Nearly 2,000 fans crowded into Minot’s Northwest Fairgrounds, on July 30, 1923. Some fans were there to watch the city’s first-place Magicians battle the Jamestown Jimkotas in the inaugural season of the North Dakota League.

Even more were there to try and win a Ford touring car that was being given away in the seventh inning, a promotion meant to help shore up the team’s finances.

The Minot Daily News wrote at the time, “the turnout of fans proved a welcome relief to the players and the management from the customary corporal’s guard of faithful which has been patronizing the sport in Minot.”

The financial concerns were real. The league was organized by Jamestown, after the South Dakota teams left the Dakota League over travel expenses after the 1922 season, and the league those teams formed had already folded a few weeks prior.

Adding to worries, the New Rockford-Carrington Twins, one of the four teams in the North Dakota League, had already relocated to Valley City, becoming the Hi-Liners.

Axel W. Nelson, a storekeeper for Great Northern, won the car and the Magicians won the game, scoring eight runs on ten hits, eight of which were extra bases. Jamestown’s only two runs of the game came in the second inning when they scored on a hit batter, a sacrifice, a steal, and two singles.

Charles E. Geist, a columnist at the paper, was critical of the ballpark’s location, writing at the time that, while the Magicians’ field was “perhaps the best in the state, [it] is too far removed from the city,” and that “taxi fare both ways plus general admission and grandstand made the price practically prohibitive for the average fan to attend daily games.” He argued that for baseball to work, the field needed to be within reasonable walking distance for fans.

Jamestown told its peers that it would cost about $4,000 to field a team, which is approximately $75,000 today. The Minot organizers planned to incorporate a stock company, with officers and a board of directors to help finance the club by selling shares in the team. G.W. Twiford was named chairman of the committee, and other officers, including Lee H. Piper, R.M. Graham, R.F. Mills and Harry Mowbray were named to help determine whether the business community would support a team.

Once all four cities (Jamestown, Minot, Bismarck and New Rockford-Carrington) incorporated, the league became the only chartered league under the national commission of baseball between Minneapolis and the west coast.

The Minot Ball Association worked with the Ward County Commissioners on a number of improvements to the diamond, including construction of new bleachers and the hanging of netting around the field.

Each team was to play a schedule of 74 games, with 37 home and the same number away. Games took place in the form of a five-game series, on Thursday through Monday. Originally, Sunday doubleheaders were looked at, but the concept was later rejected.

Scheduling issues arose almost immediately. Neither Minot nor Jamestown could host games over the Fourth of July because of scheduling conflicts. New Rockford-Carrington requested to finish the final two weeks of the season on the road because most of the team’s fan base were farmers and needed to be in the fields harvesting.

Nonetheless, Minot’s manager and first baseman Herbert H. Hester put together an impressive roster of talent, consisting of a number of players from the Pacific Coast league, including shortstop Carl W. Stranger, second baseman Fred Gunther, center fielder Henry Oliver, and pitcher Arthur Kinney.

Elmer Leifer, a pitcher, arrived in Minot with major league experience, having spent part of the 1921 season with the Chicago White Sox before being assigned to the minors in 1922.

Hester, a Magic City native who led Minot’s independent team the year before, was joined by other local talent including Frank “Bing” Worner and Jimmy Hennessy.

Logan Powell, the league president from Jamestown, promised fans the best baseball possible. “We are going to cater to the public at all times, shall give you clean baseball under the jurisdiction of the National Association of Minor League Clubs, and have instructed the umpires to have at all times the interest of the fans who make the game the great national sport, at heart.” he said.

The Magicians opened with four straight wins on the road, sweeping Bismarck, so when they played their home openers against New Rockford-Carrington, Minot already sat atop the standings.

Minot won the first game of the doubleheader 3-2, and the second game was tied 3-3 when it was called due to the weather. After Jamestown dropped two games in Bismarck, the Magicians remained the only undefeated team in the league.

By the end of June, Minot had a 17-7 record and a four-game lead over second-place Jamestown, in the split season format. The second half of the season saw the team go 24-11, finishing far ahead of Valley City, their nearest competitor.

The Magicians closed out the season with a 10-9 win over Bismarck, to win five of six games in the final series.

Five Magician players had batting averages over .300 on the year, with the team averaging .294. Oliver finished tied for the league lead in home runs with six, while Denison finished with five.

Despite Minot running away with the title, local reports at the time saw a competitive race brewing, writing at the time, “perhaps the feature of the North Dakota League during the last half of the season was the merry race staged between Valley City and Jamestown for the second place. Valley City, formerly the Carrington-New Rockford club, was the weak sister of the league during the forepart of the season but since the franchise was transferred to Valley City, the team has showed surprising strength.”

After the local squad clinched the pennant, the business community rallied behind the team by throwing a celebration in their honor prior to their last exhibition game against Bismarck, on Aug. 20. A majority of storefronts announced they would be closing early so that employees and their families could attend the pennant raising and activities.

Some players, including Stranger and Denison, were already recalled to their Pacific Coast teams by the time of the celebration and soon after the festivities, the rest of the team quickly disbanded and returned home. Leifer, one of the more reliable pitchers, went to play in Spokane, Wash. Bob Coleman and Walley Walters returned to Los Angeles, who owned their contracts. Oliver and his wife left for Seattle, Wash. where he played. The catcher Andy Brandt returned home to Bottineau. Hester briefly played in Montana before heading west for the winter.

With none of the teams enjoying financial success, the league formally folded with Minot the only champions of the North Dakota League.