Remembering the first Little League state finalists

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Another Little League post-season has arrived in Rogers City, with high hopes of successful tournament runs on the minds of the softball and baseball players of one of the finest and most respected programs in the north. The Rogers City Little League program, since its inception in the mid-1950s, has been sending teams to the state finals on a regular basis. Five decades, to be precise.

The program had only been in place for a couple years before a group of young men broke through in 1960 with impressive victories to win the District 8 championship and moved on to the finals in Kalamazoo. The boys defeated Alpena in Petoskey, 17-4, to earn a date in the finals with St. Clair, the District 7 champs. They also defeated Atlanta and Petoskey.

Manager Ivan Streich took his charges downstate Aug. 10, 1960, the day before the first game. All eight teams stayed at the Kalamazoo YMCA, and slept on military cots. ?It was an honor,? said Streich of the opportunity to compete in the finals. Streich, one of the founders of the program, remembers one of the characteristics of the club being their size.

?They were so big, (other teams) always challenged us and wanted to see birth certificates,? said Streich. ?I just remember when we lined up for one of our games down there, someone said, ?what do you feed these guys up there, potatoes?? They (the coaches) said, yep,? said Kurt Ries, who played second base. In the first tournament game, the stars got by St. Clair, 14-10. They used a 10-run first inning to get started on the right foot, but had to hold off a late charge. Terry Syrett had a hot day at the plate with a pair of homers, a double and a single. ?The support of the town was just excellent,? said Syrett, who now makes his home in Harrisville. ?The coaches that we had, Ivan and (Walter) Pochey — with the parents, we all caravanned down. We enjoyed ourselves, but were serious enough about the game to get all the way to the quarterfinals.? The team faced a squad from Bay City, who most believe, used their best pitcher against Rogers City. Maybe that offensive display in the first game put a scare in the Bay City coaches, so they went with their best pitcher against the northern boys. Ries will never forget the name.

?His name was War Hayes,? said Ries. Hayes held Rogers City hitless until Dave Kowalski ripped a sixthinning single. After a four-run first, Syrett blanked the mid-Michigan squad. ?It was just one of those things, we didn?t get enough hits,? said Ries. ?On the way there we had a lot of home runs and we beat a lot of bigger cities.? Bay City lost to the eventual state champ, Harper Woods, a team that went to the sectional championships, and was one victory away from playing at the home of the Little League World Series, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Harper Woods team was honored during their respective opening day festivi

ties this past spring to commemorate the 50th anniversary. ?It was pretty cool, because Harper Woods had the son of a major leaguer on their team, I don?t remember his name,? said Ries. ?We had watched him and he had golfed a few over the right-field wall.?

?Coming back, and you know, when you are 11-and-12-years-old, you are crest-fallen, because you didn?t win,? said Syrett. ?Geez, if I remember right, there was a parade, cars were tooting when we got back to town. It was a nice welcome for us to come back to.? Syrett was a pitcher and a catcher on the team, but went on to play for Northwood College.

Other players on the team were Bill Hornbacher, Tom Florip, John Paradise, Randy Schuler, Jim Gregory, Jeff Pines, Jim Gordon, Jerry Mulka, Art Santini, Dick Schalk, John Santini and Dan Sobeck.