By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
Growing up, the only sports we played were casual. We played baseball at home with our siblings, cousins, and neighbors on a makeshift field on our farm lawn. (No, we didn’t have benches and a backstop.)
Our little Catholic school didn’t have any organized sports either. It was just games with schoolmates on one of the two ball fields on the playground. One field seemed to be for the older boys, and the other was for everyone else. I don’t remember playing, but Joann does. She remembers batting one almost to the cemetery and scored a home run for her team!
I do remember being lucky enough on occasion to snag a swing on the set that faced the boys’ ball game. Sometimes, one of my classmates was allowed to play with the boys because she had all brothers, and was pretty good as a pitcher.
After we moved to our bigger farm outside of Lake Mills, there was an occasion or two when our second cousins came to visit and we walked over to a small “park” in Aztalan. There wasn’t much of anything at the park, but there was a little-used ball field. I don’t remember seeing other kids playing down there, but we did have fun the couple of times we did.
As we drive around the backroads, we are always on the lookout for old fashioned ball fields. We always worked so hard on the farm, but we managed to make a lot of happy memories. And seeing these small ballfields always makes us smile.
Several times we’ve been lucky enough to stumble upon baseball games in progress at Amish schools. We always sit and watch for a little while since we can’t point a camera at the kids. But it makes for great memories of our time out on the backroads.
Sometimes we’re not sure if the field we’ve stumbled on is still being used. Usually they’re mowed, so there might be some playing still going on. It’s really cute when these small town ballfields have dugouts for the teams.
In 2013, we were driving around rural Dane county, when we stumbled on a country ballfield called Krebs Field. It was a pretty professional-looking field. I told Joann it was the farm of a woman I had worked with and that she had a couple of boys.
In preparing to write this bog, I found an article from The Cap Times about a family farm and a real “field of dreams.” It was about the history of this farm family and how the ball field came to be.
The field started simply, but the boys were playing on little league teams and kept asking for improvements. Then they asked friends to come and practice. Then more friends came to practice and soon youth teams were practicing at Kreb’s field all summer.
In a small town near Joann’s house is a ballfield which is home of the Ashland A’s. They are members of the Home Talent Baseball League and say they play for the love of the game.
And if you look around hard enough, you might find a vintage ball team playing the game as it was played in the 1800’s. You can usually find these teams playing at open-air museums, living history villages, Civil War re-enactments and city parks. Vintage baseball is played in over 20 states. We found this sign in a county park in Indiana.
Watch the backroads for things that remind you of your childhood. It’s a great way to put a smile on your face.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
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Ahh...how nice to recall the hours of fun my brothers and I (total of nine siblings) enjoyed with our next door neighbors (16 additional kids in two families) every summer on the vacant one-acre plot in our semi-rural area! Baseball was always the game of choice, and everyone could play, even those who didn't have a glove. Thanks for bringing a smile and jogging the memory!
ReplyDeleteHi Jean, what great memories you must have. By the way, the second cousins Ruth mentioned were the Schmitz boys! :-)
DeleteI wondered about that when I read the story! 'So happy that you have happy memories of those special summer games, too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful memories! It is very cool about Krebs Field. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stephanie. We, too, thought the Krebs Field story was so great! Old-fashioned values in this modern time!
DeleteGreat story and photos! Very interesting about Krebs Field! I have very fond memories of playing baseball at our small country Catholic school and, of course, at home with siblings, neighbors and cousins too!
ReplyDeletePhyllis, I don't know if you remember this, but one time when we were playing ball, we moved the game down in front of the long wooden corn crib (maybe because the croquet set was taking up the space between the driveways where we usually played). You were batting and I was catching and you swung so hard and spun around and I took the full force of your swing in the mouth (of course, we didn't have a catcher's mask). I can't believe I didn't lose a few teeth because, boy, did that ever hurt. I don't think I told Mom about it, just suffered in silence so we wouldn't get in trouble. :-)
DeleteWow, I had forgotten that. So sorry it happened but so glad you didn't lose any teeth!
ReplyDelete