Hundreds in town for baseball
Mother Nature cooperated, the town filled up and another chapter in Ely’s baseball history was written last weekend.
Several hundred players, coaches, officials, family members and fans were in town for the Division II American Legion State Tournament, which started with a sold-out banquet and a moving opening ceremony and wrapped up Saturday with New London-Spicer’s 1-0 title game win against previously unbeaten Montevideo.
In between, Ely showed once again why it’s a frequent destination for major baseball events. Division II Legion Baseball is for communities with high school enrollments of 400 or less, and fans from qualifying teams flocked to the area.
“We love coming to Ely,” said Jeff “Slick” Miller, the state’s Division II baseball director for the American Legion, during an appearance on the Ely Echo’s podcast, the Pulse of Ely. “In Division II especially, communities come out and support their team. It’s more than just parents. And the unique experience is how many people can say they’ve ever been to Ely before if they haven’t been in the Boundary Waters. The impact on the communities from teams bringing their fans is just tremendous.”
In addition to 12 baseball games over the span of three days at historic Veterans Memorial Field, the tournament had plenty of other fanfare.
Teams arrived in town Wednesday, July 30 and checked in at the ballpark for registration and photos.
That evening, nearly 300 people crammed into the Miners Dry for a banquet that included a keynote address from John Anderson, retired head baseball coach at the University of Minnesota. Baseball began the following day and included an evening opening ceremony attended by hundreds of fans The ceremony included all eight teams lining the field and a veterans tribute, with about three dozen veterans participating.
On the opening night, the host Ely team gave Sibley East a battle before falling 6-5.
The host team pulled out a 7-6 win over La Crescent in a consolation round game, fueled in part by a dramatic home run from Talen Jarshal. Ely fell 10-3 to Esko Saturday’s consolation final, and Luverne claimed third place.
That set the stage for the title tilt and New London- Spicer pulled out the win behind quality pitching and defense.
Off the field, the tournament filled not only the ballpark, but beds at lodging establishments here and as far as 90 minutes away.
Visitors from communities across the state also came downtown and visited Ely’s attractions, businesses and restaurants.
“People were everywhere,” said Tom Coombe, Ely’s Legion coach and a tournament organizer. “This tournament had a major, major impact on our businesses with the number of people that were in town.”
Planning for the event, Ely’s first state tournament since 2022, took several months and involved a collection of local baseball coaches and parents.
The local committee also covered a roughly $50,000 budget that included lodging for all seven visiting teams and tournament officials, as well as the banquet, umpires and other expenses.
They secured the support of numerous sponsors and sold nearly 900 tournament passes.
“The response from our community and the sponsors was tremendous,” said Coombe. “And we had a superb core group of parents and volunteers who did a lot of work to make this tournament happen. This event isn’t successful without them or the work they did.”
Ely also celebrated some history last weekend. The first state Legion tournament in Ely was held in 1975, and the 2025 event marked the 50th anniversary of that event.
Members of Ely’s 1975 state tournament team were introduced prior to the championship game, and also honored were three Ely players who went into professional baseball - Paul Starkovich, Bill Mobilia and the late Larry Grahek.
Grahek was represented by his sister, Mobilia was present while Starkovich was not able to attend.
The tournament had barely ended and talk turned to the future, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements set for the ballpark and future tournaments.
“I’m hoping we’ll see another state tournament here within three or four years,” said Coombe. “And next year is shaping up to be a big year, with the 12-team Ely Echo Classic in July and the substate playoffs for Legion.”
