Who’s Who in the England Team
Jack Ritchie—Left-handed batter. Plays for Liverpool Giants. Represented Lancashire, 1937 and 1938. A reliable player, very popular with "fans."
Jack Ritchie (?–?) was one of a handful of the 1938 England team who made England his home, having formed a mutual attachment to the city of Liverpool in 1936 and spending the rest of his life there. Back in Canada, he had been a star of the game in the prairie states, playing four seasons with the Saskatoon Northern Distributors, including winning two Saskatchewan provincial championships, and then one season (1934) with the Edmonton Shastas, the year they won the Edmonton Senior Amateur League and Alberta championship. He then moved on to Westmount. One of his teammates in the Distributors was future major leaguer Lefty’ Wilkie. Ritchie also found time to coach and umpire junior ice hockey in the church league. His dedication to coaching and talent development would be a feature of his life and career.[i]
In 1936, Ritchie and his best friend, Ab ‘Tony’ Rogers, conceived the idea of going to England and trying their luck in the burgeoning ice hockey scene. Their late summer arrival in the country coincided with the latter part of the baseball season, so they acquired berths in baseball teams in the North West of England. Morgan would later return to his original plan and sign up as player–coach for the Dundee Tigers ice hockey team (future home of George McNeil). However, Ritchie received such a warm reception in Liverpool that he made the city his home for the rest of his life.[ii]
Ritchie found a spot in the Liverpool Giants, then midway through its first season in the new professional North of England League (based in Lancashire and Merseyside). There he remained for the rest of the Giants’ existence (1936–1939), making a vital contribution not just as a player but also as a coach, particularly of youth players, and umpire.[iii]
The 1937 season saw Ritchie coaching as well as playing for the Giants. This was also the first season that the Giants had their own ground, at Wavertree—the first in the North of England with a skimmed diamond. For this and subsequent seasons, the star of the team was Al Haley, its pitcher. In 1938, Haley took over captain and coaching duties from Ritchie, and would likely have received an England call-up alongside Ritchie had he not been nursing an arm injury at the time. Ritchie, meanwhile, racked up the second-best batting average in the Yorkshire–Lancashire league just behind fellow England and former Giants player Ken Robinson (.476 and .477, respectively).[iv]
The 1938 season was the first season of the merged Yorkshire–Lancashire League, a semi-pro league that replaced the separate pro North of England and Yorkshire leagues of the previous year, which had suffered from declining attendances. Built around a core of local players and committed to outreach to further the cause of American baseball in Liverpool (heartland of baseball under the ‘rival’ English code[v]), the Giants struggled against teams that leaned more on the ‘pro’ side of ‘semi pro’ in the merged leagues, finishing second-bottom, with 6 wins and 10 defeats.[vi]
For their 1939 campaign, the Giants brought England player Danny Wright into the team, only to lose his services early in the season when he was suspended for the rest of the season for a disciplinary offence committed while he was appearing in an inter-county match. Although the Giants could do nothing to stop Halifax’s relentless march to its second championship in a row, they came a credible joint third in the league.[vii]
Ritchie spent the early part of the Second World War working in the Liverpool shipyards; later, he joined the Canadian Army and saw active service in Italy. Post-war, by which time he was a married man with a son, Jack Jr, he returned to his baseball career, both as a player and, increasingly, as an umpire.[viii] His career so closely parallels that of Ross Kendrick that he can be called the Ross Kendrick of the Liverpool American baseball scene.
[i] Ritchie in Northern Distributors and Edmonton Shastas: ‘Ritchie Back’, Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon), 1 October 1934. Coacing and refereeing church junior ice hockey league: ‘Junior Practice’, Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon), 9 January 1930 and ‘Church Hockey’, Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon), 12 January 1929. Playing with Lefty Wilkie: Vic May, ‘May I Say Something’, Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon), 20 August 1942.
[ii] Ritchie and Rogers travel to England: ‘Ritchie and Rogers Arrive in England’, Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon), 29 July 1936. Ab Rogers and ice hockey: ‘Ab Rogers Visitor here in Quest Fo Players’, Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon), 5 July 1937. Jack Ritchie’s later life: https://www.projectcobb.org.uk/misc/brit-ball/42.pdf, accessed 2 August 2025.
[iii] Joins Giants: ‘Late Sports Wires: Jim Sullivan in Role as Baseball Hitter, Liverpool Echo, 31 July 1936. Still with the team 1939: ‘Come On Giants’, Liverpool Echo, 24 June 1939.
[iv] Ritchie Giants’ coach: ‘Giants Baseball Club Ltd’, Liverpool Echo, 27 March 1937. First skmmed diamond in North of England: ‘“Giants” Record Bid’ Liverpool Evening Express, 31 March 1937. Al Haley injured: ‘More Honours for Giants Baseball Stars’, Liverpool Evening Express, 13 August 1938. Ritchie and Robinson’s 1938 batting averages: ‘Baseball Notes’, Hull Daily Mail, 13 August 1938.
[v] Story of the English baseball code: https://www.ishilearn.com/diamond-lives-intolerance, accessed August 2025.
[vi] ‘League Leaders Meet’, Halifax Evening Courier, 12 August 1938.
[vii] ‘Danny Wright Suspended for Rest of Season’, Halifax Daily Courier, 10 June 1939. ‘Breach of Discipline’: ‘Baseball: Three Home Runs in Roses Battle’, Halifax Evening Courier, 30 May 1939. Giants third in table: ‘Baseball: Greys’ Cup Final Visit to Halifax’, Rochdale Observer, 5 August 1939.
[viii] War service: Note ii above, second reference; later life: Note ii, final reference.