Forty years on from their first days of playing local linament league baseball together, the members of a Morden area team got together recently for a reunion.
It was just a low-key gathering to socialize again and reminisce about their days together on 1-6 Southman Ag team that started in 1984.
Most still live in the Morden area and were able to attend, though a few who live out of province or that had other commitments weren’t able to make it.
“We were sitting at a funeral, and one guy said, ‘You know, I was looking at the ball team picture … it’s 40 years ago and we’re all around here yet,’” shared Terry Klatt, who coached the team. “That made me think about getting something going and see if I could get everybody together.”
The team came together back then with the sponsorship of Bill Otto and the Southman Ag dealership.
Klatt recalled that they were able to pull together 16 or 17 players who were mostly all from the 1-6 and 1-5 area south of Morden.
“There were a few from town here, but most of them were from the 1-6 area,” said Klatt, who suggested it was somewhat unique back then to be able to field a team of players from such a small rural area.
He thinks they were a fairly competitive team while the league lasted, although it did shut down after a number of years.
“We went to tournaments, and we usually did all right. We weren’t a top team, but we had a lot of fun with it,” he said. “It was a farming community too, so we couldn’t just play all the time, but it was good for all of us.”
Klatt was glad that they were able to contact all of the team members and then that a good portion of them were able to attend the reunion.
“Out of the 40 years, they’re all mostly still living and mostly here in the communities around here, but there’s a few who moved to Alberta.
“There were some that we hadn’t seen for maybe 30 years,” Klatt said. “The ones who had moved up to Alberta couldn’t make it, but we talked for a half hour to an hour on the phone … they were wishing they could make it … to get everybody together like this would be pretty hard.”
The oldest person in attendance was perhaps 77 years of age, while the youngest was around 60, he noted, adding as well that one member still even plays some slo-pitch ball.
“Everybody got up and said something, so that was good … we had a good time,” said Klatt. “There was a special bond. It was kind of special. Everybody knew each other and all got along good with each other.”
