BEST-OF-MENOMONIE-2024

menomonie Best Of

TAKE ME BACK TO THE BALLGAME MENOMONIE BLUE CAPS SAVOR CAMARADERIE, PLAY ‘BASE BALL’ 1860S STYLE words by TOM GIFFEY | photos by TIMOTHY MATHER

F or the Menomonie Blue Caps, going to the ballgame involves more than visiting a physical location. There’s time travel involved, too. And not just the nostalgic time travel that many of us experience when we watch – or take part in – America’s pastime. Everything about the Blue Caps – including their uniforms, equipment, attitude, and the rules they follow – hearkens back to a time long passed. Specifically, back

Blue Caps are mostly in the latter camp. “There’s no trophy or tourna ment or cash prizes,” he said. “None of that existed yet. You’re out there because it’s fun and you want to play baseball.” In addition to the classic uni forms, the top-hatted umpires, and obligatory shouts of “Huzzah,” part of the fun of old-time “base ball” is the nicknames: Dubuque, for in stance, is known to teammates as “Mad Dog,” while teammates an

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to 1860, when the National Associa tion of Base Ball Players approved a rule book still followed by the

swer to Kojack, Stache, Smoke, Bones, Chip,

Steamboat, Wall Street, and Beans (whose son has been dubbed String

Blue Caps and a net work of vintage base ball teams across the country. In addition to their

Bean). The current incarna

tion of the team was born in 2012, when Matt Carter – then director of the Dunn County Historical Society and a baseball fan – created the team to play a couple of exhibition games to coincide with a baseball exhibit at the museum. Dubuque, then a museum volunteer, joined the team for its first full sea son in 2013 and became captain a couple of years later. While the 20-player roster is ever-changing, about eight member have been with the team since 2013, Dubuque said. They are men from around west-central Wisconsin who look forward to spending summer weekends enjoying the vintage game and each other’s company. “It is a crazy weird addiction that none of us can stop,” he quipped. This year the team had 13 dates on its schedule, some involving multi-game tourneys, including the Gettysburg National 19th Century

quaint uniforms – modeled after those of the original Blue Caps, who played in Menomonie between 1882 and 1941 – the Blue Caps follow quaint rules: Among other things, they play without gloves, pitch un derhanded, and can’t be called out on strikes (you can only strike out while swinging). A ball caught after the first bounce is an out, and a ball is considered fair or foul based on where it hits the ground first. What results is a (usually) slow er-paced “gentleman’s game” that appeals to a wide range of players, said team captain Dustyn Dubuque. While the Blue Caps are all men, other vintage teams are co-ed, and players may range from teenag ers to folks in their 80s. (At age 35, Dubuque is among the youngest on his team.) Some are baseball or soft ball lovers who want to keep playing, while others are there for the goofy, history-tinged fun. Dubuque said the

“It is a crazy, weird addiction that none of us can stop.” –DUSTYN DUBUQUE, MENOMONIE BLUE CAPS

GETTING IN THE SWING OF THINGS. The Blue Caps’ Mike “Smoke” Hayden pitches to a member of the Milwaukee Greys as Wade “Bones” Lambrigtsen serves as catcher.

Best Of menomonie

July 25, 2024 | www.volumeone.org

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