ORPHANS Baseball
Orphans in the the thick of things in tough NSL
By Kip Kovar, Sports Editor The summer tradition of amateur baseball was back once again for the Howard Lake Orphans. An organization with a history of success, the Orphans will be looking to get back to the success they had in 2025. The past two seasons have been tough for the Orphans but there’ s plenty of talent on the roster. In a North Star League loaded with talented teams from top to bottom, the Orphans finished in eighth place with a league record of 7-9. That had them in the league playoffs searching for a bid to the Region 12C Tournament. Howard Lake was unable to secure that final spot in the region tournament as they saw their season come to an end in the league playoffs. Throughout the season, the Orphans had several young players fill and step up. Those players gained valuable experience this season and will be key pieces to the success of the organization going forward. The 2025 season for the Orphans will have a new look to it. The Minnesota Baseball Association is moving back to a three-class system after having just two classes the past two seasons. This will give Howard Lake a new level of competition as they will remain in Class C with many of the higher teams moving up to Class B. Town team baseball in Howard Lake goes back a long way, starting in 1905 when the team was named the Blue Sox. Throughout the early 1900s, Howard Lake eventually lost the name but gained a new one in 1947. Playing their home games in Cokato that year, as their field was being refurbished and couldn’ t be played on, they started getting called the Orphans, and the name stuck. The Orphans made their first state tournament appearance in 1951. Town team baseball in Howard Lake ceased from 1942 to 1946 due to World War II, but the Orphans took back to the field after the war and thrived until 1967 when the team folded. The 1970s and 1980s were a dark period for town team baseball in Howard Lake, as they had no team, with many players playing in neighboring towns. The team did try to come back in 1991, and also fielded a team in 1992, but then folded again. That is when a group led by current manager
Mike Gagnon, and Kevin Gruenhagen started the Orphans back up, and it has been a success ever since. Howard Lake has advanced to 17 state tournaments, with its first one coming in 1951, followed by 1995, 1998, 2001, and finally 2006 through 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. The Orphans will be looking to add 2022 as their 18th state tournament appearance. The Orphans play their home games at Memorial Park in Howard Lake, which is located on the shores of Howard Lake. Over the past decade, the park has seen several improvements, including added seating behind home plate, a batters’ eye, and a grass infield, among other improvements. In 2018, Memorial Park saw new bleachers added once again as they were dedicated to Mike Mitchell and his family. Mitchell was a big part of the Orphans in many ways. Throughout Mike’ s time with the Orphans, he was a bat boy, worked the scoreboard, a ball shagger, and a player from 1957 to 1969, and then again from 1963 to 1968. Once his playing days were done, Mike became the team’ s president and held that position from 1995 to 2018. During that time, Mike was also the Memorial Park groundskeeper and was a member of the Howard Lake City Council from 2013 to 2018. A new plaque was unveiled in Mike’ s honor before the game against the Delano Athletics and will be proudly displayed at Memorial Park for the years to come. Don and Dorthy Mitchell’ s family also donated new bleachers in front of the press box at Memorial Park. Those new bleachers were also dedicated Friday night as the Mitchell family were the first ones to take in a ball game in them. All of those improvements, along with more to come, have made Memorial Park one of the best baseball fields in the area. Prior to the 2009 season, new dugouts and a new backstop were added at Memorial Park. In 2011, due to high water conditions on Howard Lake, Memorial Park’ s outfield was flooded, which forced the Orphans to move their playoff games to Loretto. Work has since been done to fix the flood damage to the outfield.
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