Meeting the flight were Station Manager Ray Dutch and Milwaukee entrepreneur and Northwest Director Joe Johnson. After a tour of the newly opened terminal, Mr. Johnson ushered us into the, until now, unopened cocktail lounge and attempted to ply us with enough spirits to give the hometown team an advantage. It didn’t work.

            A caravan of employees’ autos ferried the teams to a local park and ball field. There they were met by a large number of local employees and their families who had arranged for a great get together and picnic with the prime attraction the challenge ballgame. The first two innings showed that the locals were no match for the highly touted G.O. mob. The hometown umpires then imposed a new rule that no visiting player could advance from first base to second without the consumption of a beer. The same ruled applied for advancement from second to third, etc. Needless to say the G.O. team scored no more runs, but the lead built up during the first two innings prevailed. Free player substitution on both teams followed with the insertion of MKE family members, women and kids included. Beer and brats with other picnic goodies followed. A truly great time.

            Later the caravan carried the visitors to a local bathhouse for showers and a swim and a change into clothes more fitting for pass travelers for the trip home. A couple of us stayed in town for several extra hours so that we could fly back to MSP on what was one of the last DC-3 flights within the Eastern Region. A few days later the DC-3’s would be relegated to the Western Region for a few months before their eventual retirement.

            The following year the team was invited to Chicago. That trip was pretty much like the first jaunt, but it was tough for them to meet the standard set in MKE. A big surprise to the visitors was to learn that in CHI, softball was played with a 16” ball not the 12” one we used in Minnesota. It seemed like we were playing the game with a basketball. This game turned out to be a greater challenge but the G.O. team kept its visiting record intact. The one notable recall I have is watching Bill Dillon hit that ball well over the left field fence and into a stream that ran by the park. A couple of the locals said that they didn’t think anyone had ever done that before. Dillon had enough talent to play baseball professionally.

            The exceptional Classic League Holman Overhaul Base team also got into traveling when they accepted a challenge from the employees in the New York area. For years the Holman Fielders won pennants in the St. Paul Municipal Sports Program’s toughest Red, Maroon and Open Classification leagues and for several years the team was considered to be the best Municipal League softball squad in the city.

            The G.O. team, fresh from its many conquests, finally worked up the gumption to challenge the St. Paul bashers to a game. The confrontation took place one night at Dunning Lighted Field in St. Paul, the city’s premier softball diamond (it even was fenced with a real fence around the outfield) – in the glare of overhead lights and two-to-three hundred roaring fans. Balls and strikes and plays were called by real umpires. The St. Paulites would not hear of the G.O. team using its own eagle-eyed umpire, Manager of Passenger Service Sam Wyman.

            The St. Paul team was loaded with talent, the likes of pitcher Ken Maddux and his batterymate, slugging catcher Milford Manley. Others including Roger Christenson, manager Mac McCall, John Smith, Al Wind, Harry Kreyer, Ken Wassing, Harold Breyer, Clete Pistulka, Bud DeBar and Vic Manussier rounded out the squad. Those of the G.O. team not previously mentioned in this story included Harley Muehring, Jerry Rush, Chuck Hughes, Gay Kroening, Roger Skone and John LaVold.

            Milford Manley led the Holman fielders with two hits, a single and a triple with three runs batted in. The G.O.’s Don Ryan knocked out three singles, including a spectacular bunt. Oh, yes. The Holman gang eked out an 11 to 10 win. But that didn’t prevent the G.O. gang from having another gala victory party. They had kept it close against the very best.