The Medford Nuggets played in Medford, Oregon, in 1949, one name in a run of four for the city's Far West League club: the Dodgers in 1948, the Nuggets in 1949, the Larks for two days in February 1950, and the Rogues for 1950 and 1951. Why the club became the Nuggets is not documented in the sources found so far.
The club began in 1948 as the Medford Dodgers, sponsored by Brooklyn, and finished second at 66-56, three games out, behind player-manager Larry Shepard, who went 22-3 with a 2.89 ERA and led the league with an .880 winning percentage. Shepard later managed the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1968 and 1969 and coached the Cincinnati Reds' pitchers from 1970 to 1978, the Big Red Machine years. Donald Taylor hit .347 with 18 home runs and a league-leading 139 runs, Ronnie Lee led the league with a 2.53 ERA, and the club lost to Santa Rosa three games to one in the first round. Brooklyn dropped the sponsorship after one season and the players scattered.
The 1949 Nuggets, unaffiliated, went 39-84 and finished 43 games back under Dan Reagan, who had managed Santa Rosa to the 1948 title; about 50 players passed through the roster. Outfielder Glen Gorbous hit .345 with 172 hits and went on to play for the Reds and Phillies, and on August 1, 1957, he set a world record for throwing a baseball, 445 feet 10 inches.
In February 1950 the directors of Rogue Valley Baseball, Inc. announced the club would become the Medford Larks, after the state bird, then switched to the Rogues two days later. The Mail Tribune said the directors had dropped Rogues earlier only because another valley team had claimed it and took it back once that team let it go; the Eugene paper, whose own club had already picked Larks, credited pressure from Medford fans. As the Rogues the club had a New York Giants working agreement in 1950 and finished 69-70. In 1951 player-manager Frank Lucchesi, later manager of the Phillies, Rangers and Cubs, led a 47-67 team. The ballpark burned after a night game on July 3, 1951, and the standings records show the club finishing the season. Medford's withdrawal in January 1952 was one of the three that ended the league.
The Far West League was a Class D circuit that ran from 1948 through 1951 with clubs in California, Nevada and Oregon, eight teams for its first three seasons and six in its last. It disbanded in January 1952 after Pittsburg, Redding and Medford withdrew, with the Korean War draft thinning the supply of young players.
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Size Guide: True to size
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