All photos of 2025 Springers Home Opener available on Flickr.
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 Hansen 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 Hansen guy had a point value assigned to him or if the Springers are lucky enough that he's a Cold Spring resident 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
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.