Shan Deniston

Despite mainly playing first baseman, Deniston was signed by the New York Yankees as an outfielder in 1939.[2] He attended Yankees spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida, before being sent to the minor league class D El Paso Texans of the Arizona–Texas League. The Texans had him play catcher and compete with Art Gagliardi for the starting role.[7] He made his debut against the Tucson Cowboys in a 11–2 win, replacing Curdele Lloyd and making two hits.[7] Overall, in the 1939 season, Deniston played in 117 games, appearing at bat 482 times, and making 139 hits. He made 24 doubles, eight triples, and two home runs.[8]

In the 1940 season, Deniston played for five teams in four different leagues.[8] He started the season with the double-A Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), appearing in eight games with three hits, before playing for the class-C Boise Pilots of the Pioneer League. He was sent on option to the Idaho Falls Russets, where he appeared in one game before being released.[9] After being released, he played for the Big Spring Barons/Odessa Oilers in the West Texas–New Mexico League, appearing in 12 games. With the Barons/Oilers he made ten hits, three doubles, one triple and two home runs.[8] He also played for a team in Wenatchee, Washington.[10]

In February 1941, Deniston returned to the Portland Beavers on a one-year contract as a catcher.[11] He ended up playing the season in the California League for the Anaheim Aces, appearing in eight games and making three hits.[8] He also spent time with Portland in 1942, but did not appear in any games.[2]

Deniston briefly was a boxer in 1940, and won the California State Golden Gloves championship in the lightweight division that year.[12]

In 1942, Deniston played professional football in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League (PCPFL) for both the Los Angeles Bulldogs and Hollywood Bears, as a right guard for the Bulldogs and a halfback for the Bears.[13] He was described by The Los Angeles Times as a "demon blocker."[14] With the Bears in a game against the Bulldogs, Deniston caught a fifteen-yard pass that set up a Hollywood touchdown.[15]

Deniston attended Pepperdine University in 1943, and spent the year out of sports.[5] In 1944, he was drafted to serve in World War II, and trained at the San Diego Marine Corps Base.[16] That year he played football for the El Toro Flying Marines military service team that compiled a 8–1 record and was ranked number sixteen in the country.[5] Deniston also played for the San Diego Bombers.[5]

In 1945, after being released by the Marines, Deniston returned to the Hollywood Bears in the PCPFL, playing the halfback and quarterback positions. He was a starter in four games.[13] Deniston played for a team in Los Angeles in 1946, and returned for a final time to the Bears in 1948.[5][13]

In 1944, Deniston played for the Pepperdine basketball team and served as an assistant coach two years later.[17]

While in the Marines, bone chips and calcium deposits had weakened Deniston's arm, and he "had given up hope of advancing as a baseball player."[2] Describing his arm, Deniston said he "couldn't throw out Whistler's mother trying to steal second."[2] Despite this, he continued playing, with the Pepperdine Waves baseball team in 1945, and scored a home run in their 20–14 win over UCLA.[18]

After graduating from Pepperdine in 1947, he was named an assistant coach at the school and additionally was named by the St. Louis Browns as a player-manager of the Mayfield Clothiers minor league team.[5] With the Clothiers in 1947, he appeared in 107 total games, appeared at-bat 350 times, and made 105 hits. Of his hits, 21 were doubles, one was a triple, and 15 scored home runs.[lower-alpha 1] His 15 home runs were the largest single-season total he made in his career.[8]

In January 1948, St. Louis Browns business manager J. W. Baker named Deniston a player-manager for the Pittsburg Browns of the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League (KOM).[12] He replaced Jim Crandall who had left for the Aberdeen Pheasants of the Northern League.[12] He appeared in a total of 48 games before resigning mid-season to return to Pepperdine University.[8][2] He appeared at-bat 129 times, making 34 hits, 15 doubles and three home runs.[8] "When I left the club early to go back to Pepperdine it was three games out of first," Deniston later said.[2] "Then it lost the next sixteen in a row."[2] His position was filled in by Donald Smith.[19]

Deniston was later assigned to coach the Belleville Stags of the Illinois State League.[20] Near the end of the season, Deniston placed second on the team in batting average with a mark of .322.[21] He appeared in a total of 29 games, and was at-bat 107 times, making 35 hits, 11 doubles, one triple, and four home runs.[8] His final batting average was .327.[8]

In 1949, Deniston was named player-manager of the Olean Oilers in the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League (PONY).[22][10] Deniston, 30 years old at the time, was 11 years older than the team average.[8][2] Deniston appeared in 65 games, mainly as a catcher, and was at-bat 203 times, making 54 hits, seven doubles and seven home runs.[8] He also scored 32 runs-batted-in and had five stolen bases as Olean finished with a record of 39–86.[8] After the season ended, Deniston was named a coach at Drake University as well as manager of the Audubon Cardinals for the 1950 season.[23]

Deniston was with Audubon for 39 games of the 1950 season, playing catcher, before resigning for "the best interest of the team."[24] The Cardinals compiled a record of 18–21 in the Iowa State League (ISL) with Deniston.[24] The following year, he played in the same league for Lakes-Denison serving as a player-manager, before being signed to play in the Western League.[25]

Mid-season in 1951, Deniston was signed to play catcher by the Des Moines Bruins of the Western League. His signing was due to several injuries to their previous players at that position.[26][25] He batted .281 with them, scoring one home run and three runs-batted-in before being released.[25] The Bruin manager Al Todd said that "he hated to see Deniston leave," but that "with recent player acquisitions, Des Moines was above the maximum limit for salaries paid by a Class-A club."[25] After being released, Deniston was signed by the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the same league, who needed a catcher after injuries to all their players at the position.[25] Following the season, he was named all-Iowa for his play at Des Moines.[27]

In 1952, Deniston played catcher for the Kellogg Cardinals, and by July held the league lead in batting average with .485.[28] In a win over the Marshalltown Ansons, Deniston scored two home runs.[29]

In 1953, Deniston was named player-manager of the Storm Lake White Caps in the Iowa State League.[30] Against the Carroll Merchants, he scored the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.[31] In June, he took the league lead in home runs with three.[32] By July, Deniston had made six home runs, leading the league, and also was ISL runs-batted-in leader with 27.[33] He finished the season tied with Walt Menke for league lead in home runs hit.[34]

In 1954, Deniston started the season with New Ulm, before suffering a broken finger and leaving the team.[5] He later returned to Storm Lake as a player-manager, and finished the season with them.[5]

In 1955, Deniston announced he had accepted a position as catcher, first baseman and manager of the Estherville Cardinals/Red Sox.[35][5] In a 6–7 loss against Sherburn, Deniston had a "perfect night," hitting two doubles and two singles.[36] After finishing the season with them, Deniston retired and accepted a coaching position at La Jolla High School.[37]