In my next few columns I’m going to write about how baseball was in this area back in the old days. I may miss a day here in the series and there as other sporting events leap into the spotlight.

I think some of you who lived those days might enjoy the memories. I hope the columns also are of interest to others.

I don’t pretend that what happened back in the 1970s, 1980s could happen today. It was a different world. Local baseball was in a different world than the one in which we live today.

There were two big differences, maybe three.

In those days high school coaches in other sports in the summer were not allowed, by IHSAA rules, to work with their players. That, as you know, has changed. Today, everyone wants a piece of the athlete. Summer baseball didn’t have such restrictions in the 1970s, 1980s.

There was no moratorium week. Currently, the week used by the IHSAA as a moratorium for all high school sports is the same week teams back in the old days were heating up for post-season tourneys. Today, few high school baseball teams return to play after moratorium week. Travel teams aren’t under the rules of moratorium week.

Also, there weren’t travel teams in the 1970s and 1980s. At least not in this area. Most high school players in those days participated with local American Legion teams and with local Babe Ruth teams. There were two Legion teams in Hamilton County, one sponsored by the Noblesville Legion post and the other by the Carmel Legion post.

Don Dunker was baseball in Noblesville. He ran the show. I wish Dunk was still alive so I could ask him, but I believe his all-time best team was his Legion team of 1972. That’s the team I will write about in Thursday’s column.

Dunker brought baseball to Noblesville.

Yes, he did lots of traveling with his Legion team, but Noblesville was where you would find a host of professional and some college baseball recruiters in the summer. There were always a couple of tryouts camp conducted by major league teams. And, seldom was a Legion game played at Forest Park that a scout or two weren’t in the stands.

Dunker, a former professional player and a pitcher who during his time owned the all-time strikeout record at Indiana University, knew how to get his players scouted.

Dunker’s players didn’t pay to play on his team. Dunker’s players weren’t faced with the huge financial cost players today face playing travel baseball.

Here in Noblesville, the Legion post was the sugar daddy, although Dunker and the Legion always would conduct a couple of successful community fund raisers during the winter.

Dunk brought strong opponents to Noblesville. The Storm Club out of Cincinnati, one of the most famous travel teams in those days, always made an annual visit to Forest Park.

Dunker brought entertainment to the Noblesville community. The Legion team drew good, sometimes outstanding crowds to Forest Park. The scoreboard was flashing; a PA announcer kept fans informed, and, by golly, fans could buy a bag of popcorn, or a hot dog, or a soft drink at the concession stand.

Dunker not only played a Legion schedule, his team played an Advance Babe Ruth schedule. In those days, all the good Legion and Babe Ruth players were playing with their local teams.

In tomorrow’s column I’m going to write about that 1972 Legion team. The best Noblesville summer baseball team ever? I wish Dunk was here to answer that question.

But, what that team did was win the state Legion tourney and just a few days later won the state Advance Babe Ruth tourney.

In those days, a team couldn’t do much better than that.