Take me out to the ball game, hopefully

 For a week in 1896, Connersville had an actual professional baseball team. While there's a long history of semi-pro ball in the Whitewater Valley, this league -- the Indiana State League -- was propped up by baseball enthusiasts in Anderson, Kokomo, Elwood, Rushville and Logansport.

The league came together in July of '96 with plans to play a 9-week schedule. Two games a weekend, even though it was technically against the law to have games on Sunday. These teams decided to ignore that law and nobody in Connersville objected. Other places in the state where religious zeal was more prominent, baseball was shut down on Sunday -- and strictly enforced.

Jack Reiss,
pitcher for the 1915
Connersville Grays,
was also a pitcher
for St. Louis
in the Federal League,
a 2-year major league.  

The end of July, one day before the season started, the Connersville team disbanded over some sort of financial bickering. So, they forfeited their first game to Anderson. Oh, well..............

But wait! The next day, they reorganized and beat Rushville 12-7. In that game, Rushville player McCormick tripped Brennan from Connersville and got a couple of fists to the face as a result. Fun stuff. They won the second game 5-1 to sweep the DH.

Marion was supposed to have a team but Connersville got that slot instead. Rockville, western Indiana, wanted in but the others decided it was too far away. Their manager dared anybody to play them and put up $500 as a lure. Nobody accepted. Anderson was the first to fold, unable to come up the $25 the visiting team was supposed to get.

Connersville was 2-1 when the league collapsed because the owners had more ambition than dollars, and most of them never had enough cash from attendance to pay the fee they were required to pay to visiting teams. In other words, an idea with no concept of what to do next.

The teams went on playing as independents, often against the same players who were in the pro league.

One pitcher named George Simons for Rushville walked off the field because his team was so terrible.

Teams signed players from nearby towns, guys who were generally available. It's not likely the talent across the board was very good. Elmer Applegate, a fan favorite from Brookville, was the catcher for Rushville.

The league reorganized in 1915 but didn't last an entire season. That league was never fully professional although some players were compensated for their efforts -- depending on the gate. Connersville's franchise was considered the league's strongest.

Teams were also in Rushville, New Castle, Richmond, with traveling teams technically based in Cambridge City and Cincinnati.

The league defied the odds a few more times, reorganizing again sometime around 1919 with better franchises and a more durable schedule. And if that didn't kill it, chatter emerged again in 1944 about still another form of Indiana State League. As of now, though, it's officially defunct. Trust us on that.