BASEBALL HISTORY BEGINS IN EVANSVILLE

Evansville fans have watched been watching local baseball players win and lose at the game of baseball since 1867.  This is the year that the first local baseball team was reported in the Evansville newspapers.  It was one year before the start of the first professional baseball team in the United States and Evansville men already had formed an attachment to the game.

The April 24, 1867 issue of the Evansville Citizen announced the organization of the Evansville Baseball Club.  Dr. C. M. Smith was elected president, E. S. Watts, vice President and Daniel Curry, Secretary & Treasurer.  A regular meeting was held once a month and practices were held on the Evansville Seminary grounds on Wednesday and Saturday of each week.

Only the last name of the players and their positions on the team were listed in the lineup printed in the July 24, 1867 Evansville Citizen: Curry, catcher; Carville, pitcher; Nelson, short stop; J. Spencer, 1st base; Vervalin, 2nd base; Bennett, 3rd base; Dudley left field; C. Spencer, center field; and Haskins, right field.

The Evansville Citizen reporter praised this new organization: “We are pleased to see this popular and healthful amusement entered into by our young men.  It has already become a national recreation, and has excited a healthy emulation between towns and states, and may ere long spread to nations.”

The team played against a Beloit team known as the Line City team.  The game was played on the grounds south of the Seminary.  According to the report, a crowd of several hundred people turned out to watch the game.

Scores of early games were much higher than today.  The Evansville team lost 25 to 76.  By the ninth inning, Beloit’s score was so high, the game was called.  Even though Evansville had only one out in the ninth inning, the winning team was obvious to the umpire.

According to the local newspaper, “It was a lively game, and well done.”  The reporter told readers that though the fans hoped Evansville would win, the local team was not a match for their opponent. “Of course we would much rather to have our boys beat, but when it is known that the Evansville Club is of recent organization and but very little time has been devoted to practice, and nearly all new players, we think they did remarkably well.”

Baseball was becoming the favorite summertime pastime of men and boys.   For those who wanted to learn more about the game and how to play, local news stands carried Haney’s Base Ball and promised to order “quantities for clubs on short notice.”

Haney’s Base Ball of Reference by Henry Chadwick was published in 1867 It was the first official rulebook of the game.

Chadwick described the model player, “The principal rule of action of our model base ball player is, to comport himself like a gentleman on all occasions, but especially on match days, and in so doing he abstains from profanity and its twin and vile brother obscenity, leaving these vices to be alone cultivated by graduates of our penitentiaries.”

“He never censures errors of play made by a brother member or an opponent, as he is well aware that fault finding not only leads to no improvement in the play of the one who blunders but on the contrary is calculated to have the very reverse effect.”

“He was never known to dispute the decision of an umpire, for knowing the peculiar position an umpire is placed in, he is careful never to wound his feelings by implying that his judgment is weak.”

According to Chadwick, the model player was “able to throw a ball with accuracy of aim a dozen or a hundred yards.”  The player should also be “fearless in facing and stopping a swiftly batted or thrown ball.”

The rules given to the pitchers may have been responsible for the high scoring games.  The pitcher was to pitch the ball close to the center of home base and where the batsmen requested it.

Gloves were rarely used by the early players and the results were injured hands and crooked fingers.  Catching a ball without having it hurt the player’s hands was part of learning to play the game.  Even the catcher was considered a “sissie” if he wore a glove.

The baseball of the 1860s was ten inches in circumference.  Usually just one ball was used for the entire game, and it was awarded to the winning team as a trophy.

Area communities with baseball teams in the late 1860s included Clinton, Janesville, Beloit, Milton, and Evansville.

The first Wisconsin Base Ball Tournament was held in Beloit starting September 3, 1867.  There were teams from Madison, Delavan, Milton, Whitewater, Milwaukee, LaCrosse, Clinton, and Beloit.  Beloit had seven teams in the tournament.  Several Illinois teams also participated, including payers from Belvidere, Forest City, Chicago, Freeport, Rockton, and Roscoe.

Although there was plenty of interest from baseball fans, no Evansville team participated. However the local newspaper reported that the Beloit tournament site was a “beautiful piece of prairie, level as a house floor, on the Stateline road, near the Northwestern depot.”

Prizes were awarded for adult senior and second class clubs, junior clubs with players under the age of eighteen, and pony clubs with players under the age of fifteen.  Additional prizes were offered by Rock County businesses for best catcher, best pitcher, best thrower, best runner of bases.  There was also a prize of a box of soap for the “club securing most whitewashes.”

One of the first of the tournament games played was called at dusk with Whitewater at 46 points and the Beloit Badgers at 25.  Another game between two junior teams, the Intrepids of LaCrosse and the Capitol Juniors of Madison, resulted in a win for the Capitol Juniors, 62 to 17.

The first professional baseball team organized in 1869.  That year, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first team to pay all of their players.  In 1869, the Stocks had an annual payroll of $9,300 and the star of the Cincinnati team, short-stop George Wright,was paid $1,400. His fans said he was worth every penny of it.  Within a few years, Evansville could claim one of it’s own players as a professional baseball player.

THE 1870S

There were only a few articles about baseball in the Evansville newspapers during the 1870s. The May 27, 1874 issue of the Review reported, a game of baseball between the “Graded School boys and the Seminary boys.”  The game was held on the grade school grounds (the current location of the J. C. McKenna Middle School.)  The Seminary students were beaten by twenty points.

A race horse track near the cemetery was used for many of the games played by the adult players.

In 1878, Evansville had a team called the Red Stockings that practiced every day.  They played an Oregon team known as the Squealers.

On the 4th of July, a baseball match was held that was “witnessed by scores, with manifest delight for the skill and ingenuity of those who participated.”  No mention was made of the players on the team.  The reporter considered any mention of the details of the game as “not particularly necessary for these notes.”

In 1879, the Evansville Baseball team, the Evansville Mutuals, played ball against teams from Magnolia, Stoughton, Janesville and the Footville Clippers.  Wild fielding and a “want of practice” caused the loss of the games with Magnolia and Footville, but the local team was victorious over Stoughton by a score of 18 to 3.

A game was played against the Janesville Mutuals on October 17, 1879.  The locals beat the Janesville team 10 to 2.  Cal Broughton, Morehouse and Owen are mentioned as having “played their positions finely.”

In March 1880, another Evansville baseball team was organized. Livery stable owner, Matt Broderick, served as Manager. The team was once again called the Evansville Mutuals. Cal Broughton was catcher, Bayard Andrews, pitcher; Morehouse, Owen, F. Broughton on the bases; Heath, shortstop; and Purdy Thompson and Hunt in the field.  Two men acted as extras, John Silverthorn and A. Broughton.

THE 1880S AND EVANSVILLE'S FIRST PROFESSIONAL PLAYER -- CAL BROUGHTON

The local teams usually began practicing in March and the season ended in September.  One of the first reported matches in 1880 was between the Evansville Mutuals and the Janesville Mutuals for a prize of twenty dollars.

The game was played at Evansville's Fourth of July celebration.  Evansville's team won with a score of 32 to 20. Other games were played against teams from neighboring towns and sometimes there was an incentive of prize money offered to the winning team.  The Mutuals always drew a crowd.

Baseball playing in the 1880s took on new importance for Evansville fans as one of their own players was picked to play professional ball. Cal Broughton whose name is mentioned in the 1870s as one of Evansville’s team members was called to play for Cleveland.

CAL BROUGHTON MAKES IT TO THE MAJOR LEAGUES

The Evansville baseball fans and team members knew there was potential for a talented player to join the legendary baseball professionals.  One of Evansville’s favorite players, Cal Broughton, made that transition to the professional leagues in the 1880s.

Cecil Calvert Broughton was a popular catcher and played with area teams.  In the early 1880s, Broughton joined the Janesville Mutuals as their catcher.  When the Janesville Gazette covered the Mutuals’ games, they often commented on Broughton’s playing ability.

During the summer of 1882, the Janesville Mutuals challenged teams from Chicago, Rockford, Detroit, Beloit, and Milwaukee.  In July 1882, the Mutuals played the Greens of Chicago.  The Gazette described Broughton’s playing as “fine.”  The Gazette also said that Cal continued to improve, and “is now as good a catcher as there is in the country.”

Broughton made his major league debut with the Cleveland Blues on May 2, 1883, at the age of 22.  He played in only four games as the team’s catcher. He was in Evansville for the 4th of July celebration that year.  The Review noted his return and called him the “best player in the U. S.”  However, the competing newspaper, the Enterprise, said that “there are a great many equally as good in the country.”

Broughton returned to Cleveland and before the season ended he was released from the team.  For the rest of the 1883 season, he played catcher in eight (or nine) games for the Baltimore Orioles, depending on the statistics reported.

The following year, Cal Broughton played for the Milwaukee Cream City team.  A Milwaukee newspaper, anticipating Broughton’s arrival in the city reported in April 1884, “Cal Broughton is practicing regularly with McGinley, at Albany, Wis., and writes that he is in better condition than ever before.  McGinley is pitching in splendid style, and great things are expected of the ‘Wisconsin battery’ this season.”  Broughton played eleven games for Milwaukee in 1884.

In 1885, Broughton played for two teams.  At the beginning of the season, he played four games for the St. Louis Browns.  Then he transferred to the New York Metropolitans and played eleven games.  That season Broughton was at bat for 58 times, but he only had 7 hits and scored 2 runs.

In 1886, Cal was not chosen for a major league team.  However, he reported to the Evansville Review, that he was going to play for a Savannah, Georgia team.  The Review report said that Broughton’s salary for the season would be $1,200.

He played for a Memphis team and won a gold medal for “his efficiency.”  He took great pride in this medal, one of the few awards he gained during his professional career.

In November 1887, he was signed to play with the Detroit Wolverines in the 1888 season.  Broughton left on the 15th of February for Detroit.  The team was to make a trip through the south before they opened the league games.

The season was short-lived for Cal.  He played only one game for the Detroit team and his final game in the major leagues was played for the Wolverines on April 21,1888. The Evansville and Janesville newspapers reported his return home in early May.

However, in 1889 and 1890, Broughton had two more years of play with a St. Paul minor league team before returning to Evansville. There are no known records of his work with this team.

Following his professional career, Cal returned to Evansville and worked for the D. E. Wood Butter Company.  In the early 1900s, he served as Evansville’s elected police chief.  He continued to play baseball for many years, leading his Evansville team to a contested state championship in 1896.  He always played the catcher position.

The local players kept a close eye on their hero.  Each spring the local players organized teams and games with teams from other communities.  When the teams had no challengers from away, they played each other or teams from the rural area surrounding Evansville.

There were several Evansville teams playing in the 1880s, the Deceivers, the Acme Ball Club, and the Mutuals.  These were traveling teams and played teams from communities that could be reached by railroad.  Games were scheduled as they could be arranged with the other teams from Edgerton, Milton, Oregon, Madison, Beloit, Janesville, Reedsburg, Brodhead and Lodi.

The teams from towns closest to Evansville seemed to form the biggest rivals. If Evansville lost to Brodhead, Edgerton, or Milton, it was frequently reported by the Enterprise and the Review, that the Evansville team was playing “in a crippled condition,” without their best players. Sometimes an unfair umpire was blamed for Evansville’s loss to a rival.

Local newspapers did not often bother to name the players on the team.  An exception was made when Oregon and Evansville played a tie game of 14 to 14 in September 1883.  The Evansville team members were Web Owen, Aaron Broughton, Frank Broughton, Van Wart, Stearns, Millspaugh, H. Royer, J. Eastman, and Henry Royer.

The reputation of some Evansville team members, gave them opportunities to play for teams in other communities.  Frank Broughton was a catcher, often compared to brother, Cal, as being one of the best in the area. Broughton and Web Owen from Footville, both members of the Evansville traveling team, were often called by other teams to fill their roster.

In August 1883, Broughton and Owen were asked to play for a Harvard, Illinois team in a game against a Marengo, Illinois team.  According to local newspaper reports, Marengo’s teams was stacked with Chicago and Elgin professional players.  Harvard’s team was defeated but the Evansville players, Broughton and Owen, were praised as “the best players the Harvard Club had.”

The following year, in May 1884, Frank Broughton played for the Janesville Mutuals against the Beloit College team.  “The catching of Frank Broughton was loudly praised and many said that, with a little more experience, he will equal his brother, Cal.”

The enthusiasm for the game of baseball was as lively in the farming community surrounding Evansville as it was in the Village.  The Jug Prairie area in Rock and Green County west of Evansville had organized a team for baseball beginning the in the 1870s.

The Jug Prairie team had a baseball diamond on a farm west of Evansville.  In July 1883, the Evansville Deceivers played the Jug Prairie Club on Mr. Pike’s farm.  The Evansville team won the game 22 to 15.

In 1884 there was a country team called the “Tangle Legs.” Cainville also had a team that challenged the Evansville players.

On special occasions, when a visiting team did not show, or there was a special celebration in Evansville, the organized teams played scrub matches with teams that could be quickly organized with local men.

The public school grounds on South First Street were most often used for these games in the early 1880s.  The neighbors and school officials complained about the broken windows, destruction to lawns on neighboring properties and foul language that was sometimes used during the game.

In 1883, Levi Leonard and Lansing Mygatt sold part of the addition north of the residential area on Second Street to the Village of Evansville.  The Village Board intended to develop a park on this piece of property that was 19 x 51 rods.  Some suggested that a baseball diamond be built in the park “where boys may play ball without breaking window lights or damaging anyone’s private property.”

The Village Board did not spend the money to build a ball diamond and the teams made do with the school grounds.  In the late 1880s, the local ball teams used a diamond at the race track on McEwen’s farm southwest of the Village limits. This later became the Rock County Fairgrounds and teams continue to play on the Fairgrounds for many years.

By 1886, Evansville had ten baseball clubs organized.  Only the team captain’s names were mentioned in the newspaper, but several of the captains also were members of Evansville traveling team.  The team captains were Fred Gillman, George Hardin, George Wiggins, Elmer Scoville, Fred Springer; Fred Scoville, Earle Mihills, Bert Bevier, Bert Hoyl, Fred Clifford, Corey Dolph.

Baseball games usually earned only a brief report in the local newspapers until May 13, 1887, when a play-by-play report of a game against Oregon appeared in the Evansville Review. The report was signed “an old player.”

Evansville’s players won the game with a score of 27 to 6.  The game was umpired by a Mr. Croak of Magnolia.  The reporter said that Croak was “able and impartial” in calling the plays.

The first four innings were “goose eggs,”with no scores for Evansville.  Then the whole Evansville team batted in the 5th inning.  Evansville’s Broderick stepped up to the bat and hit the first (and only) home run of the game.  Fred Gillman’s hit was short and he was out at 1st.  Lieu Van Wart, the next batter, was also out at 1st base.

Slightham made it to second base. Frank VanWart hit the ball to left field and made it to second, with Slightham making it home, for the second run of the inning. Web Owen hit a line drive in the 5th inning, bringing Van Wart home.  The next batter, Aaron Broughton hit a line drive, made it to second base, bringing Owen home.

Nay Gillman (Fred’s brother) was Evansville’s next batter and he made it to first base.  Frank Broughton hit a fly ball that Oregon’s player fumbled and Broughton got to second base.

The first of the team’s batters was up again and Broderick bunted the ball and he made it to 1st base and Broughton came home.  Fred Gillman was next at bat and he made the third out.

For the next four innings, it was Evansville’s game.  The Review’s report of the plays and statistics was two columns long.  The “old player” gave high praise to the Evansville team.  “Oregon tried hard to hit the ball, but because of good fielding and the difficult curves pitched by F. Gillman very few of them reached first.”

Both the Oregon and Evansville teams were praised for their gentlemanly conduct.  “The game was played without any kicking or any use of vulgar language whatever, both nines being gentlemen in every respect.  Patrons of the game may be assured that the best of order will be kept, nothing will be allowed to be said that would shock the most fastidious.”

CAL BROUGHTON RETURNS TO EVANSVILLE AND THE BASEBALL CHAMPIONS OF 1896

The 1890s were exciting times for the Evansville ball clubs.  The favored location for the home games was the McEwen Driving park.  The adult teams used the McEwen grounds and the baseball diamond on the school grounds of the First Street school was abandoned to the high school, or quickly put together adult baseball teams that played in the this decade.

“Baseball is becoming epidemical again,” the Evansville Review announced in May 1891 and the perennial sport of summer began.  Evansville’s traveling team, usually referred to in news reports as the “Evansville Club” had a strong following of fans that would attend both home and away games.

Rivals for the Evansville team included teams from Oregon, Stoughton, Jefferson, Milton, Edgerton, Portage, Sun Prairie, Reedsburg, Sharon, Beloit, and Janesville.  An exhibition game with a Chicago team became a popular fund raiser for the traveling team.  Admission of 25 cents was also charged at the gate and the money was used to purchase uniforms for the team and to pay travel expenses.

The Evansville charges were small compared to the Janesville team playing in the Wisconsin League.  The Janesville team charged one dollar to get into the games.

Cal Broughton, Evansville’s only professional ball player in the 1800s, was still the popular hero of the baseball fans.  His friend, Fred Gillman told local reporters that he was playing for a Seattle club in 1890.  The following year, Cal was back in the Evansville area.

Only the best players were called to serve on the traveling teams, as the object was to win.  Fans often had bets on their favorite team and to increase their chances of winning, the baseball teams hired men from outside their communities to increase the strength of their team.  Fred Gillman and Cal Broughton played for an Edgerton team against Lake Mills in an August 1891 game.

For Evansville baseball players, it was an honor to be chosen to play for other area teams.  However when an opposing team used players that were not from their community, there was an outcry of unfair tactics, especially if the Evansville team lost.

The Black Devils was the team name used by the Evansville traveling team from 1894 to 1896.  This was a team that grew in strength over that three year period.  The Evansville Tribune considered this a “hideous” name, but praised the team’s winnings.

The Edgerton and Evansville rivalry that had begun in the 1880s continued into the next decade and the two teams played several games against each other each season.  For a game in July 1895, more than 100 Evansville fans traveled to Edgerton to watch their team play.  The Evansville fans cheered wildly when their team came back from a score of 4 to 1 in the fourth inning to defeat the Edgerton team by a score of 10 to 7.

In the ninth inning the Evansville fans watched their team make the final three outs for the Edgerton team.  According to the Tribune, the Evansville fans “yelled themselves hoarse as the alleged ball players from Edgerton were fanned out in one, two, three order.”

Although there were four newspaper published in Evansville in the mid-1890s, it was rare that player’s names were given in the reports of the games.  A game with Edgerton in 1895 was an exception.  Three Evansville players were mentioned as playing excellent ball during the battle with the Edgerton team.

The Tribune reported that Fred Gillman, the Evansville team’s catcher, made “a thrilling race” for home plate, scoring a run.  Two other players were mentioned only by their last names, Hayden, the pitcher was credited with striking out 17 of Edgerton’s players and a player, Libby, had an exceptional hit that “went far enough to strike a silver mine.”

In August 1895, an Edgerton team beat the Evansville nine by a score of 5 to 2.  The Evansville newspaper, the Tribune called the game a sham: “We acknowledge the defeat at baseball by the Edgerton boys, but would you recognize a nine from Evansville composed of all but two first class record breaker professional players?  We lost money, so would many others, if they bet on their own team against the field.”

Evansville had a team that was growing stronger with each game.  The Evansville and Edgerton rivalry had become so well known throughout the area that the mayors of the two communities called for a game to be played on neutral ground, in Janesville.  The mayors chose an umpire and his name was not revealed to either team until the start of the game.

Hundreds of people watched the two teams complete.  The Black Hussar band of Evansville played before the opening of the game.  Then the mayors announced their choice of umpire, Harvey Clark of Madison.

It appears that Evansville decided to play team “professionals” who did not live in the Evansville area, as the team roster included a third baseman named Possell, a short stop named Nichols, a first baseman named Minton and a left fielder named Cossibone.  The only recognizable Evansville names were Cal Broughton as catcher, Fred Gilman at center field, and Crall at right field.  Stewart at 2nd base and Runkle, the pitcher may also have been professional players.

Evansville was the winning team with a score of 9 to 5 and the Evansville Enterprise declared the Evansville team to be the champions of Rock County.  “We knew it” from the start that the other fellows were not up to the scratch. They had professional men, and we had to protect ourselves also.”

The next year proved to be the best year of the century for the Evansville baseball team.  The local players won against Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills, Edgerton, Stoughton and Waterloo in June and early July.

When Cal Broughton mangled and dislocated his thumb while playing a game against Durand, it was reported in all four Evansville newspapers.  The loss of their favorite catcher made the Evansville team vulnerable and Evansville lost three games without one of their key players.

Evansville’s lineup for most of the season included J. F. Nonemaker, pitcher; Cal Broughton, captain and catcher; Tom Morrissey, first base; Pat Holleran, second base; Tom Sullivan, third base; John Gregg, third base; Frank Broughton, Jr., shortshop; Chet Brewer, left field; Charles Newman, center field; Fred W. Gillman, right field, and manager; E. H. Libby, outfield Ray Broughton, infield; Chester A. Morse, mascot.  Frank, Jr. and Ray Broughton were nephews of Cal Broughton.

In the new few weeks, they lost to their rival Edgerton, but beat Sun Prairie, another game against Fort Atkinson, Waterloo, and Sharon.  By the end of the season, Evansville had won 19 games and lost five.

In league play for the Wisconsin State League, Edgerton had won 11 games and lost three.  Evansville had won 12 league games and lost 2 and was declared the Champion of the Wisconsin State League.

However, since their percentages were the same, .357, Edgerton challenged the Evansville team’s claim to the pennant and wanted a game to decide the true victor.  The game of the century was played for a championship that would be a subject of controversy for the next twenty years.

Evansville played against Edgerton on September 5th 1896 for what the two teams and their fans considered the championship game.  The action of the game got little notice in the Evansville newspapers but made headlines in the Janesville Gazette, as it drew crowds of people from Janesville, Edgerton, Evansville and all of Rock County.

Edgerton had some Rockford men by the names of Ferguson, Warner and Dillon and further improved the chances of their team by having league players from Janesville Fort Atkinson and Madison.  According to a report in the Janesville Gazette, twenty-one years later, “Evansville never entered words of protest, because they well knew that Edgerton, under the rule of the league had a perfect right to use the men they did.  It was alright for Edgerton to load up.”

Evansville lost the game by a score of 5 to 1, in favor of Edgerton, but controversy about the real winner of the championship of 1896 remained strong.  It was noted in the May 15, 1926, Janesville Gazette article about the game played twenty years before that several of the players had been successful away from the ball diamond.  Four of the players became chiefs of police, Fred W. Gillman, Cal Broughton, (Evansville chiefs), and Charles Newman and Tom Morrissey (Janesville chiefs.)

The baseball fever that had been so prevalent in Evansville in the 1880s and 1890s quieted some at the end of the 19th century.  The traveling baseball teams that had brought such excitement to the sports activities in Evansville became a thing of the past.

In the late 1890s, the legendary Cal Broughton and his team mate, Fred Gillman were elected to Evansville political offices.  At the time both the Police Chief and City Clerk positions were elected officials. Cal Broughton became Evansville’s Police Chief in 1899 and Fred Gillman held the job of City Clerk.  Gillman also held the appointment of Deputy Sheriff and frequently assisted Broughton in solving crimes.

Their new occupations brought the two well-known Evansville men as much notice in the local newspapers as their baseball playing had in earlier years.  Both men held their political offices for many years.  Broughton and Gillman had great success in capturing burglars and others who were unlucky enough to come to Evansville to engage in criminal activities.

In their spare time, Broughton and Gillman continued to play baseball.  Cal Broughton played for a Milton traveling baseball team against some old foes of Evansville, the Whitewater and Cambridge teams.  Frank Broughton, Jr. also a former Evansville team player played on the Clinton ball team, against his Uncle Cal’s Milton team.

When Evansville did not have a baseball team to excite local fans, the baseball lovers turned their attention to other teams.   Exhibition games with a team from Chicago, the Chicago Unions, were the highlight of the season for Evansville baseball fans at the turn of the century.  The Chicago Unions, sometimes called the Chicago Union Giants, or the Leland Giants was a team composed entirely of Black players from Chicago.

Every summer the Union Giants traveled to small towns in Wisconsin and other states in the Upper Midwest, playing local teams.  The Giants also played against other professional traveling baseball teams.  According to the Negro League Baseball Players Association, the Union Giants caused such a sensation wherever they played that if the local teams won, it was the highlight of the season.

The Chicago team made their first appearance in Evansville in 1897 and played against a team of Evansville men.  According to the local newspaper, the Badger, an immense crowd witnessed the game.

The following year, on September 29, 1898, the Union Giants returned to Evansville and a crowed of thirteen hundred people came to the Driving Park to watch the game.  The Evansville players were “a picked nine.”

The Evansville Review noted that this Evansville team was a newly organized and had not played together before the summer of ‘98.   Evansville lost to the Chicago team by a score of 12 to 9.

For the next few years, Evansville was part of the Chicago team’s circuit of play. After the first two years, there were no longer local teams to challenge the professionals.  The games were played at the Evansville Fair Grounds (formerly the Driving Park), against another professional traveling team.  In 1899, an estimated crowd of two thousand people watched the game with the Chicago Unions and another professional traveling team, the Cuban Giants.  In 1900 the Unions played against the Western Indians and the following year, the Beloit College team challenged the Chicago Unions at the Evansville fair grounds.  The Chicago team won by a score of 14 to 7.

ENTHUSIASM FOR BASEBALL WANES AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

There was very little enthusiasm for local adult baseball teams in the early 1900s.  If fans wanted to watch a good game of baseball, they usually had to travel to another city or village.  Fans and players were also required to follow the local norms for conduct on Sunday, or face the wrath of the community.

The Evansville fair grounds was the favored spot for the local teams to play and this land was owned and operated by the Rock County Fair Association.  When a game of baseball was played on Sunday, the owners of the fair grounds received complaints and the team was reprimanded in the local newspapers.

In early July 1903, the Fair Association secretary, W. W. Gillies placed an advertisement in the columns of the four local newspapers chastising the local Evansville teams for playing a game of baseball on Sunday.

“Complaint having been entered to the Fair Management on account of baseball on the Fair Grounds on Sunday, therefore, notice is hereby given to the Public that it will not be allowed hereafter on the Fair Grounds.  The management has no objections to innocent games on the grounds any other day of the week.  W. W. Gillies, Secretary.”

Another game was scheduled on a Sunday on land known as “Purington corners, a mile east of this city.”  A team from Monticello was to play an Evansville team.  The announcement of the game noted that the Evansville team included players with the last names Thurman and Farnsworth.

Fans were expecting a spirited game, but the local newspaper challenged the Sunday game.  “Credit is due our City Council and Fair Association that such games have been barred from the fair grounds in this city on Sundays.”  The fans and players submitted to the prevailing thought on Sunday games and cancelled the event.

Sometimes baseball games were put together to raise funds for a needy family.  In August 1904, the Baker Manufacturing Company organized a team of baseball players to challenge a team from the D. E. Wood Butter Company, another local manufacturing firm.  The game’s proceeds were to go to Oscar Little, a former Baker employee who was suffering from cancer.

Admission to the fund raiser was only 10 cents and ladies were admitted free.  Nearly $40 was given to Mr. Little following the game.  “No one was better pleased with the result than those who took part in the game.”

Those baseball fans who wanted to see a good game of baseball traveled to the nearby community of Footville to watch the White Sox play against many of the same teams that Evansville traveling ball team had challenged.  Footville’s team received more notice in the local newspapers than Evansville’s own teams.

While it appeared that adults had lost their enthusiasm for playing in a traveling baseball team at the turn of the century, the young people had not.  A new generation of ball players was in training at the local high school.  It was the high school games played in the spring of the year that received the most notice in the early years of the twentieth century.

In 1896, the Evansville schools had hired a new high school principal H. F. Kling.  The new principal pressured the school board to put emphasis on new areas of the curriculum and recommended that athletics, music and art be added in order to improve the student’s mind and body.

Kling was convinced that in addition to their academic courses, students needed athletic programs that were organized, supervised, and supported by adults.  He took an active role in the student’s athletic instruction and coached football, baseball and track.

In the spring of each year during his administration, Kling ran both the track and baseball programs.  The Evansville High School baseball teams traveled to other communities, playing Brodhead, Madison, Edgerton, Beloit, Janesville, Stoughton and other nearby communities.  The team had appropriate uniforms and baseball caps.

It was unusual for the newspapers to name the players whether they were adults or high school students, but games against local teams were the exception.  In the spring of 1905, the Evansville High School team played the Evansville Seminary team and won.

Although only last names and some first initials were given for the players, the following team players for the high school were listed: Slausen, Gardner, Winter, Ames, Le Baron, Pearsall, Churm, Brooke and Reckord.  Players for the Seminary were given as Jordan, Will Brooks, Combs, H. Marsh, Hendricks, C. Marsh, Meinke, Newman and Westby.

The Evansville High School  team appears to have been heavily weighted with Seniors.
Palmer Slausen, Paul K. LeBaron, Paul H. Ames, and Percy Churm are all listed as graduates of the Evansville High School class of 1905.

Another high school team was photographed a few years later.  The players were identified as Earl Gillies, Roy Reckord, Paul Chase, Forrest Durner, Fred Slightham, Bill Benson, and Robert Pearsall.  This photograph appeared in the August 28, 1985 Evansville Review.

Evansville’s baseball teams of the future were based on the players being trained in the high school sports program.  By 1907, the enthusiasm for adult baseball teams in Evansville was being revived.  A traveling team was organized and games were once again played against Oregon, Clinton, and Beloit.

The 1908 traveling team for Evansville included former high school players Roy Reckord, the pitcher and Robert Pearsall, a 1908 high school graduate, the team captain.  The adult players of baseball were once again gaining favor in Evansville.

Newspaper reports of Evansville’s organized baseball activities in the early part of the 20th century were sporadic.  There were reports of baseball games that were used to draw a crowd to fund raising events.  Promoters tried to get closely matched teams of baseball players and they were willing to pay the teams to play.

Exhibition games were played at the Irish Picnic, a fund raising activity by St. Paul’s Parish, and the Rock County Fair at the Evansville Fair grounds.  The Irish Picnic was held in the early summer.

The 1909 Irish picnic game was played against Albany and started at 10 o’clock in the morning.  The early morning game was intended to draw a crowd for the 11 o’clock meal served by the women of the church.

The afternoon entertainment included track and field events and a second game of baseball.  “The second ball game was the feature of the day, according to a report of the events in the June 23, 1909 Enterprise.  The competing teams in afternoon were the Footville and Beloit, and the game went fourteen innings, with only one score deciding the difference between the teams.

The Footville Whitesox continued to be a favorite local area team with excellent players, including members of the Broughton family.   The Evansville newspapers often featured more articles about the Footville games, than Evansville’s.  “Baseball fans who like to see a good game, would do the proper thing if they went to Footville on Saturday, July 3rd and watched the game between the Beloit and Footville teams, which played in Evansville at the Irish picnic.  Each team has won from the other once this year and are not playing for fun, marbles, but for the championship,” a reporter for the Tribune & Enterprise said in the June 30, 1909 issue of the newspaper.

1910 - 1919

Evansville was able to organize a traveling baseball team in 1911. That year Evansville played Belleville for the beginning game and Footville at the Irish picnic.

The team names were mentioned in the Evansville Review issue on June 1, 1911.  However in some cases only surnames were given for the players.  “The new base ball nine recently organized in this city consists of the following players:  Taylor, pitcher, Geo. Thurman, catcher, Paul Gray, first base, Howard Keefe, second base, Henry Gardner, third base, Fairman, center field, Roy Reckord, right field, E. Lee, left field, and Harry Broughton, short stop.”

Roy Reckord was one of the more versatile players and also pitched some of the games.  For the Irish Picnic, the Evansville team recruited some well known players from other communities.  George Fucik, a Stoughton player, served as pitcher, with Reckord also pitching part of the team.  Despite the increased playing power for Evansville, they were defeated by Footville with a close score of 4 to 3.

When the Rock County Fair was held in Evansville in 1911, the only Evansville team that was invited to play was the Evansville High School team playing against the Albany High School team.  Although there were baseball games each day of the four-day fair, the Evansville traveling team did not play.

In February 1913, the Rock County Fair committee announced that Cal Broughton would be in charge of the sports activities for the fair.  Later that same year a new baseball team was organized for Evansville.  Homer Shultz was elected president and Louis Abtz, a former Elroy third base player, was chosen to act as secretary treasurer.  An Evansville favorite, Roy Reckord was named team manager.

The team practiced three times a week.  Bernard Munson, a former Argyle baseball team player, pitched for the Evansville team.  To raise funds, the team held at dance at the Magee Opera House on East Main Street, asked for donations from local merchants and sold season tickets to the games.

To prevent any controversy, the team also promised not to hold Sunday games.  The team played on Friday afternoons.  For the first game, the local team played Oregon and a large crowd gathered to watch the game.  The lineup for Evansville was Abts, 3rd base; Reckord, center field; Sholts, 1st base; Gardner, 2nd base; Munson, pitcher; Gray, left field; Gillies, catcher; Christman, right field; and Jones, short stop.

The game was described as a “pitchers’ battle. Munson struck out twelve of the Oregon players and was credited with a double play in the 6th inning.  The game was lost to Oregon in the 11th inning.

Other games in the 1913 season were played against the Madison teams, Fauerbach Brewing Co, and Madison Kipps; Brodhead; Beloit Moose; Van’s Colts of Beloit; and Argyle, where Bernard Munson pitched against his former team mates.

Exhibition games the 1913 Irish Picnic with Evansville playing Footville.  No score was given in the local reports of the game, but it was described as a “snappy game and furnished plenty of excitement for local and visiting fans.”  Evansville also played an exhibition game at Brooklyn’s Field Day in early August with Evansville pitted against Oregon.  In another exhibition game that season, Evansville played Van’s Colts of Beloit at the Rock County Fair.

There were only occasional baseball games played by Evansville teams during the next years of the 2nd decade of the 20th century.  No Evansville teams played at the Rock County Fair held at the Evansville Fairgrounds in 1914.  The lineup of teams that year included a Belleville team that placed second in the Southern Wisconsin Amateur League.  Belleville played against Oregon.  Brodhead’s team played Monticello and the Milton and Footville Y.M.C.A. teams played for the Rock County Y.M.C.A. league championship.  The winner of the Oregon vs. Belleville and Brodhead vs. Monticello games played against the Footville Whitesox.

One of Evansville’ favorite umpires made the more headlines than any of the Evansville players in 1915.  Pete Libby, a local tobacco buyer, had been an umpire for baseball games for many years.  In June 1915, Libby was hired to umpire all of the games in the Madison City Baseball League.

The Wisconsin State Journal ran an article on Libby.  In an early game against the Fauerbach team and the Olympic team from Madison, Libby had done such creditable work behind the plate that “after the game the fans poured into the box-office and congratulated him on his good work.”  This was rare praise indeed for an umpire.

Libby was pursued by the Madison League to come to umpire the games.  The League secretary bargained with Libby until they reached a satisfactory agreement and Libby was signed on as umpire just a few minutes before the second game of the season started.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal report, “Libby donned the mask and protector and took charge of the field.  His “Batter Up” – screeched at the two teams, put both on edge.  Libby got a big hand from the crowd on this expression.  His “Str-r-r-ike One” rang all over the park.”

During that same game, a thrown pitch hit Libby's mask and stunned him momentarily.  He fell to the ground but got up quickly and yelled his famous “Batter Up,” and play resumed.  Libby maintained his residence in Evansville and drove his automobile to and from Madison every weekend to officiate at the games.

Evansville’s traveling team had disbanded, but games were organized locally between the men from the Baker Manufacturing Company and a team composed of other business men.  These two teams played at the Irish Picnic in 1915.

Baker’s Half Feds team included Paul Jones, C. Weaver, E. Sperry, L. Wilder, R. Frazer, C. Eggleston, M. Jones, Chester Hurd, W. Decker, and H. Morrison.  The local businessmen’s team had C. Main, F. Durner, Leffingwell, Ace Fellows, Covert, Tomlin, Knudson, Stewening and Roy Reckord.  The pitchers for the game were Reckord for the businessmen and C. Hurd for the Baker team.  The businessmen beat Bakers by a score of 9 to 7.

According to the Review, “The game was an interesting one to watch and showed there is a lot of good baseball material here in Evansville that ought to be developed into a fast team.”  For the 1915 Rock County Fair, the Baker team played and won by a score of 10 to 5 against a Magnolia team.  The Baker team had Bob Kivlin and Dale Smith serving as pitchers, while the Magnolia team had pitchers with the surnames Post and Roberts.  The Fair committee also hired teams from Footville, Albany, Edgerton and Oregon to play, so that there was a ball game each day of the 1915 Fair.

If the adults could not maintain a traveling team, the high school boys were still eager to play baseball.  In 1916, a strong Evansville High School team had the following players:  “Logy” Terry Durner, Loyal “Hap” Baker, R. Kendall, Felix Fellows, Earl Tolles, Elzie Libby, Honore Hubbard, Seth Cain, Patterson, and Phillips.  Durner served as pitcher for the team.  In a final game of the season, the Evansville team played the Evansville Seminary and was defeated by a score of 14 to 7.

A report of a July 4th committee’s expenses gives a clue as to the cost of equipment for the baseball games played by Evansville teams.  An Evansville team played a Stoughton team for the July 4, 1917 celebration.

The committee paid a local tailor to make the sacks for the bases at a cost of 70 cents.  They bought two balls at the Grange Store at a cost of $2.50.  The committee also paid the Stoughton Ball Club $35 and the local team $40 to play that day.

The cost was well worth the money for the 4th of July Committee, as the total receipts for the ball game portion of the activities of the day were $205.85.  This was 27% of the total receipts for the entire celebration.

World War I put a halt to many of the amateur sports activities for Evansville athletes.  One of the star players, Leroy (Roy) Reckord served in the military.  Others who played baseball for Evansville and served in World War I were Chester Warren Hurd, John W. Golz, Paul Rowley Gray, Paul Weaver Chase, and Paul M. Jones.

BASEBALL RETURNS AND ANOTHER TEAM BECOME CHAMPIONS

Organized baseball returned to Evansville in the 1920s.  The American Legion McKinney Post formed in 1919 and the Athletic Committee of the Post issued a news release the following April asking for volunteers for a new city baseball team.

The announcement was printed in the April 8, 1920 issue of the Review.  “Spring is coming, sometime, and a bit of athletic activity will be worth while.  Good sport is essential to health and a good disposition.  The American Legion invites all who are interested in baseball in Evansville to a meeting Friday evening at 7:30.  Let’s show a little life, encourage sports, and boost the town.”

The meeting drew a crowd and baseball was promoted to the local businessmen as a way to boost business in town.  William Dake, a local barber, formed a team known as Dake’s Dogs and Baker Manufacturing teams was known as the Baker Monitors.  The only game reported for Dake’s team was a game against the local high school team.

The Monitors was Evansville’s traveling team in 1920.  They played teams from Oregon, Beloit, Orfordville, the Janesville Eagles and the Janesville All-Stars.  Players on the team included Fred Sperry, Cain, Brown, Hain, Morrison, the pitcher, Kittleson, Larsen, Jones, and Funk.

In 1921, Art Dake again formed a team, known as Dake’s Veterans.  The first game of the season was against the local high school team.  The team included several fellow barbers and past stars of the local high school team.  Floyd Morgan, Ace Fellows, Phil Pearsall and Chester Hurd.

The local high school and Dake’s team had arranged for a series of baseball games to be  played on the fairgrounds diamond.   However, in 1921, the grounds were used to pasture the horses from the livery of Dr. Charles S. Ware.  Although he had rented the pasture until mid-June, Ware agreed to let the games be held on the land.

Local baseball players wanted a new baseball diamond near Leonard Park.  The park was becoming a popular tourist camp and the scene of many summer picnics.  The Evansville Review’s baseball promoter, Robert Antes, proposed that a plot of land owned by the Eager Estate, just west of the park, be leveled for a baseball diamond.

The plot of ground was a little uneven, but properly prepared, it “would make an admirable ball diamond, where city people could attend without having to go in cars or walk a long distance” to the fairgrounds.  The Review urged the City Council to rent the property from the owners.

When this proposal was not accepted by the Council, a petition was circulated to have a diamond built on a piece of land owned by the Canning Company on Cherry Street.  This proposal was also denied and the games continued for the next few years at Evansville’s Rock County Fairgrounds.

In the spring of 1922, the Evansville ball players attempted to join the Southern Wisconsin Base Ball Association.  The fee was $250 and the towns already in the association were Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, Edgerton, Hebron, and Cambridge.

The effort to join the league was unsuccessful, but this did not keep the local team from playing ball.  The team included high school players, Roland Barnum, Buck Roberts, Seth Cain, Tom Cain and seasoned City team players, Chet Hurd, Ray Covert, Clifford Harper, Jens Knudson, Buster Libby, Ralph Noyes, Bill Tilley, Paul Jones, James Temple and Harold Zwicky.  The 1922 games were played against Brodhead, Durand, Argyle, Belleville, Footville, the Janesville Black Cats and Stoughton.

In 1923, Robert J. Antes, representing the Antes Press and Fred Sperry, representing the Barbers of Evansville, were responsible for keeping baseball alive in Evansville.  In the April 5 issue of the Review, Antes issued a challenge to the local barbers:  “The boys of the Antes Press who have been pining for a game of baseball for some time and not long ago challenged the barbers, state in their opinion, the barbers should change the color of the stripes on their signs and make them yellow, as so far they have failed to accept the challenge thrown to them to cross bats.”

The Barbers, including Mark Moore, William Dake, Fred Sperry, Floyd Morgan, Bernie Christensen, Waller, Redlen, Vandervilt, Flint, and Phelps accepted the challenge of the Antes team that included Bob Antes, Phil Pearsall, Harold Zwickey, George Greenway, Glenn Tomlin, Jack Seipp, Forrest Brigham, and other team members named Graves, Strack, and Reynolds.

There is no indication that these teams played against other teams during this season.
Once again the Review issued a call for a baseball diamond at the park.  “The logical place for all ball games is in the new park so that all the people may see the games, women and children, as well as men.  The argument may be raised that at the park there is no grandstand to seat the crowd—granted—but who in these days of covered autos ever sees a ball game from a grand stand anyway?”

 A new road into the park on the east side made better access to the area near the renewed Lake Leota.  It made this area an ideal place for a ball diamond.   The City Council again took no action to bring the ball games to the park and the games continued at the fairgrounds and the school diamond.

However, the following year, the city teams increased in number and a regular schedule of games was prepared for the six teams.  The league was sometimes called the Home Talent League or the Junior League.

The teams each had a line-up of 12 players and were managed by the following:  Johnson’s Pirates, managed by Grant Johnson; Ford’s Tigers, managed by Bruce Ford; Devine’s Giants, managed by Art Devine; Durner’s Yanks, managed by Forrest Durner; Dake’s White Sox, managed by Art Dake; and Gillman’s Cubs, managed by old-time player Fred Gillman.

The 1924 schedule began on June 30 and ended September first.  The games were played on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning at 6:30 and since there were no lights on the ball diamonds, the games were called at dark.

Robert J. Antes once again challenged City Ball players for a series of games in the spring of 1925.  Four teams formed, the Bakers, D. E. Wood Butter Company (also known as the Creamery or the Greasers), the Businessmen and The Antes Press, (known as the printers.)

The local teams were known as the Twilight Ball League.  Twenty-four games were scheduled for the season.   Officers for the organization included Robert J. Antes, president; Richard Brigham, Secretary and Treasurer.

Baker’s team included Ray Covert, the Apfel brothers Lloyd and Lindle, John Gundlach, Schartz, Parr, Larson, Roberts, Griffith, Brown, Estes, Baker and Graham.

The Businessmen included Fred Sperry, manager, G. E. Johnson, Tom Cain, Roy Reckord, Ace Fellows, Bernie Christensen, Melvin Furseth, Forrest Durner, Ed Carns, Art Tomlin, Clayton Cain, Reuben Helgesen and Fay Ellis.

The D. E. Wood Butter Company included Evansville’s first professional ball player, Cal Broughton.  Broughton always had substitute runners, but was listed in his old position of catcher for the team.  Other players for the Creamery were Roy Lewis, Forrest Graves, Roberts, Jacobsen, Hubbard, Dill, Lundy, Bly, and Ben Ellis.

There were also country teams that played the Antes Press and other teams.  In early May 1925, the Antes Press played a game against the Jug Prairie team, the Farmers.

Players for the Antes Press included Bob Antes, Phil Pearsall, Harold Zwickey, Jack Seipp, George Greenway, Glenn Tomlin, Richard Brigham, Graves, Strack, Braclaus, and Reynolds.   The Farmers team included John Golz, E. Golz, Fred Abey, McGuire, Powers, W. Krause, R. Krause, and B. Purington.  The Farmers won by a score of 12 to 11.

With so many local teams playing each other, the City Council finally agreed that there was a need for a ball diamond at the city park and in June 1925, the project began.  A tractor and grader were brought in to “skin” the infield and the sod was hauled away to fill in other low spots in the park.

The D. E. Wood ball team defeated the Businessmen in the first game played on the new diamond on Tuesday, June 23, 1925.  The Businessmen won the League Championship in 1925, with 8 wins and 3 losses.  Antes followed closely with 7 wins; the D. E. Wood Butter Co. 4 wins and the last team, the Baker Company with 3 wins.

Ace Fellows led the individual batting averages with .462, scoring 17 runs.  Tom Cain was a close second with a .444 average and 11 runs for the season.
It was the great desire of the Evansville ball players to have a team in the Southern Wisconsin League and in September 1925, Evansville made a try for a spot.  Ed Carns was elected Captain for the Evansville traveling team and Roy Lewis was named manager.  Bob Collins was named Secretary and Treasurer.  Other team members included Tom and Seth Cain, Harold Zwickey, Ray Covert, Jack Seipp, Roberts, Anderson, and JohnGundlach.

The team planned to buy new uniforms and raise the funds to join the league.  To prove their worth in the traveling league, Roy Lewis booked games with Albany, Orfordville, Brodhead and a Beloit team for September and October, after the Home League had finished their season.
In the spring of 1926, the Evansville City Baseball team was invited to join the Southern Wisconsin Baseball League.  Members of the League were Milton, Brodhead, Albany, Edgerton, Footville, Janesville and Evansville.  Evansville’s home games were played at the fairgrounds diamond, where there was a grandstand and plenty of room for cars to park near the field.

Local businessmen donated uniforms.  Local citizens and businesses also donated funds for the entrance fee and other expenses.  Gates receipts for that first year were reported as $1,257.97, a good indication that there were plenty of Evansville baseball fans.

Several players from the Evansville Twilight League were members of the new team.
Ed Carns was the pitcher, Jack Seipp, 3rd base; Gerald Anderson, short stop; Rice, catcher; Tom Cain, center field, Calhoun, right field; Reuben Helgesen, catcher; Harold Zwickey, 2nd base; Phil Pearsall, 1st base; Seth Cain, left field and Parquette, a substitute pitcher for Carns.  Other members who joined the team throughout the season were George Greenway, Calhoun, Krause, Melvin Furseth, Schultz, Libby, McGuire, Fred Sperry, Ray Covert, and Hatzinger.

Evansville’s first Southern Wisconsin League game was played with Milton and the first ball was thrown by old-time player, 66-year-old, Cal Broughton.  In an interview with the Review, Broughton claimed 1896 as the best year an Evansville team ever had.  It was the year Evansville won the State Championship.

Evansville team lost the first game of the 1926 season, with Milton scoring 6 runs to Evansville’s one.  Most of the first season with the League was filled with disappointment for the newly organized team.

By early June, Evansville was at the bottom of the league standings with five losses and no wins.  It was not until early July that Evansville got its first win against the Milton Wolves.  Although Evansville won three straight games at the end of the season, the team  remained at the bottom of the League.

When the Southern Wisconsin League formed an all-star team to play against the State Line League, Tom Cain was the only Evansville player chosen.  Cain played center field in the last two innings of the exhibition game, but never got up to bat.

If the traveling team was not playing, there were plenty of local baseball games for the Evansville fans.  The Businessmen, Antes Press, Baker Company and D. E. Wood Butter Company teams of the Twilight League kept the home fans entertained.

Many of the members of the Evansville City team also played in the Twilight League. Seipp, Cain, Zwickey, Anderson, Helgesen, Furseth, and Pearsall are all listed as playing for one of the four Twilight League teams. Fred Sperry, manager of the Business Men’s team and Rueben Helgesen, captain, accepted the silver cup trophy for winning the most Twilight League games in the 1926 season.

The 1927 baseball season began with the Evansville High School Baseball team organized for the first time since 1920.  The Evansville School District had hired a new athletic director at the high school, Floyd Wheeler.  Wheeler was a star athlete from Beloit College, and had also been an assistant director for the YMCA in Beloit.

Wheeler put together a team of young men that loved to play baseball and they did not end their season when the school year was completed.

Clifton Cain, the brother of Tom Cain, the popular player for Evansville’s Southern Wisconsin League team, was named Captain of the newly formed high school team.  Pete Ellis was the manager and pitcher.  Coach Wheeler had more than enough willing players to form a team.  The following names are mentioned in the 1927 newspaper reports of the games, Richard Baird, Bill Wood, Bill Ware, Lewis Devine, Don Elert, Jake Blum, Herbert Hungerford, Philip Waite, Patterson, Walters, Howard Dougherty, Walter Johnson, Ray Smith, “Red” Reynolds, Maurice Woodworth, Pete Merrill, and LaVerne Miller, Hillis Buxton.

The high school team scheduled games against Brodhead, Janesville, and Clinton.  Before the high school season ended, the team of young players joined the Twilight League to test their skills against Evansville’s adult players.  The high school team placed second in team standings through most of the baseball season.  The Business Men again won the coveted silver cup.

The City team in the Southern Wisconsin League reorganized to play in the summer of 1927.  They were pitted against the same teams as the previous year and many of the same local players returned for another season.  John Gundlach of the Twilight League joined the 1927 traveling team, along with Don Dawson and his brother Mike Dawson.  Other new players were Dunphy, Delaney, Leary, and McCaffrey, a local high school player.

On Sunday May 1, 1927, the Evansville traveling team got their first win against the Albany team.  In its second year of play, Evansville’s Southern Wisconsin League team showed great improvement and was in the middle of the pack in team standings by the end of the season.

CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL RETURNS TO EVANSVILLE

The 1928 season would go down in the history of Evansville baseball as one of the greatest.  Both the high school team and the Southern Wisconsin League had winning seasons.

The new Southern Wisconsin League included Orfordville and Beloit.  Evansville had new men in their lineup, Schifflebein, McKenna, Bernie Christenson, Parkinson, Thostenson, Edwards, Frank Francis and Delaney.  Clifton Cain now joined his brother Tom and Pete Finstad, the new high school baseball coach, was a back-up player.  Roy Lewis served as manager.

After two games, the Evansville team was in the middle of the team standings with one win and one loss against the Beloit team.  By the middle of May, the Evansville team was tied with Janesville for first place in the League.

In late May 1928, Janesville lost to the Evansville team in an exciting game that put Evansville ahead by 9 runs in the first two innings.  With a final score of 13 to 5, Evansville’s stood first place in the Southern Wisconsin League.

During the season Christenson and Parkinson took turns on the pitcher’s mound for Evansville.  Three teams fought for first place through the rest of the season, Janesville, Beloit and Evansville.  Each team had a large crowd of local fans that followed them from game to game.  The Evansville Review urged people to “Get out and make a noise that will help Evansville to win this championship.”

On August 16, 1928, the Evansville Review announced that the Evansville team had cinched the title in the Southern Wisconsin League.  “Hot Battle Sunday Defeats Beloit and Insures Evansville Pennant.  Can Lose Rest of Games and Win.”  The local team was three games ahead of the rest of the teams in the league and finished the season at the top.

After the season ended, the Evansville team was invited to play several exhibition games around the area.  Edgerton, New Glarus, and the Beloit Chryslers, second place winners in the Rock-Walworth County League, were on the schedule for the special games.

To insure that the team had enough money to equip themselves for the 1929 season, the local team held a dance with Leaver’s Orchestra playing at Magee’s Hall.  They yearned to again become champions.

In the 1928 season, the high school team was also having great success.  The Evansville High School had belonged to the Rock River Valley League and in 1928, this League was broken up.

The new Rock Valley League included Whitewater, Milton Union, Jefferson, Lake Mills and Evansville.  The local high school superintendent, Mann, was president of the new organization.  New mathematics teacher, Peter Finstad, took over as baseball coach.

The park ball diamond was used for most of the high school home games and the Twilight League games.  The Southern Wisconsin League used the fairgrounds.  For a few months in the 1928 season, it looked as though Evansville would lose its diamond at the fairgrounds, as Evansville had lost the Rock County Fair to Janesville and the land was for sale.  Fortunately a group of civic mined citizens bought the land and held it until the City of Evansville could make arrangements to purchase the property, and preserve one of the favored recreation spots in Evansville.

The City Council also purchased property near the Evansville park in 1928.  This land was known as the Wood property and the city had rented the land for a baseball diamond.  With the purchase of the additional park land, new driveways and a permanent baseball diamond was created north of the Lake Leota Bath House.
Peter Finstad, Evansville’s High School baseball coach had thirty prospects show up for practice at the opening of the 1929 season.  The 1928 winning team had inspired 30 young men to come to the first workout in early April.  Finstad’s new recruits gave the team depth and talent in nearly every position.

The team needed to replace the 1928 graduates Tom Cain, Pete Ellis, Richard Baird, “Red” Reynolds and Hillis Buxton.  These young men continued to play baseball in the Twilight League.  Cain also played in the Southern Wisconsin League.

Among the young hopefuls for 1929 high school season, Finstad needed to find a catcher, first baseman, third baseman, pitcher and two outfielders.  There were only four of ten returning lettermen, Lewis Devine, Pete Merrill, Herbert Hungerford and Norman McCaffrey.

Stan “Pop” Sperry, a freshman, tried out for the pitcher’s position, along with Lloyd Mabie, Harold “Doc” Schuster, Pete Merrill and Norman McCaffrey.  Mabie won the position and proved to be a powerhouse on the mound.  The others took other positions on the team and served as relief pitchers.

Sperry was given a spot on the new team at third base. His hitting and fielding in the next four years would earn Sperry much acclaim in the Evansville Review and a try at professional ball after graduation.

Norman McCaffrey’s younger brother, Vic, also tried out for Finstad’s team and earned a spot as catcher.  The McCaffrey’s including two more brothers, Leo and Lester were talented players in Evansville high school sports in the early 1930s.  Another brother, Nile, played in the adult baseball leagues.

The first game of the high school season pitted the young men against the alumni and family members against each other.  Stan Sperry and his father, Fred, were on opposite sides.  Tom Cain played for the alumni and his brother Clifton Cain for the high school.  Coach Finstad put himself on the alumni side, against his young team.  The alumni defeated the high school players, 8 to 6, in the five inning game.

Mayor Elzie H. “Pete” Libby, Evansville’s favorite umpire, officially opened the Rock Valley League season with Evansville playing Whitewater’s high school team.  Milton Union, Lake Mills, Monroe and Orfordville were in the other teams in the League.

The local high school players stayed at the top of the league and won the Rock Valley Title for 1929 with 5 wins and no losses.  In the total season play, the team had won thirteen of the fifteen games played.

Pitcher Lloyd Mabie had pitched 62 innings and allowed only 17 earned runs and 38 hits.  Mabie had struck-out 100 batters in his first season of play.  The Evansville team was given high praise for their success.

Stan Sperry, the young third baseman had a batting average of .520.  He was a “hitting sensation” according to a June 13, 1929 Evansville Review article.  Pete Merrill, Vearle Hockett, and Lloyd Mabie were next in line in the batting rankings.

Robert J. Antes served as president of the four-team Twilight League in 1929.  The league used its own money to make improvements on the fairgrounds ball diamond and to purchase benches for the players.  They hoped to put up a wire fence so that fans could drive their cars closer to the diamond without fear of getting struck by balls.

The high school team, the Business Men, Baker Manufacturing and Antes Press each had teams in the Twilight’s 1929 season.  The competition between the Sperry’s continued as both served as pitchers on opposing teams, Stan for the High School team and Fred for the Business Men.  It was great fun for the fans to watch the competition.  Baker’s team won the Twilight League season.

The Southern Wisconsin league began in late April with Evansville meeting Beloit.  Bernie Christensen served as the team manager and pitcher.  Other players included Tom Cain, Schifflbein, Shadel, Thorstenson, Sands, Keenan, Rau and La Hail.

A new team, the Watertown Goslings entered the league.  More than 300 fans turned out for see Evansville beat the Beloit team in the first League game at the local fairgrounds diamond.   Footville dropped out in mid-season, claiming their fans were not supportive.

Evansville took an early lead in League standings in 1929 and into early September the local team was battling for first place.  At one of the final games in the season, Evansville defeated Palmyra and took “undisputed lead.”  The champion team with the same players returned to play for the Evansville traveling team in 1930.

STAN SPERRY AND THE 1930s

Baseball had won favor with the local fans and the 1930 Evansville high school season opened with seven returning lettermen.  One of the favorite players, Vic McCaffrey, was ineligible for the high school team because he had been a student for nine semesters.

The season began with the first practice on March 31 and thirty-three men turned out.  Favored pitcher, Lloyd Mabie, had a shoulder injury from playing football the previous fall.  Ben Hubbard and Stan Sperry were considered replacements in the pitcher position, if Mabie could not play.  However, Mabie responded to therapy by the athletic trainer at the Univestiy of Wisconsin.  He recovered and was able to pitch the first game of the season.

The season’s prospects looked “dark” according to Coach Finstad.  The team was hitting as good in practice as Finstad had expected.  Some of the players showing exception talent were the McCaffery brothers, Leo and Lester, Ken Cain, Bob Cain and Ben Hubbard.  The team was cut to 15 on April 9 and also included Lawrence “Pete” Merrill, Roy Sands, Stan Sperry, Vearle Hockett, Norman McCaffery, Maurice Apfel, Norman Odegaard, Cliff Fellows and Leonard Nelson.

Despite the dire predictions at the beginning of the season, this high school team proved to be a match for every team they played in the 1930 season.  After the first game, Finstad declared his team to be “the strongest the school has had in the past several years.”

The Evansville High school baseball team ended an extraordinary undefeated season.  Coach Peter Finstad was given credit for building and coaching the team to victory.  Evansville team.  Finstad praised his team as the “best balanced prep team I have ever seen.”

However, he lost several seniors for the 1931 season, Lloyd Mabie, Robert Hubbard, Maurice Apfel, Lawrence Merrill, Norman Odegaard, Roy Sands and Vearle Hockett.   A photograph of the team appeared in the May 15, 1930 issue of the Evansville Review and a separate photo of Lloyd Mabie appeared in the June 12, 1930 issue.

The Twilight League was beginning to loose momentum, but in April 1930, Robert Antes was once again began organizing the teams to play in the Evansville league.  The D. E. Wood Butter Co. had players, after not being able to form a team the previous season.  The high school team dropped out of the summer League, but many of the players joined the other teams.  The Business Men, managed by Art Cain and Roy Record, Baker’s “Windmillers” and the Antes Press returned for the 1930 season.

New team members were playing for Evansville’s entry into the Southern Wisconsin League.  Seth Cain, a former Evansville player who had moved to Brodhead was the manager of the team.  Jack Heffel served as president; Orrie Steele, treasurer; and Kenneth Gilbertson, secretary.  Six teams were in the League in 1930, Evansville, Palmyra, Delavan, Janesville, Milton, and Footville.  Footville was reported to have some Beloit players.

Team members were McKenna, Tom Cain, Shadel, Ennis, Sheffelbein, Fallant, Thosten, Floyd Francis, Arthur Lorentzen, Satrang, Sagen, Roy Sands, J. Woodling, Clifton Cain, Don Elert, and F. Eldred, and Bill Schneider, an Edgerton player, who had pitched for the Highway Trailer team.

Another traveling team was organized in the 1930, calling themselves the Evansville Blues.  Don Elert, Sid Smith, Pete Merrill, Lloyd Mabie, “Red” Reynolds, Maurice “Butch” Apfel, the Gundlach brothers, and Vic McCaffery, and Nile McCaffery, manager.  This team, made up primarily of former Evansville High School baseball players, was also a traveling team and played other teams from Albany, Newark, Madison’s Capital City Colored Giants, and the Janesville First Ward Cubs.

Tragedy struck one of Evansville’s outstanding athletes.  Thomas Cain, 25 years old, died from a ruptured appendix in June 1930.  He had excelled in the sport of baseball, playing in high school, then with the Twilight League and the Southern Wisconsin League, from the time that it was first organized.  His brothers, Kenneth and Clifton Cain had followed him into the baseball leagues.  His parents, the Arthur Cain’s, and the entire community were heart-broken at his untimely death.

Arthur Lorentzen, another Evansville team member was invited to play for the Madison Checker Cabs and left the Evansville Southern Wisconsin League team.  Evansville’s team, champions of the 1928 and 1929 seasons, began losing games in late June.  The Review did not report the standings at the end of the 1930 season

The 1931 season opened with the Evansville High School team returning to the game with several veteran players.  The team members were:  Stan Sperry, Leo McCaffery, Lester McCaffery, Howard Thompson, Clifford Fellows, Kenneth Cain, Robert Cain, Thayer Lutz, Clifford Eastman, Leonard Nelson, Edwin Haakenson, Alfred Brooks, Dwain Knutson, Gilmond Spersrud, Raymond Miller, Dale Thompson, Ben Hubbard, Lowell Thompson, Mark Miller, Harold Jones, Frank Hungerford, Wilmer Janes, George Zapherio, Ronald Brown and Marion Jones.

The American Legion formed a new team, the Juniors.  Roy Reckord, a former Twilight League player was the manager.

Reuben Helgesen served as president of the Evansville City traveling team in the Southern Wisconsin League.  Charles Seguine served as treasurer and Nile McCaffery as manager.  The officers asked for donations to pay for new uniforms for the team.

Evansville baseball fans were ready for another great season.
Evansville’s 1931 season of baseball began with a winning high school team.  They opened with a victory over Sun Prairie.  In their second game the young players defeated Lake Mills 21 to 1 in what the Evansville Review reporter called “a free-for-all hitting contest.”

Later in the season Lake Mills gave Evansville their only defeat.  Milton, Orfordville, Brodhead, Whitewater College, and Elkhorn teams fell to the superior playing of the Evansville team.  Robert Hubbard had replaced Lloyd Mabie on the mound.

At the end of the season, Coach Peter Finstad gave letters to Norman McCaffery, Leonard Nelson, Howard Thompson, Alfred Brooks, Stanley Sperry, Cliff Fellows, Ben Hubbard, Leo McCaffery, Lester McCaffery, Ken Cain and Robert Cain for their outstanding performance on the field.

The local American Legion decided to give the high school players a chance to prolong their season and sponsored the American Legion Junior Baseball team.  In its first year, the members of the American Legion team were Leo McCaffery, Lester McCaffery, Kenneth Cain, Edwin Haakenson, Marvin Janes, Wilmer Janes, Clifford Fellows, Don Miller, Kenneth Holden, Robert Cain and Benjamin Hubbard.

Under Roy Reckord’s coaching, the team captured the district title, defeating Edgerton, Beloit, and Racine teams.  They were scheduled to play in the state meet, but the sponsors had neglected to send the boys birth certificates to the tournament administrators, to prove that none were more than seventeen years old.

Roy Reckord quickly got the proper paperwork to the tournament organizers and Evansville’s team was allowed to play.  Their opponents, a Milwaukee team had won the Wisconsin, Minnesota and Dakotas championships.

The game was played at the Evansville Fairgrounds on Sunday, September 6, 1931.  The local team suffered their only defeat of the season at the hand of the Milwaukee team.  Although Ben Hubbard pitched seven innings without a hit, the game was lost 10 to 2.  The local fans considered Hubbard to be the star of the game, walking three players and striking out 14.

Evansville’s Southern Wisconsin League team did not fare as well as the younger teams in the 1931 season.  Mayor Elsie Libby opened the first game at home by throwing the ball to Cal Broughton, famed ball player of the late 1800s.  The home team was victorious over Clinton and the Review reported that there was a fair-sized crowd watching the game.

Among Evansville’s Southern Wisconsin League players in 1931 were many of the favorite high school players.  Team members were Don Elert, Nile and Vic McCaffery, Lloyd Mabie, Frank Hungerford, Reuben Helgesen, Maurice Apfel, Clifton Cain, Morris and Leonard Lee, Sid Smith, John Golz, Paul Dooley, Patterson and Kenneth Gilbertson.  Two players from Evansville’s team the previous year, Floyd Francis and Edwards, had defected to Albany.  Many of Evansville’s games were lost by only one run.

Peter Finstad had built up a winning baseball program in Evansville and many young men hoped to be part of another victorious team.  In early April 1932, 45 potential players showed up as spring practice began.  The local team hoped to capture the Rock Valley League title one more time.  After all, the Evansville High School team had only lost one game since 1929 and they had many returning letterman and veterans of previous seasons.

Coach Finstad cut the squad from 45 to 25 men and for the first game he placed Cliff Eastman at second base; Leo McCaffery, catcher; Marvin Janes, left field; Stanley Sperry, third base; Clifford Fellows, center field; Robert Smith, short stop; Ken Cain, first base; and Robert Cain, right field.  Ben Hubbard was on the pitcher’s mound.

In the Rock River Valley League each high school team had to provide local umpires.  Fred Sperry, Grant Johnson and Phil Pearsall agreed to alternate the umpiring of Evansville’s home games.

The high school team trounced Brodhead in the season’s opening game by a score of 18 to 1.  The remaining league opponents were also beaten and once again Evansville took the Rock River Valley championship.

It was Stanley “Pop” Sperry’s final year with the high school team and within a month after graduation, Sperry had earned a tryout with the Milwaukee Brewers, an American Association team.

Sperry’s batting average had remained at .500 for the four years of high school and he had only one error in his high school career.  He was ready to try out for the major leagues.  Although he did not play for the Brewers, in 1933, Sperry was given a position at third base on the Eau Claire team of the Northern Baseball league.  It was the beginning of his professional career and Evansville’s baseball fans could now brag that the city had produced two professional players.

The American Legion Junior Baseball team reorganized for 1932.  Roy Reckord, the American Legion commander and team coach told the Evansville Review that the Legion hoped to buy new uniforms and improve the equipment for the young players.

After completing a successful year with the high school team, Ben Hubbard, returned as the Legion team’s pitcher.  Kenneth Holden, Don Miller, Marvin Janes and Wilmer Janes also came back for a second year of play with the Legion team.   Leroy Scoville, Robert Smith, George Howard, Jimmy Lovejoy and Kenneth Allen were new players on the team.

The American Legion team, in another undefeated League season, took the Eastern Wisconsin Regional title.  They were defeated 5 to 0 by an Appleton team and placed second in the state championship tournament in August 1932, a proud showing for the local team.  The Chicago Cubs invited the entire team to Chicago to watch the last game of the season against the New York Giants.

Adult baseball was hit hard by the Depression.  The financial crisis caused many businesses to hold the line on spending and the Evansville manufactures and businessmen, who had willingly sponsored teams in the previous years were no longer willing to fund the games.

In 1932, the men who wanted to play local baseball were divided into four teams, The Reds, The Greens, The Blacks and The Blues.  Each player was assessed 25 cents and the money was used to purchase balls and other equipment.  The Twilight League asked baseball fans to make voluntary donations to help with expenses.

Arthur Dake served as president of the Twilight Baseball organization.  Lloyd Apfel was captain of the Blacks.  Richard Williams was captain of the Blues.  The Greens were managed by Nile McCaffrey and Leroy Lewis was captain of the Reds.

The four teams played every Monday and Thursday evenings.  The Greens, managed by Nile McCaffery, led the league at the end of the season.

The 1932 city team, the Southern Wisconsin League elected new officers in April 1932.  Reuben Helgesen took over as president; Donald Wissbaum, secretary; Clifford Keylock, treasurer; and John Gundlach, manager.  Evansville played teams from Orfordville, Albany, Janesville, Footville and Stoughton.  The Stoughton Orioles replaced Clinton in the League.

Evansville did not have a winning season in the Southern Wisconsin League and they dropped out of the league in 1933.  A traveling baseball team organized in April 1933, but they had decided to play independent ball.  The Evansville Review sponsored the team, known as “The Reviews.”

Fourteen Evansville merchants contributed money to purchase new uniforms for the team.  The merchants’ names were printed on the back of the shirts.  The local team played against Stoughton Athletics, New Glarus, Brooklyn, Madison Frank Fruits, Orfordville Legion, Beloit Hansen Bungalows and Madison Schoeps.

Leonard Lee was elected manager; William Antes, president and Horace “Red” Reynolds, secretary and treasurer.  Many of the favorites, including Ellis, Mabie, Nile and Victor McCaffery, Maurice and Leonard Lee, and Don Elert, returned to the team.  New players included Joe Hartl, Robert Hubbard and Wilbur Knapp.  Floyd Francis occasionally played for the team.

The Reviews played teams from Orfordville’s Legion team, The Newark Bears, Stoughton, and Verona, with mixed success, but they came back in the 1934 season to play again.  Richard Williams managed the team.  However, they lost their favorite pitcher, Pete Ellis to the Stoughton-Cooksville Orioles, members of the Southern Wisconsin League.  Lloyd Mabie, who had been playing in the infield returned to the mound for the Reviews.

The high school team continued their proud record through the 1933 season, ending as a championship team.  In four years, the team had 32 wins out of the 36 games.
 
 

The next spring, when the 1934 season began, Peter Finstad told the Review that his team was part “green and inexperienced material.”  Graduating seniors had left the team with only a few lettermen and veteran players, Marvin Janes, Wilmer Janes, Roylton Blunt, Harold Robinson, Kenneth Allen, and Eddie Gilbertson.  Other veteran players on the team were Howard Lawrence, Harold Keehn, Harold Rasmussen, Robert Wood, Alvin Bone, Robert Hungerford, Floyd Main, Kenneth Montgomery, and Earl Gransee.

Finstad considered 1934 to be a year of rebuilding and he had some players with great potential.  The team had daily practices and Finstad told a reporter that he was looking for good hitters.

A new pitcher took the mound for Evansville High School in the 1934 season opener.  Alvin Golz, “a freshman weighing only 120 pound but who has the makings of a fine pitcher,” pitched his first game against the Brooklyn High School.

Golz won a letter in his freshman year and proved to be a high school star throughout his four years of play and then, like many of Finstad’s players, went into the adult leagues after graduation.

Finstad was right when he warned the fans that his team would not be champions in 1934.  They lost several games during the season and the title for the Rock River Valley League went to another team.

Enthusiasm for baseball ran high with the young men and several of the players from Finstad’s team joined the American Legion Junior Baseball team in its second year of play.  Legion member Charles Gibson took over as coach and Dan S. Williams served as manager.

The team had plenty of reserves with 21 players on the roster: Roy Phelps, Robert Hungerford, James Lovejoy, Warren Howard, Earl Riley, Donald Montgomery, Alvin Golz, John Lange, Ted Thompson, Arthur Cowell, Clarke Beale, Clayton Sperry, Roland Lewis, Otis Thompson, Lewis Woodstock, Gordon and Roger Thompson, Harold and Howard Brunsell, Howard Woodworth, and Omar Haakenson.

In 1934, the Reviews continued their second year of play as an independent ball team and included current and former high school players trained under Peter Finstad.  Ed Haakenson and Leslie “Snowball” Gilbertson were the star pitchers.  George Howard, Mike Holden, Morris “Butch” Apfel, and Ken Allen were the infielders and Robert “Ossie” Hubbard, “Watt” Christianson and Larry Keehn were the outfielders.  Bob Demrow, a Footville favorite also played for the Reviews, as third baseman.

The Reviews were scheduled to play several Pure Home Talent League teams.  This was a new league and the area teams were part of the eastern section of the Pure Home Talent group.  The Reviews played the Stoughton Athletics, whose roster included two former Evansville high school players, brothers Lester and Leo McCaffrey.

Another Pure Home Talent League team, the Brooklyn Cardinals, included former Evansville player, Floyd Francis.  The Reviews had scheduled a game with the Brooklyn Team for the 4th of July Celebration.

The Review also played other independent teams and an All-Star team made up of Evansville High School alumni who were not playing for the Reviews.

With so many teams playing, the ball diamonds at Leota Park and the Fairgrounds were constantly in use.  The fairgrounds site was a favored spot for the baseball teams, who also had to compete with the kittenball (softball) teams for the diamonds.

The fairgrounds diamond was in a sad state.  Heavy rainfalls flooded the field, making it impossible to have games.  In the summer of 1934, Robert Antes used local unemployed men working as FERA employees working under a Federal Civil Works administration program to build a new baseball diamond at the fairgrounds.

The new diamond was placed directly in front of the grandstand so that the spectators were closer to the players.  The pitcher’s mound was elevated to allow the field to drain well during heavy rains and the outfield was planted with grass.  The turf of the outfield was also part of a new football field built at the same time.

Baseball news appeared early in 1935 with two reports that former Evansville High School baseball players were receiving notice in professional ball circles.  In the February 14, 1935 issues of the Evansville Review, Marvin Janes, a 1934 graduate of the local school received a scholarship to attend the All Star Baseball School operated by Ray Doan in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  “Dizzy Dean” the famous St. Louis Cardinals pitcher was the coach for Janes’ team.

Janes had stared on the Evansville American Legion Junior Baseball team that made it into the state tournament in 1932.  Janes was a letterman in three high school sports and had been captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams in his senior year of high school.

The summer after graduation from high school Janes had also tried out with the Crookston Pirates, a Minnesota team in the Northern League, but had been cut after a week.  It was expected that he would receive an invitation to join a professional team once the All Star camp was completed.

Janes’ team won the baseball school tournament and Janes was the leading hitter on his team.  He was offered another contract with the Crookston Pirates, and received several offers to join other class D teams.

Another former Evansville High School athlete was already a professional player and a headline in the February 21, 1935 issue of the Review told readers that Stanley Sperry was a “Big Leaguer Now.”  Sperry had a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Sperry had played with the Eau Claire Bears, a semi-pro Northern League team for two years and had led the team in batting.  On March 5, 1935, he reported to the Phillies’ Spring training camp at Winter Haven, Florida.

In the training camp, Sperry made a great impression on the coaches and reporters, even though there was competition from many other young men who wanted into the major leagues.   One reporter wrote, “Sperry, recruit second-sacker from Eau Claire of the Northern league stole the spotlight.  He handled himself like a veteran around second base, made a hit and otherwise conducted himself as a fine young prospect.”

Stan Baumgartner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, said of Sperry, “Sperry’s fielding ability has been the highlight of the Phillies spring training although his power at the plate still remains in question.  The team has a host of veterans in camp and it would be expecting too much to look for the youngster to break into the lineup this year.”

Baumgartner’s prediction was correct and before the regular season started the Phillies decided to put Sperry and five other rookies on their Class A farm team in the New York-Pennsylvania league, the Hazleton Mountaineers.  In early May 1935, Sperry had an attack of tonsillitis and returned to Evansville for rest and a tonsil operation.  Within a few weeks he was back in play as second baseman for the Mountaineers.

Baseball season opened in Evansville with the high school team starting practice with one of the largest groups that Peter Finstad had ever seen.  Six lettermen returned to play including Harold Robinson, Alvin Golz, Don Montgomery, Clayton Sperry, Robert Hungerford and Roland Lewis.

However, Finstad told the lettermen that there were many fine recruits among the 55 enthusiastic students who showed up at the first practice.  No one was assured a position until they had proved they could make the team.

There were at least five young men wanting the pitchers position and the same number after a position as catcher.  The students were split into two teams and competing with each other in five-day-a-week practices.

The Rock Valley League had dropped interscholastic baseball from its schedule, so Finstad had arranged for the team to play independent games with Stoughton, Edgerton, Orfordville, Brooklyn, Brodhead, South Beloit, New Glarus and Middleton.

To generate some public enthusiasm for the high school games, Finstad placed two baseball bats in the window of the Straka Jewelry Shop.  The bats were signed by Stan Sperry and Marvin Janes.

Before long, Evansville baseball fans began to add their own memorabilia to the display.  Scrapbooks, photographs, and newspaper clippings of Evansville’s baseball victories going back to 1887 were put on display in the window.  The Gillman brothers, Fred and Nay, put in a large scrapbook with day by day and year by year newspaper clippings of Wisconsin baseball history.

In an article about the display, the Review reported, “Sports memories…with different men and different victories to the days when Sperry and Janes are again making America conscious that out here in Old Wisconsin there is a little city so thoroughly baseball conscious that since the time Cal Broughton put her on the baseball map back in the early eighties, she has been producing players who get into the banner lines of the sport pages.”

The first game of the season was played against Brodhead and Rolly Lewis, 2nd base; Glenn Julseth, right field; and Bill Bewick, center field were the stars of Evansville’s winning team.  Al Golz shared pitching honors with Clayton Sperry.  Other players in the first game of the season were Don Montgomery, left field; Bill Mykytuik, catcher; Bud Phelps, center field; George McPherson, center field; Jay Feldt, 3rd base; Warren Howard, short stop; Harold Robinson, Robert Hungerford, 1st base and Harry Keehn, center field made up the group of players to challenge their opponents.

As in the opening game of the season, depth in all of the positions was also a big bonus for Finstad’s team.  Fielding was an especially important part of the success of the team and during the season, Finstad also used the following players in the outfield, John McKenna, Rolland Worthing, Lee Ringhand, and Harold Brunsell.  James Lovejoy could fill in for Hungerford at first base.  Harry Keehn played first base as well as center field.  Clark Beal filled in as catcher and Bernie Golz, younger brother of the pitcher, Al Golz, played short stop.
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The turnout for the high school team also showed great promise for the American Legion Junior Team that played in the summer.  In April the American Legion sponsored a baseball movie at the Rex Theater.  “Play Ball” was a history of baseball and a training film for young men wanting to play baseball.  It showed the fundamentals of batting, pitching, catching and base running.  The Legion hoped to inspire young athletes and encourage them to play the game that “sharpens wits and builds strong healthy bodies.”

The 1935 summer players on the Evansville Legion team were Bernie and Al Golz, Glenn Julseth, Clark Beal, Thompson, Robert Horne, Rolland Worthing, and Howard Brunsell, George McPhearson.

In 1935, The Evansville Review baseball team reorganized and signed on with the Southern Wisconsin League after a two year stint as an independent team.   Twenty-two men showed up for practice in April and once again, the crew was made up of former Evansville High School athletes.  In a practice game against their neighboring rivals, the Footville team, the Evansville Reviews won.

Milton Junction, Janesville Merchants, Beloit Goodalls DX’s, Afton, Clinton, Orfordville, and Albany were Evansville’s other rivals in the Southern Wisconsin League.  Milton Junction withdrew form competition after six games.

Games were played on Sundays.  The first league game was with Milton Junction at the Evansville Fairgrounds diamond.  Gordon “Pete” Ellis and Norman McCaffrey served as pitchers; Cliff Cain, first base; Mike Holden, second base; Maurice Apfel, short stop; George Howard, third base; Lloyd Mabie, left field; Stanley Smith, center field; and Ken Allen, right field.  Others listed on the team were Otis Odegaard, Gus Keehn, Leslie Gilbertson, Howard Thompson, Bob Demrow, John Gundlach, and recent high school graduate, Harold Robinson.

Evansville ended the 1935 season in the middle of the team standings with five wins and 5 losses. Beloit led the league, losing only one game during the 1935 season.

After the final game of league play, the Review reporter blamed the weather, that cause the cancellation of four out of seven scheduled games and the loss of Ken Allen, after he broke his ankle in a game against Orfordville.  Lloyd Mabie and “Butch” Apfel had also not played as often as the team had hoped during the 1935 season.

Even the team’s star pitcher had not been at his best, according to the reporter: “Pete Ellis, star pitcher, at no time equaled his 1934 performance when he pitched stellar ball for the Cooksville Orioles and Brooklyn Cardinals.”  Qualifying his statement somewhat, the reporter also blamed the rest of the team for lack of support, “His (Ellis’) play, however, was a great asset to the team this year and had he had more support from his fellow players it is believed that his work would have been more outstanding.”

The Reviews continued to play ball after the regular season ended.  The team invited Stan Sperry to play with the team in an exhibition game against the Stoughton Athletics at a Fall Festival in September 1935.

Sperry signed a contract to return to the Philadelphia Phillies training camp on March 2, 1936.  Sperry left Evansville for the training camp at Winter Haven, Florida.

Sperry played for the farm team at Hazelton for the first part of the season, then in July he made the Phillies lineup.  Stan Sperry played his first game major league game on July 28, 1936.  The game was against the Chicago Cubs and the Review said that second baseman “Sperry justified his club’s hopes in him by playing a stellar game including a sensational stop.”

The Phillies won the game, scoring 5 runs against Chicago’s 3.  Before the 1936 season ended, Sperry got an ankle injury and the Phillies sent him home to recover.

Evansville High School’s team organized again in the spring of 1936.  Pitcher Al Golz was a returning player and his brother Bernie, took the short stop position.  Bernie was described as being fast, a good hitter, and an excellent fielder.  According to Finstad, Bernie Golz was likely to follow in the footsteps of Marvin Janes and Stanley Sperry.

The team ended the season by shutting out the Edgerton High School team 3 to 0 in a seven inning game.  Finstad thought the local high school baseball prospects looked good for the next year even thought he was losing six lettermen.  Rollie Lewis, Jim Lovejoy, Warren Howard, Clark Beal, Ray Wells and Gordon Thompson graduated in 1936.

The Evansville Review team did not form a team until late in the 1936 season and they did not participate in league play.  Some of the old favorites were back, Al Rasmussen, Harold Robinson, Bert Hungerford, Mike Holden, Dick Williams, Ken Allen, Morris Lee, Stan Smith, Horace Reynolds and Curly Thompson.  Former high school star Harry Keehn also joined with the team manager, Dick Williams.

In 1936, the favored summer ball game was kittenball.  Several former baseball players turned to the fast pitch game so that they could get in as much ball playing as possible.  Some of the men who played both baseball and kittenball were Floyd Francis, Harry Keehn, Otis Thompson, Clifford Fellows, Omar Haakenson, and Horace “Red” Reynolds.  Teams in the local kittenball league were Butts Corners, Magnolia, Evansville Review, Union, County Line and Bernie’s Busters.

Baseball season opened in 1937 with Stanley Sperry in Oklahoma to play with the Oklahoma City Indians in the Texas league.  His ankle injury continued to bother him and for a short while it appeared that Sperry would not be able to play during the season.  He still had a slight limp but he was good at getting ground balls and managed to “gobble up hazardous hoppers, always in position to make the proper play,” according to the team manager Keesey, in an interview with the Review.  He was also strong at the plate and managed to get doubles and triples when he was at bat.  His batting average for the team was .355.

To be continued