'52 Bears Batboy Passes Away

Riley Connell was a batboy for the fabled 1952 Eau Claire Bears squad. In later years, Riley recounted a story of a time when he bought a hot dog for Henry Aaron but didn't get reimbursed. So when Aaron came back for the statue dedication at Carson Park, Riley said, he would see if he could collect. I need to do some digging to find the actual story, and I'll share it with you once I do. I'm sure there are a few items I'm leaving out.

I wrote to Riley a few years ago, hoping to meet up with him so he could share some of his stories from the Bears dugout. As with so many other people, it never came to be.

Sadly, Riley passed away this week at the way-too-young age of 67. Here is his obituary as it appeared in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram:

Riley E. Connell of Baraboo died Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, at the age of 67, after a sudden illness.

He was born to Charles “Eddy” and Catherine (Prissel) Connell in Eau Claire on March 24, 1939. He graduated from Regis High School in 1957. After serving his country in the U.S. Army, he returned to Eau Claire and was employed by Peters Meats. He married Mary Kay Craemer in 1964. They had two children, Riley John and Claudine, both of Eau Claire. In 1972, he married Sandra (Hering) Berghand, and moved to Janesville where he was a salesman with Baraboo Sysco Foods. They had a daughter, Catherine, of La Crosse. He retired from Baraboo Sysco Foods in 2004.

In addition to his wife and children, Riley is survived by his stepchildren, Ron (Nancy) Bergh of East Grand Forks, Minn., Vicky (Ken) Wright and Cindy Bergh, both of Janesville; a half-sister, Jeanie (Bruce) Cameron of Tampa, Fla.; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; other relatives and friends.

Riley was preceded in death by his parents; and a brother, Dan Connell.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2006, at the Redlin Funeral Home, 401 Madison Ave., Baraboo, with Father Larry Bakke officiating.

Friends may call on Friday, Dec. 15, from 5 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from noon until the time of services at the funeral home.

My deepest sympathies to Riley's family.

Grimes Article Update

I submitted the finished Burleigh Grimes article to Charles Clark several weeks ago, but haven't heard back. Now I'm going to go on the assumption that everything is okay, and will send it off for possible publication. I was thinking of sending it to Elysian Fields Quarterly first. Maybe I can submit it to both EFQ and SABR at the same time, and whoever says "yes" first gets it. I'll check on that and keep you posted.

There were some last-minute adjustments that needed to be made in the article. I'm very confused over Burleigh's father. I was told (and read) that he gave Burleigh money to head for Eau Claire and later on he would send slippery elm bark to his son in the majors. However, in other places I have found that Burleigh's father died while Burleigh was very young. Before submitting the piece, I need to either (1) verify the date of death or (2) not focus on his father too much.

Andrew and Camryn Christopherson's Christmas List

Dear Santa-
It was very cool seeing you yesterday. I got to sit in your lap and you knew my name. I've been good so far this year. Here's a list of stuff I would like for Christmas:

Zero gravity
Pirrana Panic
Buckaroo
Madden 07 for Playstation 2
Any Spongebob movie that I don't have
Video rocker
Cars game for Playstation 2
Spongebob games for Playstation 2
Bowling table
Criss Cross Crash
And that's about it.

And Camryn is here too. She wants:
Dora Cash Register
Dora Car
Dora or pony Castle
Dora Shirt
Ariel's Talking Kitchen
Puppy that wakes me up in the morning
Amazing Amanda and Allison
The baby that talks to you and says "I'm stinky".
Dora CD
Dora game for the computer
Dora pants
Dora ring
Stroller

I hope you come to my house on Christmas Eve. Camryn and I will leave some cookies and Coke for you by the fireplace.

Love,
Andrew (and Camryn, too)