Success Wasn’t in the Cards for Aces : Baseball: Few traces remain of Anaheim’s first professional franchise, which folded after one season, in 1941.

John Scolinos paused for several seconds, thinking back 50 years. The memories were vague, but they were there. Then the light bulb clicked and he laughed.

“Oh yeah, the Anaheim Aces.”

Yes, the Anaheim Aces. How could Scolinos forget? He was on the team.

In 1941, when the minor-league Angels were in Los Angeles, the Aces became Anaheim’s first professional baseball franchise. Yet, they have faded, even from the minds of those who played for them.

The Aces were an independent franchise in the new Class-C California League, which stretched from Riverside to Stockton. They even had the distinction of playing--and losing--the league’s first game.

After one unsuccessful season they folded, leaving few traces. They finished 55-82 during the split season and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

The Aces were even bigger losers at the gate. They tried to pique the interest of people in what was then a very rural Orange County. In the process, they went through 52 players (in a league that allowed a maximum of 15 players per team), two managers and a slew of promotions.

But in the end, they couldn’t draw--or sometimes catch--flies.

“The big problem was there wasn’t much except orange groves around Anaheim in those days,” said Scolinos, who has been baseball coach at Cal Poly Pomona for the past 31 years. “The other problem was, we weren’t very good.”

The Aces were the brainstorm of Robert Ripley, an Anaheim-based businessman. He got in on the ground floor of the eight-team California League, which was formed in January, 1941.

Getting a team in the league was easy; about all you had to do was apply. Maintaining it seemed even easier. Except for the first 18 or final 20 days of the season, rosters were limited to 15, including the manager.

The salary cap was $1,650 per month, per team.

“I think I made $80 a month and that was one of the higher salaries,” said Ed Krage, an outfielder.

In those days, baseball was booming in Southern California. Every business--from McDonnell Douglas to small hardware stores--had a team. The games between rival aircraft companies sometimes drew as many as 2,000 people.

Ripley tried to tap into that talent and interest. First, he hired Joe Huarte, a local star, as player/manager. That was followed by the signing of Krage and Johnny LanFranco, both of whom played at Orange High School.

Ripley also tried to form ties with the San Diego Padres, then a member of the Pacific Coast League. He was turned down, but he did manage to obtain a few players from the Padres, including Scolinos, who was one of the few out-of-area players signed before the season.

“I didn’t even know where Anaheim was at the time,” said Scolinos, a first baseman. “It was in another state as far as I knew.”

The Aces gave anyone a chance, holding a three-day tryout in February. They even tried pitcher Bert Shepard, who had an artificial leg.

During the season, they signed an outfielder, Johnny (Red) Patterson, whom Ripley said was “rumored to have a good bat and good glove.” Patterson was released the next day after going 0 for 3 and making an error in right field.

Of all the players signed between January and April, only two lasted the season--pitchers Eden (Bus) DeVolder and Tony Jeli.

“Almost every time we played them, it seemed like they had a different team,” said John (Spider) Jorgenson, who played for the Santa Barbara Saints.

Still, there was some local interest, including a small fan club called the Anaheim Deuces Wild. They were wild and, sometimes, dangerous.

Twice during the season, police had to be called to protect umpires after controversial games. Another time, fans joined in a fight that had been started by the players.

“Fans really lived and died with their local team in those days,” Scolinos said. “There was one night that the first base umpire had a gun under his jacket. The fans could be brutal.”

But the Aces didn’t live up to their fan club’s enthusiasm.

They opened the season April 18 in Santa Barbara, which was a Dodger affiliate. Scolinos hit two home runs as the Aces took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. They folded, giving up three unearned runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth and lost, 7-3.

“They really weren’t a very good team,” said Jorgenson, now a scout with the Chicago Cubs. “They were one of those clubs that would stay close for four or five innings, but you knew the dam was going to break at any minute.”

The Aces made at least one error in each of their first 27 games. In one game, they made eight errors. In two others, they made six.

After 10 games, Huarte reorganized the infield, which included inserting himself at shortstop. The Aces made five errors that night, including two by Huarte, and the infield was switched back the following day.

At the end of April, the Aces were 3-12, and in need of help. Ripley signed first baseman Doug Weaver, who had been in the New York Yankee farm system; Gus Holbourg, who been in the Cincinnati Reds’ chain, and a few others with professional experience.

“We were really a semi-pro team at the start of the season,” Krage said. “Most of us had never played professional baseball before. We certainly weren’t as good as the other teams in the league.”

Krage was one of the first players to go. During a trip, the Stockton team had offered four players for him, an offer that had been rejected. Three weeks later, he was sent to Albuquerque.

He left with a bang, getting four hits in a doubleheader on the day he was released.

“Huarte came to me and said, ‘I wish you would have hit like that earlier, we would have kept you,’ ” Krage said. “I liked Joe, he was a good guy. But I was happy to get off that team.”

The changes helped, but not much. The Aces continued to play poorly in the field. Scolinos, who had been moved to the outfield, was a particular liability.

“I couldn’t catch a cold in a blizzard,” he said. “There was one game in San Bernardino where we lost when I dropped a routine fly with two outs in the 16th inning. I stood out there for 15 minutes before Tony Jeli came out and got me. The funny thing was, Tony was the losing pitcher. I guess he felt sorry for me even though I cost him the game.”

The Aces weren’t much better at the plate. On June 9, they were no-hit by Santa Barbara’s Charlie Conklin.

Five days later Huarte was fired with the team in last place with a record of 16-38. He was replaced by Charlie Smith, who also coached at San Diego State.

“We tried everything else, but couldn’t seem to win,” Huarte said after leaving. “So there was nothing left for Ripley to do but change managers.”

The Aces weren’t much better at the gate. They drew 750 for their home opener at La Palma Park (now Glover Stadium), but the crowds quickly diminished. They played before 30 to 40 people on many nights.

Things weren’t much better for the rest of the teams in the league and rumors began to circulate that it would fold. In mid-June, the owners of the Riverside and San Bernardino clubs announced they were quitting, and a meeting of the remaining six owners was held June 29.

Ripley also considered folding the Aces, but was talked out of it by local businessmen, who promised to help improve attendance. They held several promotions, including USO Night, I Am An American Day and several Ladies Nights, which were very popular with the players.

“I remember Charlie Smith yelling at us that we only played hard on Ladies Night,” said Scolinos, who was released in early July. “He was probably right.”

The league reorganized with six teams, and players from the Riverside and San Bernardino teams were disbursed around the league. The Aces benefited, opening the second half of the split season with an almost entirely new lineup.

They won their first three games of the second half, before losing seven of nine to Santa Barbara. They finished 32-34 and qualified for the playoffs as the fourth-place team.

Outfielder Fred Cochrane and first baseman Frank Stinson, both picked up from San Bernardino, proved to be clutch hitters. DeVolder, Holbourg and Joe Malman, another player acquired at mid-season, finished among the top seven in the league in ERA.

The Aces beat Fresno, 6-4, in their first playoff game when second baseman Eddie Reyes hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning. They lost the next three and were eliminated.

They faded and mostly were forgotten. In fact, Ripley announced they were disbanding on Dec. 6, 1941. The next day, hardly anyone gave them another thought.

“With all that was going on in the world that year, you don’t really remember what you did on the baseball field,” Scolinos said. “But I do remember the Anaheim Aces.”