2022 Dill Howell Award Recipients continued

were known as the Cheney Studs, a name that continues today with a semi-pro baseball team in the area.

It was an earlier version of the Cheney Studs baseball club that was frequently competitive in the American Amateur Baseball Congress national tournament. After placing second a couple of times, the Studs won the national championship in 1960. Cheney made that accomplishment possible with his financial support.

Many local teams and athletes went on to where Cheney-sponsored uniforms long after Ben Cheney died in 1971.

Today, a life-sized statue of a smiling Ben Cheney holding a bag of peanuts resides in a seat behind home plate at Cheney Stadium.

“Tacoma is a much better place for his having passed through here,” Tacoma News Tribune sports editor Earl Luebker wrote after Cheney’s death.

Rosy Ryan

For nine years starting in 1951, Tacoma did not have a minor league baseball team. No pro team to cheer for local baseball fans.

But then in 1960, W.D. “Rosy” Ryan, who was a teammate of Babe Ruth with the New York Yankees in 1928, became an unlikely person to help bring minor league baseball back to Tacoma fans.

Rosy Ryan, Tacoma Giants General Manager, holds the trophy won by the Tacoma Giants in 1960, Class AAA winners of the National Association Attendance Derby with 270,0324 fans pouring through the turnstiles at Cheney Stadium.

It all began with a phone call from Ryan, who at the time was the general manager of the Phoenix Giants. Ryan called Clay Huntington, a Tacoma Athletic Commission director and told Huntington that if Tacoma would build a new stadium, the Phoenix Giants, a Triple A minor league team, would come to Tacoma.

That phone call started the construction of Tacoma’s “100-day Wonder.” Ryan›s proposal started the construction of Cheney Stadium, which was remarkably built in about 100 days. It took only three months and 14 days to complete the stadium, which was finished in time for the start of the April 16, 1960 opening game between the Tacoma Giants and the

CHENEY FIELD—TIGER BALL PARK—On August 18, 1952, Ben Cheney posed with a few of the dignitaries on hand to dedicate the ballpark purchased by Mr. Cheney for the city of Tacoma. He said, “The main thing I’m interested in is for the kids to have a decent place where they can play baseball and football or any of their other games.” The dignitaries on hand were, L-R, Robert B. Abel, Dill Howell, Clay Huntington, Mr. Cheney, Fred Henricksen, Tom Cross and Tom Lantz. Ben Cheney had exercised his option to purchase the former home of the Western International league baseball club, Tiger Ball Park, from the San Diego Padres. After annual rentals totalled the $42,500 sales price, title to the park would pass to the Metropolitan Park District. Mr. Cheney was wearing the uniform of the “Cheney Studs” team from Medford, Oregon, who played against the Tacoma city league champion Brewers. The Cheney Lumber Company logo of a “stud” horse was on the baseball diamond’s fence and Ben Cheney’s jacket.

Portland Beavers.

After bringing the team to Tacoma, Ryan became the general manager during the Tacoma Giants era through the 1965 season with the San Francisco Giants as the parent team. Under Rosy’s tenure, the Giants finished second in their first season and then won the Pacific Coast League crown in 1961 with a 97–57 record including a remarkable 57–10 record in the last half of the season, led by Most Valuable Player, Dick Phillips. In addition to the PCL championship, those first six seasons proved to be memorable for a variety of reasons. The “big” Giants played Tacoma in an exhibition game every year, showcasing numerous to-be Hall of Famers including Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey. And numerous players advanced to outstanding major league careers such as pitchers Eddie Fisher and Ron Herbel, outfielders Matty and Jesus Alou, Jose Cardenal and Cap Peterson and infielders Jim Ray Hart, Tito Fuentes, Gil Garrido and Chuck Hiller among many. Tom Haller was a mainstay behind the plate for San Francisco and relief pitcher John Pregenzer gained a measure of notoriety with the creation of the John

Pregenzer Fan Club in the Bay area.

Ryan, himself, pitched in the major leagues from 1919 to 1933. While pitching for the New York Giants, he appeared in three straight World Series from 1922 to 1924. He picked up a win in a 3–2 victory against the New York Yankees to help the Giants win the 1922 World Series. With the Giants clinging to a 4–3 lead and with a runner on first base, Ryan struck out Babe Ruth. In another game, Ryan became the first relief pitcher to hit a home run in the playoffs.

Ryan pitched for the New York Giants from 1919 to 1924, the Boston Braves from 1925 to 1926, the New York Yankees in 1928 and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933. He finished his career with a 52–47 record and a 4.14 ERA.

Ryan was born in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts and died Dec. 10, 1980 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Bobby Adams

As the general manager of the 1969 Tacoma Cubs, Robert “Bobby” Adams put together one of the greatest teams in Tacoma AAA baseball history. The Cubs won the Pacific Coast League pennant that year, and 26 members of the roster went on to play in the major leagues.

Bobby was born Dec. 14, 1921, in Tuolumne, Calif., a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains east of Stockton. His propensity for baseball was soon obvious, and at the age of 24 he made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on April 16, 1946. It was the first season in a solid 14-year major league career for Bobby as a third baseman and second baseman. In 1,281 games, he compiled a .269 batting average with 188 doubles, 37 home runs, 303 runs batted in and 591 runs scored.

Bobby spent nine seasons with Cincinnati, the first five as a backup despite hitting his personal single-season best .298 in 262 at-bats in 1948. Finally in 1951, Bobby earned the Reds’ starting job at third base, finishing the season with a .266 batting average. He followed that with his most productive season in 1952, leading the National League in games played with 154, at-bats with 637 and in singles with 152. He also put up career-highs in with a .283 average. In 1953, he scored a personal season best 99 runs while hitting .275 in 607 at-bats stretched over 150 games. On May 13, 1954, he hit a leadoff homer against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts, the only hit allowed that day by the eventual Hall of Fame inductee.

Bobby split the 1955 season between Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox, played one season with the Baltimore Orioles in 1956, and finished his 14-year career by playing three seasons with the Chicago Cubs.

At the close of his career, Bobby spent time helping his young major league teammates hone their craft, so it was no surprise when the Cubs offered him a coaching position and a spot in the club’s experimental College of Coaches.

In 1966, Bobby moved into the front office when the organization named him President of the Triple A Tacoma Cubs. He spent five years in that role, culminated by the team’s 1969 PCL championship. Among the players on that Cubs squad were Aaron Pointer, Mike White and Bobby Gene Smith, who made Tacoma their home, and North Thurston High School graduate Darcy Fast.

After the Cubs moved their Triple A affiliate to Wichita, Kansas, at the start of the 1972 season, Bobby returned to coaching for the Cubs, retiring from a long and illustrious baseball career in 1973.

Bobby contributed significantly to a strong Adams family baseball legacy. His brother Dick played one season with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1947 and ten seasons overall in professional baseball and his son Mike, who played for the Tacoma Twins in 1972 and 1974, compiled 152 plate appearances over five major league seasons with three teams.

Bobby settled in Gig Harbor, where he passed away at the age of 75 on Feb. 13, 1997.

The Poodle Dog congratulates the Baseball-Softball Oldtimers for their commitment to America’s Pasttime. We enjoyed hosting your get-togethers in the 70s and 80s and invite coaches, players and fans to stop by again and enjoy great meals from our friendly staff.