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Bill Cantalope, left, and Ben Ernst stand by a new sign commemorating the history of the Aberdeen Pheasants baseball team. Cantalope was a batboy when the Pheasants hosted the Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game in 1964. Ernst worked to get the plaque, which is near the Barnett Center on the Northern State University campus. Aberdeen Magazine photo by Annie Scott.
A historical plaque commemorating the history of the Aberdeen Pheasants baseball team was unveiled Saturday, June 8.
The marker is just outside of the Northern State University Barnett Center. That’s where Aberdeen Municipal Stadium used to be. The Pheasants played their games in the stadium when they were a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.
Ben Ernst, a baseball fan from Aberdeen, worked to procure the sign from the Society of American Baseball Research.
Bill Cantalope, who was a batboy when the Orioles visited Aberdeen to play the Pheasants in an exhibition game at Municipal Stadium, took a ball from that game to the unveiling.
Ernst selected June 8 for the unveiling because that was the 60th anniversary of the Pheasants/Orioles game, which Baltimore won 6-3.
MORE: Sign will commemorate history of Aberdeen Pheasants
The game was on an off day as the Orioles were traveling through the Midwest. It’s believed to be the only time a Major League club has played in South Dakota and to have drawn the largest baseball crowd in the history of the state.
Sold-out the Municipal Stadium had a capacity crowd of 5,130, but many people watched from outside the stadium. A local sportswriter estimated the crowd to be about 6,300.
In the 1990s, there was another Pheasants minor league team in Aberdeen, which was independent and not affiliated with any Major League team. That team played at Fossum Field and was a member of the Prairie League.