Dorchester Times: Dorchester Baseball Looks To Revive Older Boys' Team

Monday, July 20, 2015

Dorchester Baseball Looks To Revive Older Boys' Team

Play ball! That includes you older kids, too.

It appears an effort is underway to bring back older boys' baseball to Dorchester for next baseball season.

This would be a 15 and under team.

The Dorchester Times has learned that the Dorchester Baseball/Softball Committee is inviting all Dorchester and surrounding community youth (15 years old and younger) to play for Dorchester's National League Baseball team.

According to our records, Dorchester has not fielded a National League team since 2010, when Dorchester won the SFS League championship.

Older records show that Dorchester was a dominant force in the SFS League's National League in the 1990s, '80s, '70s, '60s, and '50s -- the decade the league began.

There are many great opportunities to be had with the game of baseball -- one of which is creating lasting friendships.

If your child would like to be part of a National League Baseball team experience and learn the importance of team play, fundamentals of the game, and personal growth, then consider joining the Dorchester National League Baseball Team.

Organizers say they want to take steps now to ensure Dorchester has a National Team for 2016.

Those interested should contact Greg Tyser, Matthew Hoffman, or Stephanni Renn. Also, click here and fill out the form with your child's information.

We commend the parents of those who are being pro-active in this effort.

3 comments:

Matthew HoffmanJune 24, 2015 at 4:04 PM
Please fill out this Google Form for your child and their interest in joining a great tradition of baseball in Dorchester.

http://goo.gl/forms/PH2iFj5pHP

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AnonymousJune 25, 2015 at 9:11 AM
Is there any way to find out when the black and white photo was taken and who the players are? I believe the person in back row, third from the left is my dad Terry Feeken. Please get back to me if you can. Thanks, Eric Feeken
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AnonymousJuly 22, 2015 at 2:57 PM
I believe the player in question is Richard Slama. There is also Doug Sysel, Rex Johnson, Jim & Bill Clark, Larry Kaspar, John Retherford, Roger Justa, F.C. Green, Marty Kamper, Jim Zak, Gene Slama, Mike Neruda and others.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."