Baseball returned to Rippey last weekend, and from the positive comments of players, baseball might be back to stay.
The Mid Iowa Baseball League’s 48-and-older Twins team donned purple Rippey Demons jerseys for the four-team Rippey Ruckus held May 14-16 at the newly-refurbished Walt Anderson Field. They were joined by the Crystal Cubs and the St Michael Angels of Minnesota and the South Dakota Jackalopes.
Bruce Thome of the Twins was instrumental in organizing the tournament. He used connections made at the Minnesota Twins Baseball Fantasy Camp, held each January in Florida. Close to 20 of the players in Rippey for the weekend had attended the Twins’ fantasy camp.
Thome and Dale Bjerke of Crystal were teammates at the fantasy camp. Thome’s 48+ Twins team had gone to Crystal to play and he wanted to reciprocate the invitation. “My first thought was Urbandale, but I knew (teammate) Dave Hick had been working on the field in Rippey, so I suggested we play there,” Thome said.
“After that, it was networking with guys from the fantasy camp that put this together,” he said.
The players were impressed with the condition of the field. “They’ve done a fabulous job. It’s in really great condition,” Bjerke said.
Dennis Parker, an Iowan who now lives in Port St Joseph, FL, came to play baseball in Rippey. He grew up in Indianola and his mother still lives there, so he drove from Florida for a Mother’s Day visit and stayed a week to play in Rippey. His uncle had played on the Rippey field, and he was happy to have a chance to play there, too.
Thome hopes to have another tournament at Walt Anderson Field, but the field will see plenty of action this summer. The Mid Iowa Baseball League has scheduled games there for June 1, June 3 and June 10, all at 7:30 pm, for teams in the 30+ division; June 21 and June 23 at 7:30 pm for the 40+ division; June 27 and July 11 at 1 pm and 4 pm for the 18+ division; and July 25 and Aug. 15 at 2 pm and 4:30 pm for the 48+ division.
