The Cardinals welcomed the UW-Superior club baseball team to Merchant park as a last minute guest getting the 2017 season underway.  

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   (pictured: Christian Hall)

This past Saturday the Spooner area community hosted a benefit for Ryley Holden at Tony's Riverside.  The out pouring of support was astounding.  The event proved that the overwhelming majority of people in the community are willing to contribute whatever they can for a great cause.  Ryley will be playing with the Spooner Cardinals this year splitting time between first base and catching.  The Cardinals will host their Youth Baseball clinic this Saturday and play their first game of the year away vs the Spring Valley Hawks on Sunday.

After the painstaking process of turning Merchant Park into a fantastic facility with a solid playing surface (thanks, in part, to the City of Spooner) there were day dreams and late night talks filled with the hopes and wishes of lights to play beneath.  Researching the cost of such an endeavor usually left one with the sense that a ball park light project was out-of-reach. 

 Then a local opportunity presented itself and the "Ball Park Project" was in a financial position to capitalize.  Thanks go to Josh Villella, Darin Baier and the City of Spooner for facilitating the process of getting lights on the Merchant Park property.  The local businesses in the Spooner area who have sponsored the Cardinals baseball "Ball-Park Project" are the real champions, though.  The sponsors have rewarded the Cardinals, Josh and Darin because of their ambition and drive to make Merchant Park a center piece of Spooner Youth Baseball development.   The introduction of lights into a ball park is indeed a large undertaking and the process may take some time.  The light project is projected to be only a fraction of the cost originally thought, but still requires a good portion of the fundraising budget.  The dugout project will be put on hold as the opportunity for lights presented itself and was too good to pass up.      

-Sean Solveson

After several years of Josh Villella coaching the team with strong support from grizzled veterans Tom Romportl, Jeff Andrea, Sean Solveson and Jeremy Bloomquist the Cardinals' leadership swings to a few fresh faces.  Sam Holden and Kyle Gauger have been around the Cardinals for nearly 8 years already and have coached American Legion baseball together for the past four years.  Josh and Tom continue to devote themselves to Spooner Youth Baseball development coaching the High School team and remaining involved in the youth programs. The "old regime" will remain involved behind the scenes to assist in the transition.  The new era ball player is a reflection of society.  Sam and Kyle aim to channel the youthful energy into a tough, winning mentality that their predecessors instilled.  As Josh, Tom and Jeff's social media street credibility diminishes, much to their satisfaction, Sam and Kyle look to promote baseball to the youth continuing to keep the Cardinals as an eventual destination for ball players through and after college.  

The lone survivor bridging the age gap is the Iron Horse Jeremy Bloomquist with an old school arm that the U.S. stopped producing about 40 years ago.  Jeremy will continue to pitch for the Cardinals this year stacking up strikes and outs while passing down tough-nosed pitching tactics to the newer arms that the Cardinals are cultivating.

-Sean Solveson