When Baseball Was Fun

About the Book

In 1940, Bobby Hoeft, a 10-year old farm boy in Northern Michigan, had a dream. In the beautiful rolling hills of Moltke, where German was the language and the Potato was king, he would dream of wearing the proud English “D” of the Detroit Tigers.

When Baseball Was Fun recounts Bobby’s adventures as he chases after that illusive dream. Travel with him through those Northern hills of Moltke and the side streets of the lower East Side of Detroit. Visit Bridge Stadium and The Polo Grounds. Experience the Great Lakes Naval Center and Cuba’s Guantonimo Bay, the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain and the Norfolk Naval Air Station. Visit towns and cities in the mountains and on the Central Plains, on the Great Lakes and in the deep South and into Canada. Join Bobby as he pursues his dream through the Pony League and the Kitty League, the Cotton States League and the Northern League.

Along the way you will meet Esther Williams, Babe Ruth, Hans Wagner, Joe Dimaggio, Lena Horne, Ethel Merman, Charley Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Ernie Harwell, Dick Groat, “Stormin’” Norman Cash, Charles Bronson, Bob Mathias, Billy Martin and Willie Mays. You will also meet some of the most robust, rough and tough baseball players of all time and experience these fun-loving and rollicking true adventures of another time in sports.

Today, Bob lives with his wife of 42 years, Pat, on a quiet street just a stones throw west of Ann Arbor. Every summer they travel back up North to those stately Hack Pines and the green rolling hills and groves of Moltke. It was there a few years ago that Bob, while sitting on a small knoll overlooking Shadedig Grove, his very first baseball field, had another dream. He was motivated to write a few pages of his baseball exploits.

From just a few pages it turned into the book that you are now holding. For him it was like playing the game all over again...and it was fun!

While you read, you’ll catch a glimpse of the game as it once was. Perhaps you will also catch a few laughs and a few smiles, for after all is said and done: Baseball was, is, and always will be...just a Grand Old Game!

About the Author

Robert "Bobby" Hoeft was born to Viola and Gerhart Hoeft on old Appleline Ave. in the shadows of Navin Field, now Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, where he graduated from Southeastern High School in 1947. That same year he was chosen for the Hearst All American Team and was signed by the Detroit Tiger Organization. In 1951, he enlisted in the US Navy. After four years of Service Baseball, he returned to Professional Baseball with the Chicago White Sox organization. He and his wife Pat live in Ann Arbor where he undertook the writing of When Baseball Was Fun.