Delano Municipal Baseball Park
Delano Baseball
The village of Crow River was platted in 1868 and the name changed to Delano in 1870. Already in 1875, a baseball club was organized.
The Delano Eagle reported on May 19, 1875, that a meeting had been held at the office of Daniel Fish and William Van Eman, and a baseball club had been organized. The officers and members were Pat McNaughton, Captain, Jerry Emerson, W. L. Van Eman, T. S. Kerr, Henry LaClair, Daniel Fish, George Schaffer, Billy Mitchell, Albert Eppel and C. O. Teas. Teas was chosen Umpire. The plan was to first “fit up their ground,” and then go into active training. An early Delano citizen reminisced in 1921 that “the club reflected much credit on the town, although scores did run into the hundreds at times, and the games lasted for hours and hours.”
A baseball game has long been a traditional on the 4th of July. In 1890 the baseball game played between the Delano team and the “Hazelbrushers” of Lake Pulaski, on the afternoon of July 4th drew a large crowd of spectators and resulted in a victory for the home team, the score being 6 to 7. Seven innings were played, and the game was well contested. “Chance and Brasie battery for the home team and Labo and Varney for the visitors.”
Charles M. Conzet, the local harness maker, was a great lover of athletics. In 1895 the Eagle was able to report Delano had a fully organized baseball club under the management of C. M. Conzet called the “Delano Crickets,” all under 15 years of age. They have chosen R. M. Walter for their umpire for the season and are now ready to play with any club of the neighboring towns, all players to be under 15 years of age. The Battery was Catlin and Skogsberg, with Oscar Ball the secretary and treasurer. The Crickets later became the “Delano Millers.” (As the teams got older Charles Conzet always started and sponsored a younger team and many a one’s success as a player is due to his coaching and advice. In his obituary in 1936, it was said that “his latest teams were the “Blue Birds,” some now playing with the Delano regulars, and the “Fly Catchers,” a girls’ team that was never defeated.”)
In 1900 Leslie Barlett, with his brother Everett, formed the Delano Milling Company. In 1901, the company sponsored the Delano Millers baseball team. C. H. Green and L. B. Bartlett went to the city one Tuesday afternoon, where they purchased handsome new suits for the team. The Eagle reported “The new baseball suits are neat and pretty. Our boys made their first appearance in them on Sunday. They are gray pants, red stockings and shirts, with white letters – “Delano Millers,” on the shirt fronts.”
DELANO MILLERS
Top row, l. to r.: Al Sandberg, Matt Berneck, Earl Jones, Elmer Erickson,
Eddie Erickson, Oscar Ball, Nels Sandberg
Bottom: John Eppel, Mr. King, Claus Johnson
The Delano Millers played together for three years and were very successful.
Here’s a report from The Delano Eagle, July 4, 1901:
“The Delano Millers went to Waverly last Sunday and met the team of that place in a friendly game. Waverly had a pitcher from Minneapolis, but he proved a pudding for the Millers who secured seventeen class hits off his deliverance. Eppel for the Millers kept the seven hits well scattered and they won the game easily by the one-sided score, 10-1. The only run Waverly got was made on an error of Elmer Erickson when he dropped an easy fly hit, something unusual for him to do. Eppel struck out 12 men, while the imported pitcher, Hengen, made 7 of the Millers fan the air. Waverly stole 3 bases, but the Millers were not satisfied until they had 12 stolen bases to their credit, Johnson getting four of them, Bernick and Eppel 2 each. It was a scrappy game from start to finish, but wrangling does not win games and as the Millers put in more time playing than wrangling , of course, they came out victorious. This makes 9 games won and 2 lost, which gives them a percentage of .818. In the total number of games played the Millers have made 195 runs to their opponents 81, or 114 more than the other teams. The coming week promises to be a hard one for the boys – today they play for a purse of $25.00; Saturday they meet the Indians and on Sunday they play the Watertown Stars, who were only defeated this year by the Millers.
The game with the Stars promises to be very interesting as these two clubs are both confident of winning and will play from start to finish.”
Claus Johnson went on to play professional ball.
By 1904, the Delano team was called the North Palace, very likely sponsored by Schaffer’s North Palace store. Box scores began to be published in the newspaper.
The village seemed a bit discourage in 1906: “The material for a good baseball team in our village the coming year is inexperienced, al although a fairly strong team might be brought together. No doubt a nine will be organized, but not such a one as the “Millers” were, who were willing to tackle most anything which might happen along and at that could give them a hard run for their money. The present lot of ball players are most too young to go up against such teams as used to come to Delano, but they are growing, and some day will make the best of them hustle.”
A baseball team was organized, composed of eighteen- year old young men, who assumed the unique name of “The Advertisers.” Each player represented a business house by the suit he wore which was paid for by the merchant.
This photo is circa 1907. The sponsors of the uniforms are:
DELANO HWD; FURNITURE, ?; EFZ MACHINERY; A.W. KITTOCK HARDWARE;
?; FANCY FLOUR; LIVERY TBR’
?; SCHAFFERS PALACE
The Wright County League was established in 1916, and included Delano, Monticello, Annandale, Maple Lake, Buffalo, Montrose, Waverly, and South Haven.
Charles Conzet, who first organized the Crickets in 1895, continued to be involved in baseball. In 1924 the Delano Eagle was excited to announced: “WE HAVE A BASEBALL TEAM! C. M. Conzet organized the Junior Crickets baseball team, June 16th, 1924. The players are Charles Pogreba, catcher; Bernard Hartman, pitcher; Geo Schumacher, first base; Melvin Schilling, second base; Ralph Berneck, short stop; John F. Tischler, third base; Charles Eppel, right field; Hilarious Stein, center field; Harlan Heinen, left field; Carl Horsch, substitute; John Schumacher, mascot. Mr. Conzet organized a similar organization 27 years ago. This team latter developed into the “Delano Millers,” one of the best amateur team in the state at that time.”
Delano has an impressive history of playing in the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament. Delano was heading for its 7th state meeting in 1945 when the Delano Eagle reported: “the team first played in the tournament in 1930 when the locals were eliminated by the Polish National Alliance team of South St. Paul. In 1932 the team again took part in the tournament, being eliminated by a strong Onamia team in the first round of play. In 1935 Delano again went to the state tournament, winning two games before losing out to Red Wing in the semi-finals.”
Delano joined the Wright County League as the “Colts” in 1939. The league included Kingston, Cokato, Darwin, Howard Lake, Maple Lake, Waverly, and Watertown.
This Delano nine was the first club to beat the 1939 State champion Maple Lake team in 21 games. Pictured are: Front row, left to right: Manager Perry Ditty, Val Strybicky, Lou Lopate, Van Merriman, Dick hayes and Hank Schwartz. Back row: Warren Knoll, Bud Dainsberg, Red O’Dell, Cordy Bauer and Harold Dainsberg.
The team went on to make it to the state meet. In 1940 they were eliminated by West Concord in a first-round game. In 1941 Delano put what was one of its strongest team in the state tourney only to lose to New Ulm in the finals. The local team set a new state tournament scoring mark, however. In 1942 the locals again went to the state tournament finals, only to lose out to Fairfax in the championship game.”
Delano’s Baseball Club, pictured in 1946. They were the League title holders and state tournament entry in 1945 for the eighth time.
The Delano Athletic Club was founded in 1948.
In 1949 the Delano Colts purchased the contract of outfielder “Homerun” Johnson from the Colored House of David, integrating the North Star League. In 1950 Delano added pitcher Fred “Lefty” Akers and Livie Livingston from the Colored House of David, forming the first minority battery in Delano. Another newly acquired pitcher that years was Irv. Voltin, who had formerly pitched for Randall.
Fred “Lefty” Akers
Livie Livingston
Irv Voltin
Delano participated in the State Amateur Baseball Tournament in 1961, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1988 (winning the Championship!), 1992, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2014, 2025, 2026, and 2018. They hosted the tournament at the Delano Municipal Ball Park in 1975, 1984, 1997, 2013, and 2019.
Delano’s Municipal Stadium
Delano Municipal Stadium at Central Park is one of the oldest ballparks in Minnesota, where fans come out and cheer on the A's every summer, win or lose. Located on the north side, Municipal Stadium has been a fixture of the community for over 100 years. In 1948, with the founding of the Delano Athletic Club, Municipal Stadium became one of the first ballparks in Minnesota to have lights. In 1995 a new grandstand was built, replacing the old grandstand that endured 3 floods over a seventy-five year period. The modern grandstand seats approximately 750 spectators, while facilitating a press box and concession stand. One of the most eloquent features of Municipal Stadium is its ivy-covered fences. Planted in the early 1980s the ivy, the park is a gem worth seeing.
During the flooding in April 1916, much of the city park was under water. You can see the baseball grandstand in the background
An end of an era was reached in 1992 when the Delano Fire Department burned down the baseball grandstand, which had been a fixture in Delano since 1935.