Harrisville ballgame to honor HOFer KiKi Cuyler
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ALPENA -- Baseball fans are in for a real treat this weekend.
Cuyler Memorial Baseball Field will host a tribute baseball game Sunday afternoon in Harrisville as part of an ongoing celebration of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, KiKi Cuyler.
The game is slated for a 1 p.m. start time with a make-up/rain date of 1 p.m. on Sept. 25. Admission to the game is free.
The game will be played between players wearing the uniforms of the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates -- two of the four teams Cuyler played for in his career.
The players -- 18 on each team -- are former county league baseball players, most in their 50s and 60s and there are two honorary captains.
Baseball fans will take a trip back in time for an event the community has pulled out all the stops for. A new scoreboard -- flanked by two US flags, one with 48 stars and one with 50 -- was erected at the field and the score will be kept with chalk.
Fans in attendance will be able to sit in the bleachers, feeling like they've been transported back to a simpler time as they enjoy baseball favorites like hot dogs and cracker jack and hear baseball music blaring from the speakers.
"The City of Harrisville jumped into this and it should be good, it should be fun," Don Franklin, who will announce at the game, said.
The game is part of a month-long celebration of Cuyler, who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968 and banners celebrating his accomplishments have been put up to greet visitors as they come into town from different directions.
Hazen Shirley "KiKi" Cuyler was born on Aug. 30, 1898 in Harrisville and died in Ann Arbor in 1950 after he suffered a heart attack in Harrisville.
During his 18-year Major League career, Cuyler played for the Pirates from 1921-1927, the Cubs from 1928-1935, the Cincinnati Reds from 1935-37 and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938.
He won a World Series with the Pirates in 1925 and played in three other World Series during his career. He finished with a career batting average of .321, 2,299 hits, 128 home runs and 1,065 runs batted in. He made an All-Star appearance in 1934 and also had 328 career stolen bases.
The celebration of Cuyler began last month and continues until Sept. 30. The Harrisville branch of the Alcona County Library hosted a "KiKi and Harrisville" roundtable on Thursday with members of Cuyler's family and local people who knew or were influenced by him.
On Sept. 22, the library will host a virtual talk with Jim Haller from the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh on "Growing Up with Baseball." On Sept. 29, the library will host a movie night and show "A League of Their Own."
Previous events included a reception on Aug. 30 and opening of a photo exhibit as well as baseball card evaluations by Franklin. The library also hosted a showing of "The Natural" on Sept. 1 and a virtual talk with Ron Waldo, author of a Cuyler biography, on Sept. 8.