Uh oh...
It appears that you're using a severely outdated version of Safari on Windows. Many features won't work correctly, and functionality can't be guaranteed. Please try viewing this website in Edge, Mozilla, Chrome, or another modern browser. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused!
Read More about this safari issue.
The 1951 baseball season arrived in Little Rock with little cause for optimism. The 1950 Travelers had finished last in the Southern Association, 38 ½ games out of first place. Fans in Central Arkansas had grown accustomed to the bottom of the standings. Since the end of World War II, the Travs had finished in the cellar four times and no higher than sixth place. Typically, fewer than 1,000 fans rattled around in a ballpark built for 7,000. In a phrase often associated with a disinterested fan base, “Little Rock fans stayed home in droves.”
In the spring, the 1951 season looked very much like “1950 Chapter II.” One sports writer defended a pessimistic outlook toward a season with little hope: “After all, what writer would go out on a limb with a club returning 12 of the players who were members of the team that finished last the previous season.”
The only chance the Travs had to build a competitive team rested on the outside chance that a collection of non-prospects would have the best year of their career at the same time. Although the coincidence that a roster of castoffs would have the season of a lifetime in the same summer was highly unlikely, the seemingly impossible happened in 1951.
1951 Travelers Welcome a New Field Boss
General Manager Ray Winder (r) oversees the signing of new manager Gene Desautels
On Dec. 17, 1950, the first flicker of optimism for better times at Travelers Field appeared in local newspapers. The lead story on the Arkansas Democrat sports page included a photo of Ray Winder looking on as new manager Gene Desautels signed his contract to manage the Travelers.
The former big-league catcher had managed the Detroit Tigers’ Flint, Michigan, farm club to a pennant in 1950. He had earned a promotion, and a change was needed in the struggling Tigers’ affiliate in Little Rock. Local sportswriters brought out their most optimistic hyperbole: “the most successful manager in the Detroit farm system is coming to Arkansas.” Gene Desautels would become the toast of the town.
Familiar Faces and Unexpected Heroes
A team hoping for improvement from one season to another usually rebuilds with a new assemblage of players, but the 1951 Travelers opened the season with a roster composed of familiar names in Little Rock.
Left fielder Hal Simpson, once a sure thing for major league stardom, had been written off by major league teams after a serious automobile accident, and a leg wound from World War II slowed him considerably. By 1951, his third of six seasons in Little Rock, Simpson was a big-league talent in a minor league uniform. He led the league in runs scored, hit 23 home runs, with 36 doubles, and 128 RBIs. The 32-year-old with no big-league future would later be named the Southern Association Most Valuable Player.
Returning right fielder Kenneth Humphrey had the best year of his 1,200-game minor league career. He batted .304 and drove in 81 runs in the Travs’ miracle year, after having only 64 RBIs in 1950. Career minor leaguer John Grice hit .308 and was considered the best defensive outfielder in the Southern Association. However, the biggest surprise among the returning players was a fan favorite from North Little Rock named Redic Caldwell Otey.
The minister’s son grew up a few blocks from the current home of the Arkansas Travelers, and like many of his teammates, the little second baseman had his career year in 1951. After batting only .235 in 1950, Otey hit .305 in 1951, 20 percentage points higher than his career batting average.
Dutch and Little Al lead the mound corps
Like the position players, the pitching staff was built around hurlers familiar to Little Rock fans. Six starting pitchers who had won a combined 31 games in 1950 posted 70 victories in 1951.
Ex-major-leaguer Robert Leonard McCall, who had won four and lost six for the Travs in 1950, came back to win 16 games in 1951. Although “Dutch” McCall was one of the few Travelers with major league experience, his one season in 1948 earned him an unfortunate place in the Cubs’ record books. He made headlines in Chicago by winning his first start before losing 13 games in a row, setting a club record for consecutive pitching losses.
Albert Sooren Yaylian, a short, chubby lefty from California, was on a reverse tour of minor league baseball. The son of Turkish immigrants from the Los Angeles suburbs, “Little Al,” had originally been signed by the local Hollywood Stars of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. After starting a career at minor league baseball’s highest classification, Yaylian had been descending through various minor league levels, eventually dropping as low as Class C before moving back up to AA Little Rock. Yaylian went 16-5 for the ’51 Travs, leading the team in winning percentage.
After going 9-13 in 1950, veteran Milo Johnson won 13 and lost 10 in the pennant-winning year. The dependable Johnson led the team in games started, complete games, and was second in innings pitched.
Desautels used Booneville, Arkansas, native Floyd Speer as his go-to guy in the bullpen. The veteran right-hander was in his 14th pro season. Speer had pitched one game in 1943 for the White Sox and two more in 1944. He never got another major-league opportunity; instead, he became a minor league relief specialist in a time before that role had been popularized. Speer led the ’51 Travelers in relief appearances with 37.
Wire to Wire Champs
The Travelers started fast, and by June, the surprising team was leading the league by four games, and the fans were packing Travelers Field for every home game. Although Birmingham got as close as two games behind the Travs in July, Little Rock widened the lead in August and eventually wrapped up the pennant with a 10½ game lead over the second-place Barons. A crowd of more than 7,000 witnessed the pennant-clinching game on September 3.
According to the Southern Association record book, the 1951 Travelers’ miraculous recovery from a .351 winning percentage in 1950 to a .593 winning percentage in 1951 is the single best improvement in Southern Association history. After finishing last in the league in attendance in 1950, the Travelers drew 225,000 fans in 1951, breaking a 1920 record.
After the Miracle
Although the Travelers were a Detroit farm club, none of the Miracle of 1951 Travs would ever play for the Tigers. Little Rock was not a destination for prospects on the way to the major leagues. The Travelers of the late 1940s and early 1950s offered a baseball job for players who were holding on to an unrealistic dream, and men playing for a paycheck.
Hal Simpson played three more seasons in Little Rock but never came close to repeating his career year of 1951. He eventually drifted out to the Big State League and put together two more good seasons as a player-manager. Simpson retired to his hometown of New Boston, Texas, and opened a filling station.
Al Yaylian returned to Hollywood in 1955 and worked as a sound technician in the movie business. Floyd Speer retired to the family farm in Booneville, and although Dutch McCall never had another winning season, he made Little Rock his home until he died in 1996.
Manager Gene Desautels was promoted again in 1952. This time, two second division finishes ended his managerial career in 1954. He would eventually become a school guidance counselor in Michigan.
- R.C. Otey played second base for the Travelers for the remainder of his career. The beloved local favorite was a member of the Travelers for 10 seasons, appearing in a team record 1,300 games. Otey later became the Park Superintendent of Ray Winder Field. His namesake, Otey the Possum, is the current Arkansas Travelers’ popular mascot.
We do the work.
You check your email.
Sign up for our weekly e-news.
Get stories sent straight to your inbox!
Like this story? Read more from Jim Yeager
In 1994, Hall of Famer Ted Williams was contracted to create his personal...
America’s Greatest Generation returns from WWII to lead Arkansas Tech...
Although there is no major league baseball team in Arkansas, every...
Join the Conversation
Leave a Comment