A 50-year reunion at the ballpark

Ron Hunt wore a suit coat, of all things, to Veterans Memorial Stadium last night. No big deal that it was 90-degree weather and high humidity.

“My wife made me wear this damn thing,” he said.

That's OK, Ron. Everyone was sweating last night anyway.

And this really was a suit-wearing occasion. Hunt and four other members of the 1960 Cedar Rapids Braves were in town for a 50-year reunion.

The quintet - which also included Bill Marnie, Barry Morgan, Paul Snyder and Larry Huebner - toured the ballpark early Wednesday afternoon, were honored before last night's Cedar Rapids Kernels-Fort Wayne game and signed autographs.

The Kernels won, 4-2, before 2,330 fans.

“A lot of it is coming back to me,” said Morgan, who made the trip from North Carolina, as did Marnie. “I'll probably go out tomorrow and try and find where I stayed when I was here. I had my wife with me and we had two little ones. I think it was the southeast side of town.”

The reunion was Huebner's idea. He located 23 of the 32 squad members (at least six have died) and suggested getting together.

He thought more than five would show up, but the five that were here enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

“I just made the suggestion,” said Huebner, who lives in Wisconsin. “I actually found 23 guys … It was a lot of fun to be able to talk to them. It was about an hour at a time. Just catching up with everybody.”

Snyder was a 50-year member of the Braves organization, best known for his roles as scouting director, director of player development and assistant to the general manager. He has been inducted into the Cedar Rapids Baseball Club's Hall of Fame, as has Hunt.

A Missouri resident, Hunt is the only one of the five who played in the major leagues. He had a 12-year career and is best known for being hit by a pitch 243 times.

“I actually got here (Monday),” Hunt, who has run a baseball school in Wentzville, Mo., since 1986. “We've done a lot of reminiscing. A lot of trying to remember.”

Newcomer Terrell Alliman had a home run for the Kernels (54-32, 11-7) and Jon Karcich an RBI triple. Casey Haerther and Carlos Ramirez had two hits each.

Here's the roster from the 1960 Braves. A farm team of the Milwaukee Braves, they finished 71-69 playing in the Three-I League (Iowa-Indiana-Illinois).

Marcial Allen, John Braun, Thomas Brown, Bruce Brubaker, Peter Codella, David Fracaro, Karl Frantz, Horace Garner, Gerald Glynn, Benjamin Griggs, Bill Holmes, Alford Hubbard, Larry Huebner, Jerry Hummitzsch, Ron Hunt, George Huntington, Eugene Johnson, Dick Kelley, Anthony Komisar, William Marnie, Barry Morgan, Daniel Newman, Dennis Overby, Bernard Poupore, Richard Rogers, Paul Roff, Stephen Ryder, Paul Snyder, Joseph Trenary, Fred Walker, Robert Wedin, Archie White.