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Don Buhr checks his swing, May 1960. Photo courtesy History Center of Freeborn County

1907 Albert Lea baseball team. Photo courtesy History Center of Freeborn County

Bleachers of Ball Filed C, 1905. Photo courtesy History Center of Freeborn County

Community baseball game, postmarked Aug. 9, 1913. Photo courtesy History Center of Freeborn County

Hayward baseball team, 1901. Photo courtesy Neal Skaar

Hayward baseball, 1917. Image courtesy Neal Skaar

Hayek Ball Park along Clark Street. Photo from the collection of Kenneth Wangen

Chris Wangen took care of the ball diamond for the Albert Lea Packers in 1950. Photo from the collection of Kenneth Wangen

By Tom Jones for the Tribune

In a few weeks the sounds of baseballs meeting bats and the smell of grilled burgers will be permeating the air on West Clark Street as the 2025 baseball season will be underway in town, a tradition that goes back well over 100 years in our area.

Tribune records show a man named George “Dutch” Brundin helped organize the first salaried baseball team in Albert Lea in 1912. The team was managed by Tony Nystuen while Brundin was the secretary of the team until World War I broke out.

In 1914, the team was managed by Joe Lynch and consisted of a roster of 12 players, who on average were being paid $80 per month with the top players making up to $125 per month. Early on the attendance at Hayek Field averaged 1,000 per game, and the gate receipts, along with funds solicited locally, paid the salaries of the players.

According to Brundin, good baseball didn’t return to Albert Lea at this level until 1938 when Shanty Dolan moved to town. Jimmy Demont’s article on Dolan in the October 1946 Albert Lea Community Magazine said that Dolan was listening to a game on the radio between Austin and Emmons in his first summer here, which brought him interest in getting a team going in town.

In 1939 a group of local businessmen, led by Ray Moulton and Len Kelly, with an interest in having a local team in town, offered the managerial job to Dolan who guided the Albert Lea Packers to 13 wins and 10 losses in his first year. Dolan went on to lead the team until 1949, and during that time Albert Lea won four state championships and had a streak of six straight Southern Minny League championships.

The Community Magazine article of 1946 noted that the players were paid $715 for their five months of playing. They paid taxes of $142, equipment costs were $50 and other expenses were $75, leaving a balance of $448, or $8.60 per game. A pitcher received $50 per game.

Managing the local teams through the 1950s were Jimmy Carson, Bud Burns, Babe Jensen and Bill Ankoviak. The players gradually lost interest, and the team, now known as the Albert Lea Colonels, folded in 1965 with the team being $200 in debt.

Alden’s Neil Pierce recalls managing that 1965 team and one special event that occurred that season.

“We got a notice that the Kansas City Monarchs traveling Negro League baseball team would be interested in playing us,” he said. “They featured ageless pitcher Satchel

Paige as the main attraction. Ken Evans and I went to watch them play the Owatonna Aces. The deal was Paige would pitch three innings for $50. He basically lobbed the ball over the plate with an arc. We only got one hit off him from Al Kloppen of Lake Mills. I grounded out to third.”

Pierce said later that year Paige was signed by the Kansas City A’s and pitched three scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox.”

Myron Hoffman was the starting pitcher for the Colonels that day and was nicked for five runs in four innings. The team had also bought a bunch of baseballs that were signed by Paige and given out during the game.

Pierce recalls that in 1969 another Albert Lea team was formed that he was asked to manage, but this only lasted one season.

Colin Minehart of Albert Lea was instrumental in the return of another adult amateur team to town. He recalls that in 1975, he was home for the weekend from the University of Minnesota, where he was playing intramural baseball, and met up with Curt “Sonny” Larson, who was managing the local Hayward team, who encouraged him to quickly get a team together, which he did. He found resistance from City Hall to use the lights at Hayek Park but after a cordial meeting with the City Council, he received approval to use the lights and the field.

He then set out to fundraise for the team, sending out 20 letters to local businesses looking to get $20 for each sponsorship.

After receiving only $100, he reached out to his college friends who were coming home, and with this Albert Lea was able to field a team. Everyone bought their own uniforms and equipment, and the players carpooled to away games. They passed a hat at the games to pay for new baseballs and umpire fees.

The team finished last that first year with a 5-10 record but bounced back their second year with a 10-5 record and a league title and a trip to the state tournament. The following year the team struggled with maintaining players and team funding, and the team folded.

Neal Skaar of Hayward played town ball for the Hayward team in what was called the State Line League, which included teams from Glenville, Myrtle, Emmons and others along the border.

“My first memories of Hayward town team baseball was probably when I was 5 years old, and the highlight of the week was the ballgame Sunday afternoon. Everyone in the Hayward area would congregate at the ballfield on the north edge of town for the game. There were a lot of kids there and we would watch the game, play catch and chase foul balls.”

He said they would all be disappointed if it rained because there would be no ballgame.

His older cousin, Phil Tennis, was the catcher and fireball throwing Vern McKey was the pitcher.

“I am pretty sure that there was a ball team in Hayward as long as there was Hayward. As I recall, the State Line League disbanded sometime in the late ’50s, but was resurrected quickly in the early ’60s when I was in high school,” he said.

There were a lot of young people from Hayward who wanted to play baseball.

Tennis got the league organized and managed the Hayward team. Vic Frydenlund was also involved and often served as umpire. Team members included Phil and Ron Gotland and high school age players Jim Lair, Gary Skaar, Bruce Olson, Wayne Wacholz, Steve Alm, Dennis Lair, Don Westland and Skaar. Later, younger players like John, Vern and Les Frydenlund, Pete and John Skaar joined.

Another version of a local town team began in the early 1980s in Albert Lea that apparently didn’t have a name and ceased play in 1985. A new Colonels team emerged in 1990 under player/manager Ray Keating with Rick Carlson also managing the team later on. This team ended play with Bill Trygstad at the helm after the 2010 season.

In 2017 Albert Lea welcomed the newly formed Albert Lea Lakers, who were part of five teams that made up the Pioneer League. The team played three summers in town and featured collegiate players from throughout the nation.

Evan Wick, a catcher on the team, fondly remembers that first year with the Lakers.

“The community of Albert Lea was very welcoming to our team,” he said. “Playing for coach Schumacher was great, too. He battled for us and had our back.”

Wick is now co-owner of a baseball/softball training facility called 5 Star Wisconsin, based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His roommate as a Laker in Albert Lea, Evan Kayser remembers how great the experience was in meeting new players from all over the country. Another memory was the team meeting at the gas station off the freeway to ride on a bus with no air conditioning to away games in the hot summer humidity. Kayser now resides in Washington, Mo., where he is working on starting up a chiropractic practice.

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