[GoBlue2419]

Intro, Part 1

Baseball. The grand old game. First it captured our interest. Then it captured our hearts. Ultimately, it captured our devotion.

Baseball fans all across the country recall with pristine clarity the heroes of their youth. Those sultans of the swing. Masterful purveyors of the pitch. Names that ring with lore, names that take us back, recalling vividly their mighty feats, as if we had just witnessed them yesterday. Names that leave us longing for the “good ‘ole days” when this game was more innocent. Names like Oscar Riggs, Tom Wilton, Cub Stonestreet, Heinie Collins, and Martin San Juan. “No one today can hit like Wilton could.” “Do you remember how fast Stonestreet threw? He threw faster than the 20th Century Special Express."

The citizens of Manningham, in the great midwestern state of Westmoreland, know a thing or two of this love for our national pastime. Folks in this fine city have a special place in their hearts for their local heroes, a place seated right next to, or perhaps even in front of their own loved ones. This town (though it is by no means simply a town) reveres its beloved ball club. The Manningham Mallards are part of the very fiber of this great city. One can’t help but wonder if this city would still be Manningham if it were not for the Mallards. Certainly a city cannot owe its existence to a baseball team, but perhaps a part of its soul has been derived from its ball club.

The story you will find in the following pages is the story of a city and a ball club. It could be called the story of a ravenous love affair. A love affair between a city and its team. A love affair a million men, women, and children have with twenty-five young men. A love affair between a baseball team and the city it calls home. A love affair that began years ago, before the advent of high speed rail, zeppelin travel, airborne aircraft carriers, wrist radios, or wireless fax newspaper delivery. The Mallards made their plea years ago for the affections of the citizens of Manningham, the citizens of Manningham embraced those pleas, and the love they share endures to our very day here in 1947.