Ron Morehouse

Ron Morehouse: Not your ordinary minor league pitcher

May 19, 1989

 

            Last Spring the brass in Anaheim was drooling over the potential of the 6-5, 195-pound hardball pitcher down in Palm Springs. That was before he hurt his shoulder in midseason.

            Now, a year later in Midland, Texas, Ron Morehouse is taking those first steps on the road back.

            It may take all summer and there are bound to be some rough nights, such as what amounted to his 1989 debut against Arkansas when the Travelers tagged him for four first-inning runs.

            No matter how rough it gets, you still have to pull for Morehouse.

            After all, how many pitchers do you know who were born in Rugby, S.D.? Or who attended South Dakota State University?

            What we are talking about is someone who has been close to and a part of one of football’s great round robin series, one that drives the nation’s most knowledgeable forecasters bananas and anyone trying to figure out the matchups dizzy.

            Where else is there a rivalry to match it…South Dakota State vs. North Dakota, South Dakota vs. North Dakota State, then North Dakota vs.…..uh, er , now where was I? And, by the way, what state claims Dakota State? And if there is a Northern State, South Dakota, there has to be a Southern State, North Dakota?

            How many opportunities do you get to look at the workings of a Swiss watch or the under-belly of a diesel locomotive?

            You can bet this was a chance of a lifetime and this was one reporter who wasn’t going to let it get away...

            “Rich, how come the Bison and Fighting Sioux are always better than the Coyotes and Jackrabbits?

            “Riche. I know there’s a lot of tradition involved when those old rivals square off, how come the guys from Fargo and Grand Forks always get the best of the teams from Brookings and Vermillion?”

            Instead of bristling with the hoped for indignation, the 24-year-old pitcher accepted reality and the consistent success of UND and NSDU in Division, what, I, II, 1-A?... year after year.

            “They pay their players and import them from Minnesota. We can’t afford to pay ‘em so all of our players come from South Dakota,” Morehouse explained.

            The writer wasn’t so impolite as to remind Rich that he was from Watertown, Minn..

            Football is one thing, but can you imagine what it’s like playing baseball in South Dakota in the spring. Try, if you will to image the biting bone chilling  winds. And then ground thaw and the totally essential mud room Mom or the Mrs. could bring swift punishment if  by passed. Fact is, you couldn’t get in the house otherwise.

            That’s one reason the team heads out of state for 10 days or so. “Morehouse relates, “One year we came down to Texas to play and I remember we stopped for gas, filled up and presented the South Dakota State University credit card for payment.

            “The attendant looked at it and handed it back. He said they didn’t take credit cards from out of the country.”

            The writer tried to seem sympathetic, but wondered why they just didn’t show the attendant their passports. That would have solved everything.