All photos of 2025 Springers Home Opener available on Flickr.
I attended the Cold Spring Springers home opener this past Wednesday to kick off another exciting season of local town ball. It's hard to believe this is my 2nd season since moving to Minnesota and that we're coming up on 2 years here already. I cemented the permanence of our move by acquiring a $5 Springers T-shirt upon entering the park, and I also paid $5 admission for the first time at game here for some reason. I'm not sure if that's just because it was Opening Day, or if this is a new policy for all games, or simply because somebody happened to be at the ticket window and thought I looked gullible enough to charge. Paying admission to this "low level" of a ballgame normally annoys me, but I'm more than happy to shell out whatever I can at these town ball parks, because I can only imagine what the upkeep costs and volunteer hours are in communities this small. It seems like so long ago now as I sit here typing this post in a sweater, but that game was at the end of record-breaking heat wave of 85-90 degree temps, so I joined everyone else under the covered grandstand to escape the sun and settle in for a beautiful May evening of baseball.
There's not much else to say about the park and about town ball that I haven't already said. Normally my Opening Day posts consist of me providing an update on the team's outlook for the season and anything new at the park, but those things change as slow as just about everything else does in a small town. The fact that the Springers' starting pitcher was 46 years old should tell you as much as you need to know about how much the team changes year to year. My recollection is that he gave up 1 run in 3 innings of work, and whereas most pitchers in town ball will just swap with someone else in the field when they're replaced on the mound, this particular pitcher earned the rest of the night off to probably crack a Busch Light and take a nice ice bath. He could still chuck it pretty good, but he definitely showed his age when he could not bend over to retrieve a ball squirted up the first base line, and then needed a minute to catch his breath. The standout offensive player I made sure to note was Brian Hanson of the Springers. He went 4-4 with 5 RBI, including a 3-run double smoked into the gap the 3rd inning. This guy clearly had a higher level of baseball experience than just about everyone else on the field. There are rules for roster composition in town ball that I'm slowly understanding, but it basically involves a point system where teams are assigned a certain number of points based on population size, and any player "signed" from outside your town who is under a certain age and has a certain level of professional or collegiate baseball experience counts as a demerit against those points. This system is meant to keep teams truly as local as possible with a limited opportunity to poach better players from other cities. Whether or not this Hanson guy had a point value assigned to him or if the Springers are lucky enough that he's local I'm not sure, but I'll be keeping an eye out for him at the next game I go to, and I'll be trying to eavesdrop on the same old guys who seemed to know everything about town ball and everybody in town.
The Springers ended up defeating the Luxemburg Brewers by a score of 7-2 in 7 innings, in a brisk 1:45 game time. I always make sure to check who the road team is now when I go to town ball games, because it seems like I've seen the Brewers at least 5 times now and I don't want to be caught wearing my Brewers cap. I really need to go to a home game for those guys and sit amongst my people. I've got a few new parks I'll be getting to as the season unfolds to chip away at my Stearns County list, and we'll see if Luxemburg is in the cards.
Twins 26-21, -5.0; 3 v. Guardians, 3 v. Royals
Athletics 22-25, -5.0; 4 v. Angels, 3 v. Phillies
2025 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 1
Peter - 6