Baseball....and a lot more, at Athletic Park

My recent post on the Baseball Riot of 1903 gave me a nudge to finish up a bit of research that had previously only been a vague set of questions.  And, the history of Athletic Park in Chippewa Falls did not disappoint.  So lets talk about it's rise, heyday, decline, fall and revival, shall we?

I suppose there is no way to know just when baseball - and other things - were first played here.  In the 19th century, heck on into our times, kids got a pickup game going on any open space.  But it is safe to assume that there was nothing organized before the Great Floods of 1880/84.  And a birdseye view from 1885 shows nothing but an empty field.

But in 1894 a couple of local businessmen got their act together and built something more substantial.  Nice leveled off field, grandstand bleachers.  Interestingly the accounts of the day suggest that there were some previous bleachers but that they were not that great.  So I'd theorize that the site was in use for playing ball starting at some point between 1885 and 1894.  Here's the best view of Athletic Park, from a birdseye view created in 1906.

Chippewa River behind the grandstands.  Canal street off a ways beyond the outfield fence.  Not too much else right at hand, although as I mentioned previously somewhere nearby was the Rosseau House, pioneer boozery of our fair community.  It survived the floods and was moved to someplace very close to the ball field.  I'm not sure which building.  And to put a sort of end point on the story, here's a plat map from 1938...it shows the site vacant.  But not forgotten!  Construction of the city ball field on the spot must have come later.  Post WWII I figure.

So, on to what happened on the grounds of Old Athletic Park.

The history begins, naturally for baseball, in the spring.  Of 1894 specifically.  The May 15th edition of the local paper announces that a five acre lot "on the South Side" had been purchased and that work was about to start.  The primary purpose was baseball but there was mention of also putting in a bicycle track.  An ice skating rink came later.

By the end of May games were already being played.  It was mentioned that ladies got free admission, and that there were provisions for 40 - 50 carriages....you could watch the ball game from the comfort of your 19th century horse n' buggy!

By June construction had begun on a grand stand that could hold 700-800 fans.  Brief mention that it was much sturdier than an earlier structure could mean there had been previous play on the site....or maybe they just tossed out some simple bleachers in May.

It's not easy recounting the ball games, and other things, that happened at Athletic Park.  It is clearly a story too long for a casual posting - and too short for a book.  So here's a sampling.  Bear in mind that this was a privately run, for profit enterprise, and so the level of hype and hoopla is significant.

There were of course amateur teams representing most of the area communities.  Eau Claire, Mondovi, Rice Lake.  And further afield, from places like Minneapolis and Saint Paul.  

Of somewhat greater interest were the specialty teams.  Married Men vrs. the Less Fortunate.  Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire Post Office employees squaring off.  There was a game between railroad union members from Chippewa Falls and from the adjacent suburb of Irvine, aka Wallerville.   

Businessmen took on Bankers, the two high schools in town played each other (usually in football), enigmatic local teams such as The Crescents and Moonshiners played for a $20 "stake".

Some of the games thus undertaken are a bit, well, jarring to modern sensibilities.  In 1910 a team called Baby Bliss' Fat Men came to town.  The aforementioned Baby Bliss was a 640 pound catcher, with the rest of the team of like proportions.  They came out of Waterloo Iowa, courtesy of the Fat Men's Amusement Company.*

In 1901 a team of Native Americans came up from Nebraska.  The Nebraska Redskins took on the Chippewa Whites.  

On at least two occasions local Gun Clubs held competitive pigeon shoots.  Not clay pigeons, real ones.  In 1896 one such 3 hour exhibition had the Chippewa Falls squad beating the Eau Claire group by a tally of 48 - 47 dead birds.

Of the most interesting game played I'll have more to say on another occasion.  But this was an era of "Bloomer Baseball".  No, not teams from the neighboring community of Bloomer, but "girls" teams that barnstormed playing men's teams.  In August of 1909 The Chicago Ladies came to town.  As was generally the case, there were a couple of guys on the team, usually playing higher skilled positions such as pitcher and catcher.  They were expected to wear wigs.  I'm not sure if they had to wear skirts, or later the weird short pants called "bloomers" after the Suffragette, Amelia Jenks Bloomer!

As the years went by things started changing at Athletic Park.  There were more football games.  And the facility must have gone down hill a bit.  By 1911 it was referred to as Old Athletic Park, and by 1919 it was just called the Southside Ball park.  By then the newspaper was openly saying a new field was necessary, and indeed one was built at the current fairgrounds around that time.  The last game I can find referenced was in June of 1919, and it was noted that the field was in poor shape with lots of tall grass growing up.**

We've certainly seen in modern times that sports facilities are built, age, decline.  Communities build newer, better ones.  At this point in history the South Side really was a seedy part of town.  And perhaps the disruption of World War I and the subsequent influenza pandemic contributed to the grass growing tall on a once busy sports complex.

-------------------------------------------------

* Here's the sad story of Baby Bliss.  The team was short lived but amazingly there are some surviving photos and jerseys out there....

** Another factor may have been the death of Maurice Poznanski, one of the businessmen who launched this venture.  He passed in 1917.  Odd that his name is still on the property map two decades later.  Especially since the Poznanski had by the time of his death, moved to Minneapolis and changed his name to Pond.

Hockey Grandpa

OK, now that's a role I did not see coming.  But where the grandkids lead, we follow.

I spent last weekend at the State Tournament.  That sounds impressive, but actually youth hockey has lots of state tournaments.  There are Divisions, so large communities and small don't go head to head.  That's fair, some of those Milwaukee suburbs have buckets of money to spend on ice time and so forth.  There's age groups.  These have various names such as Pee Wee, Squirt, Microbe etc.  We are in the 10 and under cohort.  Gotta say, put these kids on skates and add various protective kit and some of them look like they oughta be shaving already.  (Disclaimer, a couple of the larger players with flowing Fabio style hair dos did turn out to be girls.*  So shaving unlikely).  And there are A and B classes.  This seems a bit flexible, and the politics of how kids are put here or there are byzantine.

But it is high quality play, and contrary to popular misconceptions all the Hockey People we've encountered are civilized.  Intense at times, but civilized.  A few random images and thoughts....

One thing I had not encountered before are the Big Heads.  Also referred to as Fatheads after a company that pioneered the concept...and may I say, the name choice was audacious.  Now you can have them made locally, and pretty much every player has one.  They provide much potential for creative photography.

On the ice action is impossible to show with a still photo, its all about the sudden turns of the player, the bounce of the puck, the reaching just that last inch to poke away a shot that would turn the tide of the game.  But to prove I was there...

I'm learning many new traditions of this little subculture.  Vehicles going to State need to be decorated.  Usually with a name and jersey number but sometimes with a broader theme:

Even at this level there are injuries during a game, or more likely collisions where a player is shaken up.  The refs immediately whistle to halt time and both teams get down on a knee where ever they were.

A coach comes out, and after a moment - likely a long moment for that player's family, he or she is helped off the ice.  Both teams then stand and rattle their sticks on the ice in a salute.  

The weekend had entries in both the W and L column, but the grandson's team finished with a hard fought win in which both teams played well.  End of hockey season.  On to baseball.  Oh, and soccer concurrently.  And fishing.

_____________

* My observation is that the girls while few in number did seem to draw penalties out of proportion to said numbers.  Make of that what you will.

On the March

Many people know that the months of the year have a rather distinctive Roman flair.  Thanks, Julio-Claudian calendar!  March is a particularly interesting month.  Meteorologically, sure.  Also Etymologically.  

The oldest words out there are from the oldest human experiences.  Which sadly include war.

The name comes from the Latin Martius meaning Month of Mars.  Mars of course was the God of War, no doubt getting the name from the blood red color of Mars, the planet this time, in the night sky.  Various other words spin off.  Martial, as in military or fighting generally such as martial arts.  But neither Martini the drink nor Martini the rifle trace back to Mars.  Those stories are...complicated.

But what about Marching?  Surely the most martial of activities?

Well, not exactly.  It seems to come from the French word marche, meaning boundary.  Prior to that it goes back to Frankish times, when French and Germans were kindred peoples and languages.  The sense of a boundary is preserved to some extent.  For instance the ill defined area where England adjoins those pesky Welch is referred to as The Welch Marches.

That of course is exactly the sort of place your army would have to visit regularly and sometimes in haste.  So by the early 15th century the French had another word marcher, meaning to "stride, march, to trample underfoot".  It's probably derived from marche, but neither Mars nor his Red Planet have anything to do with it.

Although in keeping in the spirit of things, the official symbol of Wales is a Red Dragon, with the color likely influenced by the long, bloody wars along the Welch Marches.

The Baseball Riot of 1903

In honor of the start of Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Spring Training, a little baseball story from the history of Chippewa Falls.  It happened here:

This is a birdseye view created in 1906.  The ball diamond is fainted titled "Athletic Park". It is on the South Side of town, in roughly the area once known as Frenchtown.  To be more precise, Frenchtown historically was in the open area just downstream from the ballpark, but people still used - in fact still do use - the term a bit liberally.  And in this case perhaps appropriately, as Frenchtown was always the site of much mischief...  

The story is related in an article dated August 18th, 1903, with the title:

BASEBALL GAME ENDS IN TROUBLE

It sounds like quite the messy affair.  Evidently the Eau Claire manager, a man named Peterson, refused to take action when a group of his fans got out onto the field and obstructed the base paths.  Chippewa Falls fans obviously took exception to this and went out to try removing them by force.  

It was said that at one time there were three "scraps" going on - presumably individual or group in nature, and that there was work for "an army of policemen".  There actually were some police officers on hand, and they came in for criticism for not collaring the ring leaders.  Arrests were made, most notably of a Chester Bell.  He was said to be doing no worse than several others, but as we'll see, he was a dubious character.

With the score actually being debatable due to fan interference, the umpire eventually adjusted the final tally from 8-5 for Chippewa Falls to a 9-0 victory.  I'm aware of no existing rule that would justify this.  Although the Eau Claire manager came in for criticism, and may also have been arrested, the teams were not involved and were said to be gentlemen.   

A few parting thoughts on the nature of lawlessness on the south side of Chippewa Falls.  As mentioned above, this is in a loose sense the area called Frenchtown.  This was the earliest European settled site in the current city limits and has always been a place of raised glasses, raised tempers and mischief.  That remarkable pre-Civil War community was essentially wiped out by floods in 1880 and 1884.  But.....  The oldest and most notorious saloon in old Frenchtown, the Rosseau House survived the floods and was taken a couple hundred yards upstream to a location described as "..moved to the ball park.." where it continued on as a saloon.  Sadly for today's narrative it had been moved again one year prior to the Baseball Riot and converted to a private residence  another couple hundred yards up on higher ground.

Chester Bell would seem to be a 20th century version of a typical Frenchtowner.  I may be mixing up two different men here, but the newspapers of both Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire have numerous references to a man of that name.  In the 1890's he was a peripheral figure in a burglary ring and escaped from the Eau Claire jail.  Recaptured he did a few years behind bars.  Later a gent of the same name had several instances where he claimed to suffer injuries, usually walking on old plank sidewalks, and sued for damages.  Certainly seems like our lad.  Being tossed in jail after the baseball game he was given the option of paying a $100 fine or sitting it out and having his day in court.  He went with the former.

And then tried unsuccessfully to have the money paid back to him!

Athletic Park was built in 1894, although there are suggestions that the site may have been used informally for a longer time.  It's demise is not well documented, but by 1919 subscriptions were being sought to fund a new field on the site of the Fair Grounds over on the "respectable" side of town.  Over those roughly 25 seasons a lot of interesting contests were held there.  But those ae stories for another day.

Interestingly, the legacy of baseball on this exact spot continued.  I came to town in 1985.  It was a decade or so later when my oldest son was playing ball.  One year, perhaps 1987 or so, the baseball playoffs for his league were thrown off schedule by several days of torrential rain.  His game was rescheduled, and moved to Murphy Field, an old and seldom used facility on the south side.  I remember that we didn't play all that well in this game, but that the field was impressive.  Back behind home plate there were huge walls rising up, clad in some sort of cement if I remember rightly.  Not long after this area became pat of the sprawling city yard waste dump and gravel storage lot.  Until about 9 years ago there was still a lonely concessions stand along the first base side, waiting for customers who would never return.  

Here's the site today, with Murphy Field and Athletic Field roughly marked off.   Athletic Park in blue, with the batter hitting the ball from roughly where the word Riverside sits.  Murphy Field in red, where none of our little leaguers were in danger of plunking one into the river despite the outfield being in that direction.  Those buildings around the edge are on top of that big wall.  Fun to have a century of baseball, and more, in one spot.  Notice that there is a rail line, more riverbank, and a new road since the early days.

Beans for Deer Update

Brief update on The Great Bean Experiment.  

If you are wandering in late, here's the deal.  Our family recently bought some hunting land "up north".  Last year we did pretty basic improvements, but from some perspectives the entire point of having such a property is to keep you permanently busy with upgrades.

In particular we want the White Tail deer population there to be happy, contented, plump and, er, tasty.  So we planted a few All You Can Graze food plots.  But wait, there's more.

One of my sons has access to beans.  Lots of them.  Assorted types.  I got about 30 pounds for Christmas.  I planted several varieties, just to see what would grow with minimal help.  As it happens, all of them did ok.  Admittedly using potting soil, but also middle of winter on a chilly countertop.  Germination rates varied, but 50% to 80%.  Not bad.

Eventually I took one or two promising specimens of each and transplanted them for further testing.  The rest went outside to provide fresh greens for whatever critters skulk around our compost bin.  Here's how things look with about six weeks of very indifferent care:

Not  bad.  Not bad at all.  I was more than a little 

surprised to see they had decided to be climbers.

The varieties of beans under scrutiny are Pinto, Black and Navy, all supposedly bush type beans.  But near as I can tell from casual research, even these varieties have gangly adolescent stages.

Now that I am officially a bean farmer, you might wonder just what we'll do with these.  Subject to the usual contact with the real world, here's the theory.

Deer will much anything green and growing right down to the ground, probably to the demise of said beanie plant.  But our supply of dried beans is substantial, and they appear willing to grow with only modest help.  So we'll probably go here and there in the cleared areas of the hunting land and just chuck large numbers of beans out into the world every couple of weeks.  Sure, many will be chow for mice, squirrels and other critters, but some will grow.  I'm thinking some sort of catapult would actually be the most efficient way to get them out there.  I mean, if you have your own bit of land why not use it to deploy small medieval siege engines?

FIRST Robotics 2026 - Putting it all Together

It's very helpful to bring your robot to a Pre-Season scrimmage.  This is a first chance to run on an actual field similar to competition, and with other robots.  And its a chance to renew old acquaintances, check out other designs, etc.   So well worth the trip and the day of work shop time it costs.....if you can get your act together in time.

Here's our robot on the scrimmage field....

And here's some of what it took to get there....

At the event we were trying out several new members for drive team.  The level of experience ranged from "a little bit" to none.  There were some occasions when they zigged instead of zagged, and once when the robot controller did not work....because they had not hit the Power On button!  But when you run something like 12 trial matches you have time to identify and stomp on all manner of bugs.  Loose wires, a burnt out motor, forgetting to set the robot's computer orientation system to FIELD.  By the end things were running well, at least as the basic "scoop things up, line things up, launch things up" protocols.

There remain quite a few small to medium sized tasks.  Adding a climber being the most obvious.  But with the basic build complete we'll probably stop making Weekly Progress videos and perhaps turn to special features.

Solid work.  Solid bunch of students.

Nimrods Redux

It's been a while since we've heard from the Nimrods Giant Ski team.  Last season they  mentored a younger team of Giant Skiers.  And how did the little ingrates repay 'em?  Well, that and so much more can be found in this fascinating video of the Nimrods setting some sort of Guinness World Record by skiing across (a small part of) Lake Superior.