Buy Today - Divorcees, Barmaids, and Cranks: The 1897 Red River Valley Baseball League

Paperback - $13.95 plus applicable tax/shipping.

Available TODAY at:

·   Hjemkomst Center Gift Shop - 202 1^st Ave. N., Mhd

Buy online - Select from the following options:

• Order the paperback version at eBay.com
• Preview the book / Order the eBook version here

Top 10 Things to Discover in Divorcees, Barmaids, and Cranks

1. Bizarre team nicknames - find out the story behind Divorcees and Barmaids
2. Generally normal individuals acting crazily
3. Gambling, violence, and foul language - and the resulting scandal
4. The challenges of baseball unique to the time period - (hint: umpires and fielders had a tough time)
5. The color barrier's impact on the league
6. People you never knew had any connection to baseball
7. People you never knew had any connection to the Red River Valley
8. The life of a minor league baseball player at the turn of the 19th Century
9. The economics of minor league baseball, specifically in North Dakota and Minnesota
10. A story never told before in as much detail or with as much passion

Some facts about the book:

Size - 5.5" x 8.5" 

Format - Paperback / eBook 

Pages - 204

Jeff Bozovsky is a Fargo native and member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). He is a graduate of North Dakota State University, where he earned bachelor's degrees in History and in Social Science Education.

KFGO Radio Interview

Follow the link below to listen to my interview on KFGO with Bob Harris! Hear about the 1897 Red River Valley League:

http://kfgo.com/podcasts/nighttime-live-with-bob-harris/941/divorcees-barmaids-and-cranks-1897-red-river-valley-league-baseball/

Give the Umpire a Fair Chance

The Sporting News, America's primary sports weekly newspaper, knew the plight of umpires in 1897. Challenges included rowdy players, fans, foul language, and the lack of another umpire to assist. The News felt there was a solution to the issue, a suit of armor:

The Sporting News, July 17, 1897, p.4

Andy Anderson Playing for Portland - Picture Series Part VI

The picture below is of the 1902 Portland Webfoots of the Pacific Northwest League. The player on the far left is Andy Anderson, who pitched and played second base for the 1897 Moorhead Barmaids. This picture was taken before the team boarded a train to travel to Tacoma, Washington for a game against the Tacoma Tigers.

Source: The Oregonian

Joe Marshall Running Home - Picture Series Part V

After the 1897 season, Joe Marshall spent most of his baseball career playing for minor league teams in the Mountain West and on the West Coast. One of his stops was Butte, Montana, where he played for the Miners in 1902 and from 1911 to 1913. The picture below shows Marshall running to home plate in a game against the Portland Webfoots of the Pacific Northwest League in 1902. The catcher is Sammy Vigneaux - also playing for the Portland club was Andy Anderson, a member of the 1897 Moorhead Barmaids.

Butte Inter Mountain 6-16-1902

The Fargo Ballpark! - Picture Series Part IV

Recently, I finally tracked down the precise location of the ballpark used by the 1897 Fargo Divorcees. The park was south of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad passenger station, meaning it was located between 1st and 2nd Avenue North, between 11th and 12th street. The park was dismantled in 1901 and relocated to where Sanford Hospital is today, on north Broadway.

Here's a picture of what the location of the 1897 park looks like today:

Source: Google Earth

Jimmy Hart Is Not Impressed - Picture Series Part III

Jimmy Hart played predominately at first base for the 1897 Wahpeton-Breckenridge Methodists. Hart, pictured here as a member of the 1906 Minneapolis Millers of the Western League, seems unenthusiastic about the idea of taking a team photo. As Terry Bohn writes, Hart was not always the easiest man to get along with. 

1907 Spalding Baseball Guide