BOYS OF SUMMER - The Bay City Independents is a vintage baseball club patterned after the original Bay City Base Ball Club of 1882-84 Bay City Independents Do Battle With Kent Base Ball Club
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Special to MyBayCity by Jayme Johnson
(MyBayCity Photo by O. J. Cunningham)
Special to MyBayCity by Jayme Johnson
It was a breezy, sunny day in Bay City, as the Bay City Independents prepared to host the mighty Kent Base Ball Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Bay City was hopeful that the sunshine would hold a chance of victory against a club that they have never been able to best in many a try. Although triumphant in every match against Bay City, the Kents had always been gracious winners and fan favorites in the city by the Bay, so it was no wonder that the crowd of spectators at Carroll Park had ringed the outfield and numbered near 500 strong.
"Honest John" Gravlin was back from his trek to the great north woods, and he would govern (umpire) the match game on this day.
The Kents won the coin toss, and elected to take the field to begin the match. The Bay Citys took the opportunity afforded to them and sent 7 strikers to the line, and tallied 3 aces to begin the match. The Kents would tally once as well when their captain Lance Brewer crossed the plate. At the end of the first innings the score stood at 3-1 in favor of Bay City.
The second innings held more of the same medicine for the Kents as the Independents sent 9 more strikers to the stripe, and plated 4 more runs to bring the hometown total to 7.
The Kents would answer in ferocious fashion by pushing their first 3 strikers across the plate. More runs may have been scored if not for a cracker-jack play pulled off by the Bay City fieldsmen. With Kent runners occupying first and second sack with only one out, the 6th Kent striker sent a "daisy cutter" into the middle of the diamond for what appeared to be a sure hit, and another run for the Kents.
However, this ball was hit into the realm of "Tanner" LeRoux, the short stop extraordinaire of the Independents, with a speed and grace that mirrors the winged Mercury, LeRoux deftly tracked down the orb, flipped it to "Double D" Dinauer, the second sacker, for one hand lost, and Dinauer then rifled the ball to the first sacker Dean "Sawmill" Koch for another hand lost, and the third of the innings.
The Bay City spectators erupted at the conclusion of the inning, and applauded the scientific play of the Independents. At the end of the second innings the score was now 7-4 for the Bay Citys.
(MyBayCity Photo by O. J. Cunningham)
In the third innings the Independents crowd would be treated to a spectacle of Herculean proportions when "Doc" Garcia, the Bay City first sacker, hit a corker to the long field that cleared a fence some 310 feet from home plate that drove in one run, and allowed Garcia to make his third. Garcia himself would later score, as would two more Bay City strikers which would bring the Bay City tally to 11.
Bay City Independents are next scheduled to play in Bay City on Sunday, August 17th at Carroll Park (Rochester Rangers)
They can also be seen on Saturday, September 27th
During The River of Time Celebration
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They can also be seen on Saturday, September 27th
During The River of Time Celebration
.
The Kents would be whitewashed in two of the next four innings, and would add 5 more runs to their total, while Bay City would add another 3 in the same span to bring the total of the match to 14-9 in favor of Bay City. The crowning moment in the middle innings of the match would see the Kent striker, Mr. Wade; make a complete circuit of the bases for the lone home run of the contest.
Wade Hillen's Home Run
The match was now much closer then the Independents would care to have it, so they grasped a firm hold on their resolve, and proceeded to punish the pill to the tune of 17 aces in just three innings. The Bay City defense held just as well by skunking the Kents twice more and allowing just two more runs to be added to the Grand Rapids total.
The final ledger would read Bay City 31, and the Kent Base Ball Club 11.
After the completion of the match the Independents discovered that the Kents were as gracious in defeat as they were in victory, and each club settled down to a fine feast of fried chicken, polish sausage and sauerkraut -- a delicacy of the polish immigrants to our fair town, and many other Bay City specialties.
Stories were shared by both clubs, and laughter was the order of the day until the Kents packed up their buggies and headed home with their bellies full of the Independents' hospitality.
(MyBayCity Photo by O. J. Cunningham)
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O. J. Cunningham |
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