Frank Watkins

Player
Written By Karina Bueckert

  • BIRTHPLACE Ireland

  • BORN August 17, 1924

  • INDUCTED 2006

 

Frank Watkins was born in Ireland on August 17, 1924. Watkins lived in Reston, Manitoba before WWII, and then at the start of the war he enlisted in Canadian Army. When he returned to Manitoba, he excelled as a pitcher with Reston, Grandview, the Brandon Greys, and the Souris Cardinals. Watkins was consecutively a league all-star between 1948 and 1951 while playing with the Brandon Greys. In 1949 his pitching record was 17-3, and in the championship game against the Elmwood Giants, before 5200 fans at Kinsmen Stadium, he pitched all 15 innings and singled home the winning run in a 2-1 nail-bitter. The only run scored against him that game was by Solly Drake, who would go on to play with the Chicago Cubs. Watkin later pitched with the Souris Cardinals in 1953 and ’54, winning the Central Manitoba Baseball Association Championship in 1953.

Karina Bueckert
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