Joseph Franklin Demaree
^{born: 06-10-1910, died: 08-30-1958}

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Frank Demaree was born Frank Dimaria on June 10, 1910 in Winters, CA. He played baseball for St. Mary's College of California, a nearby school that was quite a baseball power at the time. From there he signed with the Sacramento Senators of the Pacific Coast League, where he had big years in 1931 and 1932.

He was purchased by the Cubs in midseason 1932 and in 23 games batted .250. The Cubs won the National League Pennant and faced the NY Yankees in the World Series. In the second game of the World Series, Frank started and went 1 for 4 with one RBI. In the fourth game of the series, Frank hit a three run homer in the bottom of the first inniing, but the powerful Yankees won the game 13-6 and swept the series.

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When Kiki Cuyler broke his ankle in spring training in 1933, Frank was designated starting outfielder. He played in 134 games and had a .272 batting average. He had 140 hits, 26 doubles, 6 triples, 6 home runs and totalled 51 RBIs. But the Cubs fell to third place and then they picked up MVP Chuck Klein from the Phillies in November 1933, Demaree was forced back to the minors, this time playing for the Wrigley-owned California Angels.

Demaree joined the Angels, already a strong team with such players as former Cub outfielders Jigger Statz and Marv Gudat, first baseman Jim Oglesby and second baseman Jimmie Reese. Gene Lillard was a power-hitting third baseman the Cubs later converted to a pitcher. Fay Thomas led the pitching staff, along with Lou Garland and Emile Meola.

Demaree was the best of all of them that season. In 186 games, Demaree won the PCL triple crown, hitting .383 with 45 home runs and 173 RBI. He also led the league in runs scored, hits, doubles and slugging percentage. He stole 41 bases. He was named the league MVP, an even more impressive achievement considering that the San Francisco Seals had a young center fielder named Joe DiMaggio that season.

The Angels destroyed the competition in 1934. By mid-June of its 188 game season, the Angels had an 18 1/2 game lead, so the league directors voted to have a split-season and declare the Angels the first-half winner, in a hope that there might be a pennant race later. No such luck, because the Angels then won the second half by 12 games. Their final record was 137-50. Because they won both halves, a championship series was arranged between the Angels and an all-star team from the rest of the league. The Angels won that series in six games. In 2003, in a celebration of 100 years of minor league baseball, the 1934 Angels were named the greatest minor league team of all time.

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Demaree got that chance to be in the majors the next season as the Cubs recalled him from Los Angeles. Away from the smaller fields and warm weather of California, Demaree's power did not translate and he only hit two home runs in 1935. But he hit .325, which was enough to allow the Cubs to release Kiki Cuyler and install Demaree as their regular right fielder. With Demaree in right, the Cubs, powered by a twenty-one game winning streak in September, won their second pennant in four seasons with a record of 100 wins and 54 losses..

The Detroit tigers won the American League Pennant and the World Series started in Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Lon Warneke pitching for the Cubs held the Tigers scoreless and the Cubs won by a score of 3-0. Demaree had two hits including a home run in the top of the ninth. In the bitter cold, game two had Charlie Root facing 21-game winner Tommy Bridges. The Tigers scored 4 runs in the bottom of the first and Root was removed before recording an out. The Tigers scored 3 more in the fourth inning after starting the inning with two outs. The final score was 8 to 3 for the Tigers.

The series moved to Chicago and better weather. After a scoreless first inning, Demaree led off the second with a home run. Another unearned run was scored to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. A walk and two singles in the fifth inning gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead. The Tigers score 1 run in the fifth and another 4 runs in the eight to give them 5 to 3 lead. The Cubs answer in the bottom of the ninth with 2 runs sending the game to extra innings. After the Tigers go down in order in the top of the tenth inning, the Cubs Freddie Lindstom lead off with a double. Gabby Hartnett bunt Lindstom to third base and Frank comes to the plate needing only to hit the ball out of the infield to score Lindstrom and win the game. But Demaree hit a grounder to short stop, and Phil Cavarretta also grounds out and the game moves to the eleventh inning. The Tigers score an unearned run in the top of the inning and the Cubs go down in order giving the Tigers a 3-1 lead in the series.

The Tigers win the next game 2 to 1 and the series moves back to Detroit with the Cubs' backs up against the wall. The Cubs pull out a win (3-1) and the series moves on the game six. The Cubs lose the game 4 to 3 with the Tigers scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Frank had his worst game of the series going 0 for 4 including a fly-out, strike out looking, a ground out and a ground out into a double play in the eigth inning.

And although Detroit won the World Series, Demaree equaled his season total with two homers in the six game series.

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The next two seasons, 1936 and 1937, were Demaree's best in the majors. He hit .350 with 16 home runs and 96 RBI in 1936 and followed it up with .325 and 17 homers and 115 RBI in 1937. He was named to the National League All-Star team both seasons. Demaree seemed to be a quiet performer on those teams, as his teammates Gabby Hartnett, Stan Hack and Billy Herman seemed to be the players that the fans remembered and the writers wrote about so eloquently. Demaree brought a great on-base percentage, a ton of doubles and acceptable defense in right.

The 1938 season was a happy one for the Cubs for the most part, as they once again took the NL pennant on "Hartnett, Hurricane and Happiness." But Demaree had his worst season since returning to the National League, hitting only .273 with eight home runsand only 15 doubles. The Yankees swept the Cubs in four games and Demaree only hit .100 for the series. After the loss, Cub management decided to make changes, and traded Demaree along with Billy Jurges and Ken O'Dea to the Giants for Dick Bartell, Hank Lieber and Gus Mancuso.

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Demaree enjoyed two solid yet unspectacular seasons in New York. But he started putting on more and more weight every season, and by 1941 this combination of aging and poor training habits had badly eroded his baseball abilities. The Giants released him mid-season and he finished the 1941 season with the Boston Braves. After 1941 he really wasn't good enough to play in the majors anymore, but as other players entered the military, teams kept giving him a chance for the lack of better options. He managed to play in one more World Series, for the Cardinals in 1943, losing once again. He played for the St. Louis Browns in 1944, but was released mid-season. By 1945, he was back in the Pacific Coast League for Portland. In Portland, he dropped 35 pounds and turned in a productive season, leading the Beavers to a PCL pennant.

The Philadelphia Athletics invited him to spring training in 1946. But by that time, age had eroded his skills too much to compete with ballplayers returning from the war and he was released before the season started. His playing career was over and he retired after 12 major league seasons with a .299 career batting average and 190 Doubles, 36 Triples, 72 Home Runs, 591 RBI. He played in four world series but never got a championship ring.

Demaree returned to California managed briefly in Fresno and San Bernardino. He then used one of the Hollywood connections he had made during his time with the Angels to land a job as a grip at United Artists, quietly working in the shadows. After a long illness, he died from an intestinal hemorrhage in 1958 at the young age of 48.