Orphans
Baseball
The tradition of success for the Howard Lake Orphans
amateur baseball team continued in 2019. For the past 25
seasons, the Orphans have a winning season as they reached
the Class C State Tournament once again in 2019. With their
appearance this past season, the Orphans have now reached
the state tournament in 12 of the past 14 seasons.
The Orphans had a new look in 2019 as Mike Dockendorf
took over the role of manager, Last season was Mike Gagnon’s
last year as manager for Howard Lake, and the Orphans didn’t
miss a beat under Dockendorf in 2019.
Howard Lake finished with a 13-7 record in the North Star
League this past season, helping them earn a spot in the Region
12C Tournament. With wins over Maple Lake and Buffalo at
the Region 12C Tournament, the Orphans clinched a spot at the
Class C State Tournament once again.
Throughout the season, the Orphans had several young
players fill and step up. Those players gained valuable
experience this season, and will be key pieces to the success of
the organization going forward.
Town team baseball in Howard Lake goes back a long way,
starting in 1905, when the team was named the Blue Sox.
Throughout the early 1900s, Howard Lake eventually lost the
name, but gained a new one in 1947.
Playing their home games in Cokato that year, as their fi eld was
being refurbished and couldn’t be played on, they started ge� ing
called the Orphans, and the name stuck.
The Orphans made their fi rst state tournament appearance in
1951.
Town team baseball in Howard Lake ceased from 1942 to 1946
due to World War II, but the Orphans took back to the fi eld a� er
the war and thrived until 1967, when the team folded.
The 1970s and 1980s were a dark period for town team baseball
in Howard Lake, as they had no team, with many players playing
in neighboring towns.
The team did try to come back in 1991, and also fi elded a team in
1992, but then folded again.
That is when a group led by current manager Mike Gagnon,
and Kevin Gruenhagen started the Orphans back up, and it has
been a success ever since.
Howard Lake has advanced to 14 state tournaments, with its
fi rst one coming in 1951, followed by 1995, 1998, 2001, and fi nally
2006 through 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014, and 2017 and 2018.
The Orphans play their home games at Memorial Park in
Howard Lake, which is located on the shores of Howard Lake.
Over the past decade, the park has seen a number of
improvements, including added seating behind home plate, a
ba� ers’ eye, and a grass infi eld, among other improvements. In 2018,
Memorial Park saw new bleachers added once again as they were
dedicated to Mike Mitchell and his family. Mitchell was a big part
of the Orphans in many ways. Throughout Mike’s time with the
Orphans, he was a bat boy, worked the scoreboard, a ball shagger,
a player from 1957 to 1969 and then again from 1963 to 1968. Once
his playing days were done, Mike became the team’s president and
held that position from 1995 to 2018. During that time, Mike was
320.485.2535
PHOTO BY KIP KOVAR
Not only was Mike Dockendorf the manager for the Orphans this past season,
he was also their ace pitcher. Dockendorf posted a 7-1 record with an ERA of
1.37 in 79 innings pitched for the Orphans.
also the Memorial Park grounds keeper, and was a member of
the Howard Lake City Council from 2013 to 2018.
A new plaque was unveiled in Mike’s honor before a game
against the Delano Athletics, and will be proudly displayed at
Memorial Park for years to come.
Don and Dorthy Mitchell’s family also donated new bleachers
in front of the press box at Memorial Park. Those new bleachers
were also dedicated Friday night as the Mitchell family were the
fi rst ones to take in a ball game in them.
All of those improvements, along with more to come, have
made Memorial Park one of the best baseball fi elds in the area.
Prior to the 2009 season, new dugouts and a new backstop were
added at Memorial Park.
In 2011, due to high water conditions on Howard Lake, Memorial
Park’s outfi eld was fl ooded , which forced the Orphans to move
Park
their playoff games to Lore� o. Work has since been done to fi x
the fl ood damage to outfi eld.
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