website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Watertown Baseball
1860
03 15 Ball playing seems to be the favorite
amusement just now. Parties may be daily
seen on the common warmly engaged in this healthful exercise. It makes one think of old times when we had
nothing else to do on a fine day in spring.
WD
1888
07 06 Baseball
players should be a little more choice in their language especially when ladies
are present, than some of those who played on the Dennis ground last Sunday
were. There were quite a number of the
fair sex present on this occasion, and they were decidedly opposed to this part
of the programme. WG
1899 Sacred
Heart 1899 Baseball Team
1905 “Jumbo” Keel
There
is hardly a section of the state that the baseball “fans” are not acquainted
with, or have heard of, R S “Jumbo” (R S)
Keel as he has been a noted baseball player throughout this section for
years and was signed with the Milwaukee league team one season but, owing to an
injury, was unable to play the entire season.
1906 There
are all probabilities that the Watertown city team and Northwestern University
will cross bats next Wednesday, May 30, on the N. W. U. Campus. No definite
arrangements have been made as yet, but the two managers will undoubtedly come
to an agreement today. This will probably be one of the most exciting contests,
since both teams will have their crowd of rooters and make things warm. The day
will bring forth many baseball enthusiasts, the day being on a legal holiday.
The Leader will announce more after
the managers have come to a satisfactory agreement. May 26 WL
1906 Johnson
Creek, June 26 - A good many of our people attended the base ball game between
Jefferson and Watertown at the fair grounds at Jefferson last Sunday. We have
always sent strong delegations to whatever was going on in Jefferson and hope
the boys will retaliate and come and spend the Fourth without fear. We only
advertised what we actually offered to the amusement loving public and can
guarantee a good game in the forenoon as well as afternoon. The carnival will
be something new in this next section and you can have as much fun as a barrel
of monkeys. The arrangement committee has been trying to secure the Arion Military Band of Jefferson and offered them for a
half day's playing more than we ever paid any band years before, but we were
not able to make them see our way. Other arrangement have, however been made
since. Come to Johnson Creek! June 29 WL
1906 Fred Schaetzke, who is spending the winter
with his folks in Milwaukee, spent Thanksgiving in the city and remained over
to attend the dance in the evening. Mr. Schaetzke will be remembered as one of the old stars in the
Watertown baseball team, leaving here five years ago, when base ball enthusiasm
was at its height and Watertown had a team that ranked among the highest with
the amateur teams of the northwest During the season recently ended Schaetzke played with one of the Texas League teams and has
a contract to play there next season.
The gentleman has been in league company
several times and has a good reputation in baseball circles. While in Watertown, he played second base and
was the star player, being a heavy and sure batter. The visit of Schaetzke
was much enjoyed by his many local friends.
Dec
9
1908
07 17 Watertown defeated Hartford at
Washington Park WG
07 24 Watertown defeated Miller Brewing Co. of Oshkosh WG
09 04 Watertown Rooters attending the Watertown-Columbus
baseball game of 09 04 1908 in Waterloo
09 23 Fred Merkle During
a game rookie Giant first baseman Fred Merkle . . .
as was the custom of the time in such situations, headed for the Giant
clubhouse in center field. Cub second baseman Johnny Evers - a
stickler for rules - noticed that Merkle had not gone
on to touch second . . .
10 02 Addie
Joss [1880-1911]. The perfect
game. Cleveland Naps hosted the Chicago
White Sox. Addie Joss monument at
Watertown’s Washington Park
11 13 Bittner Baseball Club, 1908, Mention of, WG
1909
03 05 Milwaukee City League, Watertown
baseball team admitted to WG
04 02 Elks Baseball Club WG
04 30 City League's
championship season, Frank Lange WG
05 28 Watertown suffered
first defeat and coat of whitewash of the season WG
06 11 Sixteen hundred
howling fans at local game WG
09 10 Watertown team left field
after decision of umpire WG
Lake Mills Grays
In
1909 image, the Lake Mills Grays were burning up the baseball diamonds, as
successors to an earlier team, the Lake Mills Blues.
E. L.
Mills, catcher; Lee Putnam, pitcher; Frank Everson, first baseman; Alvin E. DeMerit, outfielder; and George E. Greenwood, center
fielder. William Latsch,
third baseman; Nelson H. Falk, first baseman; Charles S. Greenwood, outfielder;
and Herman J. Setz, shortstop, and standing is
William Penn, who managed the squad.
Only half
of the team members shown in the picture are still living. Putnam is a salesman working out of Chicago;
Everson, George Greenwood, and Setz are here in Lake
Mills, and Latsch is at London. Old-timers still recall the
exploits of the Grays, who met and conquered some of the best teams in this
section of the state and helped put Lake Mills on the map as a rip-snorting
baseball town. Lake
Mills Leader article of 01 08 1942
includes photo
1910c
WHS_007_KR349
Watertown
Baseball, Milwaukee City League, c1910
Front row: Ed Schultz, J Miller, Boettcher
Sitting: George Richard, Frank McAdams, William
Richard, W Kuenzi
Back:
Pat Kronitz, John Bergan, F Leschinger
1910
Watertown team
consider best in league; those with difference with players, lay it aside WG
Watertown Champions, Milwaukee City League, 1910
1911
03 02 Watertown to Again Play in City League
Watertown,
champions of the Milwaukee City league for the season of 1910, will again be a
member of the local semi-pro organization this year.
This information
was given out by R. Hahn, secretary of the club, on Sunday,
There
have been reports of late that Watertown would sever its relations with the
City league this season and was going to affiliate with a new
organization. All these stories apparently
originated from the prospective organizers, however.
At a
meeting of prominent businessmen and baseball fans held at Watertown Saturday
evening everyone was in favor of remaining with the Milwaukee City league. The matter of joining another league was
brought up but was quickly turned down.
A
committee was appointed to be present at the next league meeting in this city
in order to renew the franchise.
Reports show that
Watertown enjoyed a prosperous season last year and bigger things are expected in
1911. The team promises to be as strong
as ever, for all of the 1910 champions promise to return to the fold. WG [Milwaukee Sentinel, Feb. 27]
03 23 Watertown Catcher Gets Offer From Brewers
— Lester Ruedig, star third baseman of the Watertown
club in the Milwaukee City League, will travel in faster company this
season. Ruedig
has signed a contract with the Madison club of the Wisconsin-Illinois
League. Another Watertown player is
considering an offer from the Milwaukee team.
Herman Bahr, the young catcher of the Watertown club, has received an
offer from manager Jimmy Barrett and he is undecided whether to accept or
not. Bahr is 19 years of age and weighs
165 pounds. He hit .340 in the City
League last season. Bahr has a good
position at Watertown and hates to give it up for the chance of making good in
professional baseball. WG
05 04 The Bee-Dee Co. team opened the season with a victory
by defeating the strong North Western College
team on the college campus by the score of 6 to 3. George Richards did the twirling for the
Bee-Dees and pitched first class ball while Miller did good work behind the
bat. Berg, Masch
and Mahnke were the batteries for the college
boys. Unfortunately the stunt Creuz tried to perform and pick up the ball with his teeth
turned out to be a fizzle and allowed the N. W. C. team their runs, who might
have left the diamond with but one run to their credit had it not been for this
incident. WG
07 06 Seventeen hundred sweltering fans packed
the south side park Tuesday afternoon and watched the Kosciuskos,
the crack Polish team, slaughter the champion Watertown by a score of 16 to 5 .
. . When Jack Howey sent out a screeching double to
the fence off Heimerl in the fifth, the once famous portsider was chased from the rubber. George Richards, who relieved him, was not
treated any better, however, and after the Poles had scored eight times in two
innings he was also derricked [sent to the gallows: from Derrick, name of a
celebrated hangman]. Manager Bill
Richards then finished the game . . . WG
1912
Watertown Champions, Milwaukee City League, 1912
02 15 Baseball Meeting
There was an enthusiastic meeting of baseballists at the city hall last Monday evening, which
was called to order by Will Richards, manager of the team in 1911. Chas. A. Kohn and R. M. Hahn officiated at the
meeting as president and secretary. By a
unanimous vote of all present “Mike" Davy, proprietor of the Watertown Dye
Works, was chosen manager of the 1912 team, and he said as the boys seemed to
want him to undertake the pleasant task, he would put forth his best energies
to make baseball in Watertown this year popular with all classes of people.
A vote of thanks was extended Will Richards for his
excellent services as manager during the year 1911. R. M Hahn was elected secretary and treasurer
of the club, which position he has so acceptably filled for several years. H. A. Kronitz was
elected captain of the club, Fred Hinze manager of
the grounds, Ernst Leschinger was elected ticket
seller and Fred Hinze ticket taker. Fred Hinze was elected chairman
of the finance committee and Herman E. Krueger and Chas. A. Hinze
his assistants. Jesse Theobold, formerly of the Madison State League,
"Nig" Abler of Milwaukee and "Roxy” Walther are being considered
as pitchers for the present season. WG
05 02 Watertown Loses Catcher Bahr
Fence-Smashing Backstop of the Goslings Signs Up with
Marinette - Herman Bahr, catcher for the Watertown team, has accepted a fine
offer from the Marinette baseball team of the Upper Peninsula-Wisconsin league
and will leave for that place Saturday.
Bahr is one of the best catchers Watertown has ever had and is very
popular among the fans, who will be sorry to learn that he is to leave. He is a clean, gentlemanly player, of good
habits, and all his friends are confident that he will make good. He may prove to be a serious loss to the
Goslings, as his heavy clouting has won many games for the Watertown team,
which has many poor batters on its list.
Bahr showed up in fine form in its opening game of the season this year
and if he keeps up in his present form, we predict, it will not be long before
he is traveling in big company. The Gazette joins his many friends in
wishing him success and good luck in his new position. WG
06 27 Bahr Signed with the Milwaukee Brewers
Herman Bahr, formerly of this city, has been signed
with the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club.
Bahr no doubt will make good in that club as he was one of the best ball
players Watertown has ever had. WG
07 11 Bahr, the stocky Dutchman from Watertown
In the account of the game last Friday between the
Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City, the Milwaukee Sentinel says of Bahr: "In the ninth the Brewers threw a scare
into the enemy but nothing resulted.
[Tom] Jones singled to right with one dead, but Schalk
fanned. [Herman] Bahr, the stocky
Dutchman from Watertown, who knocked down so many fences in the City League
last season that Dick Marcan chased him out of the
league to keep the organization out of bankruptcy courts, was then trotted out
for first inspection. The kid let the
first go by and then rammed a pretty single to left, putting Tom on
second. With Nemo
up, [pitcher] Big Bill's expansive pins began to tickle, but he fussed and
fumed and finally fanned [struck out] the kid." WG
08 08 Sixteen Inning Game Won By Everwears
Great Battle in City League Lost by Watertown after
Great Struggle
On Sunday, in one of the greatest battles ever seen at
White City Park, Milwaukee, lasting through sixteen innings, the Everwear Hosierys, the fast west
side team, downed the husky Watertown aggregation, the City League leaders, 3
to 2. It was Watertown's first
appearance there this season and a monster crowd turned out for the fray.
When Jerry Paulson of the Everwears
stepped to the plate in the last half of the sixteenth and smashed out a double
to left, the stands roared. But
Honegger, who followed, fanned, while Bunte grounded
out. It was now up to manager Mike Neuens and the noisy leader, after having two called on
him, cracked a Texas leaguer to center on which Paulsen raced home with the
winning run.
Lefty Lindauer and Leonard Aubey, the opposing twirlers, pitched the most brilliant
ball of their careers and the two backstops, Esch and
Hornickle, caught in big league style. Aubey, though
touched up for twelve hits, struck out twenty men, while Lindauer
allowed but nine safeties and fanned fourteen. Score . . . WG
08 22 2500 fans and fanettes see 1
to 0 game
Clarence Esch, crack catcher
of the Everwear Hosierys,
broke up a sensational ten inning game at Washington Park on Sunday, when he
drove the ball over the right field fence for a homer, which gave his team a 1
to 0 victory over the league leaders.
The Everwears are now within close range of
Watertown for the city league pennant.
The game was a thriller and the 2500 fans and fanettes
yelled themselves hoarse. Lefty Lindauer and Len Aubey again
faced each other on the mound and covered themselves with glory. Lindauer was
effective against the Watertown sluggers this time. Only four safeties were secured off him and
eleven men fanned. Aubey
was in his usual good form, for he allowed the Hosierys
but four hits and got six via the strikeout route. Score . . . WG
1913
05 23 Chicago
White Sox vs Watertown Goslings at Washington Park
1915
09 10 Chicago Cubs hosted by Watertown Goslings
of the Central State League at Washington Park
1923 Peter J. Norton, Old-Time Ball Player,
Passes Away
Peter
J. Norton, who died Wednesday night at his residence, 427 Wisconsin Avenue, in
Oak Park, was the organizer, captain and one of the great players of the
Dreadnaught team, which was the leading baseball nine of Chicago in the late
sixties. That was before the professional
White Stocking team won the first championship for Chicago in 1870. “Pete” was also one of the organizers and
directors of the Old Timers’ Baseball association and President Joe Lawler and
other of its members will act as active pallbearers at the funeral tomorrow
morning at
My
Dear Jim:
The
above is from the Chicago Daily News,
9th inst.
I’ll
never forget the first real game of baseball I ever saw in Watertown. “Pete” Norton pitched, John T. Flavin, Percy Werlich and George Matthes
were on the “Live Oak” team at that time, they played the “Rock Rivers” of
Jefferson. I was nine or ten, the
uniforms made such an impression on me that I can see them vividly to this day.
The
game was played on the Commons, near the C. & N. W. Ry. north of
J. T. McGiveran
John
T. McGiveran, the writer of this above, and a former
Watertown boy, never allows anything to “go by” of interest to Watertown
people, hence sent the above to The
Gazette editor, his old time friend.
1930
&’40s Hey
Day of Baseball in Watertown. The
Hiawatha’s
The
Goslings used Washington Park for their home field and the Hiawatha’s used the
Hiawatha diamond as their home field.
The
Hiawatha’s home field was on South Third Street, just south of the railroad
tracks and east of South Third. Home
plate and third base were pretty much parallel to the tracks, with first base
to the south and then second base following the line between home plate and the
pitcher’s mound. A large area back there
and was before the Lindberg plant was expanded.
Deep center field was out by the Crosby Squares Shoe Company (today it’s
Johnson Diversey) and hitting that building took a
monumental swing. Bill Schumann, the
superintendent of the shoe factory at the time and a big sports fan himself,
liked it when the building was struck by a home run. A memory is that “if someone broke a window
in the place from a home run old Bill Schumann would not only have the window
repaired, he would give the hitter a free pair of the company’s best shoes!”
The Hiawathas were owned by Clem Schoechert,
the proprietor of the Hiawatha Bar, a block south of the tracks on the corner
of Hyland Street and River Drive. He was
quite a character and an important factor in the history of baseball in
Watertown.
Hi-Spots Baseball team, served as a feeder
team for the Hiawathas
Later
the Goslings and the Hiawathas
combined their efforts and ultimately the Watertown Cardinals were the team that resulted. WDTimes article
1944–1948 Doris Tetzlaff
Doris Tetzlaff [″Tetz″]
(Jan 1, 1921 – Apr 11, 1998) was an infielder and chaperone in the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League. Little
is known about this woman who played different roles during ten years in the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A native of Watertown, Wisconsin,
Tetzlaff came from a family of German origin. She was
a valuable utility, playing mainly at third base for five different teams from
1944 through 1948. Online article
1953
11 08 Al Linde, son
of Fire Chief Al Linde of the Watertown Fire Department, ended his career in
softball by being named to the all-star team of the world tournament which was held
in Miami, Fla., recently. Linde, who plays with the
Dow Chemicals, of Midland, Mich., was selected for the left field position in
the all-star array. He has competed in seven world tourneys and is considered
one of softball's greatest performers. He has been a player for 23 years.
1955 The 1955
State Champion Watertown High School Baseball Team
The Watertown Goslings won the state baseball
championship. It was the first time for
such an achievement. A planned article will
document the occasion by commemorating the team and team players. The author, Dave Stalker, researched the
newspaper clippings and box score's associated with each game and contacted
most of the championship team members so to add updating information and
perspective. See WHS_005_844 in chapter on Watertown High School
1956
04 26 Watertown boys between the ages of 16 to
21 years old are in for “Big League” schooling and try-outs this summer. The Watertown Daily Times is inaugurating
its first annual “Silver Sluggers” baseball program with the cooperation of the
Milwaukee Braves. One or more boys who participate in the Watertown “Silver
Sluggers” try-outs and school will be named to the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan All
Star squad; and compete in the “Silver Sluggers” All Star game, Tuesday, Aug.
7, at the Milwaukee County Stadium following a Braves-Cub afternoon tilt. The
program was originated by the Milwaukee Sentinel and has the participation of
leading Wisconsin and Upper Michigan daily newspapers. WDT
11 08 Watertown
Cardinals received Central Wisconsin
League grand championship pennant and first place trophy. WDT
1957
07 06 The Watertown Cardinals will hold a full dress
practice session at Washington Park tonight at 8 o'clock to set final plans for
participation in the district tourney at Oconomowoc. Manager Erv Buchert has selected his
tournament squad. On the roster are: infielders, Glenn Braunschweig,
Jack Bast, Al Maas,
Lou Kuckhan and Dave Balmer;
outfielders, Mel Wagner, Bob Schultz, Dave Veldhuizen
and Mike Mullen; catchers, Jerry Rabbach and Don Hartwig (Fort Atkinson); pitchers, Don Schmidt, Jim
Thompson, Ronnie Braunschweig and Penny Dittman; utility, Dan O'Brien (Fort Atkinson).
1957
11 01 Rich Block recognized for more than four
decades of work with the Watertown Cardinals
WDT
1958
06 20 Softball
diamond tarpaulin, Riverside Park WDT
1959
03 23 Watertown Cardinals
reinstated in Central Wisconsin League's northern division WDT
07 11 Rich
Block, Cardinal shortstop, named to Central Wisconsin League's all-star
squad WDT
1962
07 10 Fair
weather smiled on the Watertown Jaycees as their 7th annual invitational slow pitch
softball tournament opened at Riverside Park today with an enrollment of 51
teams. Tournament play started at 1
o’clock this afternoon with Mayor Robert P. White slated to toss out the first
ball officially launching the meet . Action was to
continue through the day and tonight.
Midland of Watertown is the defending champion of the 14-inch division
while Hank’s Tavern of Milwaukee is the 12-inch champ. WDT
1999
06 10 Watertown’s
baseball team was welcomed home after winning the WIAA Division 1 state
baseball tournament Friday with a reception at Washington Park. Watertown athletic director Ivan Thompson,
head baseball coach Rusty Tiedemann, longtime fan Don Richards and several players
addressed the fans assembled in the bleachers.
They celebrated the team’s second baseball title in school history, with
the first one coming in 1955. The only
other state championship won by a WHS team was the girls
basketball squad in 1977 WDT
2012
05 21 WHS’ 27-inning game ties for 10th longest
CHIPPEWA
FALLS — Much like baseball, softball is a game of numbers. Watertown’s game Saturday at the Chippewa
Falls Invitational against No. 1 ranked Appleton East was stuffed full of them.
— 5
hours, 58 minutes.
— 705
pitches.
— 188
at-bats.
— 5
runs.
— 31
hits.
— 11
errors.
When calculations
became final, the result was a 27-inning affair, the 10th longest game in the
history of high school softball in America, the longest game ever played in the
state of Wisconsin. Almost inconsequentially, Watertown lost 3-2. WDTimes article
Cross References:
Washington
Park, chapter on, Merkle Field
Etched
in Stone: A Lasting Tribute to the Deadball Era,
by David Stalker
