ty Cobb on the hit list.  Which hit list?  The one where you combine MLB regular season and Japanese League hits.  Good for him.

Two years ago fellow SABR member Scott Simkus assembled a list of hits accumulated in professional leagues.  He shows those players who have collected 4,000 hits or more.

Scott includes the following hits: MLB, MLB Postseason, MiLB, Japanese League, Negro League, Cuban League, Mexican League, Puerto Rican Winter League, Korean League, and other misc appearances.

I decided to update and expand the list. It is a Google Sheet.  No additional players have made it to 4,000.

I've added a few more players that didn't make Scott's list.  For whimsy I added a few more names and showed where the hits came from.

I've even added some hits that aren't part of the Baseball-Reference.com canon.  While looking at Honus Wagner's minor league stats, I noticed that they didn't include data from 1895.  He bounced around with a few teams in a few leagues that year.  I was able to find some stats from the Michgan State League.

Jackson Citizen Patriot (Jackson, Michigan) - October 3, 1895
image from GenealogyBank.com

What do you know?  Another 27 professional hits.  I've included them in my calculations.  I'm guessing that eventually someone will produce the hits from his time in the Interstate League and the Oil and Iron League.

Ty Cobb played in the 1904 Tennessee-Alabama League.  Should hits from those games be included?  I think so.  Another SABR member, Bill Plott, has spent some time compiling stats for that league. I have not include those hits, although I should.  Will those hits make him eclipse Pete Rose?   No, but I think it is important history.  Some would argue that the TN-AL league hits shouldn't be allowed as it is considered an outlaw league.  I'd say yes, it was a professional league.  My definition of professional is: Was it organized?  Did the players get paid a salary?  Pro!

The News (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - June 3, 1904
image from the Chattanooga Public Library

Should one include postseason hits from the minors?  And from the Japanese League?  What about Japanese Minor League hits?  What about Venezuelan Winter ball?  Yes, this opens up a can of worms.  Barnstorming?  Only games against other professional teams?  Where does it end?  Or where did it begin?