Scott County Memories: German, Baseball, Church Bells and Slot Machines

These recollections were dictated by Richard Mertz of Shakopee in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”

Shakopee has been most fortunate in the type of people it has attracted over these many years. It has an interesting and colorful past so it us pure fun to remember and relate some of the most pleasant memories.

Today we have many nationalities and most of our families are such a mixture that we can only say we are Americans. Not so forty or fifty years ago when most of our families were first or second generation German - or a European nation of close proximity. All of our people are hardworking and completely honest, but English sentence structure was absolutely foreign and vocabulary was not unlike Archie Bunker’s

In one of the early grades, we had a kid who would say “I’m going the hall across”, which was much to the amusement of those who had moved to Shakopee from some town that had an English speaking background.

I recall the evening when five or six of us, all teenagers, were chatting at home not far from where we live today when a lady from out of state, visiting our friend’s mother, mentioned that there was a great deal of activity around the house.

“Ach Ja” she said, “This coming and this wenting and this wenting and this coming this is me something” . Many times she would call her husband George from the garden with “George, come once from the outside in the telephone is calling you”/

Another time a picnic was being planned when our neighbor lady said “Ach Ja No, we have to insulate our new minister that day”.

Over these many years I have enjoyed telling a story that occurred in about 1939 when Shakopee was hosting the State Baseball Tournament and Superintendent of Schools, John Metcalf (later a distinguished state senator) was the announcer. In those days we didn’t have a lighted ball field, so many of the games were played in the morning. John found it necessary to leave the press box which also served as the announcer’s office. He left just as there was an argument on the field that turned the microphone over to one of our leading fans who soon announced “Owatonna is playing this game under protest, claiming that the Beardsly left fielder is illegitimate”. It brought the house down, and I doubt if anyone an remember to this day who won the ball game

I wonder how many people remember the time that the Presbyterian Church bell was ringing every night at midnight? The town was rife with rumors and guards took up posts around the church - all to no avail. The bell kept ringing at the appointed hour. Eventually, some brave soul climbed to the tower in daylight. There he found numerous chunks of lead from 22 rifle shots fired by one of the town characters.

Or the days when Scott County ha slot machines in almost every bar (Shakopee had over 30 bars at the time), barbershop, and gas station. Liquor was served in the 3.2 beer bars. Every time the state liquor control officers came into the county, phones rang at all those 3.2 bars warning the bartenders of a possible raid. On one such occasion a feisty Irishman had hardly hung up the phone when two men in suits arrived and sat in a booths. Now most people didn’t wear a suit until Saturday, so this was a dead giveaway. Then, sitting in a booth confirmed the worst because no one ever sat in a booth unless he had a wife or girlfriend along - or unless he was a liquor control agent. One order charged water, the other ginger ale, Mac, the Irishman, went behind the bar, returned with the drinks, and rang up the register. The agents announced that there was no liquor in their drinks. Mac just said that it was policy of the house not to serve liquor to liquor control agents. The other patrons howled with laughter, and the agents left hurriedly without drinking their soft drinks.

One Last Chance for The Old Ball Game!

Baseball in Scott County is a tradition; nearly every town has or had a small town baseball team. Shakopee, Jordan, and New Prague all pride themselves on not only their teams, but the parks in which they play. Ross Bernstein is quoted as saying that “In small-town America, being on a team was like being royalty”. Some of the names of players like Joe Schleper and John Breimhorst became household names.

Baseball in the County goes back as early as 1898, and even earlier by some other accounts. By the turn of the century the weekly game’s score were reported in every newspaper, and fans flocked to the stands. City built massive parks and competed to have the best facilities. Baseball in the towns of the county remained a main stay until the 1960s, when attentions turned toward more professional teams. The growth of major teams, the money they could spend, and possibly the rise of highways began to see small town ball die out in many towns.

 Today, many towns still have teams, and they compete in statewide amateur leagues. The history of baseball in Scott County is as much a part of this county as anything. While the history cannot be covered in one blog post, a much more expansive history can be found in our current exhibit, Play Ball: Sports in Scott County. The museum will be closing December 1st, and so will this exhibit, so be sure to come in before it closes and learn more about the celebrity players, ball parks, and general stories of sports in Scott County.

Written by Dave Nichols, Curator

Baseball Memories

Written by Elaine Rybak Clyborne Barber, Sept 23, 2018 for the opening of “Play Ball: Sports in Scott County” 

New Prague, 1914. Photo from the SCHS Collections.

My childhood was filled with the connection of my family members and the athletic traditions of my home town, New Prague. This is the reason for my writing out my memories for this special event at the Scott County Historical Society and the program on small town baseball. But first, a short history of how my  family came to Scott County. My family had arrived in Minnesota from the Austrian Hungarian Empire, a part now known as the Czech Republic, to Scott County in 1865. They were looking to escape the military duties of their homeland, and they were seeking opportunities to seek their fortune and a better life for their families. They settled in Nova Praha, New Prague after the journey from the small villages southwest of Vesili, which is south of Praha in Bohemia.

My family came to New Prague not as farmers, but as trade workers and merchants to supply the needs of the growing farming community surrounding the town. The first man of the Rybak family was a blacksmith, but the next generation of men started stores and saloons in the town. By the early 1900s my grandfather opened a brewery in New Prague named the OK brewery. This company closed during the Prohibition years, and they went into making their own flavors of soda pop under the name of Rybak’s bottling Works, which also distributed Schmidt Beer after the Prohibition years ended.

My father and his two brothers were educated in the New Prague schools and were active in various town activities. It was my father, Mathew Albert Rybak known as Mike who was very interested in athletic events. He belonged to the Sokol club (gymnastic society) and played football, but his passion was for baseball. He was featured in the recent 2018 Minnesota State Amateur Baseball publication which was printed for the tournament when New Prague, Jordan and Shakopee hosted the tournament games.

There are photographs of him at bat as a young man and another one of my mother, Clara Rybak, and I standing in front of the score board dedicated to him at a field named for him after his death in 1953. His statistic were also printed in that publication, but there were many years when he was still playing that did not make the book. I am so delighted that I have the 1921-1922 score book records of the town games against Jordan, Chaska and other small towns- many of them in Le Seuer.

One of the things that I am most proud of in my life was his dedication to organizing the town team when WW2 ended. He supported that town team as a player, a manager, and in a financial way. It was during those years when I followed the games that I began keeping score myself, which I still do to this day when I watch the Twins playing. When he died, the headlines on the New Prague Times read “Mr Baseball Dies. Mick’s Bat is Silent”.

Over time repairs were needed at the Mike Rybak Memorial Park near the golf course in New Prague. The score board was replaced with an electronic one and the name was changed to the Memorial Park, honoring all the people including the vets who played on that field.

In preparation for the state tournament many things were upgraded and improved! But my memories of the importance of sharing time with my mother and father at that field are rich and precious in my memory bank. those were the good old days of my childhood.

Baseball with the Quicksteps

Base ball is a sport that has been enjoyed by many over a long span of years.  It was originally conceived of as “a gentleman’s sport” and was played with a great deal of reverence and respect for both the game and opponents.  Today it is America’s past time and one of its most popular sports.  Starting in the summer and extending into the fall, you can turn on your TV and watch a professional base ball game most any day of the week.  The games you see here, however, are not the same kind of game you would have seen in base ball’s early days.  There have been drastic changes in not only the appearance of the game but in the rules as well.  The set of rules credited with leading to today’s baseball is called the Knickerbocker Rules, which were established in 1845 by the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club.  Though the rules are what they are today there are still groups out there that choose to play baseball by older rule sets.  Some go all the way back to the original Knickerbocker rules others choose other iterations of the rules commonly from the 19th century and early 20th century.  One such group came to Shakopee in 1995 to put together a game based on rules used in 1858.  The Halsey Hall Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research brought their team, the Quicksteps, to play baseball at Murphy’s Landing Restoration Village.  

Pictured above are the Quicksteps in their, more or less, era appropriate garments posing for a photo taken in 1994.  We can immediately notice several differences between these outfits and those worn today.

The shirts of Quicksteps are collared and cuffed.  The hat, though it has similarities to a baseball cap, is a far less streamlined affair that sits much more loosely instead of hugging the head tight.  The pants are full length and sit loosely as compared to the modern players outfit which is pulled up on the leg and hugs the leg more tightly.  The shirts of the Quicksteps are cuffed and collared.  These shirts share the same baggy quality as their pants.  There are no short sleeves, afterall, it’s a gentleman’s sport and the clothing reflects that.  There are also a few more subtle differences.  If you look closely, you may notice that the Q on the Quicksteps’ shirts are not actually part of their shirt.  Instead these are bibs that attach to the shirt.  If we look at the Quickstep player kneeling on the far right of the photo we can see a ball in his right hand.  The base balls being used by the Quicksteps were made from leather wrapped around yarn and rubber. Early baseballs were often made from other materials as well but the leather yarn and rubber balls were rather typical.  Early on these balls were stitched with a cross pattern called the “lemon peel” pattern.  The figure eight pattern on base balls hadn’t started to become more popular until 1858.  Lastly, you’ll see that our modern base ball player has a glove.  Originally base ball was played without gloves, helmets, face masks, shin guards or chest pads.  Gloves were not introduced until 1875 and they looked very little like the gloves we know today.

The introduction of these items was viewed with derision by many early base ball clubs.  The Quicksteps included a popular poem along with their rule set that reads, “We used no mattress on our hands no cage upon our face we stood right up and caught the ball with courage and with grace.”  Along with the outfits and equipment, the fields and team positioning have undergone various changes.

Before a time when public base ball diamonds were readily available, early diamonds were often impromptu and could vary widely.  Firstly, most games were not played on dirt diamonds.  Baseball players in these early days took their bases and set up their games in fields of grass.  Bases were canvas or a similar material stuffed with sand or sawdust.  These sat loosely on the field instead of being pinned down.  The hurler’s (pitcher’s) plate and home base were often made of metal or wood.  In these early day, the size of these plates and the distances between them changed frequently.

The players positions on these fields were much the same as they are today.  The biggest differences were in the positioning of the shortstop, the behind (catcher), and the umpire.  The positioning of these players and the umpire changed as their roles in the game changed.  Initially, the shortstop was not really a defined position.  This player would play anywhere on the field.  Over time players came to the realization that having a player in the modern shortstop position would be a good idea seeing how frequently the ball is struck to that position.  The behind, unlike modern catchers, was a glorified ball stop.  They stood further back from the pitcher than they do now and were not involved in making plays in quite the way they do today.  This is, in part, due to the relationship between the hurler and striker (batter) being different.  It is also due to the lack of protective gear.

You may be now wondering, “if the catcher is standing further away, where is the umpire.”  The answer is, between first base and home base.  While this is not an optimal viewing position, it worked well seeing as the umpire had different responsibilities at the time.  Players were expected to be well capable of following the rules on their own.  The umpire was not there to call every play.  They stepped in so that they could keep the game moving if it slowed down.  The umpire would call strikes and balls only if the time at bat was taking too long.  They also called balls fair or foul. The only other time they commented was when their arbitration was asked for.

Seeing as we have begun to touch on the rules, let us continue by discussing these differences.  The Quicksteps played their game based on a set of 33 rules adopted in 1858 that were known as the New York rules.  Comparatively their were only 20 Knickerbocker rules and in the 2017 Major League Baseball rulebook there are 9 sections of rules divided into 70 subsections with 32 clauses and 2 sub-clauses.  Despite this, a good portion of the modern game looks quite similar to what it would have been when played by the Quicksteps so we’ll focus on the most glaring differences.

We’ll go step by step through the phases of play and how they differ, starting with the pitch.  Base ball pitches of 1858 and prior were all done underhand.  This is partially due to the fact that base ball evolved out of games like rounders and cricket which were both played with underhand pitches.

This also due to, a point we touched on earlier, the purpose of the hurler being different at this time.  Base ball was much more focused on the idea of the ball being played in the field.  The hurler was permitted to apply things such as soap, grease, or mud to make hits less effective but it was still about playing the ball in the field.  The goal of the hurler was not to strike out their opponent, instead they were supposed to make it so the ball could be hit.  For this reason, the striker (batter) would actually point to where they wanted a pitch thrown.  As discussed, strikes and balls were not taken into consideration unless the umpire felt they needed to keep the game moving.  If an umpire felt that the hurler was throwing the ball where the striker could not reasonably hit the ball the umpire would give the hurler a warning.  It the hurler continued to throw poorly, the umpire would begin to call balls.  On the other hand, if the striker did not swing at good throws, the umpire would warn the striker and then call strikes from then on.  As it is today, a swing and a miss was still considered a strike.

Once the ball was hit, you would perhaps notice a few more changes.  Rules of fair and foul are practically the same as they are today.  If the ball goes out past the lines formed by first and home or third and home, the ball would be called foul.  A ball that hit something like a tree or privy, though, would not count.  If a ball were hit fair and did not hit something that made it not count then the ball would be played no matter where it went.  There was no such thing as a home run in the early days of base ball.  A contributor to this, was that games were usually only played using one ball.  If you wanted to continue playing you had to get the ball regardless.  As it is today, catching a fair ball before it hit the ground is one way to get a batter dead (out).  However, going by the 1858 rules their was a bit more room to get a batter out by catching the ball.  If a ball was caught off after only bouncing once, that striker would still be dead.  Unlike today’s rules this could also be done with foul balls either on the fly or after having bounced only once.  An interesting rule related to this is that if the ball was caught after a bounce, players on bases could be made dead if they had left their bases.  On the other hand, if the ball was caught mid-air players on the bases were permitted to freely return to their places.

Interestingly, in the case that someone did ace (score a point), that ace did not immediately count.  It was the the responsibility of the acing player to go report to the tally keeper.  The tally keeper would record the ace and the player would ring a bell to inform the cranks (fans) of this.

That is the last of the most apparent differences between the 1858 version of base ball that the Quicksteps played and modern professional league games.  However, there is one last interesting fact to bring up.  Like modern games the Quicksteps played their game with 9 innings.  However, the original Knickerbocker Rules did not have a set number of innings.  Instead the game ended once one team had 21 aces and only after both teams had an equal number of turns at bat.  To a modern audience this may sound ludicrous seeing as games that never leave the single digits are not uncommon.  This was less ludicrous than it seems though.  Around 1845 balls were known to be much smaller and bouncier than they are today.  It was more common for the balls to get launched and for scoring to go much faster than we would see today.

As stated, only the most glaringly obvious of changes between the games the Quicksteps played and modern professional league baseball have been noted.  There is so much more nuance to explore, so if you’re interested by this topic you are encouraged to explore.  This post is far from definitive and only focuses on one rule set so if you are curious there is far more to learn.

Written by Tony Connors, Curatorial Assistant.