This year's Minden High School baseball team, under the leadership of Coach Dean Francis, is enjoying an extremely successful campaign. The team has a record of 23-4, has already clinched the championship of District 1-4A, and is preparing for the playoffs. Minden High School baseball is rich in tradition; the school has won five state championships in baseball and has been a perennial power in Northwest Louisiana.
I was present at four of those state championship games: the 1972 victory by the Butch Williams coached Tide over heavily favored district rival Bossier, courtesy of a no-hitter by pitcher Ronald Martin; and the back-to-back-to-back championships of the Tide teams coached by Marvin Jones; in 1981, over district rival Haughton; in 1982, when Kenny Whitfield smashed a dramatic home run to defeat Catholic of Baton Rouge; and in 1983, when the Tide dominated district rival Loyola at Centenary Park.
However, this Echo of Our Past will be about the first Minden state baseball championship. That victory, by a Pat Nation coached Tide squad, came in 1956, over Morgan City High School, as the culmination of a troubled season for the local team. The 1956 Class AA State championship, of which I was not a witness since I wasn't yet born, was truly a team effort and highlighted the coaching skills and the spirit of the Minden squad.
By 1956, it seemed Coach Pat Nation was long overdue to win a state championship coaching the baseball squad at his alma mater. Nation had become coach of the Minden High team in 1947 and in the following years had produced these amazing won-loss records: 1947, 19-4; 1948, 23-5; 1949, 22-1; 1950, 21-2; 1951, 22-5; 1952, 20-8; 1953, 19-6; 1954, 30-4; and 1955, 22-2. In those years Nation's team was always a challenger for the state title, but had never been able to break through.
The 1955 team, competing for the first time in a district structure similar to that used today, had lost both games against the St. John's (later Jesuit and now Loyola) Flyers of Shreveport. The second loss in 1955, which eliminated the excellent Tide team from even reaching the playoffs came on a costly error, and left the ending of that season as a bad memory.
Beginning the 1956 season, 8 players returned from that 1955 squad. They were: first baseman, Jack Moreland, the high-school All-American basketball player who had hit .429 the previous season; catcher James Rhea Love, who had produced a .420 batting average; pitcher Richard Yates, who pitching record in 1955 had been 6-2 while he also hit .341; shortstop Lem Grigsby, who had hit .280 while providing excellent defense for the Tide; third baseman Cecil Maxey who had starred with Moreland on the Tide basketball team; and outfielders David Nadrachal, Douglas Skinner, and Ken McMichael.
Added to that nucleus were newcomers including: pitchers James Norris, Wayne Parker, Galen Pratt, and Jimmy White; infielders Johnny Hudson, Joe Moreland, George Rhea, and Bill Terrill; infielder/outfielders Dwayne Frye and Richard Jarrell; outfielder Billy Joe Booth; and catcher David Evans.
Unfortunately, the season did not get off to a promising start for Nation's team. Prior to the first scheduled game with Byrd on Thursday, March 23, 1956, the Tide was able to conduct only one outdoor practice because of rain and work being done on the field at the then Minden Municipal Ballpark (later renamed Griffith Stadium.) The immediate impact of these problems were lightened somewhat when the Byrd game fell victim to the rains. In fact, out of the first six games on the Tide schedule, three were cancelled due to rain. The Tide's season opener was pushed back to March 28, when they played district foe Bossier at the local field.
Before the Bossier game, bad luck struck the Minden squad. Veteran catcher, James Rhea Love, had an emergency operation on Friday, March 24 and would be lost to the team for an undetermined period of time. The only other catcher on the squad was freshman David Evans, who was suddenly thrust into the vacancy left by the senior team leader Love. That bad news, combined with the results of the first game, didn't bode well for fan's hopes for 1956 Tide baseball. Bossier defeated Minden 7-3, behind the pitching of future LSU standout George Nattin who defeated Doug Skinner, pitching in his first game for Minden High. Considering that MHS had lost only 6 of its last 58 games, losing to start the season was a surprise.
Expectations for the local team brightened greatly after the next home game, a 17-0 demolition of the dreaded enemy from 1955, the St. John's Flyers. In this revenge match, ace pitcher Richard Yates limited the Shreveport team to only 4 hits. Next, the Tide met arch-rival Springhill on the home diamond in the third district contest and came away with a 5-1 victory, as another new pitcher, Jimmy White picked up his first win.
Minden then faced two tough district road games at Bossier and St. John's, but came away with relatively easy wins. Yates pitched in both contests and the Tide overcame the Bearcats 8-3, avenging the earlier loss, and finished a season sweep of St. John's with a 6-1 victory. By the end of the first week of April, the Tide was sporting a record of 4 wins and only 1 loss and was leading the district.
The next game for Minden was its first-ever baseball contest with North Caddo High School, which was competing in baseball for the first time. Minden received a boost before the game when 1955 star James Rhea Love was cleared to play for the first time in the 1956 season. Love's return took some of the pressure off of freshman catcher David Evans, who had done a tremendous job filling in for the senior behind the plate. In fact, Evans had done so well that Love started his first game back in the outfield, rather than replacing Evans as the backstop. Behind Doug Skinner's first pitching win for MHS, the Tide beat the Rebels 6-2, improving their first-place record to 5-1.
Two days later, Jimmy White was the winning pitcher as Minden traveled to Springhill and crushed the Lumberjacks 13-2, clinching the District 1-AA championship. With the playoffs and the annual Minden Tournament looming on the horizon, Coach Nation decided to forfeit the final district game to North Caddo rather than try an squeeze in a trip to Vivian to makeup the earlier rained out contest.
Beginning on Wednesday, April 25, Minden faced the prospect of playing up to seven games in a four-day span. On Wednesday, April 25, the best two-of-three bi-district playoff series against Neville High of Monroe was scheduled to begin with Minden hosting the Tigers. Game two and game three, if necessary, were scheduled for Friday at Monroe. The Minden High Baseball Tournament was set to open on Thursday, April 26.
Minden had always placed a great deal of importance on winning its tournament, which in 1956 included 16 teams: Minden, Byrd, St. John's, Fair Park, Bossier City, Heflin, Doyline, Dubach, Bernice, North Caddo, Simsboro, Springhill, Cotton Valley, Ringgold, and Gibsland. In the 10-year history of the tournament, the host Tide had won the event 7 times. Of course the state playoffs were a priority, but Coach Nation and his team also had pride at stake in winning their home tourney. Those were the considerations that led Nation to forfeit the meaningless district game to North Caddo.
Seemingly at full strength for the first time during the season, with the return of catcher Love, the Tide again suffered a "bad break." At a track meet the week before the playoffs began, Jackie Moreland fractured his wrist while high jumping. With the playoffs at hand, the Tide had now lost another senior leader. Coach Nation began rotating his two top pitchers, Skinner and Yates, to replace the loss of Moreland. Both had previously filled outfield slots when not pitching, but after Moreland's injury they began splitting time at first base.
On Wednesday, Doug Skinner shutout Neville, 12-0 allowing the mighty Tigers only 3 hits. Richard Yates led the Tide attack with 3 hits. Minden took a 1-0 lead in the best of three series and prepared for the opening of the local tournament on Thursday. Minden was scheduled to play the out-manned Heflin Hawks in their first tournament game. In a somewhat daring move, Coach Nation allowed only two of his veteran players, outfielder Ken McMichael and third baseman Bill Terrill to dress out for the contest. The rest of the regulars watched this game from the stands. The young Tiders, following the pitching of freshman James Norris, shutout Heflin 10-0.
The 1956 MHS baseball squad faced its "Longest Day," Friday, April 27, 1956. In the afternoon they traveled to Monroe to face Neville to finish the bi-district playoffs. The host Tigers were ready and trounced the Tide 8-0, handing Tide ace Richard Yates his first loss of the season in game one. In the second game that followed that afternoon, Nation called on his first year pitcher Doug Skinner. The left-hander shut out Neville 6-0, giving up only 4 hits and leading the Tide's advance to the state semi-finals against Menard High of Alexandria.
With the bi-district playoff won, and playing two hard-fought ballgames, you would assume the Tide's day had ended. This was not the case, they made a quick return to Minden where that Friday night, they played their third game of the day, facing district rival North Caddo in the Minden tournament. Using his third starting pitcher, Jimmy White, Nation gave some rest to his big two, Skinner and Yates. The local team bombed North Caddo 12-2 and moved forward in the tournament.
On Saturday, White pitched gamely on little rest, but the Tide lost to Fair Park 4-1 and was eliminated from the tournament. The Indians went on to win the tournament finals over Byrd, 1-0, behind the pitching of Dick Hughes, who would later gained fame as a 29-year old rookie sensation for the 1967 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.
Moving forward in the playoffs, the Tide traveled to meet the Menard Eagles in Alexandria on Thursday, May 3 and endured perhaps the toughest clash in their playoff run. The match-up proved to be a classic, as through the first 10 innings the Tide and Eagles battled to a 1-1 tie. In the top of the 11th inning, Minden broke through and scored the go-ahead run, and ace pitcher Richard Yates held Menard scoreless in the bottom of the inning, finishing with a complete game and allowing only 4 hits over the 11 innings.
The next afternoon, back home in Minden, the local squad eliminated the Eagles with a 7-2 victory, following the lead of Doug Skinner's pitching. The Tide took advantage of Menard miscues to build a 3-0 lead by the end of the 2nd inning and Skinner took control from that point forward, while the Tide added 4 more runs. After sweeping Menard, the Tide now prepared to face Morgan City in the state finals.
The state championship series began in Minden, on May 8. The Tide received good news when first baseman Jack Moreland was cleared to play in the series. For the first time during the 1956 season, Minden would be at full strength. In a somewhat surprising move, Nation decided not to start his ace pitcher, Yates, in the first game, turning instead to the sensation of that season, Doug Skinner.
The strategy seemed doubtful as Minden trailed throughout the game and was losing by a score of 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh and final inning. However, the Tide rallied and pushed across one run before outfielder David Nadrachal stroked a two-run single bringing home the tying and winning runs in a 4-3 victory for Minden. Nation's decision to start Skinner now seemed brilliant.
The Tide would travel to Morgan City for a Friday doubleheader, needing only one victory for the state championship, and had a rested Richard Yates to start the first game. This game followed the pattern of the first match-up. Morgan City again scored first and held a slim 1-0 lead into the sixth inning. Yates was pitching a strong game, but the Tide was being challenged by a unique strategy by Morgan City coach Jim Waldrop. Waldrop included both of his two top pitchers, right-hander Larry Topham and left-hander Joe Vincent in the starting lineup. When a right-handed Minden batter was at the plate, Topham would take the mound and when Minden sent up a left-handed hitter Topham would switch positions with Vincent and the southpaw would face Minden's left-handed hitters.
This plan held the Tide in check until the 6th. In that inning, after two men were out, Yates drew a walk and moved to third when Jack Moreland reached first base on a Morgan City error. Moreland then stole second base and James Rhea Love followed with a single that scored Yates. David Nadrachal lined another single scoring Moreland and giving the Tide a 2-1 lead. After Yates held Morgan City scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, the Tide was able to break the game open in the top of the seventh.
Ken McMichael and Yates opened the inning with singles and then Bill Terrill bombed a triple to increase Minden's lead to 4-1. The final Tide tally came when Lem Grigsby executed a squeeze bunt scoring Terrill. Yates held the 5-1 lead in the bottom of the inning and Minden walked off the field with the State AA Championship, finally providing Coach Nation with vindication of his excellent coaching record. When the 15-member All-District team was announced the Tide gathered fully one-third of the slots on the squad.
The Minden selections were: pitchers Yates and Skinner, who both finished the season with 5-1 records; shortstop Lem Grigsby who provided steady leadership to the squad through out the season while hitting .347; first baseman Jack Moreland, who despite a hitting slump and his wrist injury managed to hit .313; catcher James Rhea Love, who missed most of the season due to injury, still earned a selection for his .319 batting average and his handling of the pitching staff; and outfielder David Nadrachal, who delivered key hits that gave Minden the lead in both of the state title games was selected with a .319 batting average.
Thus today's Echo of Our Past is the story of the first Minden High School Baseball team to claim a state championship. We can hope that the reverberations of that Echo help this years' excellent Tide team claim another title for the school. Go out to Griffith Stadium tomorrow as the District 1-4A champion Tide face their old foe, the Neville Tigers, champs of District 2-4A, in a tune-up game for the state playoffs. The present day players may not know the storied rivalry between the two schools, but this match-up continues the traditions of MHS baseball and the Echoes of Our Past.
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