BASEBALL AND MILROY: A Fifty-Year Love Affair

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1954 Mythical State Champion Picture
Introduction
Milroy the Town
The Milroy Yankees
State Champions and the New Field
The Men Who Played
The Decline of Town Team Baseball
The Survival of Baseball in Milroy

MILROY THE TOWN

            In the early 1940s the Milroy community consisted of Art Stolp’s 3.2 beer place, Charlie Reed’s restaurant, and the pool hall, among other small businesses.  Milroy was a farming community that took great pride in their baseball team. 

            Milroy like many other small midwestern towns took its lumps economically later in the century.  By the mid-70s Milroy was in the midst of losing many of its businesses and its population dropped to around 240.  “The town’s business leaders were passing away and no one was replacing them.” Remembers Vicki Dolan, wife of Milroy baseball player Mark Dolan.

            Since then, the town has been able to support Kirsh’s Korner, the Oasis Bar, and the grain elevator.  The population has grown to 297, with many using the town as a suburb of Marshall.