1. Town Team Baseball - The Ball Park

GI's in Ebermergen, Germany - 1945

The genesis of the great surge in "town team" baseball in the 1950's were the returning WWII vets. President Roosevelt had asked the major leagues to continue to play a regular schedule throughout the war, even though many of the great stars of the game had enlisted in the war effort. The quality of play was as one sports writer wrote - “the tall men against the fat men at the company picnic.”  But interest in baseball among GI's was high. A common password/countersign was "Who won the World Series last year?" "St. Louis".

All through the war in the European theater, GI's played pickup games in "down time".  And after VE Day in 1945, the U.S. Army decided a good way to keep hundreds of thousands of its soldiers occupied was to set up a massive intramural competition in every sport imaginable. Baseball was the most popular game among the G.I.s, and a large league was formed with teams fielded by most of the divisions.  

This competitive "local" baseball idea was carried home and in Minnesota in 1946, the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Association was formed and by 1950, with teams filled with WWII vets, Minnesota had 103 town team leagues and 799 teams. Ponder this ... Minnesota has 853 incorporated cities. The leagues were divided into classes AA, A, B generally based on the size of the city.  AA  & A teams usually had a couple hired players. Bud Grant claims he made more money playing town team ball than playing professional basketball with the Minneapolis Lakers. With the arrival of the Twins in 1961, the number of teams dwindled to 299 teams - consolidation but no less fervor. The State Amateur Tournament now has 3 classes and takes place during the 2 weeks before Labor Day to large crowds.

Lowry came a bit late to the table. The Lowry ball club formed in 1954, petitioning to join the Resorter’s League, then comprised of teams from Holmes City, Brandon, Evansville, Millerville & Miltona. (The Farwell guys played for Lowry or Kensington, depending on their drinking habits.)  If you know those town names, you well know the Resorter's was a Class B league. The first field manager was Doc Wright, the local dentist. When Doc moved away, 2nd baseman Al Sell took over a player-manager role. The first game (May 11, 1954) was in Millerville with Lowry coming out on top 14-6.  Jerry Hayenga pitched a complete game with Burdell Benson behind the plate. Millerville committed 13 errors. (Uffda. They needed a diligent infield rock picker. See next paragraph)

The village constructed a field on the southwest edge of town on land donated by I.M. Engebretson. The infield was dirt and every dragging turned up about a million rocks, which I believe yours truly picked 500,000. The outfield sloped so dramatically toward right field that only the upper torso of the right fielder could be seen from home plate. The outfield fence was a "snow fence".  There was a scoreboard in dead center with hang-up numbers like Fenway, but I don't remember who the keeper was. The backstop was so close to home plate it was impossible to score from third on a passed ball. There were no "city services" so your nature break got you an outhouse experience. Ray Hayenga hauled 2 cream cans of water from the creamery for the teams - with a single dipper for each. Leo Dahl manned a concession stand with candy bars & sodas. My dad dragged the infield with a stone boat-like sled pulled behind his pickup and weighted down with concrete blocks. It wasn't Yankee Stadium but it was a glorious place.

There was a small bleachers directly behind home plate, but most people pulled their cars right up to the fence and sat on the hood or pulled out their lawn chairs. Some sat in the driver's seat so they could honk the horn for the home runs - only for the home team of course. Invariably, someone went home with a fresh dent in the hood - and occasionally a smashed windshield from a foul ball. Foul balls were treasure for kids. Uncle Dave Nelson handed out a nickel for each foul ball retrieved - or home run. A nickel represented 5 baseball cards and 5 pieces of bubble gum. I had to rely on quickness to get my nickels. If there was a scrum, Big Time would toss me aside like a rag doll. Gordy was the batboy and I was envious. Myrtel Benesh was the official scorekeeper.

Every summer Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM - enough time to get to church, grab some dinner & still get to 1:00 batting practice - the sound "Play Ball" could be heard all across Minnesota.




Note: This series of posts is supported by Ray Hayenga's scrapbook which came to me from his son Bruce by way of Dave Chan.  Ray collected every Park Region Echo clipping on the Lowry ball team from 1954 to 1962.  I have digitized this scrapbook.  If you want a look, here's a link: Ray Hayenga's Scrapbook.  Caveat:  It's a large .pdf file. Your browser may not be able to preview it but you should be able download it.

Copyright © 2018 Dave Hoplin