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By Kai Taylor, MCP Writer
MANISTEE — Summer amateur baseball has been a tradition in Manistee since 1934. What started as a parish team for St. Joseph Catholic Church has evolved into an irreplaceable community staple.
The Manistee Saints compete in the Gratiot County Baseball League, which consists of six teams from across Michigan. The GCBL operates under the umbrella of the National Amateur Baseball Federation, one of the nation’s oldest amateur baseball organizations. The Saints won the GCBL championship last year, finishing with a 20-6 record under player-manager Lucas Richardson.
“I started with the Saints my junior year at Brethren High School, so I’ve been playing since I was 17,” Richardson said. “This is my 13th year. I play first base now, but in college I went to Trine University, where I played right field.”
The Saints’ roster includes players of all ages. Richardson, 30, is one of the team’s more experienced players. Team members range in age from 16 to 33, creating what Richardson described as a wide variety in the clubhouse.
“We used to get the kids as soon as they graduated from high school, but a lot of them play 18U travel ball,” Vice President Phil Kliber said. “So it’s mostly guys after their first year of college until they don’t want to play anymore.”
Although the Saints are considered an area team, according to Kliber, players come from across Michigan, including Grand Rapids and Traverse City.
“Early spring is when we hold our tryout,” Kliber said. “You’ve got to wait until the local high schools finish their playoffs.”
However, with the rise of travel baseball and competing summer leagues, the Saints have had to adapt to new challenges each year.
“Travel ball and collegiate leagues have hurt us badly,” Kliber said. “But every year, you take the best you can and try to field a team.”
According to Richardson, when the roster was made up mostly of college players, some would finish their summer seasons with collegiate teams, including the Traverse City Pit Spitters.
“The collegiate leagues don’t fool with the Division III or the community college teams,” Kliber said. “We don’t get the Division I players because they’re all playing in the collegiate leagues. But we’ve got good people, and we help them improve. That’s what Saints baseball is.”
While the Saints don’t have a roster full of Division I prospects, that doesn’t appear to be the organization’s goal.
“Our goal is always to have an affordable place to play summer ball for the community and for players who are trying to play college ball or at the next level,” Richardson said. “A lot of times we hear players can’t get better in the summertime because they’ve got to go down to Grand Rapids and spend $3,000 to $4,000 a season. We keep our player fees between $100 and $200.”
Because the Saints are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the team relies heavily on fundraising to keep the program operating.
“We pay for a lot of things for these guys, give them the best experience we can and hopefully they get something out of it,” Richardson said.
The grounds crew and concession workers are all volunteers, and the organization has no paid staff, according to Kliber.
“A lot of good people have stepped up and turned this into the best amateur ballpark in northern Michigan,” Kliber said.
The Saints currently have an 8-4 record this season.
“We just go out, have good at-bats, have fun and throw strikes,” Richardson said. “The basics of baseball.”
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