San Diego’s 11th CIF Southern section championship and Coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow’s sixth came at the end of a turbulent decade and on the eve of World War II.
The Great Depression that started in 1929 raged through the ‘thirties and playoffs would be affected as the CIF moved forward. San Diego did not participate in 1940 and ’41, and Morrow was in the Navy from 1942-45, a period when the CIF suspended the postseason.
Normalcy returned and so did Morrow. The Hillers won the CIF championship in 1946, Mike’s first year back.
3/15/39
Ollie Mathis pitched a no-hitter and struck out 10 as Point Loma defeated Fallbrook, 3-0, at Golden Hill Playground.
3/17/39
Grossmont players were ducking all afternoon as visiting Escondido sprayed 24 hits on the Grossmont diamond and demolished the Foothillers, 25-5, in a Metropolitan League contest.
—Chaffee Kieber struck out 15 Sweetwater batters and gave up two hits, and Ollie Mathis drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning in Point Loma’s 3-2 win.
3/31/39
Host Hoover beat San Diego, 3-2, behind the pitching of Fred Matson and scored the winning run in the sixth inning on two walks, hit batter and an error.
—Bill Kern drove in Pete Galindo with a two-run home run in the sixth inning and Pete scored his brother Don with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth in Escondido’s 7-2 win over Sweetwater.
—The Four Coast League teams, San Diego, Hoover, Alhambra, and Long Beach Poly, were tied with 1-1 records after Poly’s Leroy Koenig hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to defeat Alhambra, 6-5.
Point Loma defeated Grossmont, 7-6, when Pointers pitcher Chaffee Kieber struck out the last Grossmont batter with the tying and winning run on base.
4/6/39
San Diego, Hoover, and Escondido were among the favorites in the seventh-annual, 48-team Pomona 20-30 Club Tournament. Point Loma, Sweetwater, and St. Augustine also were in the gigantic field of teams from Southern California.
San Diego and Long Beach Poly, each with two previous championships, were vying for the 30-inch perpetual trophy which goes to a three-time tournament winner.
4/6/39
Unheralded Point Loma upset seeded Long Beach Poly, 8-5, after earlier defeating favored Redondo Beach Redondo, 5-0, on the first day of the Pomona 20-30 Rotary tournament and Poly whipping Santa Paula, 16-2.
San Diego walloped Chino, 18-0, and the Chino Boys Republic, 27-2. Escondido beat Lawndale Leuzinger, 12-3, and Hoover topped Antelope Valley, 8-1, before receiving second-round byes.
Sweetwater and St. Augustine were eliminated in the first round, the Red Devils losing to Phoenix Union of Arizona, 3-2, and the Saints losing to San Luis Obispo, 9-7.
Chaffee Kieber went the distance for Point Loma, allowing only four hits and was backed by a five-run Pointers rally in the sixth inning.
4/7/39
San Diego, Hoover, and Escondido reached the semifinal round of the Pomona 20-30 Club tournament, but Point Loma, first-round conqueror of favored Long Beach Poly, was ousted.
The Pointers were in a 4-4 tie with Bonita, which broke open the game with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. The Pointers scored four in their half of the inning but left the tying run stranded on third base.
Coach Mike Morrow’s Hilltoppers had a four-game total of 60 runs after defeating San Luis Obispo, 6-1, and Bonita, 9-2.
Hoover beat Monrovia, 3-1, in the morning and South Pasadena, 3-1, in the afternoon as Danny Roland and Don Donnan combined on three-hit pitching.
Escondido, champion in 1937 and runner-up in ’38, moved on with a 7-0 blanking of Huntington Beach and a 6-2 win over host school Pomona, 6-2, behind Don Galindo’s four-hitter.
Sweetwater stayed alive in the consolation bracket, 8-0, over Compton.
4/8/39
Mike Morrow’s sluggers pounded out 24 hits and defeated Phoenix Union, 18-6, to win their third Pomona title since the first in 1933. The Hilltoppers, 6-0 over three days, beat Escondido, 4-3, in the morning semifinals.
The Hilltoppers scored 8 runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and administered an emphatic coup de grace with seven in the seventh. Manuel Hernandez and Bill Morales hit home runs. Morales, Bill Williams, Stan Sharp, and Earl Bowman each had four hits.
Five Hoover errors contributed to Phoenix’ 5-2 victory in the morning. The game was called after five innings because of a tournament time limit.
Sweetwater was eliminated in the consolation semifinals by Fullerton, 5-4.
4/10/39
Writer Mitch Angus of The San Diego Union noted that the six San Diego teams in the Pomona event were 17-7 and that San Diego, winning the $250, 30-inch perpetual championship trophy, outscored opponents, 82-15.
San Diego also won the 1933 tournament but later were forced to forfeit because two of their players had played under assumed names in a meaningless exhibition in El Centro the previous summer.
4/12/39
Visiting Escondido scored nine runs in the seventh inning and Don and Ursulo Galindo homered in a 12-9 victory at Hoover.
4/14/39
Alhambra’s Bob Chambers quieted San Diego bats and pitched the Moors to a 2-1 win over the visiting Hilltoppers as play resumed in the Coast League.
Chambers allowed the Hillers five hits and his team had seven, bunching three in the bottom of the ninth inning against Jimmie Cortez to break a 1-1 tie.
–Hoover’s Fred Matson pitched a four-hit, 8-1 victory over visiting Long Beach Poly.
4/17/39
Bill McGee and Chaffee Kieber were reported to have combined to strike out 21 batters in Point Loma, 3-1 win over Sweetwater.
4/18/39
Escondido swept its home-and-home series with Hoover, beating the Cardinals, 6-2, at Finney Field on the Cougars’ campus after a 12-9 victory at Hoover four days before.
4/19/39
Danny Roland limited Point Loma to two hits and Hoover scored a 2-0 shutout at Point Loma in a nonleague contest between Coast League and Metropolitan League contenders.
4/21/39
Hoover (3-1) moved into first place in the Coast League with a 1-0 win at Alhambra (2-2), behind Fred Matson, who gave up 10 hits, all singles, but only once did the Moors get two in an inning and they were thwarted by three Cardinals double plays.
San Diego (2-2) defeated Long Beach Poly (1-3) in another Coast League contest at the Hilltoppers’ City Stadium.
Jimmie Cortez scattered seven hits and Nan Hernandez drove in Freddie Martinez and Jackie Albright with a second-inning hit.
–Escondido, closing in on a fourth consecutive unbeaten league season, warmed for its important Metropolitan loop game at Point Loma by defeating Fallbrook, 2-1, despite a 14-strikeout performance and home run by Warriors pitcher Lavata. Pete Galindo homered for the Cougars.
–Grossmont, 0-4 and buried in the Metropolitan cellar, erupted for six runs in the third inning and broke a tie with two in the bottom of the ninth to beat arch-rival Sweetwater (1-3), 9-7. Vincent Villavicencio tripled twice for the Foothillers.
4/26/39
Grossmont surprised Point Loma, 11-9, helped in part by 12 walks issued by Pointers starter Ollie Mathis, forced to go the distance because Chaffee Kieber was nursing an injured ankle.
4/27/39
Bill Swezey’s triple with the bases loaded was the difference in St. Augustine’s 6-2 win over the San Diego State Frosh at University Heights playground.
4/28/39
San Diego took a 5-0 lead after two innings and Duane Pillette scattered eight hits in a 7-2 victory over Hoover that tied the Hilltoppers (3-2) for first place in the Coast League with the visiting Cardinals.
4/30/39
Escondido completed an undefeated league season with its sixth Metropolitan League victory against no losses, 13-0 over Sweetwater.
The Cougars would have to wait for an unknown playoff opponent that still was playing in a league that had not completed its schedule.
5/3/39
Hoover, prepping for its game with Long Beach Poly, defeated a team called the Brooklyn Juniors, 6-2, as three Cardinals held the Juniors to one hit.
5/4/39
San Diego managed only two hits off Fenton Rinder, whose control problems led the Hillers to a 5-2 win over St. Augustine in the City Stadium.
5/5/39
Long Beach Poly dealt a critical blow to Hoover’s hopes for a first Coast League championship when the plate umpire ruled catcher interference on the Cardinals’ Jerry Davidson, allowing the Jackrabbits to score the winning run in the bottom the 10th inning.
5/6/39
Jackie Albright, Manuel (Nay) Hernandez, Stan Sharp, Freddie Martinez, and Earl Bowman slugged home runs—Albright’s to centerfield leading off the bottom of the first inning—and San Diego claimed the Coast League championship with a 9-1 win over Alhambra.
Duane Pillette gave up four hits as the Hilltoppers (4-2) finished ahead of the Moors, Hoover, and Long Beach Poly, all 3-3.
5/9/39
Still waiting for word on the Southern Section playoffs, Escondido defeated the San Diego Marines, 7-6, when Don Galindo singled in Bob Houser with the winning run in the last of the ninth inning.
5/12/39
Freddie Martinez had four hits, including a two-run home run in the eighth inning as San Diego won its opening Southern Section playoff game with a 12-8 victory at Whittier.
—Escondido meanwhile routed visiting Perris, 15-0, in its playoff opener.
5/20/39
Escondido, whose only two losses had been in nonleague games against San Diego High, saw its season end with a 5-3 loss to Long Beach Wilson in quarterfinals of the CIF playoffs.
5/26/39
Freddie Martinez and Earl Bowman each had two hits and Jimmie Cortez scattered five hits in San Diego’s 5-1, CIF playoff semifinals victory at Riverside Poly.
The Hilltoppers would face Long Beach Wilson, 4-2 winner over Santa Maria, in the CIF finals.
6/2/39
The five home runs that San Diego High slugged in its Coast League-deciding game against Alhambra was drawing snickers from people in the Long Beach Wilson program.
Bruins faithful didn’t think much of the Hilltoppers’ power, because of the very short distance to the leftfield fence in City Stadium, according to Mitch Angus of The San Diego Union.
San Diego coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow was unperturbed and pointed out that the Hillers win as often on the road as they do in the stadium, not just with home runs but solid pitching and overall play.
Angus was raising a moot point. The championship game wouldn’t be played in City Stadium but at Lane Field. Hillers had waived their right to play in City Stadium for the more neutral home of the San Diego Padres.
6/4/39
There were no home runs but San Diego’s Duane Pillette, son of the legendary Pacific Coast League hurler Herman (Old Folks) Pillette, stopped Wilson on one hit and the Hillers won their 11th CIF championship, 3-0, in the park where his dad pitched.
Nay Hernandez had three hits and drove in a run. Jackie Albright hit a sacrifice fly for another and Albright scored the third run in the eighth inning after a wild throw on pickoff attempt by the Wilson catcher.
Concerning the Great Depression and 1930’s Caveman baseball: Don King, in his great book on the history of SDHS sports, mentioned that one year the baseball players chose to not participate in the CIF Southern Section Play-offs but to accept trophies, which contained gold, instead. Times were so tough in that era, many of the athletes sold their trophies and gave the money to their parents for food and living expenses. Hard to imagine in today’s world.
Thank you for another great article.
Don King’s Caver Conquest was one of the inspirations for my blog. He had many great anecdotes and stories in that publication. Don passed recently in Washington state. Good man.