Summer Baseball: Malad, Soda Springs and other tournaments

At Dianna's I met someone from Malad Idaho over the fourth, and it has gotten me thinking about the role baseball played in our summers when I was growing up.  It was all consuming.  For many years the highlight was the Malad tournament, which came toward the end of summer.  It was usually the last of the baseball summer.

Baseball was not so organized in those days, and each community had their own team and would play other teams, but we weren't attached to a league, and so at the end of the year, Malad would invite teams to come and play.  It was always a 16-team tournament, and the person I met thought it was up o 32 teams now.  The competition was always very intense, and Hyrum being a small community, it was difficult to compete, but we would find a way. 

I played when I was 12, catching half the games.  I also helped Weldon coach many years, and then also coached myself a few years.  It was fun.  The town was exciting in those days, even though i was a small town.  It had a theater, bowling alley and swimming pool.  Some years we stayed at the American Legion Hall, and others at an old hospital.  Those were good times.  Usually a few parents would come and handle the cooking.  This included the DeBolt and McBride families. 

Malad teams

There were other tournaments, but Malad was always the best.  Soda Springs was usually 12 teams.  Later we participated in the Chubbock and Blackfoot tournaments.  These were fun tournaments.  But nothing like Malad.  There was also Preston and Richmond some years.  But Malad was the place of our dreams.