By Susan Couso
By the early 1800’s, baseball was sweeping across our country as America’s favorite game. The love of baseball did not escape those in Lassen County, and our area has long organized local boys in an effort to provide some good entertainment and good competition. Just ask Frank Ernaga, who made us all proud with his outstanding career as a member of the Chicago Cubs, in our country’s favorite sport.
But long before Frank held a bat, another local boy, Fred Adelbert ‘Jack’ Carman attempted to dominate the diamond.
Jack, who was born in Lassen County in 1884, started his career in 1909 playing for the San Francisco Seals. The baseball franchise which would eventually evolve into the Reno Aces.
This was the Pacific Coast League, formed in 1903, a Triple-A rated minor league that fostered many famous players, including the legendary Joe DiMaggio and Lefty O’Doul.
The San Francisco Seals were charter members of the league, and first took the league title in 1909. But Jack stayed with the Seals for only two years before moving on to Missoula.
There, he played for the Missoula Union Association. In 1914, he played in the Salt Lake City area, then moved up to Washington state in 1916, and eventually ended his career in 1920, while playing for the Victoria Islanders.
Every year, during the ‘off-season’, Jack returned to Susanville to work as a carpenter in the lumber mill.
Jack Carman excelled in the outfield and at first base. He was tall and stout with blue eyes and brown hair, and was apparently an unassuming man. Years after the end of his ball-playing-days, he would toss the ball around with his grand nephew, Gene, and Jack mentioned, once or twice, that he, “used to play ball.”
Fred Adelbert ‘Jack’ Carman is buried in the Susanville Cemetery beside with his wife, Atha, who he had married in 1919, and his parents, George and Rhonda Carman, along with several other family members. He died in Susanville in 1961.
