Two New Books by Willie Runquist

The 1953 edition of the famed PCL Almanac is finished, or at least as finished as it is going to get. To order a copy send $17 to Willie Runquist Box 289 , Union Bay, BC
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In addition I have revised something I wrote long ago when I had access to a real newspaper. It is called "A Heavenly Series" and consists of 137 pages describing every game played between Hollywood and Los Angeles from 1938 to 1957, along with a review of each year's activities. There are summary statistics for each season., but not for individual games. The price for this epic is also $17, but if you order both this and the Almanac at the same time, the price is $31 since I save $3 on postage.


Willie started in a few years ago with the 1938 PCL season, and has continued, one seasons at a time, to his newest, the 1953 season. I have bought every one, and find them fascinating. Each one follows pretty much the same format. Runquist begins with a two-page pennant race summary. This is followed by series-by-series stats, and a short paragraph about each series. In the next section, Willie goes into detail on each team: Games started by position for every player, batting totals and pinch hitting. For the 15 most used position players, he breaks down their batting record by series. He basically does the same thing for pitchers. He ends each Almanac with a series of Bill Jamesian type essays. Most of the Almanacs average between 170 to 180 pages. But they are for the hard core Coastleague aficionado. I, of course, love them.