1947 Minneapolis Millers Scorebook

Another impulse buy on eBay a few weeks ago. I occasionally do a search for "Minneapolis Millers" to see what shows up. Last time I came across a scorebook from 1947.

The front cover has a characters that looks like he should be in a Popeye cartoon, along with a Clark's Super Gas ad. It's interesting that the ad mentions a money-saving price. I didn't know gas prices were a concern in 1947. I think gas was 15 to 20 cents a gallon back then.

But, take a look at the cars that were advertised. The Hudson on the back page looks like it gets 6 or 8 miles to the gallon.

The back cover has an ad for a tire supply company that had a coupon for fans to fill out and enter into a box at the exit gate for a chance to when "Two Walloping Prizes" to be given away at the final Sunday game of the season.


This particular game was against the Kansas City Blues. Some of the players from Kansas City that went on to the majors include Hank Bauer, Cliff Mapes, Steve (Bud) Souchock, Ken Silvestri and Jerry Coleman. From the Millers, Babe Barna and Jack Maguire and Bobby Rhawn had short MLB careers. Johnny McCarthy was at the end of his career, making his MLB debut in 1934. Wes Westrum moved up from the Millers to the New York Giants and played there until 1957.

(click on the image to see a larger version)

Frank Trechock from the Millers played one game in the majors: September 19th, 1937 with the Washington Senators. He played against the White Sox and the Senators won 5 to 4. He went 2-4 with a strikeout, but committed two errors.

The program is full of cigarette, liquor and car dealership ads as well as a few dairy and restaurant ads. Unfortunately, it's a little light on player bios and pictures. I really enjoy looking through these old minor league programs and see which players went on to become major league players or even Hall of Famers.

Minneapolis Millers Programs

Yesterday I received a couple of Minneapolis Millers programs I bought on eBay. You can click on the images below to see larger versions.


The first one is from 1956, and has some wear and water damage, but it's still very readable. 1956 was the first year the Millers played in Metropolitan Stadium.The Miller's roster is full of players that went on to play in the majors. The ones I recognized from memory include Ozzie Virgil, Joe Amalfitano, Ed Bressoud, Gail Harris, Pete Burnside, Gil Coan, Curt Barclay and Willie Kirkland.

This particular program was for a game against Denver. Another roster full of eventual major leaguers such as Bobby Richardson, Jack Urban, Norm Siebern, Wally Burnette, Marv Throneberry, Tony Kubek and Ralph Terry.

The 1957 Program was for a game against Milwaukee. This one is in really nice shape. It's hard to believe anyone could have bought it at a game and taken it home while keeping it this nice.

The Millers roster is quite a bit different, and contains Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda. The Milwaukee roster contains quite the lineup, including Warren Spahn and some guy named Henry Aaron. Including Ed Mathews, the roster has 3 Hall of Famers on it.


The programs are full of advertisements for bars, cigarettes, beer, and local businesses. It's pretty interesting to page through. There are also interesting articles on players scattered throughout.

The concessions prices seem pretty reasonable: 25 cent hot dogs, 10 cent candy bars, and 30 cents for a bottle of beer or 15 cents for pop. Odd things at the concessions stand include milk, and a cheese sandwich. Hmmm.

Tickets range from 35 cents for Ladies on Ladies' Night (Tuesdays) for a set in the Grandstand, to $1.75 for adults for a box seat. So, a decent seat, hot dog, chips, and a beer would cost $2.45.

The souvenir's were also reasonable (at least compared to today's prices). Baesball caps were $1.00. Kid's T-Shirts were $1.00, Adults were $1.25. Pennants were 50 cents, and bincoulars were 75 cents. I wonder what those binoculars looked like!

I don't think I'll send this to be signed, even though there are plenty of players on the rosters that wouldn't be difficult to get. I think I'll just leave these as they are.

Yesterday I also received a couple of cards signed by Bud Daley. He signed his 1958 and 1960 Topps for me. The 58 is an upgrade to the one already in my collection.

I'll be out of town until Thursday, so I probably won't post another update until Friday.