Question about 1917 Zee-Nut player (Sullivan)

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Posted By: Mr. Zee-Nut

A fellow Ebay member saw me bidding on some Zee-Nuts and shot me this question about a player in the 1917 set. I'm still a bit of a PCL novice, but I figured someone on the board might be able to help?

Thanks,
Adam


THE QUESTION:

"I'm guessing from your member ID that you're a fan of the Pacific Coast League, so I'm going to ask for your expertise. I once saw a listing in a card encyclopedia for a 1917 Zeenut for an Oakland Oaks player named Sullivan. I'm trying to find out whether that Sullivan was William Sullivan,the former major leaguer with the Sox. He was my great-grandfather, and I collect his memorabilia. Do you have any idea, or know how I can find out whether that was him?"

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Posted By: mark macrae

Not sure which checklist this individual is referring to. There is no Sullivan in the 1917 Zeenut Oaks subset. John "Jack" Sullivan was a catcher with the Vernon Tigers in 1917 & he is on a Zeenut in 1917. According to Doug McWilliams' research on the Oaks,an ongoing research project for nearly sixty years, the only two individuals named Sullivan who appeared during a regulation game for Oakland were Jim Sullivan, a catcher in 1907; and Joe Sullivan a pitcher in 1944. According to the Zeenut research by Don McPherson and Buck Barker, which entailed thousands of man hours of research lasting more than a decade, there were three players named Sullivan who appeared in the twenty eight year run of Zeenuts...Harry, John & Joe... none of which had major league experience. According to the Bauer PCL Encyclopedia, a fourteen year research project published in 2003, there were eleven players in the PCL from 1903-1957 named Sullivan. Ten are identified in full. None of those first names are William or Bill. The eleventh player appeared on the roster only in 1928 for Portland and never officially played in a regulation game. Also in checking the Major League BB Encyclopedia, there were two generations of Billy Sullivans that played for the Chicago White Sox. Although Billy Senior played in the majors until 1916, there is no evidence to suggest that he played in the Pacific Coast League after that time.

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Posted By: Paul

That is the most complete answer to any question I have ever seen. Mark, you are a wonderful resource.

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Posted By: Behrod Hosseinzadeh

Mark,

Any idea on how I can get a hold of a copy of Bauer's encyclopedia? I'm coming up short searching on the internet.

Thanks,

Behrad