Big Sticks to pay homage to Queen City Packers

The Queen City Packers (also known as the Dickinson Packers) were a semi-professional team that played in the Manitoba-Dakota League (Mandak League) in 1955 and 1956. The team played at what is now known as Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark, home of the Badlands Big Sticks today.

The league included three other local teams, the Williston Oilers, Minot Mallards, and the Bismarck Barons. The league existed for seven years (1950-57) and featured 70 players who would go on to play or had played in the Major Leagues (MLB and Negro League), alongside 7 members of the American Baseball Hall of Fame. The most notable of this group is Satchel Paige, a two-time World Series champion and eight-time MLB All-Star. Paige pitched for Minot in 1950 at age 43, just one year after posting a 3.04 ERA with the Cleveland Guardians. He also pitched for Bismarck in 1933 and 1935 before joining the majors.

The Queen City Packers would begin play in the 1955 season of the Mandak League led by manager Ron Bowen. Bowen not only acted as the skipper, but he played and led the team in home runs and RBIs with 18 and 62, respectively. The team finished 30-48 that season which was just good enough to land them a spot in the playoffs (note: all four teams in the league made the playoffs). Despite their regular season record, the team showed up in the playoffs pulling off an unlikely upset of the top-seeded Bismarck Barons, winning the series four games to one. They earned their way to the championship only to fall in four games to the Minot Mallards.

In the 1956 season, the Packers were led by manager Bill Rose, also a pitcher on the team, along with three players who spent time in the majors:

Jerry Fahr was the workhorse on the pitching staff tossing the most innings (194.2) and boasting the best strikeout-to-walk ratio (62/25, or 2.48). Fahr made his MLB debut on April 29, 1951 with Cleveland and pitched 5.2 innings giving up 2 earned runs in 5 games before being sent down to the minors and ultimately making his way to Dickinson.

Rocky Krsnich held down third-base for the Packers for a portion of the 1956 season. He joined the team after two separate stints with the Chicago White Sox making his debut on September 13, 1949 and playing his final game for them in 1953. He batted .215 and hit 3 home runs in 120 games over his three seasons in Chicago. In 1956, he hit .241 along with 2 home runs with the Packers.

Garland Lawing made his major league debut on May 29, 1946 with the Cincinnati Reds. His MLB career was brief, batting .133 between the Reds and the New York Giants. Despite this, at age 37, he came to Dickinson and immediately became the team’s standout player. Lawing led the team with 83 hits, 19 home runs, and 73 RBIs, setting all-time records for the team, surpassing players who had played multiple seasons in Dickinson.

The 1956 Packers showed consistency from the year prior, finishing a nearly identical 30-46. It was once again good enough to qualify for the playoffs, where they faced the top-seeded Williston Oilers. Their efforts were strong as they took the series to game seven before ultimately falling four games to three.

The team made plans for a third season, but opted to take the season off due to financial burden and other complications. They were replaced in the league by the Brandon Greys (Brandon, Manitoba) for the 1957 season. The Queen City Packers would never get the chance to take field again, as the Mandak League permanently folded following that season.

That left youth and legion baseball to fill the void of summer baseball in Dickinson until the creation of the Badlands Big Sticks in 2018. Now, the Big Sticks honor those Packers teams that came many years before, and usher in a new era of bringing major league talent to Dickinson.