Mower County Transcript · Lansing, Minnesota · 1909

A victory for the single men, 49 to 48

The Rose Creek correspondent filed two ball games in July 1909: the married men lost to the single men 49 to 48, and the Sunday game against the Packing house was one of the dirtiest, on the part of the Austin team, your correspondent ever witnessed.

The Rose Creek column of the Mower County Transcript opens its July 21, 1909 dispatch with a final score that requires a moment of silence: “The base ball game between the married men and the single men resulted in a victory for the single men, 49 to 48.”

Ninety-seven runs, decided by one. No innings given, no batteries, no explanation, and between the ball games the correspondent files the rest of the week: Mrs. Fred Fenton visiting, the LeRoy Flax Fibre company pressing and shipping their straw, C. R. Varco making a business trip to Hayfield in his auto.

Then the gloves come off. “The game of base ball Sunday, Packing house vs Rose Creek was one of the dirtiest (on the part of the Austin team) your correspondent ever witnessed. When a government official can resort to such dirt we don’t wonder at Austin putting in such loud protests against Sunday base ball.” An unnamed government official, an accusation in parentheses and a shot at the whole city of Austin’s moral standing on the Sunday baseball question, all in two sentences. Small town correspondents did not bury their ledes. They buried their rivals.