PONY League Olean Oilers Are a Fading Memory

OLEAN, NY — Just outside downtown Olean lies an old but beautiful baseball field. Home to the revived Olean Oilers, a collegiate summer baseball team, since 2012, Bradner Stadium has a rich and storied history that spans almost a century.

From 1939 to 1962, a different iteration of the Olean Oilers called Bradner Stadium home.

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The original Oilers played in the now-defunct PONY League. During their run, these Oilers acted as a farm club for a handful of Major League teams, such as the Brooklyn Dodgers, St. Louis Browns and Philadelphia Phillies.

Despite the original Oilers’ popularity in the Olean area, proof of the team’s success now mostly lives on via old newspaper clippings — many of which TAPinto acquired from database and compilation service FultonHistory . According to one report, the Oilers were popular enough in Olean to shut down the local library during game hours.

Yet, as time progressed, memories of this once-popular team slowly faded.

Chuck Pollock, lead columnist for the Wellsville Sun in nearby Wellsville, has spent time recollecting the stories of the mid-1900s Olean Oilers.

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“So many people when I first got here in 1970 were much more familiar with the [PONY] League,” Pollock noted.

But over time, Olean residents’ perceptions of the Oilers shifted drastically. Once popular in the area, the Oilers began officially dismantling in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Afterward, the team slowed faded into obscurity, and its once enthusiastic fan base aged.

“Older people remember going to the game,” Pollock said. “There was a time this was a big deal in Olean.”

Jake Pitler, manager of the Oilers from 1939 to 1943, exemplified the Oilers’ draw.

Short of stature, Pitler was not the most imposing figure. But according to newspaper clippings from the Olean Times Herald, he had a big personality and a fiery temperament. Affectionately nicknamed “Skipper Jake,” Pitler brought home two PONY League championship titles in his first two seasons.

However, his success managing the on-field product was many times overshadowed by his personality off the field.

“If all the baseball stories Jake Pitler can tell were laid end to end, they would make wonderful listening,” a journalist wrote of Pitler in May 1941.

Pitler told one such story at an American Sons of Italy dinner, which was recounted in the Olean Times Herald:

“He told about a player from Buffalo, not overly bright, during a time when the team was using word signals. If the manager spoke the name of a city east of the Mississippi, it meant 'hit.’ A city west of the river meant ‘bunt.’ [It] Came the yokel's turn to bat, and the manager hissed, ‘Wauxautaussie.’

‘What?’ pleaded the agonized rookie.

‘Wauxautaussie,’ said the manager impatiently.

The batter turned to the catcher and said, ‘You certainly gotta know your geography to play on this team.’"

Under Pitler especially, the Oilers brought excitement to local baseball and the community of Olean. They showcased a brand of baseball that filled seats, won ballgames and brought home championships to Bradner.

Despite the Olean Oilers residing relatively low on the professional baseball circuit, their historical significance to the area is something that many argue should continue to be recognized.

Pitler himself vitalized baseball in the Olean area and characterized an exciting era of localized sports. With his help, the Oilers ascended to a role of prominence in Olean. The community embraced Pitler and the Oilers.

“They [the fans] remember the guys who participated,” Pollock said, referencing stars like Warren Spahn, an MLB Hall of Famer who spent time at Bradner playing for rival squad Wellsville.

The history of the Olean Oilers does not merely lie with league titles or batting statistics. Rather, it lies with the community who came out to cheer on the young ballplayers and managers who put on quite the show.

While time has slowly dimmed the bright light that was the original Oilers at Bradner, the team’s impact on its community should not go unnoticed. The Oilers brought a fun and exciting brand of baseball to the Olean area — a memory worth remembering.

“The Oilers are kind of a faded memory,” Pollock said. "Maybe that's the story."

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