During the tenure of Ball State baseball coach Billy Williams, players had to watch what they said. If a Ball State player ever yelled "I've got it!" when catching a pop-up or fly ball, he'd be made to run laps.
Williams, who coached from 1922-1926 and 1928-1958, believed that because Ball State was a teacher's college, proper grammar had to be used on the diamond. And "I have it!" was the proper term.
This is one of several humorous stories told in John Ginter's book Baseball at Ball State, which should be published this month by Arcadia Press. It was originally scheduled to be published in November 2002, but Ginter was told recently that it had been published this month and is scheduled to be available to the public this week.
Ginter spent 16 years (1974-1990) in Ball State's Sports Information Department. During that time, he met several people who told him stories - stories that perhaps are told in his book for the first time.
The book itself is composed of eight two-page chapters which look at certain eras in BSU history as well as Cardinals in the pros. Ginter uses the chapters to tell stories about Ball State baseball, while the records and statistics were relegated to the captions of the 101 photos in the book.
When Ginter was researching the book, he had access to many archived baseball photos. One particular photo of the Ball State baseball diamond-áis seared in his memory.
"I looked at it, and then I looked again, and sure enough there was a tree behind first base," Ginter says, still awed by the oddity.
A tree grew in Muncie, but it was chopped down in 1959 at the insistence of baseball coach Ray Louthen. Ball State's president at the time, John Emens, objected because it meant he couldn't watch the Cardinals under the tree.
Does this mean Ball State had a luxury box a generation before it was trendy?
Ginter, a journalism and physical education instructor at Ball State, said that the book was enjoyable to write notwithstanding the 16-hour days at the computer. He hopes people will enjoy reading the stories in the book.
The mere fact that someone took the time to write down the history of Ball State baseball made reading a draft of this book a home run for me. -áPerhaps others will feel the same way when it is published.
Write to Ryan at rtschroer@bsu.edu
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