View source for Dusting Off the Old Ones (120)

'''120. The Dream American Legion Team'''

While this story will not date back to the time of the happening of most of our stories, we believe, with the end of the baseball season at hand, the telling of it will remind Miles City people of the "Dream American Legion Team" that Gordie Spear came up with in one of his "Spearmentin' with Sports" some six years ago, in order to get an All Time All Star Miles City American Legion Team. Gordie had six old time baseball fans who have seen most of the Legion's teams from the beginning make their selections. They were promised anonymity and were urged to remember the players at Legion age and not as they might have developed later. Selections were made on similar sheets of paper and mailed in the same type self-addressed envelopes.

To give you the team selected, we will make an announcement of the lineup as it would have been made from the press box at the opening of the game:

"Leading off for Miles City and playing third base is Paul Erickson. Batting second and playing first base is Jim Cahill. Hitting third and playing right field is Bill Mende. Batting in the cleanup spot and playing second base is Clark Brown. Hitting fifth and playing center field--Kay Fox. Playing short-stop and batting sixth is Don Lee. Batting seventh and playing left field is Gordon Anderson. Catching in to-night's game and hitting eighth is Charlie Kaiser and pitching for Miles City and batting ninth is Dick Mitchell."

"There is the team taking the field. Listen to the roar of the crowd. Mitchell is out on the mound now taking his warm-up pitches to Kaiser. There's Kaiser's throw to second--right on the bag. Brown tosses to Erickson to Lee to Cahill, who gives the ball to Mitchell--and the ball game of the thirties and forties is on."

An observation from the voting for this All Star Team is that Bill Mende, left hand hard hitting outfielder from Wibaux was the only unanimous choice, getting six votes.