By Steven D. Schmitt

Milwaukee Brewers fans will see more action-packed baseball in a more compact package in 2023 and beyond, making the game more enjoyable for all ages.

So says Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger, who outlined the potential effect of a pitch clock, elimination of infield over-shifts, and larger bases on major league baseball in a speaking appearance February 28 at the Old Time Ballplayers of Wisconsin World Series Club dinner.

The pitch clock will require pitchers to deliver the ball to the plate within 15 seconds after receiving it from the catcher or umpire with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on base. Pitchers are penalized a ball for violations while batters lose a strike if they are not ready to hit. With the new shift rule, infielders must stay at their assigned positions, with the third baseman and shortstop to the left of second base, and the second baseman and first baseman to the right of second base, eliminating the three-on-one-side over-shifts that have frustrated major league hitters, particularly those that bat left-handed. “Rowdy Tellez is the happiest guy you’ve ever seen in spring training,” Schlesinger told the group of 40 Brewer baseball enthusiasts, cautioning that, “We won’t really know until the All-Star break what the overall effect will be.”

So says Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger, who outlined the potential effect of a pitch clock, elimination of infield over-shifts, and larger bases on major league baseball in a speaking appearance February 28 at the Old Time Ballplayers of Wisconsin World Series Club dinner.

The pitch clock is expected to shorten games up to 28 minutes, based on experiments with the new rule in the minor leagues last season. The absence of infield shift will put more balls in play and presumably raise batting averages, Schlesinger said. Increasing the size of bases from 15 square inches to 18 square inches should increase stolen bases but enable faster force-outs and double plays. The shortening of games and the use of a ghost runner in extra innings, Schlesinger said, will please and attract more fans. “The game has to change and evolve with the fan base,” Schlesinger said. “The product has to appeal to a larger demographic. We are not reaching people under 40, 30, and 20 years old.”

As for watching the team on television, the Brewers sell broadcasting rights to sports networks as all major league teams do, but they also rank last in broadcast revenue. Schlesinger believes that issues with the current provider will be resolved but he expects major league baseball to someday administer television packages. He would like to explore the National Football League-style model to make smaller market teams more competitive. “The (current) system is not working for us,” Schlesinger said.

The Brewers also want to stay in Milwaukee by the time those people are 20 years older. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has proposed a one-time cash investment of $290 million from the state’s $6.9 billion budget surplus to provide the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District – the Brewers’ landlord for American Family Field – with the resources for renovating the key components of the ballpark to make it competitive and sustainable through 2043. Those components include the retractable roof, the heating-ventilation-air conditioning units, seating, and scoreboard and technology improvements. A new audio system completed this year will ensure every fan hears announcements clearly regardless of seat location. Schlesinger is optimistic about the budget proposal that would meet the District’s obligations set forth in the stadium lease. “We’re looking to make sure our landlord has the money,” he said. Since the ballpark opened as Miller Park in 2001, it has generated $2.5 billion in state tax revenue and, in 2022 alone, created 3,000 jobs, according to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Brewer fans, however, won’t have to wait for an increase in food varieties and reduced concession prices, which will take effect this season. “You shouldn’t have to spend a week’s worth of salary to go to a Brewers game,” Schlesinger said.

And how competitive will the Brewers be this season? They have their core players and pitchers back but will have some new players that will add speed and excitement to the games, though some may not join the team until the season starts. “We have an excellent catcher who can hit,” Schlesinger said of the acquisition of William Contreras from the Oakland Athletics. “We need a little bit of luck, but we need to stay healthy more than anything else. “Schlesinger expects the St. Louis Cardinals and Brewers to battle for the N. L. Central and to renew a fan-pleasing rivalry with an improved Chicago Cubs team.

And how will the new rules affect Bob Uecker’s radio broadcasts? “He may have to make his stories a little shorter,” Schlesinger said.

It has been a half-century to the day (September 10, 1969) since the Chicago Cubs lost their seemingly insurmountable lead over the eventual World Series champion New York Mets in a loss to fifth-place Philadelphia on a Johnny Callison RBI single.

Longtime Cubs fans recall the nine-game advantage they owned in mid-August and the Ken Holtzman no-hitter August 19 against the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field that seemed to cement the Cubs as a team of destiny. Fans figured it was only a matter of time before Chicago would celebrate its first National League flag in 24 years. They had recently won two games (one suspended) September 2 at Cincinnati and led by five games with 25 to play.

Then it happened. First, the Pittsburgh Pirates – who had not won in six games at Wrigley Field that season – swept the Cubs three straight at the Friendly Confines. Chicago was one out away from salvaging the Sunday game when Willie Stargell homered onto Sheffield Avenue off Phil Regan to tie the game. The Pirates scored two unearned runs in the 11th to win. Then it was the Black Cat and the apparent tag of Tommie Agee at home plate in New York. The Mets won, 3-2, and then 7-1 to come within a half-game of first place.  Twenty four hours later, the Cubs were in second place as the Mets beat the Montreal Expos and the Cubs lost to the Phillies.

Did everything simply go wrong in September? Did losses to the Mets in July provide a precursor to the inevitable? It is hard to say.  In retrospect, the Cubs needed another starting pitcher, another left-handed bat in the lineup and perhaps a more active bench that had performed well in spot duty until the last month of a hectic pennant race.

 

Manager Leo Durocher has been blamed for staying with his regular lineup and having his four starters – sometimes three in Fergie Jenkins, Bill Hands and Holtzman – pitch deep into games until they could not do it anymore down the stretch.  Note that the team also failed to have a .300 hitter, an effective right-field platoon (unlike the Mets who had Art Shamsky and Ron Swoboda make well-rested contributions) and stole just 30 bases as a team.  Earned run averages balooned and batting averages deflated in a total collapse.

Something like this may not happen today, with a late trading deadline, free agent signings and well-stocked bullpens.  Perhaps the Cubs’ failure and the Mets’ use of five starting pitchers and three or more relief pitchers actually ushered in the modern era. Regardless, as a 10-year-old, I didn’t know if the Cubs were overconfident, tired, complacent, or deficient.  I just know it was a fun summer until the harsh realities of a long a season set in.  The Cubs were may favorite team with several great players.  Even the 2016 World Series title did not repudiate my love for the 1969 Cubs or the sadness of losing a pennant that seemed well in hand.

Jim Enlund pitched three varsity seasons for the University of Wisconsin baseball team (1969-71).  He had a moving fastball and learned a change-up that helped him make Dynie Mansfield’s starting rotation, though Enlund also saw service as a relief pitcher. Enlund recently asked me to look up his career pitching record at the request of a friend of his.

Scouring the Wisconsin State Journal under newspapers.com, I discovered that Jim’s best season was a 6-5 mark in a 1970 season that ended with a tough 5-3 loss at Ohio State. The Badgers did win 22 games in Mansfield’s 31st and final year as head coach.  Among Enlund’s victories was a May 9 two-hitter in a victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes. Perhaps his best performance was in defeat. During the spring trip, Enlund lost to Grand Canyon College (now University), pitching all 17 innings.

Enlund had a 3-6 record in 1969 as a sophomore (freshman were not eligible in 1968) and concluded his career with a 4-5 senior season under first-year coach Tom Meyer. Enlund was a crucial member of a Badger staff that featured ace Lon Galli, whom teammates have since referred to as a left-handed Greg Maddux because of his pinpoint control and ability to change speeds, and Mike McEvilly, a Madison East grad who was UW’s #3 starting pitcher in the same period.

Jim Enlund spent his post-baseball years serving the senior citizen population in the assisted living industry in the greater Milwaukee area. Since retired, Enlund is a member of the Old-Time Ballplayers Association of Wisconsin.

Since 1963, Otto Puls has worn the zebra-stripe garb of a basketball officials at virtually all UW home games and, in recent years, most if not all of the Wisconsin Badgers’ road games as a scorekeeper for the UW – Madison men’s basketball team.  He has even assisted at practice sessions home and away and is beloved by players, coaches and fans alike. 

On September 6, Otto Puls will be inducted into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.  How can a guy who sits at a scorer’s table, no matter how many years of service, get such a prestigious award? Well, Otto Puls’s history goes much beyond UW men’s basketball.  Puls graduated from Madison (WI) East High School in 1950.  He had a long career as a local pharmacist, working for Mallatt’s Pharmacy with former UW baseball player Bill Mallatt and Mallatt’s father. Sadly, the pharmacy building has been replaced after 75 years on Monroe Street. The business became known for Halloween costumes, wine tastings and a soda fountain as well as exemplary pharmaceutical service. Puls spent most of his career as pharmacist for Central Wisconsin Center on Madison’s far east side.

Puls is receiving the UW honor because of his lifelong dedication to UW and Wisconsin athletics as a player and official.  Puls twice led the Badger baseball team in runs scored and perfected drag bunts down the third-base line as a left-handed hitter. “I supplanted Harvey Kuenn,” joked Puls, who succeeded the 1952 team MVP, bonus baby, and 15-year major league shortstop and outfielder as the Badger shortstop in 1953.  Puls got the hit that beat Minnesota ace pitcher and future U of M athletic director Paul Giel (also a football star and #1 draft choice) in 1953. It was Giel’s first defeat and the first time he was ever removed from a game.  In 1954, Puls and a senior-laden Badger squad came within one-half game of the Big Ten championship after sweeping the Gophers in a doubleheader at Delta Field in Minneapolis (yes, Wisconsin beat Giel again) and awaiting the outcome of the Michigan State-Ohio State game that featured a major brawl and the appearance of a pitcher named Billy Mansfield, son of Badger coach Arthur “Dynie” Mansfield. Billy, normally a starter, came out of the bullpen to save the game and conference title for the Spartans. After the Badgers dined at an Eau Claire restaurant on the way home from Minneapolis, coach Mansfield informed the team, “My son just cost us the Big Ten championship.” Never mind that Ohio State shortstop Howard “Hopalong” Cassady, the 1955 Heisman Trophy winner, made four errors and instigated the brawl colliding with the MSU first baseman who left the game injured and his replacement, Bob Powell, got the winning hit.

Puls continued to play Madison Industrial League baseball for Malatt’s and powerhouse Badger Sports, managed by former Badger Johnny Gerlach. In 1955, Puls began a long officiating career, working  high school and Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC) football and basketball games. In 1972, Puls joined the Big Ten Conference and officiated football and basketball games for 20 years.¹  He worked several post-season bowl games, including the 1981 Orange Bowl with former Badger baseball player and coach Gene Calhoun.

Puls will never forget taking over for Kuenn and getting the hit of Giel.  But he also has decades of Badger basketball memories, including several Big Ten titles and two NCAA Final Four appearances, one in the championship game. But anyone who knows Puls will not forget him for his long record of service to the Badgers and to the people of the Madison area.  So if you’re attending Saturday’s Wisconsin football game at Camp Randall when the 2019 UW Athletic Hall of Fame inductees are introduced to the crowd, give a rousing cheer for Otto Puls and his deserving colleagues. And wish Puls a Happy Birthday, too. On September 7, “Otts” celebrates his 87th.  For he’s a jolly good fellow and someone very difficult to supplant.

Puls is also a member of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association and Madison Sports Hall of Fame. Otto and Barbara live in Middleton, Wisconsin. His son, Jeff, also played baseball at UW.

¹”Otto Puls – Official,” Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, Inducted 1998 – Citation Award. https:/www.wifca.org/news_article/show/141598. Accessed September 4, 2019.

It was July 2, 1967.  The Chicago Cubs hosted the Cincinnati Reds before a throng of more than 36,000 fans at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.  Just another mid-summer game between two old foes? Not that day.  Ferguson Jenkins, who would win 20 games in 1967 to start a string of six consecutive 20-game seasons for the same club, defeated Cincinnati, 4-1 , to tie for the National League lead with the St. Louis Cardinals.

It had been years since the Cubs could fly the W flag and display the Chicago team flag above the others atop the manual scoreboard and have it mean something.  It was different than past years where the familiar white W on a blue field (or vice versa) would fly for maybe a few days for a perennial loser.  The 1967 Cubs had been on a roll leading up to this exciting day and would post the franchise’s first winning record in 20 years by season’s end.  Manager Leo Durocher had backed up the truck and discarded aging veterans and never-wases for a younger, energetic group that would contend for the league title for the next six seasons.

Jenkins tossed his fastball, curve, slider and change of pace to battery-mate Randy Hundley, who handled pitchers, gunned down base-stealers, socked homers and showed excellent running speed for an everyday catcher.  The slugging trio of Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ernie Banks – Hall of Famers all – provided much of the scoring punch while shortstop Don Kessinger and second baseman Glenn Beckert formed a nifty double play combo that stayed together for nine seasons.

Another key player almost forgotten today was center fielder Adolfo Phillips, who became a folk hero  when the Panamanian Flash hit four home runs, three in the second game, in a June 11 doubleheader sweep of the New York Mets at Wrigley Field.  His dazzling catches in he outfield drew calls of “Olè!” from appreciative fans.

Unfortunately, the Cubs lost seven of their next eight games after Jenkins’ mastery of the Reds and never reached the top again that season. On July 24, WGN-TV Channel Nine actually televised a road game from St. Louis’ Busch Memorial Stadium where the Cubs’ Ray Culp beat the front-running Redbirds, 3-1.  Sadly, it was Culp’s 8th and final win of the season. It was Wait ‘Til Next Year once again.

I recall the excitement of that season because it was my first as a Cubs fan, now that the Braves left Milwaukee, never to return. WMTV in Madison carried 30 Cubs games throughout the spring and summer and I learned that “Hey!Hey!” meant a home run and “Ohh, brother!” (another Jack Brickhouse exclamation) meant bad news.

More than 50 years later, the day the W flew for the 1967 Cubs and the team flag was hoisted above all the other teams was unforgettable for me and many longtime Cub fans.

Forget the double no-hitter between Hippo Vaughn and Fred Toney at Wrigley Field in Chicago on May 12, 1917.  Harvey Haddix’s lost perfect game in Milwaukee on May 26, 1959. And all those dead-ball and modern extra-inning marathons, too.

The best game ever pitched occurred on the night of July 2, 1963 at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.  Giants right-handed ace Juan Marichal and Milwaukee Braves southpaw Warren Spahn combined to pitched 31 1/3 innings of baseball on a cool evening, each throwing more than 200 pitches before Willie Mays homered off Spahn with one out in the bottom of the 16th to win the game for the Giants, 1-0.

Marichal would not be taken out of the game after the customary nine innings. Even as the game moved into extra frames,  Giants manager Alvin Dark – a former teammate of  Spahn in both Boston and Milwaukee, continued to plead with Marichal to exit, knowing he needed the man with the blazing fastball and high leg kick every fourth day.  Marichal refused, pointing out after all that if that “old man” (Spahn was 42 years old) could stay out there, the 25-year-old ace could, too.  Willie McCovey had slugged a long drive in the bottom of the 10th inning that first base umpire Chris Pelekoudas called foul, though Giant players, fans and broadcasters saw it differently.

 

 

Juan Marichal (left) and Warren Spahn (right) both baffled batters with their leg kick. Photo courtesy of The Sports Cubicle. Cover photos for the book, The Greatest Game Ever Pitched.

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Birthday wishes go out today to Eliseo Rodriguez Delgado, better know to baseball fans as Ellie Rodriguez, a major league catcher from 1968 to 1976 who played for five teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers.

Rodriguez was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico on May 24, 1946 to Francisco Rodriguez and Juana Delgado. Francisco farmed and Juana cared for Eliseo, his older brother Jimmy (who owned Jimmy’s Bronx Café in the 1980s) , and two sisters – Daly and Iris. Today, only Eliseo and Daly survive. In 1953, Francisco moved his family from the depressed economy of Puerto Rico to New York City. He worked primarily on tomato farms in New Jersey to support the family, which lived at 174th Street and Boston Rd., 10 streets from Yankees Stadium.  While at PS 61 in the Bronx, Rodriguez recalled playing stickball with a pitcher, batter and outfielder. They drew the strike zone with chalk on the wall of the building and used brooms and a red rubber ball. “We’d get up in the morning and be in the schoolyard,” he said.

Rodriguez played sandlot baseball but fought in the New York Daily News Golden Gloves competition after learning to fight while in middle school.  Some kids in a rough neighborhood were pushing him around and his brother convinced him that he had to learn how to defend himself.  Baseball became his number one sport after he broke a middle finger in a sparring session.

After graduating from James Monroe High School in 1964, Rodriguez’s Spanish League team, El Gardel – which had won 16 games in a row – defeated an amateur team from Puerto Rico for the championship.

Catcher Rodriguez threw out “four or five” base stealers and former Kansas City Athletics scout Felix Delgado told him, “When you get back to New York, I’m going to send a scout there to sign you.” Two days later, Tommy Giordano signed Rodriguez to a contract that carried a $4,000 bonus and a progressive bonus of $7,500.

He made his major league debut on May 26, 1968 with the Yankees and played nine game for them that season, mostly filling in for Frank Fernandez, who was called to military duty on weekends and for a two-week stretch. When the Yankees drafted Thurman Munson, Rodriguez was placed on the American League expansion list and became the regular catcher for the brand-new Kansas City Royals in 1969.  The team’s only All-Star selection as a rookie, Rodriguez ended up sharing catching duties with John “Buck” Martinez and Ed “Spanky” Kirkpatrick for two seasons, basically because Rodriguez – a solid defensive catcher with a good throwing arm – did not hit for power.

Rodriguez consistently played in the Puerto Rican winter league. During the 1970-71 season, Rodriguez momentarily returned to boxing when he punched Mayaguez pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee outside the Caguas ballpark on November 20, 1970, causing Lee’s face to strike a hand rail on a stairway leading into the ballpark, breaking four front teeth. Earlier in the season, Rodriguez had homered and doubled off Lee, who warned, “Next time, I’ll stick it in your ear.”

On November 16, Lee surrendered a home run to Caguas first baseman Willie Montanez. The Mayaguez catcher warned Rodriguez to watch out. Lee hit Rodriguez with a pitch. Rodriguez charged the mound and took a swing at Lee, who blocked the punch and decked Rodriguez with a left hook.  The umpire ejected Rodriguez from the game. On the 20^th, Rodriguez saw Lee get off the Mayaguez team bus. Rodriguez recalled, “He was the first guy I saw and I hit him with one shot.” Lee went back to Boston to get his teeth fixed that weekend.  The feud reached the major leagues on May 24, 1973 when Lee hit Rodriguez with a pitch at Fenway Park. Rodriguez charged the mound and the Boston fans booed. The Red Sox won, 10-1.

In the winter of 1971, the Royals traded Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers.  He was the number one catcher for most of the next three seasons, leading the American League in runners caught stealing in 1971 and posting the Brewers’ best average in 1972 (.285) and making his second All-Star team.  Ellie emerged as the team leader in 1973 under manager Del Crandall. The Brewers led the Eastern Division in June and won 14 of 15 games. On June 2, he caught all 13 innings and drove in all three runs in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox at County Stadium. With Rodriguez catching every day, the 15^th victory on Sunday, June 17 at White Sox Park gave Milwaukee six straight wins over the A. L.  West leaders and put the Brewers one game up in the East. A crowd of 6,000 fans greeted the team bus in Milwaukee. Rodriguez and A. L. Rookie of the Year second baseman Pedro (Pete) Garcia were carried off the bus to start a two-hour celebration. “He was my roomie,” Rodriguez said. “(Our team) had good chemistry that year.”

A post-All Star break slump ended what sportswriters called the “second Milwaukee Miracle,” the first being the 1957 Milwaukee Braves world championship.  In October 1973, the Brewers shipped Rodriguez to the California Angels in a multi-player deal.  Though Ellie led the American League in several defensive categories and played in a career-high 140 games, his manager Dick Williams accused him of being dumb and lazy. “He never did like Latinos,” Ellie recalled.

Ellie’s greatest thrill was catching Nolan Ryan’s fourth n-hitter on June 1, 1975.  He said it was better than going 4-for-4 with a home run at the plate. “I hope I catch his fifth,” he added. Ryan praised Rodriguez’s abilities. “He’s a good thinking catcher,” Ryan said. “Like most good catchers, he wants to win. He has that drive behind him.”  “The thing I like about him,” Ryan continued, “is the way he picked up my pitching pattern. He takes command. You’ll see him moving infielders around all the time.”

In 1976, Williams finally got his way and unloaded Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom Ellie started a handful of games. Suffering a fractured collarbone in the Puerto Rican League, Ellie got his release from the Dodgers on May 2, 1977.  He continued to play in the Mexican League, even co-managing a team with former Angels teammate Winston Llenas.

After retirement  from active playing, former major league general manager Joe Klein recruited Rodriguez to sign Latin American players as player development director and chief Puerto Rican scout for the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Eight teams (four in the Liberty Division and four in the Freedom Division from Connecticut to Texas) play a 128-game schedule in cities with ballparks seating 6,000 or more fans and located outside of major or minor league markets. Beginning April 12, 2018, Rodriguez began managing the Road Warriors, a traveling Atlantic League team that replaces the former Bridgeport (Connecticut) club and awaits construction of a new stadium in Texas.

Rodriguez still coaches at the Roosevelt Baseball School, located within walking distance of Hiram Bithorn Stadium.  Approximately 135 kids from age six to 18 learn the basics of playing the game – throwing, catching, hitting, base running.  Major leaguers AAngel Pagan and Rene Rivera both came out of Roosevelt, Rodriguez said.

Puerto Rican baseball even survived Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that tore through the island of Puerto Rico at 115 miles per hour on September 20, 2017.  Puerto Rican League owners suspended the 2017-18 season in November but resumed play on January 5 after negotiating a $500,000 pool to be shared equally among four teams – Caguas Criollos, Gigantes de Carolina, Indio de Mayaguez and Cangrejeros de Santurce.   Fans got free admission and parking to games.  Evaristo “Varo” Roldàn Stadium in Gubaro, capacity 2,500 and a half-hour south of San Juan, was jammed for the opening pitch of the season on January 5. Vendors sold beer out of paint buckets.  Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan and Isidoro Garcia Stadium in Mayaguez hosted games without lights. The teams played single games on Thursday and Friday and doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, completing an 18-game schedule in three weeks. In the two-round playoffs, Caguas defeated Cangrejeros two games to one in the finals that ended January 27.

As he embarks on his 55^th season in professional baseball, Rodriguez is grateful and amazed at baseball’s role in his life journey. “It changed my whole life,” he told the author. “If I hadn’t signed that (bonus) contract, I don’t know if I’m talking to you right now.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Most of the article came from two interviews with Ellie Rodriguez in January and February 2018.  Other sources included The Sporting NewsNewspapers.com provided articles from Milwaukee and other newspapers. Statistical verification was completed through Baseball Reference.com.  Photos courtesy of Yahoo and Google Web searches.

It was May 19, 1962.  The first-place Michigan Wolverines marched into Guy Lowman Field in Madison to take on the middle-of-the-pack Wisconsin Badgers in a Saturday doubleheader that closed out the Big Ten baseball campaign for both schools.

Michigan was expected to win one or both games and cruise on to the NCAA District Four playoffs and the NCAA tournament in Omaha, Nebraska.  Wisconsin had a respectable season and looked to finish with a winning record.  The Wolverines has always been arch-rivals, even bitter rivals, with Wisconsin, dating back to their first meeting on the diamond in 1882. For 38 years, Ray Fisher piloted the Michigan nine, claiming a national championship in 1953.  Now Don Lund, who had a brief career as an outfielder with the Detroit Tigers, was in charge.  Meanwhile, Arthur “Dynie” Mansfield was in his 23rd season at the helm of the Badgers and led Wisconsin to its only College World Series appearance in 1950, in part because of a two-game sweep over Michigan at Breese Stevens Field.

They called him “Stosh.” For no apparent reason. Sun Prairie native Stan Wagner got the starting assignment in game one against Michigan and won, 6-3, hurling all seven innings -teams played seven-inning games in doubleheaders back then – and struck out 11. Richter homered and tripled in support of Wagner.  Ron Nelson and Phil Ambelang pitched the second game but Wagner came on in relief in the seventh inning.  He had to borrow a glove because his parents had taken his glove home with them after the first game. Wagner figured he was done for the day.  His scoreless seventh set up one of the most memorable finishes in Wisconsin baseball history. 

Left to Right: Pat Richter, Ron Krohn, Dave Tymus and Stan Wagner at the annual W Club golf outing.

John Kerr and Michigan led, 5-4, going into the last of the seventh when 1962 MVP Luke Lamboley tripled to right-center field.  Lund summoned Pitcher of the Year Fritz Fisher into the game, a southpaw with a blazing fastball, to face Richter, though Richter hit right-handed.  “He was brought into the game to get Richter out,” recalled Dick Honig, the Wolverine shortstop who by now had left the game after injuring a finger sliding into second base.

One pitch. Gone.  Richter called it “the hardest ball I ever hit in my life,” a rising shot that cleared the center field fence.  As Richter rounded third, Mansfield crouched down by the bench in an apparent prayer of thanksgiving.  The Badgers had swept Michigan.

Dick Honig (left) and Pat Richter recall the walk-off home run that Michigan coach Lund said “started the space program.”

Suddenly the Wolverines got angry and came at the Badgers with baseball bats, knowing that Illinois now led the Big Ten and they might not make the NCAA tournament. “They wanted to start a fight,” recalled UW second baseman Al Nau.  The public address announced pleaded for the players and fans to sit down and cool off. It worked but did not change what Richter, Wagner and a host of Badger heroes had done on an unseasonably warm day in the middle of May.

As it turned out, Michigan got an NCAA bid anyway and defeated Santa Clara for the title.  To this day, all the Badgers say the double win over the champs is what they recall most fondly of their Wisconsin baseball careers.

Melvin Harold Gaestel calls his journey through life a prime example of divine providence.

When one looks back, it is easy to agree with him.

Wisconsin’s first-team All-Big Ten and only NCAA District 4 second baseman in 1954, Gaestel never thought he would attend the UW – Madison or play baseball for the Badgers as a member of the school’s only College World Series entry.  A 1949 graduate of Manitowoc Lincoln HS, where he co-captained the basketball team, Gaestel enrolled at the local UW Extension campus, expecting to complete two years of basic studies, then either go to college or go to work.  The turning point came in 1949 when he played third base for the Manitowoc Braves semiprofessional baseball team under coach Bob Sullivan, a former Badger player and captain for Arthur “Dynie” Mansfield.

“I can’t afford to go to UW – Madison,” Gaestel told Sullivan, who helped him get jobs doing dishes in a restaurant and cleaning offices around the Capitol Square. “I transferred at the semester,” Gaestel remembered, “and stayed in the stadium dorms” where many athletes lived while at the university.

Gaestel has vivid memories of the 1950 College World Series, getting hits in each of the Badgers’ victories over Colorado A & M and Alabama.  Gaestel started at third base against Alabama and the Badgers’ second game against Rutgers, a 16-2 defeat that ousted UW from the tournament. Gaestel had one hit in three at-bats against Alabama’s Frank Lary, who later logged 12 major league seasons and won  128 games, and had three assists, one on which he started a double play.

In 1951, Gaestel earned a  varsity letter for baseball and then was drafted into the Armed Forces. The U. S. was still engaged in the Korean War and Gaestel – who dropped out of ROTC (Reserve Officers Training) at the university because “I didn’t care for the military” – took basic training at Ft. Lee, Virginia and played baseball. “I was the last guy picked,” he recalled, replacing an injured starter at second base. “Willie Mays tried to steal home on Chet Nichols,” Gaestel related. Mays of course played 23 major league seasons while Nichols, who pitched for the Milwaukee Braves, was the ace of the Fort Lee staff. Ft. Lee  won the 1952 North Atlantic championship with Gaestel only one of two college players on a team stocked with major leaguers and semiprofessionals. Continue reading →

Yes, base ball. That is the way newspapers and Badger yearbooks spelled (or is that “spelt”?) the word in the early days.

Baseball was the first intercollegiate sport at the University of Wisconsin.  In 1870, a group of students who wanted to play baseball and earn their degrees at the state’s flagship university got approval to start a baseball team called the Mendotas, likely from the name of one of the four lakes surrounding Madison and the one closest to campus.  The team played its first game on April 30, 1870 and beat a local club called the Capitol City Nine, 54-18.  The Mendotas won three of their next four games for a 4-1 inaugural record.  The season final against the Janesville Mutuals was a wild and woolly 41-40 contest in favor of the Mendotas with the following lineup as written in a 1911 article for Wisconsin Alumni Magazine by George Noyes:

Player	Position	Future Occupation
Horace M. Wells	Catcher	Attorney
W. Hulse	Pitcher	Attorney, McPherson, KS
W. James	Shortstop	Attorney
Henry C. “Cullie”Adams	First Base	Teacher, Ann Arbor, MI
George W. Noyes	Second Base	Attorney, Milwaukee, WI
Thomas Griffith	Third Base	Unknown
S. Montgomery	Left Field	Attorney, Omaha, NE
R. Larson	Center Field	Attorney, Minneapolis, MN
Henry M. Chittenden	Right Field	Archdeacon, Alton, IL

George H. Noyes, Wisconsin’s first second baseman.