Springers brought home first state hardware in '55

Written for 2002 State Tournament Program

By Tom Elliott
St. Cloud Times

Gas cost 21 cents a gallon, a loaf of bread, 10 cents. Most of us liked Ike for president. Jack Bell was in his first year as the public address announcer at Cold Spring Springers baseball games.

Bell has done public address at Springer Field for one of the home teams there just about every year since. Like many, he considers the 1955 Cold Spring Springers special. It was the first state championship for this baseball-crazy town.

There have been state championships in 1973, ’81, ’86, ’96, 2000 and ’01 since then. But, there is only one first.

Just don’t ask Bell to compare teams.

"That’s like comparing the old Yankees to the new Yankees," Bell said. "You don’t compare."

Still, the 1955 club was quite good.

The catchers were Don "Yogi" Fuchs and Tom Sauer. At first base was Tom Bell. His brother, Dave Bell, played second. Gene "Yutch" Schreifels was at shortstop. At third was Russ Reiter, who played baseball at St. John’s University. Outfielders were Hal Salzl, Sauer, Don Rehkamp and Jess Phillips.

Pitching was Dave "Lefty" Perl, Mike Brunner, another left-hander, and Ron Thelen. Jerome Meyer was the utility man.

Draftees were Jack Hoppe of Paynesville and catcher Al Roske of St. Joseph. Hoppe was a 19-year-old left-handed pitcher for the University of Minnesota.

The manager was Sal Theis.

"People came up to me and said we were the best balanced ball club they had seen (in the tournament) up to that point," Theis told sportswriter Mark Dolan of the Cold Spring Record in 1993. "We had everything: pitching, hitting and defense."

The tournament that year was played in Chaska. There were two classes, Class A and B. Cold Spring played in Class B. The Springers opened with a 6-2 victory over Redwood Falls on Sunday, Sept. 11.
Then, the Springers beat Halstad 4-0 on Thursday, Sept. 11. Perl tossed a six-hitter, striking out 16. In the semifinals on Saturday, Sept. 13, Cold Spring beat Stewartville, 7-0. Hoppe tossed a two-hitter, striking out 16.

On Sunday, Sept. 18, Cold Spring beat Granite Falls 11-0 in the championship. Sauer hit a two-run homer in the first and finished 3-for-5 with four RBI. Perl also had two hits, and earned his second pitching victory in the state tournament, striking out eight and allowing seven hits. Tom Bell and Schreifels also had two hits.

"I tell you, those two (Hoppe and Perl) threw strikes," Tom Bell said. "And let me tell you, the ball was always moving. Those two were tough."

Hoppe won the tournament’s most valuable player award. Many thought Perl could have won it as well.

A key to the team’s success was decided to let Phillips play. Phillips initially didn’t come out for the club. When the Springers started well, he wanted back on. The team had a vote and Phillips became an important player.

"We had a good-hitting team," said Schreifels, who teammates say was the best shortstop in the area while with Cold Spring. "To win, you’ve got to have everyone playing their best. If your best players don’t hit, you’re got to lose."

Roske, the drafted catcher from St. Joseph, broke his leg sliding into third during the state championship game. In effort to help with the medical bills, a "true" state championship game was arranged between Class A champion St. Peter and the Springers.

Schreifels led off the game with a home run, but St. Peter ended up winning 7-2. A crowd of 2,000 attended the non-official exhibition.

"That year was a lot of fun," Dave Bell said. "I was just a kid, mainly in there for my defense. It was a really good club and a good bunch of guys."

And, they were Cold Spring’s first state champion.