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Israelite House of David - Baseball
The game of baseball was a very integral part of our colony's history. Brother Benjamin loved the game and encouraged colony members, both male and female to play.
As early as 1908, when our amusement park officially opened, baseball was advertised as one of the main attractions. The first games were played by local and traveling teams on the Eden Springs Park Property. In 1911, a baseball stadium was built on the southern end of the park. Originally built and leased to local sports promoter, Floyd Fitzsimmons, for his ball team the "Speed Boys", the stadium was used at times for exhibitions by members of our colony.
The first organized House of David team played in 1914 and played most of its games at the home park. Our teams began to travel the next couple years in Michigan and surrounding states. By the end of the teens, the House of David was touring the country as one of the most popular teams.
Folks came for miles to see those "Long Haired and Bearded" boys play!
We also field a home team, a junior team and for a year a girls team. The baseball park was always busy, whether it be one of our teams or other local teams using our field.
We would continue to field traveling teams until 1936, although by then, most players were hired from the outside. We would have a home team into the forties.
To this day, many remember the name "House of David" solely from our traveling teams.
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