Dubois County Bombers baseball club has new management; summer craft plans unknown.

I was wondering why we hadn't heard from the Dubois County Bombers after two years of vending craft beer at League Stadium, but this article helps to explain why: Our contact no longer is with the team.

But personnel changes are part of the game, and in my estimation, this new angle of primarily local ownership is the best possible course for the team. I might have caught the story sooner, though, seeing as the changes began last December.

As yet, it is unclear whether the new management team wishes to stay on the craft beer path, or even if it does, whether the chosen brand will be NABC. Either way, it's okay. We had much fun the past two summers at games in Huntingburg, and I'm sure we'll make it down for a game or three in 2013.

Dubois County Bombers under new ownership, new coach and new general manager

A group of local business-owners and residents has purchased the Dubois County Bombers and announced big changes for the local wooden bat baseball team.

Preparation for the Dubois County Bombers 2013 season is in full swing, both on and off the field. As players are being recruited, the team is also implementing major changes beyond the dugout. These changes include new ownership, new league membership, and a new coach and general manager.

NABC Bomber Blonde -- a League Stadium exclusive.

Previously: Craft beer at the ballpark in 2012: Dubois County Bombers and NABC.

Tony Beard used NABC's familiar 15-B Vargas Girl and dressed her in a slightly more family-friendly way for use as the mascot of Bomber Blonde. The ale (BJCP category 6B) is intended to offer a small-batch, craft-brewed alternative to mainstream lagers, and it will be available only at League Stadium for Bombers home games: May 30 through playoffs in early August. Bomber Blonde is a fun experiment for us, and we think beer-drinking Bombers fans will like it.

Craft beer at the ballpark in 2012: Dubois County Bombers and NABC.

“There is only one game at the heart of America and that is baseball, and only one beverage to be found sloshing at the depths of our national soul and that is beer … beer needs baseball, and baseball needs beer - it has always been thus.”
-- Peter Richmond, author and journalist

Growing up in Southern Indiana, one quickly comes to associate two of life’s most important pastimes with Dubois County: Baseball and beer.

Indiana’s Baseball Hall of Fame is in Jasper, and major leaguer Scott Rolen of the Cincinnati Reds starred at Jasper High School. Amazingly, at least four former major league players from olden times were born in the small town of Huntingburg: Bob Coleman, Ray Blemker, Alex Graman and Mitch Stetter.

As for beer, need I do more to document Dubois County‘s fermentable predilections than note its heavily German heritage? Although as yet there are no craft breweries in the county, Jasper is home to the regionally famous Schnitzelbank Restaurant, since 1961 a popular destination for its German cuisine and solid beer list.

Verily, it’s only a matter of time before an enterprising craft brewer sets up shop in Dubois County and brings beer tradition back to its local, independent roots.

That’s why, for a second year, the New Albanian Brewing Company is excited to be partnering with the Dubois County Bombers to bring craft beer to League Stadium in Huntingburg for Bombers home games this summer.

The Dubois County Bombers play in the Prospect League, a collegiate summer baseball league with teams located all the way from Missouri to West Virginia. Players with remaining NCAA eligibility compete with wooden bats, and live with host families during the season.

Huntingburg’s League Stadium is a retro jewel, reconstructed from an existing grandstand to serve as the 1940’s-era home for the Rockford Peaches during location shooting of the film, “League of Their Own” (1992), starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Tom Hanks.

Again in 2012, NABC is delighted to bring fresh, local craft beer to Dubois County for Bombers games. I can't say enough for Bombers management, because they "get it." Unlike other baseball clubs nearby, which have been slow to grasp the evolution of consumer beer preference, Bombers management sees the natural alliance of local baseball and local beer as one perfectly placed to give fans more of what they want when attending games.

NABC's beers will be available on draft from the beer trailer parked down the third base line. There is a roofed picnic area just in front of the taps, and the main concessions area, the NABC Craft Beer Bullpen, is adjacent. Perennial NABC favorites Beak’s Best and Tafel will rotate on one of the draft lines. The other tap will pour something entirely new: Bomber Blonde, brewed solely for sale at League Stadium. It is a by-the-book Blonde Ale (BJCP category 6B).

Looking ahead: There'll be a bus trip to a Bombers home game, like the one we booked last year; stay tuned for details.

Links

Dubois County Bombers: http://www.dcbombers.com/

Bombers 2012 schedule: http://www.dcbombers.com/test.html

Prospect League: http://www.prospectleague.com/

A League of Their Own: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/

Dubois County: http://www.visitduboiscounty.com/

Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame: http://www.indbaseballhalloffame.org/

Schnitzelbank Restaurant: http://www.schnitzelbank.com/

NABC home page: http://www.newalbanian.com/

League Stadium in Huntingburg: Rockford Peaches, meet Dubois County Bombers.

Why does a town like Huntingburg have a cozy retro ballpark like League Stadium? The inscription near the main entrance tells the story. Currently the stadium is home to the Dubois County Bombers, a college-aged summer league team.

The underside of the oldest, original section of the 1894 grandstand is pictured here:

League Stadium is situated on the edge of town, amid parkland. Here's the view toward left field. For the movie, old-fashioned outfield fence billboards were imaginatively conjured. 20 years later, several of them remain in place.

Remember the dugout on the third base line? It's where the "no crying in baseball" scene took place.





Here's the view down the right field side. The molded plastic seats closest to the field were acquired when Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium was demolished. For Bombers home games, they're the priciest seats, at $6 and $7 dollars. Bleacher seats cost only $5.

The picnic and concessions area on the left field side shows great potential for craft beer sales, don't you think?

The press box's "Rockford Peaches" reference reminds onlookers that League Stadium played a significant role in American cinematic lore. I think that NABC's Tafelbier model wearing a Peaches uniform would look mighty fine.


Okay, so when the deal's done and the press release is ready, we'll announce it over the public address system. Until then, and as you may have already guessed ...

... NABC hopes to have draft beer in League Stadium this June and July for Dubois County Bombers home games.