Photo Courtesy of the Great Falls Voyagers
The Great Falls Voyagers didn’t play baseball this summer, but that didn’t stop fans from attending games at Centene Stadium. They were treated to kickball instead of the usual minor league baseball game due to the pandemic. The Voyager Kickball League concluded its five-week kickball season, giving fans a chance to come back to the ballpark.
“It was amazing and way above our wildest dreams,” Voyagers president Scott Reasoner said over the phone. “It’s something we look forward to partnering with, alongside baseball, for a long time to come. We will be playing again at the ballpark and are currently working on expansion next summer and what that will look like with a baseball schedule.”
Games were free of charge to the public, concession items, and beer sales were open during games, and throughout the five weeks of play, gained a loyal audience of fans each week. The competition also improved from the first week, when games lasted much longer than expected, and scores of 14-13 being the norm, but as teams improved and learned the rules, the defense tightened up.
Photo Courtesy of the Great Falls Voyagers
Select games were broadcast locally on both Fox Sports 1400 AM and 98.3 FM, a rarity in the world of organized adult recreational leagues. Instead of the likes of the Billings Mustangs, Ogden Raptors, or the Missoula Paddleheads, audiences picked from eight kickball clubs that featured the names The Big Booters, C.M. Russell Museum, Mighty Mo, and Balls N Doll.
The championship game was won by National Laundry who was presented with a nicely designed trophy that serves as bragging rights until the next session takes place sometime in the ensuing year. The venture between the baseball club and the radio station proved to be fruitful as the league gained attention with additional sponsors added before the season.
“We were visiting with our local radio partner, and without any baseball, we were joking around on what we could do that was fun and we mentioned a kickball league,” added Reasoner. “One of the head sports guys, Troy Mellinger who broadcasts a lot of high school and local sports, said let’s figure it out. We were able to set up a booth behind the home dugout and get the games on the radio. If you never listen to a kickball broadcast, it is second to none.”
Photo Courtesy of the Great Falls Voyagers
Throughout the season, attendance went from friends and family to people with a rooting interest coming out to the ballpark. There were only a handful of spectators the first couple of weeks, but by the final game, around 150-200 fans were cheering from the grandstands. They had heard about it from the radio broadcasts and wanted to take in the free admission and food sales at the stadium. In a season without baseball, fans showed up for kickball.
The success of the league should not come as a surprise, since unknown to most citizens of Great Falls, adult kickball was been played a 100-years-ago in organized leagues throughout the year. The first leagues began in 1921, sometimes refered to as kick baseball, and are the earliest known adult kickball leagues in the country.
Games were played indoors in the gymnasium of the old YMCA, and the first league consisted of four teams that played from October to December. The Frazier team, named after its captain, won the title with a 5-1 record. The game proved to be popular enough that a 10-team league formed the following January that now consisted of a 14-game schedule spread over four separate evenings.
News article from the Great Falls Tribune from Januart 4, 1922
The majority of the teams were workers from the Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM) and team names would reflect the various departments from the Laboratory (Beaker Birds), Leaching Department (Leachers), Electricals, Smelters, Wire Office, and General Office.
The other teams comprised other local businesses from the Great Falls National Bank and Royal Mills teams along with a group called Doctors & Lawyers, Porcupines (Quills in some newspaper clippings), Wildcats, and the Dirty 7’s, who won their first two games before being “thoroughly trounced” 40-6 against the A.C.M. Laboratory.
Much like the Fox Sports broadcasts this past summer, the local media paid attention to the game through short, but often descriptive, blurbs in the newspaper. The Great Falls Daily-Journal would report on games that would describe the events along with the lineup and box score.
There isn't much about the rules known at this time, but it appears that hitting a runner with the ball for an out was legal. The articles painted a picture of the era with stories of games halted for supper, heated arguments, fantastic plays and finishes, and even a declaration that kickball, along with basketball and baseball “were rampant in the “Y” floor” by 1922.
News article from the Great Falls Tribune from June 1, 1922
There was an 18-man brawl after an extra-inning affair on June 1, 1922, when the captain of the Doctors & Lawyers team J.B. Reynolds thought he was safe at home, but was called out by umpire Art Dowse, who was also a friend.The reporter discovered that Reynolds was going to invite Dowse over for dinner at his house for dessert after the game.
“You’ll eat prunes. No strawberry shortcake for you” screamed Reynolds at Dowse. “Strawberry shortcake or no strawberry shortcake, you're out,” replied Dowse.
The games this past summer did not end in such a fashion most players grabbed a beer after the game instead of a strawberry shortcake. The game has returned to town in time for its centennial anniversary. Reasoner thinks that both sports can exist at Centene Stadium in the future.
“It was amazing and way above our wildest dreams and something we look forward to partnering with, alongside baseball, for a long time to come. We will be playing again at the ballpark and are currently working on expansion next summer and what that will look like with a baseball schedule.”
Reasoner looks to have a complete kickball plan announced sometime in January or February once the 2021 baseball schedule is released. He also hopes to have something fun in the works to coincide with the 100th anniversary and thinks this could be the new regional American sport.
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Follow all of Marc’s stadium journeys on Twitter @ballparkhunter and his YouTube channel. Email at Marc.Viquez@stadiumjourney.com
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