Catching baseball fever

It’s been a wild week of baseball.

I photographed the Babe Ruth District 4 Championship on Sunday in Hillsboro. The contest spanned two games, 17 innings and nearly six hours from first pitch to last photo op. Hats off to the New Rockford Black Sox for hanging tough against the HCV Blue Sox and finding a way to come out on top!

The Legion district championship was played just as this edition of the Independent was going to press, and it was Carrington Post 25 vs. New Rockford Post 30 battling it out.

Carrington is the host for this year’s North Dakota American Legion Baseball State Tournament. That means both of our hometown teams get to compete at state. Carrington has an automatic berth regardless of their placing at district, and the Black Sox secured their spot by making it to the championship game.

The Cardinals have been the strongest team in the district this season. They entered the tournament as the #1 seed and have continued to dominate their area competition.

Yes, Carrington is ready for some baseball. Players, coaches and fans from seven other North Dakota communities, as well as spectators from across the state, will converge on Legion field this Wednesday to Sunday. The tournament committee has been working hard to put together a memorable tournament for all.

It’s Central City Bash weekend too, with lots of events scheduled, so I look forward to seeing Carrington buzz with activity.

It’s like the Alabama hit song from the ‘90s, “Cheap Seats”: “We’ve got a great pitcher, what’s his name, well we can’t even spell it” except we actually CAN spell.

Every seat in the house is cheap. By cheap I mean tickets cost $10 per day to sit anywhere you like, so bring your own lawn chair and get there early if you want a shady spot!

You can even get a free hot dog and chips or burger and chips using the coupon inside the programs the Independent produced and printed for the tournament. They do a great job over there in the concession stand.

Baseball isn’t my favorite sport, but it’s sure growing on me. It’s fun to see people come together and small towns succeed, and if it takes a baseball tournament to do that, I’m all in.

I conducted an online search for “fast facts about baseball, and here’s what I found:

● Baseball’s unofficial anthem, “Take me out to the ball game,” was written by two people who had never actually been to a baseball game. Written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, it is one of the most popular songs associated with baseball in the United States, about as popular as “Happy Birthday” and the country’s national anthem.

● The game of baseball, as we know it today, began in September 1845, when a group of New York City men founded the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club. One of them – volunteer firefighter and bank clerk Alexander Joy Cartwright – codified the set of rules that formed the basis for modern baseball, calling for a diamond-shaped infield, foul lines and the three-strike rule.

● The National Association of BaseBall Players (NABBP), established in 1957, was the first organization formed to govern the game of baseball.

● The most expensive baseball card ever sold was of Honus Wagner. The card reportedly fetched a record $6.606 million at an auction in 2021; and was one of only 25 to 200 cards released bearing Wagner’s face. I also found sources saying the card has sold for $2.8 million and $3.2 million.

● The first-ever baseball cap was actually made of straw. First worn by the New York Knickerbockers in April 1849, the design morphed into Merino wool and later cotton. Now baseball hats are made of a variety of materials, including polyester, jersey mesh, acrylic and leather.

● During the average major league baseball game, 50 foul balls are hit into a crowd of about 31,000 people.

● I got a kick out of this one: Major League Baseball umpires are required to wear black underwear, in case they split their pants!

I also learned that Legion Baseball is nearly 100 years old. The program began in South Dakota during a convention in 1925. Now there are more than 5,400 teams in all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.

New Rockford has two hometown inductees in North Dakota’s American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame: Otto A. (Pete) Helm and James F. (Jim) Johnson. Both were inducted in 1979, and New Rockford’s Legion ballpark is named in memory of Johnson.

Hall of Famers from other area communities include Sykeston’s Travis Hafner, inducted in 2006, Gilmore Ness of Tolna (1982) and Floyd Stromme of Cooperstown (2005).

Although Carrington doesn’t currently have an inductee, it’s only a matter of time given the level of talent they’ve exhibited and dedication given to the sport. After all, not only great players are nominated and inducted, but also exemplary coaches, umpires, Legionnaires or supporters of the Legion Baseball program. Nominations are accepted by January 1 of each year.

It’s peak baseball season, folks, so take in a game or two (or 10) this week, and “Root, root, root for

(your) home team.” Remember: It’s not good sportsmanship to heckle. Yelling, “Hey ump, a blind man could have made that call” would be wholly inappropriate.

I’ll likely see many of you in Carrington this weekend. And I may or may not try to photograph you eating a hot dog with mustard and relish.

P.S. Count the song references to the songs “Take me out to the ballgame” and “Cheap Seats” in this column and send me a message with your guess.