Huntingburg, Ind: The Huntingburg-based Dubois County Bombers have wrapped up the team’s ninth season as a summer collegiate baseball team playing in the Ohio Valley League, one of ten teams from Southern Indiana, Western Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee.
The Bombers made it to the late July championship series this season, eventually falling to their rivals, the Full Count Rhythm of Hendersonville, Tennessee. The results of the season were just a step shy of matching the 2021 season when the Bombers won the league championship themselves in front of their fans in Huntingburg’s League Stadium.
Players on the Bombers and on teams throughout the Ohio Valley League are college players who spend on average around $1,000 each for the opportunity to play in an organized, wooden bat league where they can hone their skills and improve their abilities during the summer season. Players on the Bombers come from a widespread area, ranging from Florida to the State of Washington, and play for colleges as varied as University of Michigan to Iowa Western Community College. The fact that since 2005 there have been fifteen Bombers players who have gone on to reach Professional Baseball gives fuel to dreams of success.
In addition to the funds the players spend to support themselves through their housing, food, travel, and other needs, communities like Huntingburg reap additional economic benefits from hosting a team for an approximately 40-game season. A 2019 survey of attendees at Bombers’ games at League Stadium led to an estimate that annual attendance at the 1894-vintage stadium is 19,000. The season results in 33 part-time jobs for vendors, ticket takers, ushers, and other employees, and produces an estimated community economic impact of $2.7 million annually.
League Stadium has been used not only as the site for Bombers’ games, but also has been used for filming movies such as “A League of Their Own”, “Hard Rain”, and “Soul of the Game”.