When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 9: Growing Up Baseball: My Own Roots in Local Baseball
Baumer reflects on his experiences with Maine amateur baseball. From his experience as a young fan of the Lisbon-based Roberts 88ers in the late 1960s, to his days playing catch in the backyard and high school and American Legion games on local diamonds, to his experiences as both a player and an administrator in amateur baseball in Maine.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 8: The Summer of '69: A Season to Remember
Baumer inventories town-based baseball as the tumultuous 1960s come to a close, and this chapter is a mix of celebration and foreboding.
On one hand, amateur baseball was still active and vibrant throughout the Pine Tree State during the summer of 1969. On the other hand, multiple concerning factors--including a lack of younger players eager to replace aging players--indicated amateur baseball in Maine was on a downward trend.
One of those indicators was the close of the 20-year tradition of the YABC tournament, an event that marked the end of a statewide tradition that brought Maine's disparate leagues and teams together every season.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 7: The Other Maine: Baseball Up North
Baumer expands his scope in this chapter to northern Maine, with a focus specifically on the Mattawamkeag Merchants and the Peter Dana Point Indians.
Many of the players for Mattawamkeag fit in more than 50 games in a year around their jobs as loggers and mill workers, while the Peter Dana Point team appears to mostly consist of the extended Sockabasin family.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 6: Field of Dreams: The Lamoine Tournaments
This chapter is almost entirely based in Lamoine, a Down East town between Ellsworth and Mount Desert Island. Specifically, Baumer focuses on town teams based in Lamoine and a high-level annual tournament in the 1960s that featured a "Field of Dreams"-esque field in the backyard of a local benefactor.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 5: Getting There (From Here)
In this chapter, Baumer focuses on amateur and semi-professional baseball in midcoast and Down East Maine.
Towns mentioned are: Calais, Cutler, Damariscotta, Dennysville, Eastport, Friendship, Hope, Jefferson, Jonesboro, Lubec, Machias, Pembroke, St. George Thomaston, Waldoboro, and Washington.
Teams mentioned are the Cutler Cardinals, Damariscotta Redlegs, Dennysville Townies, Dixie Eagles, Eastport Lobsters, Jonesboro Jets, Lubec Red Wings, Lubec Seals, Machias Bruins, and Pembroke Hornets.
And leagues mentioned are the Knox-Lincoln Twilight League, Maine-Quebec League, Quoddy League, and Waldo-Hancock League.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 4: A League of Its Own
According to Baumer, the first official baseball game featuring a Portland-based team was on September 11, 1858, when the Portland Baseball Club played against a Boston team in the Boston Commons.
Decades later, the Twilight Baseball League was founded in 1903, and Baumer hits the high points in that illustrious Portland-based league's history through the 1980s.
Unfortunately, it appears the Twilight League folded in 2016, a little more than a decade after When Towns Had Teams was published.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 3: The Roberts 88'ers: A Coming Together of Town and Team
Baumer dives into town-based and semi-professional baseball in Lisbon dating back to 1894.
He opens with the Worumbo Indians, a semi-professional team made up of employees who worked at the Worumbo Mill and played their games in Worumbo Park in the 1930s and 1940s. And he traces the evolution of a myriad number of town-based teams in Lisbon through the rise and fall of the Roberts 88'ers in the 1960s.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 2: Mill Towns and River Valleys: Town Team Baseball Experiences a Revival
In this chapter, Baumer focuses on town-based teams and leagues in western Maine and Androscoggin County in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
A theme of a rotating constellation of teams and leagues continues from the first chapter, with teams including Casco, Chisholm-Livermore, Danville, Dixfield Dixies, Gray, Naples, Norway-Paris Twins, Poland, Rumford Pirates, Rumford Rams, Turner, West Minot Townies, and the Wilton Loggers. And leagues consisting of the Andy County League, Pine Tree League, Spruce Tree League, Timber League, Twin City League, and the Western Maine League.
One unifying consistency appears to be the Yankee Amateur Baseball Congress (YABC), an annual tournament among town teams that determined which team would represent Maine in the national tournament in Battle Creek, Michigan.
And another unifying consistency appears to be the multigenerational motivations for community-based baseball, as explained by former town player, college coach, and Cape Cod League coach Jeff Trundy:
Growing up in a small town of about 300, you learned very early in life that you were supposed to play baseball. If you were good enough, then you would one day get to wear the uniform of the town team and represent your town against rival communities. All of us kids, who played sandlot ball growing up, aspired to one day put on the uniform and take our places out there with our fathers, uncles, or neighbors on the local team.
When Towns Had Teams (Jim Baumer)
Chapter 1: War Is Over: Let the Games Begin
Baumer opens his book in post-World War II Maine, when a confluence of factors lead to the brief resurrection of semi-professional baseball in the Pine Tree State.
The Auburn Asas, Augusta Millionaires, Brewer Bluebirds, Eastport Lobsters, Farmington Flyers, Kennebunkport Collegians, Portland Pilots, Presque Isle Indians, and Sanford Goodalls are most of the teams mentioned in this opening chapter. And the Down East League, North Franklin League, Northeast League, Timber League, and Twin City League are most of the leagues mentioned in the chapter.
Ultimately, it was relatively high overhead costs* of running these teams, inconsistent leagues and schedules, and the 1954 debut of televised Red Sox games that led to the downfall of semi-professional baseball in most of Maine by the 1960s.
According to Baumer, here are some of the costs incurred by the Augusta Athletic Association to field a team (Augusta Millionaires) in 1949:
$30,000: Renovation of Capitol Park to accommodate up to 2,000 spectators
$16,000: Lights for night games
$1,800: Baseballs
$1,200: Insurance
