Wenatchee Chiefs
The Wenatchee Chiefs were the professional baseball team of Wenatchee, Washington, for 25 seasons, from 1937 to 1965. Canadians Gerald McClay and Art Nevison founded the club, and its name came from a contest run with The Wenatchee Daily World; a committee chose "Chiefs" from the entries on April 7, 1937. Wenatchee builder Charles C. Garland bought control that December. Home games were played at Recreation Park on Orondo Avenue, which still hosts high school and American Legion baseball.
The Chiefs played 1937-41 and 1946-54 in the Western International League, a Class B circuit (Class A from 1952) with clubs in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. Their first manager was Glenn Wright, the former Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop who turned an unassisted triple play in 1925. Wright's 1939 Chiefs, a New York Yankees farm club, won the pennant at 86-57 before losing the playoff final to Tacoma, four games to two. Pitcher Bill Bevens went 14-12 in 1938 and 14-9 in 1939; his SABR biography credits him with a no-hitter in each season. In the 1947 World Series he came within one out of a no-hitter for the Yankees.
A 17-year-old Earl Torgeson hit .332 for the 1941 Chiefs and later batted .389 for the Boston Braves in the 1948 World Series. After the league's wartime shutdown, Wenatchee won the 1946 pennant at 89-54 under manager Buddy Ryan; no playoff was scheduled that year.
When the Western International League ended after 1954, the Chiefs became a founding member of the Class B circuit that succeeded it in 1955. They won that league's title in 1957, after the Cincinnati Redlegs took over the working agreement in June and Bert Haas arrived as manager, and again in 1962 under Joe Macko. Claude Osteen went 14-4 with a 3.04 ERA for Wenatchee in 1958, on his way to 196 major league wins and three All-Star selections.
As a Chicago Cubs farm club from 1961 to 1965, Wenatchee developed Ken Hubbs, who hit .286 with 9 home runs in 1961 and was the 1962 National League Rookie of the Year; Glenn Beckert, who hit .288 in 1963 and became a four-time All-Star; and Ken Holtzman, 4-3 with a 2.44 ERA in 1965 before his September call-up. The Chiefs did not return after 1965, when the league cut back and moved to a short-season schedule.
