Who’s Who in the England Team
Sid Bissett—One of the first to play baseball under N.B.A. Rules in England. Was Captain of Bradford Northern in 1935; now plays for Durex Club in Birmingham League. Can take any position in the field and is star pitcher of the Midlands.
I have written extensively about Sid Bissett elsewhere;[i] however, I will provide an overview of his career here for completeness's sake. Donald Alexander ‘Sid’ Bissett (1906–1992) —the origin of the nickname is uncertain—was, despite his later claims to have been born in Scotland, born in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1906, to Ontario native of Scottish descent James Bissett and his American-born wife Elizabeth Bissett née Whitton.[ii]
By 1926, the Bissett family was living in Winnipeg, and Sid was pitching for the West End team in the junior city baseball league. The following season, Bissett moved to the Elmwood Giants and was instrumental in the Giants enjoying an 18-game unbeaten run. Recognised as a great talent, he was scouted by senior league team the Elmwood Elks for the 1928 season. He stayed with the Elks for three seasons and then moved to Norwood and played a further three seasons.[iii]
By the time of the 1928–1929 ice hockey season, Bissett was a regular with the Beavers ice hockey team. The following season, he turned out for Selkirk, and then, for 1930–1931, he made the jump to the all-conquering Elmwood Juniors (AKA the Elmwood Millionaires) for its fourth successive Manitoba Junior championship-winning season. It was ice hockey that brought Bissett to England in December 1933. He played two seasons, 1933–1934 and 1934–1935, with the Warwickshire ice hockey team based in Birmingham, Midlands.[iv]
Bissett received his baptism in baseball in England between those two seasons with Warwickshire. He pitched for the ‘England’ team in the third of its three games against ‘Scotland’ in the summer of 1934, games billed by Moores’ NBA as ‘Baseball Internationals’. Actually, the ‘England’ side was formed mostly of players from the Liverpool area, and the ‘Scotland’ side comprised American medical students from the University of Edinburgh. England lost all three games, but Bissett, brought in for the final game, which was played in Manchester, gave the Scotland side its biggest scare. This 1934 start makes Bissett the earliest member of the 1938 England team to start his baseball career in England.[v]
For the 1935 season, Bissett was recruited alongside several of his Warwickshire colleagues to join the Durex Abrasives company team based in Birmingham.[vi] The first team to play American baseball in the Birmingham area, Durex was the innovation of the company’s American managing director, Donald Kelso.[vii] Although on paper an amateur team, Kelso’s recruitment—into his company as well as its baseball team—of Bissett and his colleagues made the team professional in all but name. It would dominate the Birmingham baseball scene—and indeed, the national amateur scene—for the next four years, and its greatest asset would be Sid Bissett.
Bissett left England in June 1940, shortly after the Dunkirk evacuation, to take up a role at Durex’s Canadian plant at Brantford, Ontario. There, he continued to play both baseball and ice hockey. He also took to coaching youth teams, including girls’ softball. In 1947, he emigrated to the USA, joining his older brother, Hugh, in Van Nuys, California, where he became a chicken-feed salesman. He turned out for the company baseball team. He died in Van Nuys in 1992.[viii]
The finest player of American baseball in England in 1935, Bissett was eclipsed on the national stage by the arrival of a raft of Canadian and American players as the Moores leagues expanded in 1936. However, he remained the greatest asset the Birmingham leagues had [after Donald Kelso], a player whose skills with ball and bat inspired others to want to be even half as good.
[i] https://www.ishilearn.com/diamond-lives-health-friendship-and-baseball-part-iv, accessed 2 August 2025.
[ii] This information can be assembled from genealogical records and published accounts, see, for example, 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta entry for James Bissett and family, Brandon, Manitoba; California, Death Index, 1940-1997, for Donald Alexander Bissett, ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 12 July 2025. For Donald Alexander being Sid Bissett’s real names: 1) Bissett is listed as ‘D A (Sid) Bissett’ in the Durex roster here: ‘Baseball Match with Dark Blues’, Evening Dispatch (Birmingham), 4 June 1936; and 2) there was a Donald A Bissett working for an emery paper manufacturer (i.e., Durex Abrasives) living in Birmingham in 1939, who was born on Christmas Day 1906 in Canada: entry for Donald A. Bissett, Birmingham Borough, 1939 England and Wales Register, ancestry.co.uk. Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 12 July 2025.
[iii] Elmwood Elks in the Senior League: ‘Heavy Hitting Wins for Elks’, Winnipeg Tribune, 28 June 1928. Joins Norwood: ‘Tigers Swamp Norwood Nine in First Tilt’, Winnipeg Tribune, 4 September 1931. Still with Norwood: ‘Elks Break Even in Two Senior Ball Games’, Winnipeg Tribune, 15 June 1933.
[iv] With Beavers: ‘Columbus Club Qualify for Junior Play-Down’, Winnipeg Tribune, 13 February 1929; Selkirk: ‘Intermediate Hockey League Race Tightens, Winnipeg Tribune, 31 December 1939; Millionaires: ‘Selkirk Evens Hockey Series, Winnipeg Tribune, 21 February 1931. Millionaires four straight wins: ‘Elmwood Manitoba Junior Champions’, Vancouver Sun, 6 March 1931. Bissett leaving for England: ‘Winnipeggers Leaving For Overseas’, Winnipeg Tribune, 9 December 1933.
[v] Bissett playing for England’: ‘New Baseball “Caps”’, Liverpool Evening Express, 31 August 1934; Scotland’s Fine Baseball Win’, Liverpool Evening Express, 3 September 1934. I tell the story of the Scotland team here: https://www.ishilearn.com/diamond-lives-washington-makes-his-bow, accessed 27 July 2025.
[vi] Kelso and ice hockey stars in Birmingham team: ‘Baseball: Liverpool to visit Birmingham’, Evening Dispatch (Birmingham), 20 April 1935.
[vii] Kelso biography: ‘Ordnance Chiefs Visit Rheem Plant’, Danville News, 29 March 1945.
[viii] Bissett leaving UK: entry for Donald Bissett, 28 June 1940, passenger lists for SS Duchess of Richmond, UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960, ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 12 July 2025.. Touring Germany, working for Durex in Brantford, playing baseball and ice hockey in Brantford, coaching youth teams: ‘S. Bissett Would Aid Youngsters’, Expositor (Brantford ON), 26 December 1942. The 1947 move to Van Nuys: ‘Bissett Binds Bakers as Seeders Cop Win’ Van Nuys News and Valley News Sheet, 1 May 1947. Living with brother Hugh: Entry for Donald A Bissett in 1950 US Federal Census, Van Nuys district; year of death: entry for Donald Alexander Bissett, 1 July 1967, California, Death Index, 1940-1997, ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 12 July 2025.