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The History of Hallie Boys Baseball
In the early spring of 1970, a small group of parents got together for a meeting at the Eagles Club in Hallie. They formulated plans to start a youth baseball program. This was the birth of youth baseball in Hallie. The name of this program was the Hallie Little League. At that time there were enough kids to field four teams...
The following year the name of the league was changed to Hallie Boys Baseball. It was decided that the league would no longer be affiliated with National Little League. The league wanted to be able to have their own rules such as 'not requiring tryouts' and having a 'everyone bats lineup'. These two regulations would lay the foundation for Hallie Boys Baseball. In 1971 the Eagles Club leased some land to the town of Hallie at no cost to build their own ball field. Volunteers graded the field, planted the grass, built the backstop and layed the blocks for the dugouts. This field became the Hallie Little League Field. This field is still in use today as a practice field. Hallie Babe Ruth
was formed in 1971. Games were played on the old Hoot Field. This field
was located where the Eau Claire Printing Company now resides (near the
Hallie Golf Course). There were two teams and they belonged to the Tri-County
League. Soon after that the Tri-Town League was formed which included
Hallie, Seymour and Lafayette. Eventually the SHAL League was formed which
included Seymour, Hallie, Altoona & Lafayette. At this time Hallie
had 4 teams in Babe Ruth. In 1977 the Babe Ruth games were moved to Weigands
Field. This field was located where Sports Motors now resides.
Remember
When? Let's set the scene.... It is the summer of 1970. The first year of Hallie Boys Baseball. The Cards were playing the Mets on a hot summer night. The Cards had bases loaded with 2 outs, when the batter was walked. The youngster on third started walking towards home plate. At the same time a little boy was playing with a frog on the sidelines near the third base line. The frog got away from the boy and hopped across the line right in front of the base runner and was heading towards the pitching mound. The base runner was half way to home plate when he saw the frog. He forgot all about the game and got down on his hands and knees and started crawling after the frog. The coach and the parents were silenced and could not believe what they were seeing! All of a sudden they heard... "The base runner is out!" The umpire called the boy out for leaving the base line with no intent on advancing to the next base. Out Number Three!! An argument soon broke out but the umpire stood firm. The Cards did go on to win that game.
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