BROWNSVILLE PAN AMERICAN AVIATORS TRIUMPHED IN 1938

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

When it came to softball, the 1938 Brownsville Pan American Airways Aviators were riding high on top of Valley softball circles.

But hold on, the San Juan All-Stars from the upper Valley were another bunch who, like the flyers, had emerged at the end of the season with only one defeat as well. They, too, were in the mix to compete in the final series of the Valley playoffs.

The five game contest started in Brownsville with a Monday night match-up at the 36th Diamond. A healthy – and boisterous – crowd saw the home team manhandle the visitors as they scored-at-will to down the SJ All-Stars 11 to 1.

The spectacular pitching of PAA’s Coy Damron kept the San Juan boys off the bases and they managed to record only two singles in the game.

San Juan’s Coach Livingston parting words were: “We’ll be back Wednesday night with the situation well in hand, and annex the second game of the playoff series with ease.” 

And they did…

A pitching duel developed in the second game and it was a dandy that went 11 innings. Both pitchers were “on”, but the game came down to the circus catches by San Juan’s tenth outfielder, Daniel Rios.

In the first half of the 11th inning San Juan pushed what would be the winning run when pitcher Ben Davis singled, was moved to second, and scored on Glenn Hein’s base hit.

With the score 3-2, the Aviators began a full-fledged rally in the bottom of the inning, but just like before, Rios at short-center comes out of nowhere to make a miraculous catch to end the encounter.

The next contest was another thriller, as again, pitching took center stage. It was a 13 inning affair with San Juan scoring early in the game, but it was nothing but goose eggs for both teams for the rest of the match. 

In the thrilling 13th, P. Lindhorn, flyers leftfielder, takes a mighty swing sending the ball to deep centerfield bringing B. Cruhm, who was on second, and himself to secure the game 3 to 1.

The hectic invitational Valley softball series got even better—with San Juan facing elimination ties the series again by taking game four, 6 to 1. With this win, the Stars forced a fifth and final game to be played in Brownsville.

Capacity crowd jams “El 36”

The Wednesday night championship game was the culmination of a series of softball games held during August and September among eight Valley softball aggregations. The winning team was guaranteed the championship trophy along with $100, while the second place team would be awarded $50.

They were playing for big bucks! According to the consumer price index inflation calculator $100 in 1938 would have the same buying power as $1,811 in 2019.

Play Ball! 

With all the intangibles in place and all dressed-up for the main event the park at West Brownsville attracted a multitude fans which jammed both grandstands and encircled the field… and they weren’t disappointed.

The nine inning contest went on as advertised, keeping the fans on the edge throughout game. But unfortunately the visiting team took the early advantage. The San Juan squad brought their best hickory to the plate as they scored two tallies by the second inning. It was the hitting of Daniel Rios that started the rally slashing a double bringing in Peters, who was on base, for the first marker.

Rios scored the next run on an error committed by Lindhorn , putting the second crooked number on the board. By the end of the third inning it looked dark for the flyers with the All-Stars scoring again and leading 3 to 0. All of a sudden, the jubilant home town crowd went silent.

Aviators were not going to be denied…

By the fifth inning the Aviators gave their fans something to cheer about. Rufino Lopez, PAA catcher, starts a rally with a walk and scored all the way from first when Sam Lesser hit a whistling triple.

Lesser made the game 3 to 2 as he crossed the plate when a San Juan infielder juggled a hard ground ball hit by “El Guero” Perez. The flyers continued their scoring in the 6th, tying the ball game at 3 apiece.

The game continued even, that is until the top half of the eight, when the flyers pushed across what would be the last score of the game. It was Lesser again, who got his second RBI of the evening bringing in Jake Jeans on a hook-slide and a close play at the plate to make the score 4 to 3.

The visiting team threatened to tie the score in the ninth. The Stars had a man on third and two away as the speedy Daniel Rios hit a ground ball to short. The PAA shortstop scooped and made a great throw to cut off the fast San Juan youngster. 

It was a close play at first that could have gone either way, but in baseball, there is something called “Home Cooking, “ which refers when a player from the home team gets a favorable and/generous call from the arbitrator.

“Home Cooking” is sometimes used synonymously with “Home Field Advantage.” Did the Aviators have the home team advantage? Of course they did, but the umpire called it as he saw it and “he was out.”

For pennies on the dollar, the fans saw a brilliantly played series with the local boys stopping a ninth inning rally and taking the title game in a classic “comes behind victory.” It does not get any better than that.

See you at the Park!