Welch Miners

There were two iterations of minor league baseball in Welch, West Virginia.  Both teams were named the Welch Miners.  The first of these teams competed in the Mountain State League from 1937-1942.  After WWII was over the Welch Miners were reformed for the 1946 season and competed in the Appalachian league through the 1955 season.

Before affiliated minor league baseball reached Welch, there was a team of real Welch miners (who called themselves the Senators), assembled by miners at local coal mines that competed in the Coalfield League.  This team spurred the building of Blakely Field, which would serve as the home, not only of the Senators, but also of both iterations of the Welch Miners.

The Mountain State League Miners finished in second place three times and in fourth place three times, but made the playoffs every year.  Unfortunately they were never able to win the league title, though they did make the finals in 1941.

The Appalachian league Miners started out life pretty rough, posting a 33-84 mark and an 8th place finish in their first year back on the field in 1946.  Things improved though and the Miners won the Appalachian league in 1952 and 1953.  This would prove to be the high water mark for the franchise as financial trouble eventually forced them to move across the mountains to Marion, Virginia after the 1955 season.

While the Miners never produced a Hall of Famer, they did put a number of players into Major League Baseball. The most notable is Dave Bristol, a 1951 Miner who would go on to a 12 season career as a manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants posting an all-time record of 657-764.  He is credited with the helping build the Big Red Machine having been manager in the early years for Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez.  

One player on the 1948 Welch Miners team, had had a pretty good major league career prior to being a Miner.  He was Max Butcher, a pitcher produced a 95-106 record across 10 seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1936 to 1945.  In 1946, he put up a respectable 4-3 record with a 2.37 ERA with the Miners at age 35.
Today the closest professional baseball to Welch is in Bluefield, WV some 33 miles away where the Appalachian League’s Bluefield Ridge Runners play.