Bellingham Chinooks
The Bellingham Chinooks of Bellingham, Washington, played two seasons of professional baseball, 1938 and 1939, and they went from second place to champion to last place in that time. The Chinooks were members of the Western International League, a Class B circuit of clubs in Washington and British Columbia, and played at Battersby Park, a 3,000-seat field with a 290-foot left field fence and 435 feet to right.
Under manager Ken Penner, a veteran pitcher who had appeared for Cleveland in 1916 and the Chicago Cubs in 1929, Bellingham finished 68-65 in 1938, 9.5 games behind Yakima. In the playoffs the Chinooks beat Vancouver 3 games to 1, then beat Yakima 4 games to 3 for the title. Bill Fleming, on option from the Hollywood Stars, went 20-11 with a league-leading 1.79 ERA and later pitched for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. Outfielder Jim Tyack hit .314 with 32 doubles and 15 home runs.
Two members of the 1938 club carry unusual footnotes. Catcher Cliff Dapper began his pro career in Bellingham at 18; in 1948 the Brooklyn Dodgers sent him to the Atlanta Crackers in exchange for broadcaster Ernie Harwell, one of the only trades of a player for an announcer. Italian-born pitcher Rugger Ardizoia went 12-13 for the Chinooks, pitched one game for the 1947 New York Yankees, and was the oldest living former Yankee when he died in 2015 at 95.
The 1939 Chinooks went 40-102, last of six teams, and used three managers: Penner, Jimmie Reese and Al Lightner. Reese, Babe Ruth's roommate on the Yankees and later a California Angels coach until his death in 1994, was released with the team in last place. Infielder Bill Rigney hit .270 in 60 games for Bellingham and Vancouver before appendicitis ended his season; he became a New York Giants All-Star and the first manager of the Los Angeles Angels. Outfielder Bud Stewart hit .320 before going on to the Pirates, Yankees, Senators and White Sox.
After the 1939 season Salem businessman George Waters bought the franchise and moved it to Salem, Oregon, where it became the Senators in 1940. Bellingham had no minor league team again until 1973. The source of the Chinooks name is not documented; it may refer to the chinook salmon of the region's fisheries or to the Chinook people, and neither has been confirmed.
