May 30 at Fitchburg

Gamesmanship and camaraderie power Apple Jacks

through sloggy, raw conditions

Mary McLaughlin

You would have thought the sun was shining on Saturday. But it wasn’t, not by a long shot. It was bone-chilling cold, soaking wet, and gusty. The infield had become a muddy swale, the outfield grass long and waterlogged. On a modern day radar map large green and yellow shapes hung over the ball field, yet the players ignored the conditions like shooing away gnats. No rain delay, no tarp, and no diamond dust. They wiped off their bats and came out swinging. This was vintage base ball at its purest.

The setting was McKee Farms Park in Fitchburg, WI. The La Crescent Apple Jacks, Roosters of Olmsted County, and Creston IL Regulators met on this rain-soaked field next to Madison’s Festa Italia to play three games. Nothing stopped them. They shifted the bases from dirt to the grass. Prince Peter Petersilie, the Jacks’ mustachioed umpire, popped up a distinguished umbrella, and play began.

If the sun had defeated the heavy dark gray clouds, throngs of people would have been sampling the tasty Italian meatballs, gelato, and cannoli. Instead, a paltry number of guests visited the neatly lined tents and food vendors, and not one ventured to the ball game. No spectators? No problem. Family members of the players cheered louder.

Lady Joan Ohm, the Jacks’ scorekeeper, and I cheered when our teeth weren’t chattering or we weren’t fighting the wind to keep an umbrella in place. In contrast, the players ignored the biting elements even as they endeavored to grip slippery leather and saw the sopping grass swallow up would-be hits. With nods and shouts, players encouraged each other.

Everyone who plays the original game of base ball needs mettle. The game “requires the possession of muscular strength, great agility, quickness of eye, readiness of hand, and many other faculties of mind and body that mark the man of nerve,” according to Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player: A Compendium of the Game, printed in 1860. And from what I have seen, players need to be a little crazy to endure wicked weather.

However, on Saturday, the bleak, penetrating cold weather prevailed. Play ended late in the afternoon with Creston coming from behind to top the Jacks 12-6 in the opener and then losing to the Roosters 6-2. By the third game, the Jacks got 11 men on base, but couldn’t get a run, succumbing to the Roosters 16-0. Still, each team thanked their adversaries and gave a cheer for their good play. Then they headed home with thoughts about the next game on their schedule.

In its infancy, base ball was flawed, but also fierce and formidable. As a result of watching vintage games for the last 12 years, I have come to appreciate those two qualities in the game and in your La Crescent Apple Jacks.

Thanks to Corky "Goose" Gaskell for the vintage photo below.

May 30 at Fitchburg - click on this link to view a video news story from WKOW-TV in Madison.