Terrier Town: Summer of ’49

Gus Murray

389 Watty Reid and Gus Murray Gus Murray G US MURRAY HAD GREAT RESERVATIONS ABOUT RETURNING TO run the Terriers in 1950. The 1949 season had been a trying one. He had been run ragged by several of his high-priced imports, including Goody Rosen, who demanded both a car for himself and a new bicycle for his son. Two players, Creedon and Waite, had physically assaulted him. The near-strike during a pivotal point in the playoffs, led by Creedon and Warren, had virtually negated all his hard work in building a contender and bringing fans out to the ballpark. In truth, he had done wonders; the season just past was likely the most exciting Terrier season ever, and there had been plenty of exciting seasons over the years. Still, it had taken its toll. “A guy has to be awfully thick-skinned to put up with all that stuff,” reflected Murray years later. “Some of these guys had majorleague experience. I didn’t. It was my first year in senior ball.” Several decades later a local sportswriter, highlighting the city’s sports history, barely touched on Murray’s 1949 team. He wrote at length about the championship teams of the 1920s and ’30s, but there was only one line about the ’49 Terriers. With a team of imports—he erroneously reported they had just two homebrews when in fact, they had six or seven—they lost out to Brantford in the playoffs, he wrote. When people looked at Intercounty titles, it was easy to dismiss the ’49 Terriers. They won the pennant, but lost out in the playoffs, whereas a number of previous Galt teams had won the Intercounty title and then gone on to win the all-Ontario crown. If the writer was an out-of-towner or someone who hadn’t known the summer of ’49 firsthand—and he didn’t—it would be easy to dismiss them and concentrate, instead, on the championship seasons. Murray was so dejected over the hassles he had with his players and with the Galt Parks Board that he intimated he might not be back for the 1950 season. At the heart of his argument with the parks board was money from the concession. “We are investing heavily in baseball talent to provide the citizens of Galt with the best baseball this coming season,” he said, “and we feel that we should have the concessions at Dickson Park for senior baseball games.” If the Terriers could count on that money it would help them finance the team, Murray told city council. But the Galt Parks Board had turned down the Terriers’ request. The park concessions had been granted to someone else in 1948 with a two-year renewal option. It would be unfair, council argued, for them to cancel that contract midway through the term. Besides, Mayor Mel Moffatt, who had thrown out the first ball the previous spring, noted that if the agreement was broken the city would have a lawsuit on its hands. “The agreement was made at a time when it was difficult to get anyone to take the park concession,” he said. Furthermore, Mr. Dedman had quit his job in order to take over the concessions. But Murray, whose Terriers had paid the parks board $10,000 for groundskeeping and maintenance—he’d paid a further $21,000 in salaries—was upset that his team could not profit from the concession like other teams around the league. The club finished the year with a surplus of only two thousand dollars, even though Murray had done wonders to draw fans. He had good reason to expect his club to reap the rewards, but, in fairness to the parks board, no one had figured on a Gus Murray coming along. That spring someone wrote a letter to the editor about Gus. They were highly critical of his constant whining over how the parks board was being uncooperative with the Galt Athletic Club. Clearly, some people had heard enough. But a Murray supporter countered: Dear Gus, What a man you are. How you have stood above the abuse and criticisms heaped unjustly on your head since the beginning of the ball season without blowing your top is beyond me….You contacted Mickey Owen, and how the average person laughed at your audacity. Some, 390 Terrier Town—Summer of ’49 probably Mr. Fan himself, claimed...