One hundred years in the making
Concordia's intercollegiate baseball history goes back 100 years. Forty years after the fact, an alumnus fondly remembered the inaugural 1912 squad that went 6-0, even beating both Marquette and the mighty Milwaukee Police Department, handing the officers "their first loss in three years".
"Baseball naturally being the college game, we are in hearty sympathy with this form of athletic competition … although the importance attached to baseball in many institutions in our country is manifestly incongruous with the proper aims of any institution," said the Concordia Courier.
The article goes on to say, "It might be added that football, for reasons obvious to any judicious observer, is forbidden here."
Concordia struggled record-wise for the following three baseball seasons, even losing a 1914 no-hitter by lefty Stubbs Knoll when an outfield error allowed three runs to score.
The 1917 Concordia yearbook refers to the 1916 "Blue and White" squad as "…the renaissance in balldom" as Concordia College finished with a 7-2 record.
Our college teams stayed around the .500 mark through the 1920's with heralded victories over Marquette (4-3) in 1924 and DePaul (6-4) in 1925.
In 1927 and 1928 it became difficult to both field complete squads and get games played due to foul April weather.
The hammer came down after the "basically rained out" Spring 1928 season, and the Concordia Courier described it this way.
"When representative football entered Concordia in the fall of 1928, baseball left the scene… its departure was little regretted."
The In Memoriam Ditty went like this…
Aye, gather up the bats and balls
And build a funeral pyre
Spiked shoe and glove; the mask and mitt
Consign them to the fire…
And lining up the Old Guard stands
With bowed uncovered head
In tribute to King baseball who
In royal state lies dead
Although an intramural level of baseball was always part of Concordia's spring activities, the school did not field a collegiate team again until 1982.
The new head coach for that 1982 season was a young Dr . Val Keiper, the same man who still heads up the Falcon program today.
In another fascinating coincidence, Val Keiper took over the long vacant 1928 managerial position held by Kibby Keiper, his great uncle.
Concordia's third 2012 victory will be the 500th recorded win; not bad considering the 54 year lull.
http://www.cuwfalcons.com/page.asp?articleID=2196 (wins and losses history)
http://www.cuwfalcons.com/page.asp?articleID=2205 (Individual Concordia player records)_