The Boyertown Legion Bears will be holding their annual alumni game this upcoming weekend (i.e., Saturday, June 13). It will be the fourth time that the Bears have held this event, as it was also held in 2006, 2010, and 2014.
The event will be on a much smaller scale than past events due to the extended but necessary construction taking place near the Stadium. But while the day may not have the extended festivities of past years’ Alumni Days, it will still be a chance to recall the great Bear teams and players of the past.
In that spirit, it is appropriate to take a look at the past reunions themselves.
The first Alumni Day was held in 2006. It began with a contest between the two Junior Legion baseball teams. In that game, the Bear Cubs defeated the Grizzlies, 7-0. Two alumni games followed. As a bit of historical trivia, the opening play of the opening Alumni Game featured John “JR” Robinson’s grounding out to shortstop Dave Pence against pitcher Rob Boughter. In the finale, the then-current 2006 squad defeated an alumni team that consisted mostly of the 2004 powerhouse Bear team by a score of 5-3.
The second Alumni Day was held in 2010. It was similar to the Alumni Day in 2006 except that there was no Junior Legion game. However, the other three games followed as in 2006, including the Parade of Champions featuring all former players in attendance. And as in 2006, the then-current squad won the finale, in this case by a 5-1 score over a team consisting of players from 2006-2009.
The most recent Alumni Day was held last year, and featured two games. In the first game, the Boyertown Bear Cubs rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge their arch-rivals, the Boyertown Grizzlies, by a 9-8 margin. In the second game, a team of eight guest alumni were joined by then-current Bear Brandon Griesemer to battle the current Bear squad. The result was a 2-0 win for the current team (playfully nicknamed “The Currents”) over the alumni.
While this year’s Alumni Day will only feature one game, it will feature another very important presence: Alex’s Lemonade Stand. The stand benefits childhood cancer research and treatment funding and, appropriately, will be celebrating the 15th. anniversary of the very first Alex’s Lemonade Stand. The stand will be present at the game and will be led by Terese Brittingham. In the spirit of horse racing’s recent Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Terese is the owner of Afleet Alex, who won two legs of the Triple Crown in 2005 (and who is the father of Materiality, a horse that ran in last weekend’s historic Belmont Stakes). The winnings from these races were donated directly to the foundation, and in fact the Stand was present and in use at the Belmont Stakes last weekend.
No admission will be charged for this weekend’s alumni game. Instead donations will be taken at the game for charity.
DUGOUT CHATTER:The Bears followed up their league-opening rout of Daniel Boone by notching big wins against both West Lawn (6-3) and Norchester (4-2). However, their 5-game winning streak came to an end with a 10-7 loss at Shillington . . . The Bears follow their Alumni Game with a big Sunday doubleheader at Twin Valley in a schedule change . . .
