Hollywood Stars
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| League | Pacific Coast League (1926–1935, 1938–1957) | ||||
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| League titles | 1929, 1930, 1949 | ||||
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Previous names | Hollywood Stars (1926–1935, 1938–1957) | ||||
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The Hollywood Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League during the early- and mid-20th century. They were the arch-rivals of the other Los Angeles-based PCL team, the Los Angeles Angels.
Hollywood Stars (1926–1935)
The first incarnation of the Hollywood Stars began its existence in 1903 as the
The original Stars, though supposedly representing Hollywood, actually played their home games as tenants of the Los Angeles Angels at Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles. Though the Stars won pennants in 1929 and 1930, they never developed much of a fan base, playing their home games miles from the glamorous Hollywood district. They were merely a team to watch when the Angels were on the road. Attendance had been quite good (by standards of that era) during their inaugural year in 1926, but tapered off after that, exacerbated by the Great Depression.
When, after the 1935 season, the Angels doubled the Stars' rent, Lane announced the Stars would move to San Diego for the 1936 season, to become the San Diego Padres. Los Angeles became a one-team city once more for the 1936 and 1937 seasons.
Hollywood Stars (1938–1957)
The second incarnation of the Hollywood Stars joined the Pacific Coast League in 1909 as the Vernon Tigers. As the Tigers, the team won two PCL pennants (and finished first in another only to lose the postseason series) before moving to San Francisco for the 1926 season. The transplanted Tigers, now known as the Mission Reds or usually just "the Missions", foundered in San Francisco, failing to establish a rivalry with the existing San Francisco Seals.
In 1938, Missions owner Herbert Fleishaker moved his team back to Los Angeles, and took the name of the departed Hollywood Stars. After one season the team was sold. In early December 1938
The club was promoted as "the Hollywood Stars baseball team, owned by the Hollywood stars".[2]
Moreover, the team actually played in the Hollywood area. In January 1939 it was announced that plans were under way to create a $200,000 ballpark seating 12,500 by May 1939.[4] Gilmore Field was opened in the Fairfax District adjacent to Hollywood. (The club played part of the 1939 season in nearby Gilmore Stadium, after having played at Wrigley Field during 1938.)
Nicknamed the Twinks by the press,
The Columbia Broadcasting System, owner of Gilmore Field, announced plans to raze the facility to build a new headquarters—CBS Television City, as it became known—in 1952. In October 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers confirmed their long-rumored move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, which forced the Stars and the Angels to relocate. The Angels, who had been purchased by Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley prior to the 1957 season, became the Spokane Indians in 1958.
Having no interest in operating the Twinks anywhere but in Los Angeles, the ownership group led by Frank J. Kanne, Jr., was compelled to sell the team, which it did, to a group based in Salt Lake City. The Stars, in a sense, "returned" to Salt Lake City (whence the original Stars had moved in 1926) in 1958, becoming the Salt Lake City Bees once more.
Innovations
Pioneers in broadcasting, the Hollywood Stars televised a home game in 1939 as an experiment, and became the first team to regularly broadcast home games in the late 1940s.
The Twinks began the custom of dragging the infield during the fifth inning, creating an artificial break in the action hoping fans would run to the concessions stands.[2]
The Stars adopted the use of batting helmets in 1949, at the mandate of Branch Rickey, who wanted to popularize the product as a safety precaution and a personal business venture.[2]
Notable players
Notable players for the Hollywood Stars include pitcher Rinaldo Ardizoia who, at the time of his death on July 19, 2015, was the oldest living former member of the New York Yankees. He moved to Los Angeles with the Mission Reds, and eventually joined the Hollywood Stars' starting rotation before being drafted by the Yankees in 1940. His large store of memorabilia included a rabbit's foot given to him by Gail Patrick.[7]
A great many future Major League Baseball standouts played for the Hollywood Stars, among them Gus Bell, Bobby Bragan, Bobby Doerr, Gene Freese, Babe Herman, Dale Long, Bill Mazeroski, Bob Meusel, Lefty O'Doul, Mel Queen, Dick Stuart, Lee Walls and Gus Zernial. The team's managers included Bragan, Jimmy Dykes, Fred Haney and Charlie Root.
Affiliations
The Stars were affiliated with the following
| Year | Affiliation(s) |
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| 1941 | New York Giants
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| 1945–46; 1951–52; 1954–57 | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| 1947–48 | Chicago White Sox |
| 1949–50 | Brooklyn Dodgers
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Cultural references
The Hollywood Stars were immortalized on the 1957 jazz album, Double Play! by André Previn and Russ Freeman. The baseball-themed album, with song titles like "Called On Account of Rain", "Batter Up", "Who's on First" and "In the Cellar Blues", features a topless model on the cover wearing a Hollywood Stars cap.[8]
The Stars were also mentioned on episode 24 of the fourth season of I Love Lucy.
The Hollywood Stars are mentioned by Officer Ramirez in episode 212:The Big Lift of the radio program
The 1952 movie "The Atomic City" shows off Gilmore Field as the scene of a Russian atomic secrets drop—taking place while FBI agents try to track it over the television monitors of a televised Hollywood Stars game.
References
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2015) |
- ^ "Hollywood Baseball Club Sold". Oakland Tribune. December 9, 1939.
- ^ a b c d e f Daniels, Stephen M. "The Hollywood Stars". Research Journal Archives. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
- ^ ISBN 9780684831688.
- ^ Bakersfield Californian.
- ^ Coons, Robbin (March 3, 1940). "Film Folk Own Ball Club". Abilene Reporter-News (Associated Press).
- ^ Vernon, Terry (May 2, 1951). "Tele-Vues". The Independent. Long Beach, California.
- ^ Lazar, Louis (April 27, 2015). "Rinaldo Ardizoia, the Oldest Living Yankee, Reflects on His Career". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
- ^ "Double Play". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
Sources
- Beverage, Richard. The Hollywood Stars (Images of Baseball). Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, 2005. ISBN 978-0738530567.
- O'Neal, Bill. The Pacific Coast League 1903–1988. Eakin Press, Austin, Texas, 1990. ISBN 0-89015-776-6.
- Snelling, Dennis. The Pacific Coast League: A Statistical History, 1903–1957 McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1995. ISBN 0-7864-0045-5.