Opening night in 1966 against the Knoxville Smokies rekindled minor league baseball in Evansville after the E-Braves exited after the 1957 season. Nicknamed the “Esox,” the city was back in the business of baseball. Chilly weather and a day-long threat of rain kept many new fans away. The April 21 game attracted a disappointing paid crowd of only 2,080 for an 8 p.m. start. 

Among the overcoat-wearing attendees was 83-year-old Ned Crowder, believed to be the oldest surviving member of an Evansville professional baseball team. He played shortstop for the River Rats from 1907 to 1909. The 1908 team was Central League champions under Punch Knoll. Crowder’s great niece, Nancy Harmon, was a senior at Evansville College, the knowledge of which prompted Esox general manager Tom Fleming to fly Crowder in from his Zanesville, Ohio home for the game.

Crowder (right) with Punch Knoll, manager of the 1907 Evansville River Rats

It was Crowder’s first visit to Evansville in 57 years and his first ever to Bosse Field, which was nothing like the old League Park he played in on Louisiana Street. In the dugout, Esox trainer Larry Licklider was ready to see the first professional game at Bosse Field since 1957, when he was Peoria’s trainer in the Three-I League. Both Licklider and Crowder watched Mayor Frank McDonald throw a flawless ceremonial first pitch. The real game’s first pitch was not so flawless.

Crowder at Opening Day 1966

As Esox starting pitcher Buco Dominguez heaved it to Knoxville’s leadoff hitter, Sam Thompson, local oculist Dr. Albert C. Stocker was sitting in his car outside of Bosse Field listening to the start of the game on the radio. Dr. Stocker, a local Dixie-Land musician and long-time Shrine Circus band leader, had just returned to his car after participating in pre-game ceremonies. When he heard WGBF’s play-by-play announcer, Marv Bates, say the first pitch was fouled down the right field line, Dr. Stocker didn’t flinch. He should have. The first ball disappeared over the wall and crashed into his windshield. Dr. Stocker was unhurt, but his windshield was demolished. The Courier preserved the quirky beginning to a new baseball era the next morning with a Section Two front page photo of Dr. Stocker sitting in his car behind the shattered glass. The Esox won the inaugural game, 7-1.

Moments after the first pitch April 1966

The story accompanying Dr. Stocker’s photo noted the competition minor league ball still had with television, which was now in living color. “Abandoning Batman on the boob tube, the fans, many left over from the old days of the Evansville Braves, were cautious at first to give vocal support to their new idols,” said the piece by Chuck Leach. The Batman television show was in its first season and ratings were soaring. Leach conceded that fans were soon, “yelling with the proficiency of a New York Mets supporter.” Earlier that day Dr. Michael DeBakey performed the first successful artificial heart transplant in Houston, Texas.