Program Image Courtesy of: Dan Bretta

This was one of Lincoln's best ever years in professional baseball. They won the regular season title but lost to Des Moines in the first round of the playoffs. Jimmmy DeShong was the manager of the Lincoln A's in 1949. He started his pitching career in the Blue Ridge League in 1928. He pitched for Harrisburg in 1929 and 1930. He moved to the west coast and pitched for Sacramento in 1932 where he was 19-6. He was picked up by the Athletics at the end of the 1932 season and appeared in 6 games with the major league team. He pitched in Newark in 1933 then with the Yankees in 1934 and 1935. He was traded to the Senators where he pitched until 1939.

Image courtesy Dan Bretta

Lincoln led the Western League with 103 home runs, a far cry from the league low of 23 in 1947. The team drew 149,000 fans for the season, setting an attendance record for a Lincoln team.

Roster: Lou Limmer was a left handed hitter who led the league in home runs in 1949. He also played for Lincoln in 1948. The native of New York made it to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1951. He played in '51 and '54 for the Athletics. He played in 209 major league games. In 1949 he played in 135 games for the Athletics and led the team with a .315 average. He led the Western League with 29 home runs in 1949. He hit the last home run in Philadelphia Athletics history. He played for Ottawa in 1952 and 1953. In 1955 he played for Louisville, Columbus and Toronto. In 1956 he was in Toronto and Charleston. He returned to Nebraska and played for Omaha in 1957 and ended his career with Birmingham in 1958. George Moskovich held down second base for the Athletics and averaged .268.

Image Courtesy Dan Bretta

In the dust at third base was Joe Aliperto . He averaged .253 for the year.

Outfield
Ed Boehm was a regular in the garden for the Athletics in 1949. The lefty averaged .254 for the year.
Rocco Ippolito averaged .310 for the year. He set a Western League post war record with three stolen bases vs. Sioux CIty on August 30th.

Tom Kirk was another lefty in the garden for the Athletics and averaged .264.

Catcher for the Lincoln club in 1949 was Walt Novick . Walt started his professional career with Alexandria in the Evangeline League in 1939. In 1940 and 1941 he was with New Iberia. In late 1941 he was promoted to Shreveport in the Texas League. He spent four years in the infantry during World War II. After the war he had stints in Louisville, Utica and Lancaster. He hit .325 for Lancaster in 1947 and was promoted to Lincoln where he played in 1948 and 1949. He averaged .297 in 1949 and in 1950 he moved to Buffalo in the International League. He was a player manager at Yakima in 1953 then Superior in the Northern League was his home for the next two years. He managed at Wausau, Minot and Dubuque through the mid 1960's.

For leading the Athletics to the league championship, Jimmy DeShong was named to the all star team as manager in 1949.

Pitchers:
Lynn Lovenguth led the Lincoln staff and the Western League with 17 wins in 1949. He led the Western League with four shutouts but he also had 154 walks in 223 innings. He did not make it to the major leagues until 1955. He was 32 years old when he debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies. In all he played in 16 games in the major leagues and did not win a game.

James MacFaden was 4-2 in 1949 and Robert Palash was 4-6.

Lewis Fauth was 14-14. He led the league with 14 losses. Popular Mason Bowes was 8-3.

John Wells was 11-13. I think this is the John Wells from Junction City Kansas who played for Brooklyn in 1944. Anthony Busco was 4-3.

Albert Bower was 10-8.

Western League All Stars 1949

Nebraska Minor League Baseball Home