Baseball in Ypsilanti
The Sliders were Ypsilanti's first pro baseball team in nearly a century, since they were awarded a franchise in the Class D Border League in 1913. The Border League was sometimes called a "trolley league" because its six franchises (in southeastern Michigan and Ontario, Canada) were located on the interurban lines; they played a limited schedule of games, primarily on weekends. Managed by former major-leaguer Ducky Pearce, the unnamed Ypsilanti team took the pennant with a 24-10 record, then folded with the rest of the league. Ypsilanti thus held the distinction of being one of the few cities to win a championship in its only season hosting a pro ballclub.
College baseball remains popular in Ypsilanti: Eastern Michigan University won a NAIA national championship in 1971 and made it all the way to the championship game of the NCAA College World Series in 1976 before losing to Arizona. The Hurons (now Eagles) remain the last northern school to play for the CWS title.
Read more about this topic: Oakland County Cruisers
Famous quotes containing the word baseball:
“I’ve gradually risen from lower-class background to lower-class foreground.”
—Marvin Cohen, U.S. author and humorist. Baseball the Beautiful, Links Books (1970)