3. Town Team Baseball - '56-'57

George Dieter's 1955 uniform (author's collection)

In 1956, Lowry's high hopes for back to back Resorter’s League pennants took a blow when star center fielder and team MVP, Georgie Dieter, jumped to the Glenwood nine in the Pomme de Terre league. A star on both offense and defense, the speedy Dieter stole 15 bases in 10 games in 1955, scored 15 times and drove in another 15. A gaping hole in the lineup.  I am pretty sure that the nefarious Lakers enticed him away with a signing bonus, perhaps upwards of 100 bucks.

But astonishingly, the '56 version of the Lowry Leghorns, lineup pretty much unchanged from the '55 squad (less Dieter) not only repeated as Resorter's pennant winners, but went undefeated to boot: 10-0. Jerry Hayenga & John "Jeener" Bosek continued to be a solid 1-2 pitching staff, with Dennis "Donuts" Bosek filling the closer/mop-up role. Stan Brosh moved from the corner outfield to centerfield and from the leadoff slot, his bat ignited. At home against Miltona, Stan registered a 5 hit, 3 homerun, 7 RBI day in the 12-6 win.  However, in the season end Resorter's League playoffs, that same Miltona squad gave Lowry a scare, taking game two 9-8 for Lowry's first league loss, forcing a game three. But Lowry romped 16-4 in the finale.  Lowry then went on to defeat Brandon to advance to the Class B Region 14 tournament in Perham hoping to gain a spot in the State Amateur Tournament to be held in Little Falls.

From the Little Falls transcript: The State Amateur Baseball board "decided to continue the usual practice of charging 75 cents a session for adults and 25 cents for children under 12. A session includes only games played in an afternoon or evening, not the whole day".

Region 14 entries were Lowry, New York Mills, Ashby, Perham, Deer Creek and Detroit Lakes.  Lowry was shutout by Ashby in game 1 but came back in the losers bracket to defeat New York Mills 13-5 but then were eliminated by Detroit Lakes.  Region 14 champ Perham advanced to the State Tourney, won their first 2 games but lost to the eventual State Champion Bemidji which featured 3 high schoolers as starters.

But a thrilling '56 season.  Could they possibly 3-peat?

1957 brought a bit of a youth movement to the Leghorn squad.  Youngsters Davey Troen, Paul Quitney, Roger Hayenga and Chuck Thompson all saw playing time. And lo and behold at the end of the 10 game regular season, Lowry stood 10-0, 3 games ahead of 2nd place Millerville, the third league title in a row and 2nd straight undefeated season.

In midseason, at Millerville, a scary scene. Millerville's fireballing left-hander, Joe Byrne, hit Lowry catcher, left handed hitting Glen Herrlinger,  in the head - no helmets of course. Glen was taken unconscious by ambulance to Alexandria hospital.  I believe he played in the following Sunday's game. (Every lefty I ever faced scared me. None of them seemed to have any idea where the ball was going.)

And an end of season bonus. In a sweet exhibition game before the playoffs, Lowry took a 4-3 11 inning win over the Glenwood Lakers (yes, those Glenwood Lakers) for their 11th straight win. The game was highlighted by a fantastic outfield catch by Glenwood batboy Jimmy Kunz who was forced into into the lineup in right field because only 8 Glenwood players showed up for the mid-week night game.  In the 9th, Jimmy robbed Ben Troen of a sure extra base hit (possibly a homerun, although with Ben's speed, if it didn't clear the fence, a double would be the best case) to send the game into extra innings.

But then in the Resorter's playoffs, shockingly, 4th place Brandon, who finished the season 4-6, ousted Lowry. Millerville then defeated Brandon to claim the Resorter's crown and advance to the regional tournament.

Disappointment. Say it ain't so , Joe.

Previous posts in this series 

Episode 1: The Ballpark

Episode 2: '55 Champs
...

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