Back in the day — which, to me, means the 60s and 70s — Harrisville made a big deal out of being the boyhood home of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Hazen Shirley “Ki Ki” Cuyler.

Twin billboards informed every motorist of that fact as they entered town on U.S.-23, whether they were driving up from Down Below or coming south from Alpena. Those billboards eventually rotted and fell over, and, today, there is barely a trace of Cuyler in the town.

But, for reasons I don’t understand, there has been a sudden resurgence in interest in the baseball great, and now there are plans for a celebration of his life next month. It is scheduled to begin on the 124th anniversary of his birth, on Aug. 30, 1898, and last through September.

All kinds of things will take place then …

First, some background on Cuyler, a prominent Major Leaguer who has been virtually forgotten since his glory days.

His parents came separately from Canada to Black River, Alcona County, arriving in 1885 and 1889. George Cuyler, lumberman, and Anna Shirley, seamstress, soon found each other in that logging-era boomtown. Within a year of Anna’s arrival, the couple married and moved into a little house in Black River’s twin timbertown of Alcona.

The next year, Mr. Cuyler landed a new job with greater security, joining the crew of men who rowed the lifeboat at Sturgeon Point Lifesaving Station. When the Cuylers moved into the little community clustered around the lighthouse, they brought their house along with them, three miles across the ice from Alcona! Anna gave birth to Hazen in that house.

America’s favorite pastime was the favored diversion from the daily routine of training, cleaning, and standing watch for the 10 men stationed at Sturgeon Point. With the lighthouse keeper as coach, that left the nine younger men to field a team on a diamond marked out nearby. There, they hosted squads from the surrounding towns, who came on holidays like the Fourth of July, along with droves of their neighbors of all ages, for picnics, sack races, and a game or two of baseball.

When Hazen was 9 years old, an injury prevented his father from rowing a lifeboat, so his family moved to Harrisville, five miles south. Again, they brought their house along, setting it down just north of town, along the road that would later become U.S.-23, where it still stands.

Hazen attended Harrisville High School, graduating as valedictorian in his class of five, then embarked on his path to the big leagues. He moved to Flint, where worked at Buick and earned extra money playing semi-professional baseball for the Bay City Wolves of the Class B Michigan-Ontario League. A sharp-eyed scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates spotted him there, and signed him to a minor league contract.

Cuyler streaked through the minors in four years, winning the Most Valuable Player award in the AAA Southern League in 1923. As a rookie in the majors the following season, he scorched the National League with one of the best debut years in baseball history, hitting .354. In his second year, he led the Pirates to a World Series title. By then, his high school nickname of “Cuy” had become “Ki Ki,” because radio announcers early in his career had been confused by the echoed shouts of “Cuy” they heard from Hazen’s teammates and fans, which they repeated as “Cuy Cuy” on the airwaves.

Ki Ki Cuyler continued his great play with the Chicago Cubs, winning the pennant. He often led the league in stolen bases, was among the best hitters, and guarded right field in a way few players have ever been able to do.

Playing for the Cincinnati Reds, Hazen hurt his knee and had to stop playing.

But he started managing and kept winning, leading both the AA Chattanooga Lookouts and the AAA Atlanta Crackers to championships. The Boston Red Sox hired him as a coach for the 1950 season.

But, that February, Cuyler suffered a heart attack while ice fishing back home in Alcona County, where he always spent the offseason with his high school sweetheart and spouse, Bertha, and later died in an Ann Arbor hospital.

Bertha outlived him for four decades, keeping alive her famous husband’s memory in conversations around the bridge tables of Harrisville (my mother, Pearl, often drove her to the weekly games).

At age 51, Ki Ki had gotten off to a great start as a manager. Had he lived, he might have been inducted into the Hall of Fame not only as a player — which he was in 1968 — but also as a coach. He would have been 70 that year. Would he still have been managing? Chicago White Sox manager Tony LaRussa is going strong today at 77 …

The series of events in September, sponsored by the Alcona County Library, will feature the author of Ki Ki’s biography, a baseball card expert, and an “oldtimers'” game, among other things.

It is certain to be heavily supported at the local level.

Everyone who has been in Harrisville since back in The Day knows a member of the Cuyler clan. I knew his son, Harold, known as “Ki,” who ran the late, lamented Dugout Lounge for many years, where memorabilia from his famous father’s career decorated the walls. Ki Ki’s granddaughter, Kandy, tended bar there for her dad.

Another of Ki Ki’s granddaughters, KiAnn Kruttlin (her name is a mashup of Ki Ki and Anna, his mother’s name) is among the key organizers of the event.

But will Ki Ki Cuylerfest have a lasting impact? Will it result in some form of enduring signage, like there was back in the day, such as an official state historical marker? It could be placed in front of his mobile home of a birthplace, or on the courthouse green, where Harrisville High School stood until 1961.

Its dedication ceremony could take place on the 125th anniversary of his birth next year!

Let us hope that Hazen Shirley Cuyler does not slip back into obscurity after the Ki Ki-fest hoopla in Harrisville next month.

Eric Paul Roorda is a professor, historian, lecturer, author, and illustrator. He has called Alcona County home for 50 years.