Mayer Community Guide MayerNGGuide19-Final | Page 19
Mayer
Blazers
Editor’s Note: The Mayer Blazers have been
an inactive member of the Crow River Valley
League the past three seasons. This coming fall,
the Blazers will either return to the CRVL if they
fi eld a team, or be voted out of the league by
the CRVL teams as they can no longer remain
inactive. In the fall of 2018, the CRVL voted
Norwood out of the league after being inactive
for multiple seasons.
Ball playing in Mayer has a history that goes
back nearly 100 years, and has always been
strongly supported by the community.
On April 10, 1906, the village council passed
a motion to rent four lots owned by the village,
called Thomas Slough, to be used for ball
purposes.
Council support of the game continued in
1914, when it furnished the ball players with a
canvas. At this time, the village received 10
percent of the gate receipts.
The Mayer Baseball Club was organized in
the Depression years of the early 1930s.
There had been talk of having baseball in
Mayer for years before. There were problems
to overcome, however, such as there was no
park to play on, and only three players from
the Mayer area, who played with the Young
America team. Those players were Raymond
and John Bleedorn, and Omar Hill.
2017 Season
Since 2017, the Blazers have failed to fi eld a
team. With several players moving to different
teams, the Mayer Blazers have be an inactive
member of the Crow River Valley Leauge the
past four years.
A strong tradition
The Mayer Blazers has already established
itself with a long and storied tradition of strong
baseball in the Crow River Valley League.
Going back to 1943, the Mayer Blazers have
made seven state tournament appearances.
Their strongest state tournament showing
came in 1973, when they fi nished third.
Members of the 1973 state tournament
Mayer team were: John Hoese and Randy
Hoese, bat boys; Martin Rolf, Brad Wroge, Jim
Henning, Harlan Baumann, Kevin Florek, Dale
Hoeft, Bob Vinkemeier, Bill Stein, Ron Lehrke,
Dave Lenz, Lowell Heldt, Dave Hoese, Darryl
Gieselmann, Mark Meschke, Courtney Meyer,
Mark Wabbe; Bob Schafer, statistician; and Ed
Hoese, manager.
In 1945, Mayer took home second place
honors in the Class A state tournament.
The members of that Mayer Blazers team
were: Douglas Lenz, bat boy; Dave Gongoll,
Harold Boehner, Ed Hoese, Charles Sell, Virgil
Belter, Orville Koehler, Earl Gongoll, Martin
Hoeft, Stanford Lenz, Harold Kuntz, Martin
Rolf, Oscar Rolf, Ray Bleedorn, Gordon Hoese,
Wilford Hasse, Douglas Dibb, Bob Karels,
Raymond Kuntz, and Harold Kusske, manager.
The Blazers had a little bit of a drought
throughout the 1980s, but were back and
stronger than ever in the early 1990s, making
three state tournament appearances – 1991,
1992, and 1995.
Hall of Famers
In 1976, Clarence Guetzkow was elected to
the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame
in recognition of his tireless allegiance to Mayer
baseball, the Crow River Valley League, and
Minnesota Amateur Baseball as a whole.
Guetzkow is the lone member of the Hall of
Fame from Mayer.
Odds and ends
• In 1974, Mayer, who in the off-season
donned the nickname Blazers, earned their
second trip to the state classic in as many years,
but they bowed out in the opening round to
the Winona Merchants 5-2 in St. Cloud.
• On Sept. 13, 1950, Mayer draftee Ed
Hoese pitched Lester Prairie to a 5-0 win over
Bloomington in the second round of the state
tourney, in which they won the Class B title.
• In 1967, Bill Stein pitched the only no-hitter
in Mayer history. It was a seven-inning gem in
the fi rst game of a twin bill against Norwood.
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Guide to Mayer & New Germany 2019-2020
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