He hadnʼt pitched in more than a month and was ten pounds lighter, weak, and weary after his long trip from Colorado but still managed to beat the Brandon Cloverleafs the night after his return, but then again ... he could have come out of a year-long coma and still beat the Leafs. He would never lose to Brandon nor would he ever forget the first time he faced them some four years earlier in their home ball park: “The umpire was dusting off home plate just before the bottom of the first inning when someone hollered from the Cloverleaf dugout, ʻAfter weʼre finished, youʼll be going back to the States in a pine box.ʼ The umpires werenʼt looking so I twirled and fired one into their dugout. The ball careened and ricocheted around a while, and then there was dead silence. I proceeded to toss a six-hitter and we waltzed out of Brandon with a 3-2 victory.” (Van Roth, Davie. Recollections & Journals of a Ballplayer. June, 1970.)

   Van Roth had opened the season against the Neepawa Cubs at home in Binscarth in front of an excited packed house. The Orioles were trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth when Van Roth hit a three-run homer to send the game into extra innings but it was all for naught. The Oʼs lost it in the tenth. The Orioles bounced back after their opening day loss, and at the halfway mark of league play, led the Western Division by a full game. At the All-Star break, only outfielders Dale and Don Gies were living up to expectations with Dale leading the league in homers with five, and along with brother Donnie, were the leagueʼs fourth and sixth-best hitters. Van Roth was only showing flashes of his old self after his time in prison when he improved to 5-2 including a 6-1 victory in a game where Bobby would see him pitch for the last time. He and soulmate Linda Griffith hitchhiked fourteen-hundred miles from Seattle to Binscarth. Van Roth struck out 18 including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo slugger Mick Ongarato three times who wound up finishing second in the MSBLʼs batting race with his .391 average. Ongarato would move on to sign a professional contract with the Boston Red Sox organization and advance as high as Triple-A Pawtucket of the International League. In 1976, he hit .358 for the Elmira Pioneers of the New York-Penn League.

   There were several bumps along the road for the Binscarth Orioles. Van Roth and Herb Andres were having off years at the plate as were most of the other Orioles. It was shortly after the midway point when the whole team went into a slump and the wheels began to fall off the big Oriole machine. The Oʼs went on to lose eight of their next nine games before embarking on a 600-mile bus trip and enter the Calgary Baseball Tournament where some of the best teams from Western Canada would be competing.

July 26, 1974 -- “I knew we were in trouble even before getting out of town. The team seemed eager and ready for the long trip but we hadnʼt been on the road two minutes before the chartered Grey Goose Line made its first stop. Third baseman Ron Falloon led a spirited charge as most of the team made a beeline straight for the front door of the local Manitoba Liquor Commission. They returned with outstretched arms lugging a twelve-pack of Molson Canadian. On top of each case of beer was a six-pack of Coca Cola and on top of that, tucked underneath their chins, was a twenty-six-ouncer of Canadian Mist or Lambʼs Navy Rum. We finally got out of Binscarth around five oʼclock and the games began--poker, rummy, and chugalug, or the downing of whole bottles of beer while the rest of the team yelled ʻchug! chug! chug! Esterhazy, Regina, and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan rolled on by. By the way these happy-go-lucky Canucks were pounding down the booze, youʼd think that we were headed to a Grateful Dead concert in Frisco instead of Calgary to battle some of the best baseball teams in Canada.”  (Ibid. July, 1974. pp. 96)

   Van Roth was never much of a drinker and was considered a lightweight so he sat at the back of the bus and thought about what lay ahead. He was scheduled to be the starting pitcher the next night against Brian Kingman and the 14-8, home-team Calgary Jimmies in the opening round of the single-elimination Calgary Baseball Tournament. Other entries included the Barrhead Cardinals, Red Deer Generals, and the 16-8 Calgary Giants of the Alberta Major Baseball League, the Kindersley Klippers of the Northern Saskatchewan League, the University of California Golden Bears barnstorming team, and the defending tournament champion Moose Jaw Devons. The 16-6 Devons had just wrapped up their sixth Saskatchewan Southern League title in the past nine years. Except for Kindersley, these were among the best semi-pro baseball teams Canada had to offer.

   Staring through the large coach window at the back of the bus, Van Roth pondered his teamʼs chances while gazing past his solemn reflection, barely noticing the passing grain fields of Saskatchewan and her documented elevators -- Broadview, Grenfell, Indian Head, White City, Herbert, Swift Current, and Gull Lake. These giant storage bins, skyscrapers of the Canadian Midwest, acted as beacons in a darkening sky. Back home, small towns were identified with road signs such as Welcome to Yuba City or Now Entering Marysville. The Orioles were headed west, into a setting sun, and it had just rained for the second time of the day. Thunderheads were still on the horizon with filtering rays of sunlight breaking through and lighting up the sky with dazzling, mystical colors of orange and crimson.  The road-party shifted into second gear.

“Then, there became some sort of mystical illumination -- Suddenly the ground seemed to give way beneath me, and I found myself in quite another region. Within five minutes I went through some such reflections as the following: the loneliness of the human soul is unendurable; nothing can penetrate it except the highest intensity of the sort of love that religious teachers have preached.” (Russell, Bertrand. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967. Vol. 1, pp. 220)

   Van Roth had regained most of the ten pounds that he lost while in prison but still wasnʼt having that great a season. Something was wrong; something was missing. He didnʼt have his usual drive and motivation. His competitive spirit had been broken and his will to win had diminished. He had lost his doggedness; lost his mojo and was content just to be out from behind those damn bars. His .280 batting average was eighty points below his usual average and his 5-5 pitching record was also subpar. Dale Gies was hitting more than fifty points below his average of a year ago when he won the league batting title. Right fielder Herb Andres was barely hitting .250 even though he had spent last season in the Detroit Tigers farm system. The Oʼs were all mired in a slump, winning only once in their last nine games, and would be playing in front of two to three thousand rabid Calgary fans on the Jimmiesʼ home field. It didnʼt look good although youʼd never know it by the way the party roared on.

“I woke up as the sun was reddening... I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel... I wasnʼt scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost.” (Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. UK: Penguin, 1957. pp. 15)

   He seemed to have lost his identity while on this long road trip to Calgary, as if he died while in prison only to resurrect and find himself still in Canada. With an interior monologue, he began contemplating his inner thoughts, his psychic reality, his interior experiences, his feelings of isolation, his self-schema. Davie Van Roth was having doubts ... again.

“I became lost and mesmerized, somewhat hypnotized by the seemingly endless fields of golden wheat, interrupted only by an occasional crop of flax or grain elevator. It all seemed so surreal and I became saddened when flashes of the past reflected from the coach window. My teammates seemed like total strangers. It felt like I didnʼt belong and began to question my decision making, especially the one regarding coming to Canada in the first place. Finally, we reached the Alberta border.” (Van Roth, Davie. Recollections & Journals of a Ballplayer. July, 1974. pp. 97)

   After eleven hours, the Orioles rolled up in front of the Fairmont Hotel, downtown Calgary Alberta and home of the Great Stampede. Most of the players were passed out and slumped over or curled-up in those little bench seats. A few staggered off the bus and stretched out on the grass alongside the motor coach. It was four in the morning and they wouldnʼt be able to check in till ten. Van Roth was lucky as he passed on the drinking, the card games, and deservedly claimed dibs to the long seat at the back of the bus.

   The tournament was nearly half over by the time most of the Orioles got out of bed that afternoon. Jim Lemon Junior, son of major-league Hall-of-Famer Jim Lemon Senior, and the Calgary Giants had already beaten the lowly 3-17-1 Kindersley Kippers 9-3 in the tournamentʼs opening game. Lemon pitched a complete game but gave up three runs on ten hits. Red Deer had eliminated tournament favorite Moose Jaw and the Barrhead Cards were on their way to ousting the Berkeley Bears from California. The game against the Jimmies was to be played that night and was advertised as the tournamentʼs opening-day premier match featuring the Binscarth Orioles, Manitobaʼs best team a year ago, against the home town Jimmies with their 14-8 record. The Jimmies featured pitcher John Fitzgerald from Fresno State, pitcher Steve Powers from the University of Arizona who would later sign a pro contract with the Angels, outfielder Russ McKee who previously played professionally for the Northern Leagueʼs Watertown Expos, and manager Marion Stephens from West Hills College in Coalinga, California. The pitching match-ups were Los Angeles, California native Brian Kingman and Davie Van Roth, Manitobaʼs ace a year ago and last yearʼs Canadian Senior Baseball Championship Tournament MVP. Earlier that spring, Kingman was drafted by the California Angels in the twelfth round of Major League Baseballʼs annual June Draft while pitching for Santa Monica College in Southern California. Instead of signing a pro contract, Kingman opted for the University of California at Santa Barbara, and for the summer, the Jimmies of Calgary.

   Van Roth commented that he was a bit surprised while watching his teammates take infield and outfield practice. They were looking good, even teenage sensation Billy Derlago who would be playing second base while Van Roth pitched. The Yankees had taken a peek at the teen-age hockey star for his ability to hit American college pitching at such a young age. The long, overnight drunken bus ride didnʼt seem to bother the Oʼs as everyone got plenty of sleep in the afternoon and that seemed to make a difference.

   Binscarth took an early lead when a Calgary error gave them a run in the third. Mountain-man-look-a-like and team spiritual leader Ron Low began bellowing from the dugout his patented words of encouragement: Get grizzly up there! Tamarack that thang! In the sixth, the Oʼs scored again when Dale Gies doubled and Low followed with a clutch, two-out rbi single. Van Roth was pitching fairly well until he coughed up the lead with a couple of unearned runs in Calgaryʼs half of the sixth which tied the game at two apiece. In the eighth, he got two quick outs and thought the inning was over when a high fly ball, a can of corn, was lofted into straight-away centerfield. Gies had a bead on the ball but began to stagger. The ball dropped untouched for a double. He said he lost it in the stadium lights but he might have been spellbound by the dancing lights of the Aurora Borealis. Next up was John “Boom Boom” Self, the Jimmies cleanup hitter.

“First base was open and I thought about intentionally walking him. I should have at least pitched around him, but my stubbornness, my ego, got in the way and “Boom Boom” boomed one--a two-run, game-winning line shot over the left-centerfield wall. One and done and out of the tournament. The only thing left to look forward to was a 600-mile, eleven-hour bus ride back to Binscarth.” (Ibid. July 27, 1974. pp. 98)

   Brian Kingman allowed just one earned run and fanned 13 to lead the Jimmies to a 4-2 win over the Binscarth Orioles. His seven-hitter won him the tournament's Best Pitcher Award while the Jimmies moved on to win the Alberta Major Baseball League championship. John Self led the AMBL in home runs with eight, plus two more in the playoffs. Kingman returned to California where he suited up with the Gauchos of the University of California at Santa Barbara. That summer, he signed a professional contract with the Oakland Aʼs as an amateur free agent. He was sent to Boise, Idaho of the Northwest League where he compiled a 4-6 record with an ERA of 3.89. He spent the following season with Chattanooga of the AA Southern League and went 14-11 with a 2.64 ERA. After spending two more years in the minors with San Jose and Modesto, Kingman finally made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics on June 28, 1979. That year he went 8-7 with an ERA of 4.31. Kingman spent the better part of five years in the majors with a combined ERA of 4.13.

   Van Roth would have probably pitched John “Boom Boom” Self differently had he known about Selfʼs prior professional baseball experience. Self began his pro career in 1959 with Billings of the Pioneer League where he hit .293 with 16 homers. The following year, he split time between the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Northern League and Winston-Salem of the Carolina League. There, he combined to hit .289 with 17 round-trippers. In 1961, “Boom Boom” played for three teams -- the Lancaster Red Roses, the Eau Claire Braves, and the Des Moines Demons. While at Eau Claire, Self was the starting first baseman and was a teammate of the great Rico Carty. After missing in action for ten years, the 36-year-old “Boom-Boom” joined the Calgary Jimmies in 1974. The first baseman stared in a Jimmiesʼ uniform for three years and in 1976, at age 38, led the Alberta Provincial team to a Canadian Senior Championship in Fredericton, New Brunswick. “Boom Boom” hit .500 for the tournament including four homers, knocked in 15 runs, and was named tournament MVP.

   Things didnʼt get any better for the Orioles once they got back to Binscarth. They had finished the regular season at 13-13, tied with Neepawa and Grandview, and three games behind the pennant-winning McAuley Blazers. The inconsistent Van Roth only won once in his last four starts, a seven-inning, 13-strikeout victory over Grandview. He finished at 6-5 with a .286 batting average, some seventy points below his usual average. Don Gies was the teamʼs only .300 hitter as he finished at .350; and if that werenʼt enough, the league suspended Davie Van Roth, Les Lisowski, and manager Bob Wasslen just before the playoffs started, all but wiping out their once highly regarded pitching staff. Van Roth, the unrepentant rebel, and Lisowski were suspended “for actions which were considered detrimental to the welfare of the league.” The actions or inactions took place after the first two games of an elimination tournament that would decide who represents Manitoba in the upcoming Canadian National Senior Baseball Tournament to be held in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Lisowski never showed up for the North Division All-Stars and Van Roth, after shutting out the Thompson Reds of the Polar League 3-0 in the opening contest, quit the team after an argument with team manager Roy Cuthill. Both pitchers refused to play for Cuthill. Lisowski reported that the league was “bush” and that heʼd never play in the MSBL again. Binscarth manager Bob Wasslen was suspended for not being able to control his two pitchers. Binscarthʼs once-mighty pitching staff was decimated and the Oʼs easily fell to the Neepawa Cubs in the first round of the MSBL playoffs three games to one.

THE TRIBUNAL -- League officials ordered a meeting requiring representatives from all ten league members and Davie Van Roth. The issue regarded Van Rothʼs refusal to play for the leagueʼs representative in the Provincial playoffs. The leagueʼs Eastern All-Stars of a year ago narrowly missed a National championship and a picture of that team is featured on the cover of a Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame calendar (2001) depicting that team as Manitobaʼs greatest of all-time. Van Roth was named MVP of that tournament.

   Don Campbell, president of the Manitoba Senior Baseball League: Mr. Van Roth. We are all aware of your feats at last yearʼs Canadian National Tournament and for that we thank you; however, itʼs puzzling and rather disappointing that youʼre refusing to represent our league in this yearʼs tournament. Would you kindly explain why?

   Davie Van Roth: Thank you, Mr. President. As you know, we were just one pitch away, one fluke play, one pitcher away from winning it all last year. Thereʼs nothing Iʼd like more than to win a National Championship; however, I feel that this yearʼs team has digressed from last yearʼs team and itʼs because of the way the manager and the players are selected. First, a manager is selected by a vote of team reps; then, he adds an additional nine players from our league to represent the MSBL at the Provincial tournament. I find it more than just a coincidence that nearly all of the additional players come from the three expansion teams of the defunct North Central League-- Neepawa, Grandview, and Angusville--the same league that Manager Roy Cuthill and his McCauley Blazers came from a year ago. Several top players from our league were not selected; teammates Ron Low and Dale Gies for example. Binscarth and McCauley were, and still are bitter rivals today. I strongly believe that Mr. Cuthill struck a deal with these other three teams. ʻYou elect me as manager and Iʼll see to it that your team is fully represented.ʼ Not only do I think that the actions taken by Mr. Cuthill are rather devious while cheating several top-notch players from representing Manitoba, players who could help this team; but also, I donʼt think this team has a chance in hell of winning a National title.

   Van Roth was sent outside, behind closed doors, while the council voted. His attempt to provide principle to his actions proved fruitless. It was unanimous. Van Roth was suspended for the playoffs without pay and not allowed to play for Team Manitoba. Even Binscarthʼs rep voted against him. Roy Cuthill bastardized the Provincial team and changed the MSBLʼs landscape with his gerrymandering and a cabal was formed. A schism soon emerged inside the league with former Northwest League teams dominating the circuitʼs North Division and eventually ... the cunning Cuthill would become MSBL president.

   The aging Glennis Scott was Team Manitobaʼs opening day pitcher against British Columbia at the 1974 Canadian Nationals. He took a 5-4 loss as Bob Thompsonʼs grand slam accounted for Manitobaʼs only runs. New Brunswick followed by topping the Keystone Province 6-2 before Quebec hit four homers and shutout Manitoba 9-0 with a 1-hitter. The host team, North Battleford, Saskatchewan, then crushed Manitoba 10-0 with Brandon Cloverleaf pitcher Brian Hodgson continuing his dismal pitching in the Nationals by tossing all nine innings and absorbing the shellacking. Jerry Aroujo ended the round-robin tournament with a 6-3 win over a hapless and winless Prince Edward Island team. Manitobaʼs 1-4 record, getting outscored 33-9, and being shutout twice marked their worst showing in National Tournament history -- quite the about-face from a year ago when the ʻTobans reached the finals and scored 44 runs while allowing 22 in six games. They would never reach the finals again.

   Uncanny, how in a manner of five years, Van Roth had led four of his teams to record-breaking seasons while during that same time span, destroyed two others who had high hopes. Déjà Vu. It must have seemed like Chico State redux -- get into an argument with the coach, quit, and doom follows. Van Roth quit and Team Manitoba self-destructed -- another team plunging in the wake of Davie Van Roth. Mostly, Van Roth was accepted by his teammates and fans of the teams he played for, but to the rest, he was still considered an outsider, an immigrant, a foreigner ... a fucking Yankee.

   In 1976, the Brandon Sun reported that All-Star catcher Rick McFadyen refused to play for Cuthill and Team Manitoba. McFadyen had led the league in RBIʼs with 38 and his .375 batting average was the leagueʼs third-best. Van Roth, again refused to play for Cuthill that year. Later, in a Dauphin Herald newspaper article, chief editor Herald McCallum wrote that Cuthill was sly, cunning, devious, and manipulative -- traits that would soon win his Blazers a league championship and eventually land the McAuley coach the job as MSBL president, and several years later, an induction into Manitobaʼs Baseball Hall of Fame.

   Where have you gone, Mr. DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo). Whatʼs that you say Mr. Cuthill? Joltinʼ Joe has left and gone away? Van Roth chose to walk alone rather than in the opposite direction with the wrong crowd.

   Binscarth concluded their 1974 season by embarking upon another long road trip; this time a 1,000-mile, 17-hour journey to Kamloops, British Columbia for the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament where they would face the Goldpanners of Fairbanks, Alaska for the second consecutive year. The KIBT ranks as one of the top semi-pro baseball tournaments in North America, topped only by a few other competitions. Generally, the tournament is represented by the best semi-pro teams from the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada including annual powerhouses such as the Seattle Studs, Bellingham Bells, Calgary Jimmies, Anchorage Glacier Pilots, and the Alaska Goldpanners.

   The 1974 Alaska Goldpanner team is considered the best “Panner” team of all-time as they amassed several team records that still stand today including most wins in a season--60, most runs in a season--595 (7.44 per game), most home runs--135 (1.8 per game), and most RBIs (537). The team had just recently won their third consecutive NBC national title by defeating the famed Boulder Colorado Collegians 7-5 and All- American pitcher Jim Gideon from the University of Texas. Most of the 1974 Goldpanners came from top-notch universities and several were returnees from last yearʼs championship team. Seven were from the University of Southern California or Arizona State, who combined, had won eight of the last nine College World Series. Eleven Panners would go on to play in the major leagues while Floyd Bannister and Steve Kemp would become American League All-Stars. Before the start of the KIBT, most of the Fairbanks players had nearly a hundred games under their belts. Every player on the 1974 Alaska Goldpanner roster would be drafted by a major league baseball team including seven first-round draft picks and seventeen would play professionally. Conceivably, Binscarth would be facing left-handed pitcher Floyd Bannister and the U.S. National Baseball Team.

   Bannister was the number one pick of the 1976 June draft by the Houston Astros. Previously, he had led his 1973 Kennedy High School of Seattle to the Washington State baseball championship compiling a 15-0 record with a 0.00 ERA including a no- hitter in the state semi-finals. He struck out 196 batters in 112 innings, allowing but two unearned runs and dished out only 17 free passes. He was named to College Baseballʼs All-American Team in 1975 and 1976 and shares the Arizona State and NCAA record for most victories in a season with 19, amassed in 1976. Bannister compiled 34 victories at ASU and led the nation in strikeouts with 217 in 1975 and 213 in 1976. As a major-leaguer, his best year was 1982 while with the Seattle Mariners when he led the American League in strikeouts with 209. The following year, while with the Chicago White Sox, he posted a 16-10 record and 3.35 ERA while striking out 193, second only to Jack Morrisʼ 232. In 1985, Bannister struck out 198 batters, bested only by Bert Blylevenʼs 206.

   Binscarth had no chance and were eliminated for the second year in a row by the Alaska Goldpanners. Bannister tossed five scoreless innings and struck out nine while allowing a mere single to Oriole first baseman Ron Low. Jeff Jens and Ed Motta mopped up to complete the 3-hit shutout. Davie Van Roth and Ron Fallon collected the other two safeties for Binscarth. Dauphin Redbird Ross Stone, a pickup for the tournament, pitched well in a complete game effort allowing four runs on seven hits. He was aided by five double-plays.

“I hadnʼt faced a pitcher of this caliber since facing Gary Nolan when I was sixteen. Bannister was quick and crafty with pinpoint control. He painted the outside corner with a crisp knee-high fastball for strike one. He almost made a mistake by throwing the same pitch again. I was waiting for it and went the other way sending a deep drive towards the right-field corner. I thought it had a chance but the ball was slicing. It cleared the wall, however landed about five feet foul. His next pitch looked like another low fastball. I couldnʼt chance a called strike three, so I took a rip. It was a sharp-breaking Steve Carlton-like slider that nearly hit me in the back foot. Strike three.” (ibid, pp. 98)

   Floyd Bannister won all three games on the final day of competition including a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Jimmies in the final. It was Bannisterʼs fourth win of the tournament and deservedly named tournament MVP. The Binscarth Orioles with their once All-Star laden lineup, finished the 1974 season with a 15-21 overall record, quite possibly their worst year ever.

   We are all prisoners here, by our own device, so chirped the Eagles in their “Hotel California.” My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim... Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. This could be heaven or this could be hell... I had to find the passage back to the place I was before. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!

Gimmies & Goldpanners