[BeanTown]

The Otsego Baseball Team, owned by a millionaire Tom Stephens, went on to win the state championship in Ypsilanti. A member of that squad was Ty Cobb, the "Georgia Peach," and the most feared professional player who ever played Major League baseball for the Detroit Tigers.

Rumors have it that Cobb only played in one ball game for the Otsegos but he was paid a hefty sum of $1,000 for the game. At that time Cobb drew a salary of only $2,250 with the Tigers, so his trip to Gaylord was worth it.

Other major league players who played once in awhile for their team was Killian (kneeling next to manager), Donlin (first row on left), and Goulait (7th player back row). Mullin, Killian, and Bowerman have been known to play with the team at times to as the millionaire lumberman didn't like losing.

These games occurred between 1912-1914. Lapeer was one of the opposing teams they faced, in many rivalry series. Rumorville has it that Walter Johnson was offered 1500.00 to pitch in the final game, but he did not play.

It was common for pro players to be paid money to play in small hometown games. If not for hometown newspaper articles or photos, many of these stories would be lost in time. This is a RPPC which I recently acquired from a longtime board member who decided to pass the torch after 37 years of owning it which I'm thankful for.

Would love to find a Lapeer RPPC to go along with this one.