Fort Atkinson High School was founded in 1862, in that period there only lived around 600 people in Fort.

Because of two consecutive fires it was decided to rebuild the high school in 1920. 20 years later the population of Fort Atkinson had grown significantly, Fort Atkinson was at that time still relatively small but now giving house to a little more than 7,000 people.

When man had ball and club, they had invented a primitive form of baseball, it took some time until baseball was actually accepted as an official sport and admired by millions throughout the world.

The first official game of baseball with referees, rules and an incredible amount of media attention was played June 19th, 1846 in New Jersey.

This game was dominated by the self-styled team, New York Nine, that won 23-1 against the New York Knickerbockers.

Baseball first really picked up in the 1920’s when soldiers went home from World War I, there was a high unemployment rate, so there was a need for society to gather around something, something that even through poverty and unemployment could make the day look bright.  Role models like Babe Ruth with his enormous amount of home runs got kids interested in baseball, but unfortunately for those kids high school sports where dominated by basketball and boxing.

It was first in the 1940’s when baseball really picked up again that high schools begun to put interest in baseball.  One of those high schools was Fort Atkinson.

Baseball is still such a popular sport in America that there is a need for having more than one team in a city with a little less then 12,000 people.  Only in America would one find a city where there is a middle school team, three city teams, the Fort Generals, the Fort Legion team and the Fort Junior Legion team, as well as three high school baseball teams.

The high school teams have high expectations this season as they move to the Badger-South, which typically hasn’t been as strong of a baseball conference as the Southern Lakes had been.  They are expected to challenge Madison Edgewood this season for the conference crown.

But it’s not only high school teams that are playing on a high level, the Fort Generals is probably one of the most serious and best teams here in Southern Wisconsin.

“The Fort Generals was in 1970 started up again by a teacher with the name Paul Olsen,” president of the Fort Generals Sandy Brokl said.

This year Generals will have around 20 to 25 people on the team, with players ages ranging from 18 and above.

What is especially significant about the Fort Generals is that all the involved on the team, from players to the president, are doing all this work completely voluntarily.

Some of these people like Sandy Brokl have made this involvement as a part of their family tradition, she and her husband have been involved with the Generals for more than 30 years, she as the president and her husband as player and then later as coach.

The Generals are one of the top teams in all of the Home Talent Baseball League, which has 44 teams scattered throughout southern Wisconsin.

If one drives past Jones Park at any point in the summer there is a very good chance that a local team will be playing in front of a fairly sizeable crowd.  The support is incredible for a small city the size of Fort Atkinson.

From it’s humble beginnings baseball has taken off and flourished throughout the country and certantly has a soft spot in the hearts of Midwesterners.