Border League 1946 - 1951

Foreword

This page is dedicated to every player and every fan of the Border League. In comparison to many other leagues this might truly seem like a minor league, but it was also part of minor league baseball during what was the hey day of minor league baseball, and also a significant time in America's past. If you have information on the league, check the bottom of this page

Click Here - This is a site for a minor league historian who markets player information from the years of 1930 to 1983. This means it includes the Border League. Therefore, if you want any player information on the Border League and are willing to pay for it, please check out this site. I have not used this site, so I can not speak for the site, but I personally can't imagine anyone who appreciates history to be a bad person.

1946 Standings - Class C - President John G. Ward

Name                               W L   Pct GB       Att.    Manager
Auburn Cayugas               72 44 .621   --   48,683 Barry Hearn
Watertown Athletics         69 51 .575 5.0 53,605 Jim Scott
Kingston, ON Ponies*      58 55 .513 12.5 60,957 Ben Lady
Granby Red Sox               54 60 .474 17.0 31,159 Bill Sisler/Hal Cleves
Ogdensburg Maples          50 68 .424 23.0 28,395 Bob Dill
Sherbrooke Canadians      46 71 .393 26.5 25,576 George Smith/Dutch Proecher

Playoffs: Kingston 3 games, Auburn 1; Watertown 3 games, Granby 1.
Finals: Watertown 4 games, Kingston 2.

* - Affiliated with the Philadelphia Athletics

1947 Standings - Class C

Name                                W L    Pct GB     Att.    Manager
Ottawa Nationals               82 42 .661   --   62,607 Paul Dean
Watertown Athletics          70 54 .565 12.0 53,600 Bob Shawkey
Auburn Cayugas                66 60 .524 17.0 59,637 Barney Hearn
Ogdensburg Maples           61 65 .484 22.0 63,486 Steve Yerkes
Kingston Ponies                 49 77 .389 34.0 52,268 Ben Lady
Geneva Red Birds              46 76 .377 35.0 57,308 Charles Small

Playoffs: Ottawa 4 games, Auburn 0; Ogdensburg 4 games, Watertown 3.
Finals: Ottawa 4 games, Ogdensburg 2.

1948 Standings - Class C

Name                             W L   Pct   GB       Att.    Manager
Ottawa Senators             79 48 .622   --    76,299 Bill Metzig
Geneva Robins               72 54 .571 6.5    66,149 Charles Small
Ogdnesburg Maples(1)   69 60 .535 11.0 60,116 Russ Wein
Watertown Athletics       63 65 .492 16.5 65,590 Fred Gerkin
Kingston Ponies(2)         49 76 .392 29.0 40,656 Ben Lady
Auburn Cayugas(3)        49 78 .386 30.0 43,102 Barney Hearn

Playoffs: Ogdensburg 4 games, Ottawa 1; Watertown 4 games, Geneva 3.
Finals: Ogdensburg 4 games, Watertown 0.

(1) Affiliated with New York Giants
(2) Affiliated with Boston Braves
(3) Affiliated with Boston Red Sox

1949 Standings - Class C

Name                          W L   Pct   GB     Att.     Manager
Geneva Robins*          81 49 .623   --   67,259 Charles Small
Ottawa Senators         74 55 .574   6.5 78,577 Bill Metzig
Ogdensburg Maples    70 60 .538 11.0 58,749 Russ Wein
Auburn Cayugas          67 62 .519 13.5 55,634 Barney Hearn
Watertown Athletics    58 71 .450 22.5 61,026 Frank Heller
Kingston Ponies           38 91 .295 42.5 38,671 Zeke Bonura/Harold Leach

Playoffs: Geneva 4 games, Ogdensburg 3; Auburn 4 games, Ottawa 3.
Finals: Geneva 4 games, Auburn 2.

* - Affiliated with Brooklyn Dodgers

1950 Standings - Class C

Name                            W L     Pct    GB    Att.    Manager
Ottawa Nationals           75 53 .586   --    97,091 Bill Metzig
Ogdensburg Maples       74 54 .578 1.0   55,291 Russ Wein
Kingston Ponies             68 60 .531 7.0   52,453 Barney Hearn
Watertown Athletics      60 68 .469 15.0 65,329 Frank Heller
Geneva Robins              56 71 .441 18.5 42,353 Charles Small/Clyde Theriault
Auburn Cayugas            50 77 .394   24.5 41,755 Bib Sisler/Tom Accardo/William Gates

Playoffs: Ottawa 4 games, Kingston 1; Ogdensburg 4 games, Watertown 1.
Finals: Ogdensburg 4 games Ottawa 2.

1951 Standings - Class C

Name                                W L    Pct GB     Att.     Manager
Kingston Ponies                 38 25 .603   --   13,862 Barney Hearn
Ogdensburg Maples           29 35 .453 9.5 13,978 John Sosh/Irvin Schupp
Cornwall Canadians(1)       29 18 .617 N/A   4,892 Bill Metzig
Auburn Falcons(2)             26 26 .500 N/A 13,826 William Gates
Watertown Athletics(2)      22 30 .423 N/A 18,055 Bob Shawkey
Geneva Robins(1)              20 30 .400 N/A 12,405 Humberto Baez

(1) - teams disbanded June 26.
(2) - teams disbanded July 1.
The league disbanded July 16(last game played on July 10)

All Time Playoff Records

Name(Championships) W L    Pct Series Series Won
Ogdensburg(2)            25 15   .625   7                5
Ottawa(1)                   18 15   .545   6                3
Watertown(1)             15 18   .455   6                3
Geneva(1)                   11 9   .550   3                 2
Auburn                         7 14   .333   4                 1
Kingston                       6   9   .400   3                 1
Granby                         1   3   .250   1                 0

A quick glance at the baseball histories of the cities.

Canadian Teams

Granby - In 1940, Granby had a team in the Quebec Provincial League with the league only lasting a year. Then played in the Provincial League from 1948-53. The league stayed alive until 1955.

Sherbrooke - Also in the Quebec Provincial in 1940. The Provincial from 1948-51 and 1953-55. Then a brief stint in the Eastern League for the 1972 and 1973 seasons.

Kingston - Kingston has had no other baseball teams professionally besides the Border League.

Ottawa - Ottawa started out in the Eastern League in 1898. Then in the Canadian League from 1912 to 1915. For two year they were in the Eastern Canadian League in 1922 and 1923. Ottawa and Hull split a team in the Quebec-Ontario-Vermont league of 1924. They joined the Canadian-American leagues from 1936-39 and joined with Ogdensburg for the 1940 season. After the Border League brought increased Attendence, they joined the International League from 1951 to 1954 and then finally are currently in the International League once again from 1993 to present.

Cornwall - Cornwall had a team that split time between Perth and Cornwall in 1937 in the Canadian-American League and then joined this same league alone in 1938 and 1939.

American Teams

Geneva - After the Border League first brought baseball to Geneva, they fielded a team in the NY-Penn league from 1958 to1973 and again from 1977 to 1993.

Ogdensburg - Ogdensburg started out in the Canadian-American league in 1936 to 1939. Then they teamed up with Ottawa to field a team for the 1940 season in the same league.

Watertown - Watertown started out in the Canadian-American League also with a team in 1936. In 1983, they joined the NY-Penn League where they currently have a team. They are one of only three cities from the Border League to currently have a team.

Auburn - Auburn is probably has the oldest baseball tradition of any city in the Border League. In the 1870's they had a professional team that moved to Troy, NY. Officially they fielded team in 1889 and 1899 in the New York State League, and moved to Troy, NY in 1899. They played in the Canadian-American League from 1938 to 1940. THey joined the NY-Penn league in 1958 and had a team until 1980. They had no teamin 1981 and then rejoined the NY-Penn league in 1982 and are currently in the same league.

Do you have information on the Border League...

You can send information in one of two ways:

Snail Mail
Mike Engle
182 Speigletown Rd.
Troy, NY 12182

E-Mail speigletown@hotmail.com and if you could, state in the title of the mail, that the email pertains to the Border League page.