Twelve brothers, One baseball team. PLAY BALL!

Baseball is as all-American as apple pie.  From backyard pick-up games to preschool T-ball to Saturday nights under the lights at the local ball field, family traditions run deep with the sport.

For one family, the tradition of baseball traces its roots four generations to a team that made history.  The Fredrickson Brothers Baseball team played traveling amateur ball from 1927 to 1929 with a roster of 12 players and coaches - who were all brothers.

Just a part of a family of 18 children, the brothers, then aged 11 to 36, fielded the team with two coaches and a batboy to spare.

The Baseball Brothers is a children's book that tells the true story of twelve brothers who played baseball together in the 1920s. Through working together on the farm and playing together as a team, the brothers developed lifelong friendships. The book is a tribute to baseball and a celebration of family.

In the book, a child tells of her grandfather and his days on the baseball team.  She tells of how the novelty drew fans from miles around on horseback and in old Model-Ts.  The story recounts the brothers' most famous feats, including a game-saving tackle at home plate and an unlikely victory over a tough opponent.  But the most important part of the tale is the enduring friendship and familial bond that the brothers shared.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Fredrickson Brothers Baseball Team was formed in Eidswold, Minnesota (near present-day Lakeville) in 1927.  The family also included two brothers who did not survive to adulthood -- an infant and Jens, who died at age 14.  The brothers played traveling amateur ball until 1929.  Their parents, Nels and Emilia Fredrickson, never saw them play because their strict religious background forbade any unnecessary activity on Sunday.  The family's love of baseball, however, was stronger than their opposition, and today the ranks of amateur teams throughout southern Minnesota are filled with the Fredrickson brothers' progeny.  At a family reunion in 1981, more than 500 Fredricksons in attendance formed eight ball teams for a friendly tournament.  The ball field in Elko, Minn., is called Fredrickson Field in honor of the family's past and present involvement in the sport.

Though the team disbanded after their victory at the 1929 county fair, the brothers never allowed the ties that bound them as family to weaken.  None moved farther away than Northfield, 13 mile southeast of Eidswold.  Edwin, born in 1901, lived in a house on his parents' original property until his death in 1996.  Arthur, the youngest brother, was the last surviving member of the team; he passed away July 10, 2001.

The Fredrickson Brothers are honored in a display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.  The Hall of Fame recognizes 22 all-brother baseball teams, dating from the 1860s.  The Fredricksons and one other family (the Acerras from Long Branch, N.J.) hold the record for the most brothers with 12 on one team.