Wenatchee Chiefs
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Wenatchee Chiefs 1937–1965 Wenatchee, Washington |
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A (1963–1965) B (1955–1962) A (1952–1954) B (1946–1951) B (1937–1941) |
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Previous leagues
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Northwest League (1955–1965) Western International League (1937–1941, 1946–1954) |
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| Minor league titles | |
| League titles | 1939, 1946, 1957, 1962 |
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Previous names
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Wenatchee Chiefs (1937–1941, 1946–1965) |
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Previous parks
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The Wenatchee Chiefs were a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Wenatchee, Washington.
Founded in 1937, the team was a part of the Class B Western International League through 1954, although the team did not operate after 1941 and the entire league was suspended during World War II, for the seasons from 1943 to 1945. The Chiefs were one of the seven founding members of the Northwest League in 1955, where they remained until the team suspended operations after the 1965 season, the last before the NWL went to the short-season format.
The Chiefs were founded in 1937 by Canadians Gerald McClay and Art Nevison, and played in the Class B Western International League (WIL). The team played a 144-game season, with its home field at Wenatchee's Recreation Park (47°24′50″N 120°19′16″W / 47.414°N 120.321°W). In its early years, the team drew as many as 3,000 per game, with ticket prices of 5 cents for the bleachers and 40 cents for grandstand seating for adults. With baseballs costing as much as $1.50 each, the team paid children 50 cents per game to retrieve balls that went into the stands as foul balls or home runs so that they could be reused. The team was taken over by Charles C. Garland in 1938, who began an affiliation agreement with the New York Yankees, and the team won its first league pennant in 1939.
Future major league pitcher Bill Bevens threw an 8-0 no-hitter in 1939 against the Tacoma Tigers, with the only opponent reaching base on an error. The win on September 21 gave the Chiefs its first playoff win in a series in which it had lost the first three games to Tacoma. Bevens would later throw 8⅔ innings of no-hit ball in a World Series game in 1947, known as The Cookie Game, in which Bevens and the New York Yankees lost by a score of 3-2 on a ninth inning, game-winning hit by Cookie Lavagetto.
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