2WLI0704HD Play Ball! Transcript

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- Angela Fitzgerald: Coming up on Wisconsin Life: a teen stepping up to the plate with snowshoes, [bat pings ball] [crowd yelling] a woman preserving memories with every stitch, a business owner cooking up a family tradition and a love story brought to you by LEGO.

It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life. 
[inspiring music]

- Announcer: Wisconsin Life is funded in part by Alliant Energy, Lowell and Mary Peterson, American Transmission Company, the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is Wisconsin Life. Today, I'm going back in time to the Menomonie Vintage Baseball Festival. It's day two of the festival, and even though it's rainy, the players and I are still here to play ball. The annual event is hosted by the Menomonie Blue Caps, a vintage baseball team, and welcomes competitors from neighboring states to Phelan Park. This year's teams include the Chicago Salmon, the Rum River Rovers, and the Westerns Baseball Club of Topeka. Ten teams compete using the same rules and equipment players used in the year 1860. Not only are the rules different from today, but the vocabulary is different too.

- Ladies and Gentlemen! An outstanding exhibition of baseball!

- It's not a team, but a Club Nine. Players don't use a bat, instead it's called an ash or timber. Fly balls are called "sky balls." And admission is only two bits or 25 cents. 

But, before I get my chance to play, let's see our first story on deck... which takes us to Lake Tomahawk, where another unusual game of baseball is in full swing. In Lake Tomahawk, the phrase "Take me out to the ball game" has different meaning. 
[popcorn popping]
Instead of peanuts, there's popcorn.

- Thank you.

- Instead of Cracker Jack, there's homemade pie.

- Man: It's pretty good, isn't it, bud? You don't need a fork!

- Angela: And instead of cleats, the teams take the field in a less functional form of footwear.

This... 
[bat smacks ball] 
[crowd cheering]
...is snowshoe baseball. 

[bat thwacks ball]
- Fan: Hey, nice shot! There you go! 
[clapping]

- Whoo!

- Go, go, go!

[bat whops ball]

- Angela: Since 1961, the town of Lake Tomahawk has hosted this unusual twist on America's pastime. 

[bat wallops ball]
[yelling] – Ah, darn it!

- Cole Punches: Yeah, basically it's softball. You know, it's a softball, but we put snowshoes on and run in sawdust. 

[cheering]

- Angela: Cole Punches is an outfielder for the home team, the Snowhawks.

- So yeah, I started when I was 15 so I've been playing for 23 years.

- Angela: Every Monday night during the summer, fans filled the bleachers to watch Cole and The Snowhawks take on a visiting team.

- I love baseball, you know; I always have. I've always loved playing baseball, and it's just a-- we got a good group of guys on our team.

- Trouble, trouble, trouble!

- It's fun. It's just a blast. It's something unique, you know? It's something different.

- Angela: The ball is softer than a normal softball, and the fielders don't wear gloves. Otherwise, the rules are simple. Running the bases is not. 
[energetic music]

- Everyone's afraid of looking stupid. And I tell 'em, "Well, we all look stupid. "We're running around in snowshoes in the summer. So, just do it, and it's fun." 
[bat launches ball]
[cheering]

- Angela: Cole says snowshoe baseball has become more than just a game. It's a community event.

- Cole: It is a big deal. The people at the concession stand joke that people come for the pies and stay for the Snowshoe baseball game.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Angela: A butterfly net is passed around mid-game to collect donations...

- Thank you!

- Thank you!

- Angela: ...to help keep the lights on.

- We got new lights, and we have fencing and the woodchips that come in. Everything we have is thanks to the people that come to the games. 
[bat strikes ball]
It's awesome, you know. There's some really great fans here. 

[girls cheer]
- Whoo, do it, yes!

- Angela: Some are local, and some are tourists.

- I came from Boise, Idaho. I-D-A-H-O.

- Idaho.

- It's not Iowa. 

[bat hitting ball]
- Angela: Steven Hawley says he came out for one reason.

- Because they’re in snowshoes! 
[woman laughing]
When was the last time you played baseball in snowshoes?=
[bat blasts ball]
It's awesome!

- Angela: On this night, even the rain couldn't keep the fans from watching both teams try to hit the ball and the occasional cantaloupe. 
[struck melon splatters juicily, crowd cheers]

Just another night in Lake Tomahawk's version of the old ball game.

- Cole: Just-- The crowd's awesome, the people are awesome.

- Yeah, go!

- Everybody that helps the organization is awesome. It's really, really a neat thing Lake Tomahawk has. 
[bat propels ball]
 
[crowd yelling and cheering]
- Angela: For our next story we head to Tony to meet a woman preserving the memory of loved ones with every stitch.

[sewing machine whirring]
Glance around Kelly Kowaleski's sewing room and it becomes clear that what she's really making here are memories.

- Kelly Kowaleski: I love sewing. I've loved it since I first started. It's my outlet. It's my passion. It's where I get to-- I don't know-- just do what makes me happy. 
[laughs softly]
And that's the best part of it.

- Angela: Sewing has always been a creative outlet for Kelly.

- And sometimes fabric just speaks to me, and then I kind of just, I let my creative juices flow.

- Angela: It was also a time she used to catch up with her son, Brady. 
[whirring]
She would sit in her sewing room while he sat in the room next door playing video games.

- I could see him and he could see me, and he could play his videogames, and I could sew, and that's where I learned all about his life. Those days were some of Kelly's most cherished memories. They're also some of her most painful. 
[melancholy music]

At the age of 15, Brady tragically passed away in a hunting accident. Kelly lost interest in sewing.

- I really felt like I had no reason to be in there because I felt, at first, that my reason for being in there was to learn about his life.

[sewing machine whirring]

- Angela: And then one day, she had an idea. 
[uplifting music]

Grabbing a stack of Brady's old clothes, Kelly began creating a new set of memories. 

§ §

She calls them “Memory Bears.” At first, Kelly made only four bears, all from clothes Brady had worn.
 
- I got to touch his clothes, which is something I thought I'd never get to do again, you know? So, even though the first clip of the scissors was hard, but then, in the back of my mind, I can't help but say, "But he's never gonna wear these again." This is okay. He gets it, he understands. 

And then, the more I made them, the more joy I felt. Because I can feel his clothes, I can still visualize him wearing them, and his friends love them. And that was the key, that was what made it all worth it.

- Angela: Four suddenly became 15. She began giving them away to Brady's friends and family.

- The joy that it gave me to see their faces was overwhelming, just overwhelming. And it keeps his memory alive and that's what's so important. 
[sewing machine whirring]

- Angela: A joy Kelly wanted to share with others.

- And I said to my husband, I said, "Do you think I could do this?" I said, "The feeling I get from making these, do you think other people would like it if I make them for them?"

- Angela: That's when she created "Bear Memories," a small business designed to help people remember their loved ones.

- I've made them from sweaters. I've made them from jeans, overalls. I can make them out of just about anything. I've done lace, satin-- You name it, I've done it. 
[inspiring music]

I have had everything from howls of laughter to tears.

- Angela: Some bears are meant to tug at the heart. While others tug... at a different thread. Kelly has made hundreds of Memory Bears for people all over Wisconsin. People, like Anne Lund, who gave her dad a bear made from his brother's Army uniform.

- He had tears. My dad's not one that shows a lot of emotions, but, yeah, he had tears in his eyes. That was-- That was enough.

- Angela: Or Lyn Yotter, who's dad always wore the same old plaid shirts.

- It was, I believe, a labor of love because when I got the bears back, it was just remarkable. It was my dad. My dad's shirts and they all wore the name of "Papa Ken" on the front. And it was just amazing. It was amazing.

- Angela: For many, it's a way of coping.

- There is no doubt in my mind that on Christmas morning, he was watching these kids open these up. And his, probably his most famous words would have been, "Wow, you don't say!" 
[hopeful music]

- Angela: One of the hardest parts about losing a loved one is learning how to mend. Kelly is doing that now through the act of helping others do the same.

- Lyn Yotter: And I knew that for Kelly, she did it as a healing mechanism for herself, but I don't think she realizes when she makes these bears how much of a healing it is for the people that are receiving them.

- Angela: A feeling made possible with some thread, a needle, and a pile of gently worn memories.

- Because I believe every time I turn the switch on that sewing machine, I think, "He's there!" Actually, I don't think he's there, I know he's there because I know he-- he is in some way or part bringing these people to me by trying to tell their story, as well as his story.

- I'm in Menomonie in west Wisconsin to learn more about the history of one of America's favorite pastimes. Each summer, teams gather for the Annual Vintage Baseball Tournament.

- Umpire: Strike One!

- Angela: Hosted by the Menomonie Blue Caps.

- This is our fourth year we're doing this. We've slowly built it every year. In the game of Vintage Baseball, we're meant to be gentlemen with each other. Our draw to try to get teams here is just to provide great hospitality, along with great baseball, you know?
[bat strikes ball]
The festival this year had 10 teams: 2 from Illinois came up here, and then, a team from Kansas, and we had teams from Minnesota and Wisconsin. So, it was a pretty big deal.

- Wow!

- And everybody seemed to be enjoying it so far. 
[§ baseball-themed organ music§]

- Players re enjoying it now as much as the original team did over 100 years ago. No one sees that more than Vice President of the Dunn County Historical Society, whose organization works to keep Vintage Baseball and the Menomonie Blue Caps alive today.

- The original team started in 1882 with a single game around the Fourth of July against an Eau Claire rival. And then, that team played ball until 1941, and the roster was getting depleted, with guys either being drafted or enlisting for World War II. And they turned over the young guys to the Menomonie Eagles. That's the best part of it. It takes back to a time when the game was simple.

- Angela: It may look like baseball, but the game is much different than the sport played today. 

[players conversing]

- It's the outfits we wear. It's some of the lingo we use. Like, when you talk about the crowd watching, they're spectators. So, yeah, when you come into our park, it's two bits to come in, which is 25 cents. That was the normal cost of admission to go to a game. Our benches are hay bales. We use period baseballs. We use period bats. I mean everything's 1860's. We don't wear gloves, so it's perfect.

- Wow, do your hands hurt?

- It depends how hard the ball's coming at you. I play second base, so it gets dicey sometimes.

- Angela: A historically accurate game, and everyone's having a ball.

- We give each other high fives when they make a good play against us. And we give huzzahs, and we take our caps off. Like, the whole point of the game is just to have a great time while we're playing.

- Angela: It's not even the umpire’s job to make all the calls.

- An umpire actually doesn't have to do very much. He calls the strike and a foul ball. If there is a particularly close play where the two players can't decide whether he’s out or whether he's safe. Then you can turn, I would turn, to the audience, also known as the “cranks,” and would ask them for their opinion, and they would voice whether the runner is safe whether he's out. So, really, the umpire doesn't have to do a whole lot and that's just the way we like it.

- Angela: But it is everyone's job to keep an eye on the ball.

- Like any baseball crowd, we don't have nets here, and the rules of the game are that the ball is still alive if it were to land in the crotch of a tree, or roll off a barn roof, the ball is still alive. So, there may be a player come running through and grab it. If the crowd gets involved, it's a problem, just like in the real games. And here comes one right now! 
[laughing]

- Angela: By the end of the tournament, it's not so important who wins or loses, but how much fun was had on the field.

- The whole point of the game is just to have a great time while we're playing. 

[hollering]
- Leader: Hip-hip.

- Team: Huzzah!

- Hip-hip!

- Huzzah!

- Hip-hip!

- Huzzah!

- It's an exciting competition that takes audiences back to the origins of baseball.

It's time for another origin story. This one involving a woman from Milwaukee keeping her family business cooking.

[dishes and cutlery clanking]
- Angela: The moon is still high in the sky when Daphne Jones and her crew begin their workday. But you won't hear any complaining.

- I know that I am working, but I don't think of it as work because it gives me joy. I love what I do! I think it's a great gift--- Angela: Daphne's carrying on a tradition that is deeply personal, and at the same time, ancient and universal. She is making head cheese.

- Daphne: There was a recipe for it all over the world.

- Angela: Throughout history, hungry people have found a way to use every part of an animal for food.

- Daphne: It was for survival, for sustenance. It wasn't gourmet; it was food.

- Angela: Glorious Malone's Fine Sausage makes head cheese from hog snouts and ears.

- Daphne: Then we spice it up, throw some love in there.

- Angela: But Daphne says the end result is not just sustenance.

- Head cheese makes some people's minds think of all kinds of things, but if I can present it to you as this is our gourmet pork delicacy, you might be able to say, "Well, okay! I can give that a try." So, sometimes you have to use language to help people be able to move to the next step.

- Angela: Head cheese is made from meat and spices, but for Daphne and many of her customers, it contains memories, as well.

- Daphne: Christmas, Easter, birthday, our product has mostly been built by the love of the product. We are still a secret in our town even though we've been making this product for over 60 years.

- Angela: George and Glorious Malone came from The South to Milwaukee in the 1940s and brought their head cheese recipe with them.

- Daphne: During the holiday season, they made this product for friends and relatives as a gift. It was a love gift. I think my parents actually started to say, to themselves, "We're making it so much. I wonder if we could really sell it." And so, they did. Went from store to store and tavern to tavern.

- Angela: Eventually, they opened a grocery store on 6th and Hadley in a thriving black neighborhood.

- It was the neighborhood store that was also part of everybody's family and the family was part of the store.

- When the Interstate opened up Milwaukee to the suburbs, it divided the neighborhood.

- Once upon a time, this street, Walnut Street, was a very thriving enterprise of African American businesses. And with the construction and the movement in the expressway, all of that was moved.

- Daphne's father passed away, but her mother carried on the business, eventually, opening up a larger facility.

- When she found this corner, which was vacant, she thought it was the perfect place to be.

- Angela: Daphne says, Glorious Malone was the first African American woman to run a sausage company in Wisconsin.

- Daphne: It was a great source of pride that she created something, that she built something.

- Angela: Eventually, Daphne came back to help her mother run the factory.

- I believe in the beginning, my intention was for the legacy not to fail. I don't want all of these decades to have been for nothing.

After my mother passed, I decided to rename it and call it "Glorious Malone's Fine Sausage" because it had two meanings. It was her name, Glorious, and it is a glorious product, right?

- Angela: Daphne wants to keep growing the business.

- Daphne: I always tell people, “I want to get our products to the moon.”

- Angela: For now, she'll have to settle for seeing the moon every morning when it's time to start the next batch of memories.

Our last story takes us to West Bend, to meet a couple who's building upon their love with LEGOs.

[curious music]

- I think part of what draws people to LEGO is this child-like sense of wonder about them. 
§ §

They're colorful. They'll make a beeline for something that is bright, almost as if it's flashing at them. 
[laughs]

My name's Emily Krans, and I'm an unofficial LEGO Master Builder.

I had been on some Internet dating sites, 
[computer keyboard clicking]
and was in my thirties, and I said, "Okay, this is gonna be the last round of guys that I email, and after this if I don't find anybody, I'm single for life. I'm okay with that, you know? That's what God has planned for me." 
[chuckles]
My email went something like this, "If you are a bottom feeder, please do not respond." 
[laughing]

- Eric Krans: Not being a bottom feeder, I replied. 
[Emily laughs]
 
[curious music]
- Hi, my name is Eric Krans, and I am an unofficial LEGO Master Builder.

- I knew by the end of that first date that either we were gonna be something special or we were going to be really good friends for the rest of our lives. Yeah, it turned out we were something special. 
[romantic Italian music]

We got married the next year. 
[bell chimes]
 
He had been into LEGO for about two years before I met him. And before I knew it, I was kinda building with LEGO. And now we don't have a living room anymore. We have a LEGO workroom. 
[chuckles]
We bounce ideas off of each other all the time.

- She is the more creative type, and she can imagine stuff and just build. 
[mystical Christmas music]
My wife builds a Christmas town as she envisioned it in West Bend.

- I love those little miniature Christmas villages, but sometimes they can be a bit chintzy, and sometimes, they're also really expensive. And I thought, "You know what? I could build a Christmas town, and I could make this relevant to the community that I live in." 'Cause I've always loved Wisconsin. And so, because of that, I wanted to pay tribute.

- She also has a California Christmas, [upbeat surfer rock] which is what she would envision California would be like during Christmas time. She gets to build without snow. And so, there's a lot more color evolved instead of everything being covered in white. And I'm amazed at her ability to just spontaneously create things. I need something to springboard off of. 

[mysterious music]
- His theme is Harry Potter. Because he's so focused with one theme it gives him the chance to really dig in, and he has both small builds and big builds. The one that we get the most “oohs and ahs” over is the moving Quidditch pitch. 
[mystical wizard music]

- Eric: I estimate that to be about 13,500 bricks to 14,000 bricks.

- And he was holed up down in the basement, like a mad scientist, working on this for-- I would say-- about six months. And all the gears, all the workings, all the mechanics, everything that's in there, it's all LEGO. 
[electric motor, mechanical movement sounds]

He is a bit of an engineering genius when it comes to LEGO. It blows my mind that he's able to take these plastic gears and rods, and put them together, and make these little figures fly around. And they don't just fly in a circle! No, you have a couple of them that are flying in a circle, and then you have one that's doing this little motion. And the fact that he could figure out how to do that motion! And then, you have a couple other players that are doing other things.

- Eric Krans: You can do things that really draw the crowd in. Like, "You can do that with LEGO? Holy [insert your favorite phrase here]!" 
[chuckles]

- Emily: We do anywhere between 6 to 10 shows a year. And every time we do a show, we try to bring something new. So, that pushes us not only to show, but also to build. I mean, what's more fun than hanging out with a bunch of people that love to play with LEGO?

- Eric: We're always expanding. We're always building new things, until we can't build any more, I suppose. 
[laughing]

- Run out of pieces or money or space! 
[both laugh]

- Space is the big one.

- Right? 
[laughing]

Little house, lots of LEGO!

I think it's part of what keeps us happily married. The family that LEGOs together, stays together. 
[laughing]
 
[whimsical music]

- It's time to bring it home. I've gotten a chance to play ball while also meeting some of the teams bringing history to life right here in Menomonie. If you'd like to learn more about Vintage Baseball, or the Menomonie Blue Caps visit WisconsinLife.org. And if you have a story to share, or a place that I have to visit, email us at WisconsinLife@wpt.org.

Coming up on Wisconsin Life: meet an urban arborist climbing to the top, a seamstress with a higher calling...

- I hope they see the personality and the faith of the pastor.

- ...a conservationist restoring our waterways, and an architect working to memorialize a native Wisconsinite.

- I wanted something that could stand alone.

- It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life!

I'm Angela Fitzgerald and this is our Wisconsin Life. Hip-hip!

- Huzzah!

- Hip-hip!
- Huzzah!

- Hip-hip!
- Huzzah!

- Bye. 
[laughs]
 
§ §
- Run it! Run it, please.

- Good job!

- Whoa!

- I'm Angela Fitzgerald and this is our Wisconsin Life. 

[overlapping cheers]
Angela: Huzzah!
- Player: Hip-- Oh, sorry, is that how it goes? 
[laughter]

- Announcer: Wisconsin Life is funded in part by Alliant Energy, Lowell and Mary Peterson, American Transmission Company, the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.