The Saint Croix Base Ball Club travel to the far reaches of Barron County in the state of Wisconsin to cross bats with other clubs from the rural areas of that state. Although the field was finely dressed, the weather caused it to be a bit slick and the cranks were few.

The first day of the matches pitted the St. Croix’s against a relatively new club called the Rum River Rovers from the state of Minnesota. The St. Croix’s struck first and had some fine long flys and well placed daisycutters that confused the Rovers. The St. Croix’s finished their first with eight aces crossing the home plate. The Rovers, who are a young, strong hitting club, scored six of their own and at the end of the first inning the St. Croix’s were ahead by the score of eight to six. The St. Croix’s tallied one in their second and another in their fourth having a total of ten aces at the end of the match. The Rovers scored a number of times but came to bat in their half of the fifth and scored nine aces to defeat the St. Croix’s by the score of 19 to 10.

The second and final match of the first day, the St. Croix’s crossed bats with the Menominee Blue Caps of Wisconsin. The St. Croix’s again tallied aces in their first inning, this time only three. In the fourth inning, the St. Croix’s pitcher, Mr. Tholkes, hit a strong daisycutter which was mishandled and allowed Mr. Tholkes to travel the entire bases tallying an ace for the St. Croix’s. In the fourth inning the Blue Caps tallied four times to take the lead in the match seven to four. The St. Croix’s then tallied six aces in the next two innings and one in the final inning to finish with 17 aces to the Blue Caps seven.

The second day of matches found the St. Croix’s short on players. The St. Croix’s took the field with only seven players and one player from the other club, the Milwaukee Cream Citys. Although at a significant disadvantage in the field the St. Croix’s struck first and tallied three aces. The Cream Citys, with a full contingent of players, also tallied three in their first inning. The St. Croix’s continued to fight and tallied another two aces in their second while the Cream Citys tallied five times after hitting the sphere where there were no St. Croix’s. After four innings of play the score stood nine to six in favor of the Cream Citys but the St. Croix’s tallied twice in their fifth and sixth innings to tie the score at ten aces apiece. The Cream Citys in their half of the sixth pushed across an ace to give them the match, winning 11 to 10.

Even though the St. Croix’s came to Barron County with less than nine players, it was a good showing of base ball and the most gentlemanly participants the club has encountered this season. The St. Croix’s were happy to be playing with an old member of the club, Mr. Hammer, who played wonderfully in the field and also tallied several aces for his club.

A grand time was had by all and the St. Croix’s look forward to playing again next year at the Pioneer Village in Cameron, Wisconsin.