Tombstone
Born: 1966
Affiliation Change: 1969 (Lodi Padres)
First Game: April 19, 1966 (W 3-2 vs. Stockton Ports)
Last Game: September 3, 1969 (L 12-4 @ Visalia Mets)
California League Championships: None
Stadium
Stadium: Lawrence Park
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners:
- 1966-1967: ?
- 1968-1969: Lodi Baseball Club (Ted Yamada, et al.)
Major League Affiliations:
- 1966-1968: Chicago Cubs
- 1969: Oakland Athletics
Attendance
Background
The Crushers, formed in 1966, were the first professional baseball team to set up shop in Lodi, California since an un-named local nine represented the city in the California State League during the summers of 1904 and 1905.
Under local ownership, the team spent three summers as a Class A farm club of the Chicago Cubs from 1966 to 1968. The Oakland Athletics, newly arrived in California from Kansas City, took over as parent club for the 1969 season.
The Crushers’ most successful product, 19-year old outfielder George Hendrick, hit .307 for the club in 86 games during the summer of 1969. He went on to an 18-year Major League career, earning 4 All-Star nods and winning World Series championships with Oakland (1972) and St. Louis (1982). Hendrick was also the last active member of the Lodi Crushers teams of the 1960’s when he played his final Major League game on October 2, 1988.
Following the 1969 season, the San Diego Padres replaced Oakland as Lodi’s parent club. Shortly thereafter, in December 1969, the Padres bought the franchise outright from its local owner. The team became the Lodi Padres for the 1970 California League season.
The Chicago Cubs circled back to Lodi in the summer of 1984, becoming the parent club of the Lodi franchise for the second time. The team, which by this time was known as the Lodi Dodgers (1976-1983) after numerous subsquent name changes, re-claimed the old “Crushers” name for the 1984 California League season. But the Cubs only stayed one season and professional baseball has never returned to Lodi since the latter day Crushers left town at the end of the 1984 season.
Trivia
Lodi’s “Crushers” nickname was submitted by five different fans during a Name-The-Team contest the elicited 173 submissions. The name was intended as a double entendre, nodding to both hard-hitting ballplayers and the city’s grape and wine industry. (Fresno Bee 2/16/1966).
During the 1966 season, 19-year old Crushers pitcher Lee Meyers was married to 34-year old actress and model Mamie Van Doren. When Van Doren appeared at Lodi’s Lawrence Park to watch Meyers pitch on July 16, 1966, the Crushers drew a season-best attendance of 2,361 fans. The couple divorced a year or so later.
Lodi Crushers Shop
Links
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2 Responses
would like to find the picture the Lodi News Sentinel published with pictures of the first two batboys of the Crushers.
First 2 bat boys were – Ronnie Herron & Jackie Stone
Can you suggest ideas of how to locate article & picture
Jack –
The Lodi-News Sentinel is still in business and their contact info is here: https://www.lodinews.com/site/contact.html
Seems like a long shot to locate this photo so many decades later, but checking with the paper itself is the best place you can start. Good luck!
Drew