Courtesy Photo Northeast Michigan Hall of Fame Baseball Inductees for 2025, are, from left to right, Tony Windt, Gary Ozier (accepting posthumous award for Sid Wolfgang), Frank Gawlik (accepting posthumous award for Jim DeWalt), 97-year-old Don Armstrong with bat and plaque, William J. Carstens III (accepting posthumous award for Cal Carstens), and Joe Pilot. Photo by Jackie Carstens.

The Northeast Michigan Baseball League hosted its 29th Annual Reunion on Sunday, June 22 at the Cheese House in Pinconning. Approximately 120 people attended this year’s reunion.

The league began in 1916 and lasted until 1986. Over those 70 years, the league included many teams from Alpena to Bay City to Midland. Consisting of professional and minor league players, college players, and advanced sandlot ball players, the competition during the games was fierce, but all the players considered each other family.

That same sense of family was celebrated at the annual reunion. Memories, many baseball stories (some of which are true), laughter, and song, all created a wonderful, joyous occasion.

During the early 1990s, Cletus and his wife Kathy Vallad from Arenac County began the NEM Baseball Museum in Omer. Following Cletus’ passing, Bob Pelton initiated the annual baseball reunion. Bob’s sense of baseball history and family kept the reunion going and the annual NEM reunion is now overseen by a younger generation of former baseball players/family. Both Kathy Vallad and Bob Pelton and his daughter Lindsay were recognized at this year’s gathering.

This year’s inductees into the Northeast Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame included Don Armstrong, Cal Carstens, Jim Dewald, Joe Pilot, Tony Windt, and Sid Wolfgang.

Joe Knochel served as this year’s MC for the program, and behind-the-scenes workers for the NEM included Sandy Knochel Zimmerman, Scott Pickvett, Ken Ayers, Rick Rudrow, Pat Kohn, and Ken Carstens. Today, the NEM Baseball Museum — consisting of team uniforms, score books, team photos and lots of “old” baseball gear — is on display and interpreted in the museum at the Old Courthouse in Omer that is maintained by the Arenac County Historical Society. Brenda Matt is director of the Old Courthouse Museum. The Museum is open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturdays each month from Memorial Day through Labor Day, or by calling 989-876-6399 for an appointment. The NEM would like to thank the Pinny Cheese House, and especially Louann Doak, once again, for preparing a wonderful “baseball” meal and for providing such a wonderful, air-conditioned facility.