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Spring Grove History

August 2, 2010
From the linked article in the York Dispatch:

"In the midst of all this sharing of information, I received a call from Glen Rock resident Jesse Mays. As it turns out, Mays was a bat boy for an amateur baseball team located in New Freedom in the 1930s -- I didn't know there had ever been a local team in New Freedom, but Mays swears the small southern York County town was the home of many outstanding teams back in the '20s and '30s.

And he remembered them well. He also recalled that back in those days local teams played against each other during the week and played tournaments on the weekends. He also knew there used to be a darned nice baseball team in Spring Grove, Md. -- "top-notch" is the word he used, "one of the best teams in Maryland."

Mays recalled traveling with his team down to Towson, Md., and playing against the Spring Grove team on the Sheppard-Pratt baseball field. The diamond no longer exists today, he said, but is situated on the campus of Towson State University along York Road.

It was semi-pro baseball at its best. Town team against town team. Tournaments included teams from New Freedom, West York, Hanover, McSherrystown, Littlestown and New Oxford in Pennsylvania, Baltimore County, Reisterstown and Glen Burnie.

Mays believes Mount Wolf might have traveled to Towson to play against Spring Grove (Maryland) in a tournament. And he thinks the photo was taken before the game was played."

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_12517717?IADID=Search-www.yorkdispatch.com-www.yorkdispatch.com
This picture is from the mid 1940s and shows the newly constructed Spring Grove field. Spring Grove has had a baseball team since that time and for decades offered the best 90' diamond in southwest Baltimore County. Much of the field remains the same, except for the new parking lot and building along 3rd base. The current Spring Grove team dates back to the mid 1980s.

If you look closely at the 1st base dugoout you can probably see current catcher Joe Nitsch getting loose :-)
Picture of Spring Grove Baseball Team circa 1949. Can you find Joe Nitsch and Jackie Leonard? Joke courtesy of Scott Sheppard...