A few weeks ago, I received a fantastic email from an author with a ton of baseball stories to tell, and one in particular that he crafted into a book. The book, “Destitute Darlings.” The author, Mel Proctor. Proctor’s baseball resume is one of the most impressive I have ever seen in all my years covering baseball. Proctor in his email to me previewed the book, including his place in it. I was hooked immediately. In his words, “Destitute Darlings. It’s the true story of the 1975-76 Hawaii Islanders who overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the first two Pacific Coast League titles in team history. I was the team’s radio announcer, the start of my 35 years as a baseball announcer including four major league team’s. In 2025 I interviewed the players remaining from that team. You won’t believe the story until you read it.” I enthusiastically accepted the opportunity to read the story and received a manuscript copy of “Destitute Darlings” a few days later. I read it cover to cover over the 24 to 36 hours.
So, who were the Hawaii Islanders? What league did they play in relative to Major League Baseball? Did they play in a famous stadium in Hawaii? Did they have any famous players suit up for them who became big time Major League players? Who were the Destitute Darlings and who came up with that catchphrase? Did the Islanders win games and championships and the admiration of fans in Hawaii? And how did a kid from Rhode Island end up playing a huge role in the success of a team situated some 5,000 miles away? There is one man eternally qualified to answer these and any other question you want to throw at him about the Hawaii Islanders of 1975-1976, and that man is Mel Proctor.
Proctor not only broadcast games for the Hawaii Islanders, he was (in my opinion) much more than that. From his first hand account of games played both at home in Hawaii, but also on the road in places like Tacoma, Washington and Salt Lake City, Utah Proctor had the inside track to pen these insight and honest and riveting stories with such sharp detail. His authentic storyteller with funny quips and ironic events and chance encounters (wait until you read about his meetup with HOF’er Mickey Mantle) are the kinds of baseball stories you just dream about hearing about. The book is filled with baseball stuff, baseball stats, in game analysis, player profiles, manager profiles, and the ups and downs and basements of Minor League baseball back in the mid-1970s. But it is also such a personal journey for Proctor and his crew game after game, mile after mile, flight after flight, hardship after hardship, and victory after victory. Think it was fun, think it was easy, think it was a good gig being a Hawaii Islander back then? Read the book and see if your theory was right.
One of the very cool parts of the book for me as a proud Rhode Island native was his story about Rhode Island’s Billy Almon. Almon is a Rhode Island baseball legend. A first round draft pick out of Brown University, a Rhode Island kid who played parts of 15 season with 7 different clubs, most notably the San Diego Padres. Almon was 1 of 1, the first pick in the 1974 MLB draft. Folks from Rhode Island will agree with me that is indeed the rarest of airs for a baseball player from Rhode Island to go that high. Proctor interviewed Almon in addition to several other living Hawaii Islanders for the book in 2025. Almon’s story is a really good one, centered around a freak injury that nearly short circuited his baseball career for good in 1976. Luckily, Almon recovered and told the tale of the event with a rather hilarious twist to it. Great stuff here.
The photos of the team, the interactions with players and coaches, the game recaps, and the sports cartoons are just fabulous. The Hawaii Islanders will probably go down in Minor League Baseball history as one of the most interesting organizations to have ever existed. Their success, their failures, their stadiums, their players, their pipeline of players going to the San Diego Padres and other MLB teams, their journey makes a great story. Not to mention, how in the heck they did it by logging all those miles back and forth and across the Pacific Ocean. And the one to tell it the best is the one and only, the great Mel Proctor. Huge thanks to Mel for sharing his stories with me. I know every baseball fan out there will want to get a copy of Mel’s “Destitute Darlings,” and learn more about these incredible Hawaii Islanders players and this incredible time in baseball history.
Head over to Amazon today and get your copy of “Destitute Darlings” by Mel Proctor by clicking this link – Destitute Darlings.
All photos and material in this story are courtesy of Mel Proctor’s “Destitute Darlings.”
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