Men in Flannel Suits : Baxes, Stevens Recall Their Days in Pacific Coast League

GARDEN GROVE — Chuck Stevens leans back, takes a breath and transports himself back more than 40 years in his mind.

Back to the time when minor league baseball flourished in Los Angeles. Back when the Hollywood Stars were more than just actors making movies.

Back then Stevens--now 77--was a lean, lithe first baseman who had his American League contract sold by the St. Louis Browns to one of the Pacific Coast League’s glamour franchises.

It was a franchise that had moved to Hollywood from Salt Lake City in 1925; a franchise that listed among its investors Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, George Burns, William Powell and George Raft--and who, along with other Hollywood notables, could be counted on to regularly attend the home games in cozy Gillmore Field.

“It was a time we’ll never see again,” Stevens said.

He’ll get a chance to relive those memories Saturday at the Pacific Coast League Historical Society’s 11th annual reunion in Carson. The program, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Carson Community Center, is free and open to the public.

“Today they’re moving kids so fast through the minors to plug holes at the major league level--we weren’t faced with that,” he said. “We lived, ate and slept the game. Now they don’t do that.

Stevens, who lives in Garden Grove, is the secretary and treasurer of the Assn. of Professional Baseball Players of America, a nonprofit organization that takes the donations from major league players and their organizations, and provides funds to ex-professional players in need. It’s a job Stevens has held for 36 years.

Jim Baxes, 68, a teammate of Stevens’ on the Stars in 1949 and 1950, eventually played one year in the majors.

“I felt like we were pioneers in the ‘40s and ‘50s,” said Baxes, who also lives in Garden Grove. “I personally didn’t make very much money then, but that didn’t matter.”

For the most part, their memories are fond.

“I was there the last month of 1948 until 1955,” Stevens said. “When I went to spring training in 1949, that was the first time I met Jim. I was a first baseman, he was at third.

“Jim had one of the better arms in baseball. But I’ll tell you one thing; you never got too comfortable sitting in the box seats directly behind first base; if he wasn’t [set when he threw] the ball would sail. I remember one night old Jim uncorked one, and it cleaned out about eight box row seats. Hot dogs and beer flew everywhere, and one who got covered in mustard and beer was Jimmy Durante. He was on my case for not catching the ball, but even he got a kick out of it.

Baxes, who hit 24 home runs at 108 RBIs with the stars in 1949, laughs at hearing the storyagain.

“I can remember walking up to bat and seeing Jeanette MacDonald and Gail Patrick [producer of the early ‘Perry Mason’ series], Groucho Marx, Robert Young,” Baxes said. “You’d be tipping your hat every night as you went to bat. I couldn’t wait to get to the ballpark.”

Baxes eventually played major league baseball in Los Angeles, but it’s clear the Pacific Coast League days were his most memorable.

“Finally after the 1950 season, I got a contract with Brooklyn [Dodgers], but then I was drafted into the Korean War,” Baxes said. “I get out in 1953, but I don’t get another shot until 1959. I opened up in the Coliseum with the Dodgers, played about nine games, then I was sold to Cleveland. I played there the rest of the year. Got a full year in.

“But I also felt we should have gotten a little more out of ball. We go to banquets, hear things about us, and all these people come up saying ‘I remember you. But what happened?’ That one year in the big leagues was nice. But that’s the only thing that hurt.”

Stevens play three seasons in the majors with St. Louis. Most of his 24-year professional career was spent in the minors.

Like Baxes, Stevens thrived in 1949 with the Stars. He batted leadoff “for the only time in my career,” and batted .298 with 202 hits in 183 games.

“The PCL was not that far removed from the majors. Probably half the people in the league had just come from the majors or were a step away. So you had a great combination,” Stevens said.

“You gotta realize, at that time people on the West Coast couldn’t care less about the majors. The majors were beyond the Rockies.”

The Stars played alongside the Los Angeles Angels, who played their games at Wrigley Field. The rivalry was intense, especially since the Stars won most of the games during the early 1950s.

Bringing up the Angels sparks another memory.

“We were playing them in Hollywood--I can’t remember the year--and an Angel pitcher hit Frank Kelleher in the back,” Stevens said. “Frank, the gentlest man you ever saw, put his bat down, walked out to the mound, and knocked the guy out, starting the most vicious fight between the teams.

“They finally got the teams separated; an inning later, one of our outfielders, on a base hit, slid high into third and cut their third baseman in the arm and chest. That started another fight. They had to call out the LAPD riot squad to keep things cool.”