Jerry Scala Was No Jok

Jerry Scaia was a centerfielder for the White Sox from 1948-50. He continued until 1955 bouncing thru quite a few organizations. However, his Baseball-Reference page only lists unknown deals before he surfaced with the Sox. He was involved in a few interesting transactions after that, and we were able to track many down.

Scala had a good shot at starting with the Sox in 1949 and came up a bit short. He was optioned to the Pirates' Indianapolis club, and was involved in a complicated trade that saw him bounced from Chicago to independent PCL team Oakland and back. From the Indianapolis Star of June 12, 1949:

"Earl Rapp, outfielder for the Chicago White Sox, has been sold to the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League, the White Sox office announced today. The deal supersedes one announced last Thursday which would have sent Sox Outfielder Jerry Scala and First Baseman Gordon Goldsberry to Oakland in trade for George Metkovich, Oaks outfielder. However, Scala will stay with the Sox and both Rapp and Goldsberry will go to the Oaks."

Scala played for the ChiSox and AAA Buffalo on option in 1950, and Sacramento for Chicago in 1951. Then he goes to Baltimore, AAA for the Phillies. The Feb. 24, 1952 Baltimore Sun describes Scala as having come from "Sacramento in a trade that sent Bill Glynn to that club." Bill Glynn is covered in, I believe, two other UT blog posts.

Scala goes to the A's organization in Ottawa for 1953. From the March 10, 1953 Ottawa Journal:

"Gerry Scala. announced as signed by the Ottawa Athletics last-night is the leading choice to play centre field on the 1953 edition of the dub. Scala, who has said he's anxious to come here, was with the Baltimore Orioles last year, where he batted .240 while playing in centre. The A's obtained the 27-year-old outfielder in a trade tor Stan Jok earlier this Winter."

And, Jok's Baseball-Reference page simply has this as an unknown transaction.

Scala stayed with the Athletics thru the end of his playing days in 1955.

Scala from Stars of the Diamond.com

Jok from eBay

Goldsberry from Flickr

Rapp from Baseball in Wartime 

and Metkovich from

Sports Artifacts

 

Bill Glynn: From World Series to West Coast Minors

Bill Glynn played first and the outfield for the Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Indians in the late forties and early fifties.

An excellent fielder at first base, Glynn couldn't quite keep his bat hot enough to stay in the majors, and after helping the Indians make the World Series in 1954 (in which he was 1 for 2), he was sold to Indianapolis, the Cleveland AAA team.

Glynn went from there to the west coast, in a couple of trades not documented on his Baseball-Reference page.

Glynn hit very well in Indianapolis for the first part of the season, but the parent club sold him to the PCL Seattle Rainiers independent team midway thru the season, as noted here in the Indianapolis Star of May 12, 1955:

“The Cleveland system announced late yesterday that (Joe) Altobelli, a first baseman, is being sent back as of today and that Bill Glynn has been sold to Seattle of the Pacific Coast League for an undisclosed price,”

Altobelli was going to Indy and Glynn was going west.

The next year, Seattle became a Cincinnati farm club. Though Cleveland had more or less dumped Glynn off in 1955, by 1957 the Cleveland AAA team in the PCL, San Diego, made a move to get him back in the fold. From the Pasadena Independent of Aug. 13, 1957:

“The Padres exchanged second baseman Al Federoff for Seattle first baseman-outfielder Bill Glynn.”

Federoff, another former major leaguer, we will cover in a later blog.

Glynn was with San Diego through 1958, when reportedly he was traded to Birmingham of the Southern League, balked, and retired. I couldn't find the newspaper article to back that up, but SABR has a great biography of Glynn and mentions the deal.

There is another unknown transaction that comes in 1952 where Glynn goes to independent PCL from the Phillies organization before Cleveland buys him, but, again, I could not find the details.

Glynn from comc.com

Federoff pic stolen from www.tradingcarddb.com