How do we measure grit and perseverance – let alone cultivate it? The concept is well-worn, and many a leadership treatise claims to contain the recipe. But to find it, and keep it, is no easy task.
The concept is so important that almost every culture has words to shorthand the complex emotional cocktail of getting up after being knocked down: The Finnish call it “sisu,” often translated as “stick-to-it-ivness.” In Arabic-speaking cultures, a bright-eyed grandmother might lean down and whisper “sumud” to a granddaughter who has just been told to mind her place.
The French call it “cran,” which literally means a “notch” and one can imagine the Alps, a climber tempted to let go, and a voice telling him to find one more fingerhold. The Spanish might say “garra,” meaning “claw,” and is used to describe someone with tenacity, fighting spirit and fierce determination.
Last weekend, the Bovina Dairymen Vintage Base Ball Club traveled the 604 miles to Detroit – and it brought the garra.
The modern Detroit World Tournament commemorates the 1867 World Tournament – when the Detroit Base Ball Club hosted amateur teams from across the region. In 1867, the “Unknowns” from Rockford, Illinois, famously took first prize. 159 years later, the Unknowns, coming from a population of 7,000 with strong migratory ties to upstate New York, would lend their moxie to another group of Upstaters.
On Saturday, Aug. 8, the Dairymen played the Columbus Buckeyes, falling behind early after Columbus tallied seven runs in the first. But Bovina bounced back, going on to win, 12-9. Rookie Collin “Soup” Campbell collected three hits in the game.
Next up was Michigan’s Walker Tavern Wheels, who fell to Bovina in the third-class championship a year ago. The Dairymen trailed 9-5 after three innings but tallied 14 aces in the final three frames to win, 19-11.
Hunter “Colonel” Truman had three hits to send Bovina into the first-class bracket.
Next up was another Ohio team, the Columbus Capitals, who matched the Dairymen frame-for-frame in a laborious contest that saw only five innings completed. Bovina plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth and held the Caps scoreless in the top of the fifth to win, 12-11.
Captain Nick “Roughcut” Frandsen hit a two-out single to score the winning run and send Bovina to the championship.
But in the title match, a goliath loomed: the Flat Rock Bear Clan from Michigan. The defending champions and winners of 35 straight games, the power-hitting Bear Clan had not lost a match in more than 13 months.
The game began bleakly, as Flat Rock posted a whopping eight runs in the top of the first. But the defense stiffened, and Devin “Double G” Truman slapped a crisp single to plate a Dairymen run in the second. After three and a half innings, Flat Rock led, 11-1.
Bovina had been here before. Over the course of the last 10 years, the Dairymen have developed a reputation for never giving up, winning close games, and mounting late comebacks.
In the bottom of the fourth, Luke “Burnsie” Burns started with a long double and sent the bench an unmistakable sign – fingers intertwined, two thumbs down — indicating a pair of udders. Bovina’s bench erupted with the response — a two-handed milking motion. The Upstate boys scored eight of their own. Both sides steeled themselves for a fight.
The teams traded superb defense, including a double erasing a promising Dairymen fifth, and a full-sprint, diving catch by Alex “AT” Taylor to stifle the Flat Rock sixth.
Then, disaster: Dairymen pitcher “Iron” Mike Brown hobbled off the field with a hamstring injury, spat venom under his breath, and limped back to the pitcher’s mound to finish the game. In the crowd, grandfathers nodded their heads, made sure no one was listening, then whispered to their grandsons: “That’s one tough son of a …”
Troy “Honey T” Tucker plated two runs with a double in the seventh but was thrown out at the plate. The crowd of some 500 awed and gasped. Tie ballgame.
The Bear Clan scored two in the eighth. 13-11, Flat Rock.
Bovina loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, with Alex “Burger” Stanton to bat. Burger had had a rough tournament, with just four hits to his name – three at bat, and one accidental knock to the four-year-old bat boy, who fell to the ground crying, and for which Burger was roundly booed by the ample crowd. But baseball is a game where anything can happen and usually does. Burger hit, ran, chaos. Flat Rock threw the ball around, got one out, then threw the ball into the tall grass. As a ball generally is not “dead” unless touched by a fan, Burger raced all the way around the bases. 14-13, Bovina; Burger, redeemed.
After Flat Rock willed a run across in the top of the ninth to tie, a strange thing happened: no air came out of the Bovina balloon. In the Dairymen huddle, an excited air took over: somehow, someway, the boys from Bovina knew they were going to score.
Dylan “Hobbs” Tucker led off with a single, Burns hit a double, and Mike Brown hobbled to the plate with the winning run just 90 feet away. Brown hit a single to left field, scoring two and sending the field into a frenzy. Brown simply swaggered towards first base, flashing the crowd a determined stare. As walk offs were not recognized in 1867, Bovina added two more to win the game, 18-14.
In 25 years, Bovina is the first East Coast team to win the prestigious World Tournament. Additional awards for the weekend included: Nick Frandsen (voted Finest Captain), Troy Tucker (longest throw – 1st place), Alex Taylor (fastest runner – 3rd place), and Best Uniforms (as voted by the ladies).
As the thrill of victory and agony of defeat muted, the hugs, thank yous, and handshakes rained innumerable. Rightly so. The Bovina Dairymen, who started in a hayfield in 2008, who nearly fell off the map in the middle 2010s, and who trailed in every game they played last weekend, were World Champions.
It takes a village too large to list, but special thanks are due to Faith Frandsen, Susan Burns, Joan Burns, Gary Burns, John “Chico” Finn, Tanner “Handsome” Metzko, Livestock Foundation, the MARK Project, Mike Ossy and the World Tournament staff, the Henry Ford Museum, and our friends, families and fans who support us game in and game out.
Three cheers. Garra.