Book chronicles Arlington baseball
By FRITZ BUSCH Journal Staff WriterArticle Photos
ARLINGTON - Baseball history lovers should take a look at a book recently released by an Arlington A's Hall of Famer.
Created by Mike Dooner with lots of help from his friends, the 136-page book "The History of Arlington Baseball" summarizes games and includes photographs from 1904 to 2008.
The 1904 Arlington Greys won the Sibley County League Championship. They had wins over New Auburn, Gibbon, Green Isle, Henderson, Minneapolis Bistodeau, Young America and others.
Game accounts came from the Arlington Enterprise, the city's weekly newspaper.
Dwight Grabitzke gathered game information from 1904 to 1938. No baseball was played in Arlington during World War II.
Lowell Nagel gathered game information from 1946 to 1959. Dooner compiled game summaries from 1960 to 2008.
The book's front cover features a full-color photograph of the Arlington water tower with its red stitches and seams. The tower is touted as the only baseball water tower in Minnesota.
The back cover includes a full-color, game-action photograph of a large part of the field at Arlington Baseball Park.
Arlington and Gaylord will host the 2009 Minnesota State Amateur Baseball tournaments.
Dooner thanked Sandy Dietel and Tara Sauter for converting hand-written baseball research into typed game summaries.
"A big thank you and appreciation to all the players, fans and businesses who have supported Arlington baseball for more than 100 years," Dooner wrote at the end of the book.
Books can be purchased for $12 plus $5 shipping and handling by writing the Arlington A's Hall of Fame, c/o Mike Dooner, 24354 445th Avenue, Arlington, MN 55307 or by calling 507-964-5755.
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
