A leading star in the North Dakota baseball drama at the turn of the century when Griggs County dominated state semi-pro baseball play was W. D. (Billy) Sinclair, retired Hannaford Postmaster and brother of former Congressman James Sinclair. The eyes of baseball fans of that period were directed first on Cooperstown, then on Hannaford. Sinclair played with both clubs during their heyday.
Billy's active playing years number 26, while he played occasionally for 15 years thereafter. His last baseball appearance was at Red Willow Lake in 1933, when he pitched three innings with an old timers team mustered together by Irish Peterson, Binford's baseball veteran.
The highlight of this thrill-studded baseball career was an iron man stunt performed in 1907, in Cooperstown when Sinclair pitched Hannaford to a 2-1 victory over Binford, another strong Griggs baseball center of the period, in 22 innings. Gulliver Peterson was Binford's mounds-man. Sinclair allowed only six hits. Hannaford got 16, but sensational fielding by Adolph Melgard, Binford shortstop, prolonged the game time and again. On another occasion, in 1904, he pitched a full game for Litchville against Marion, and after 15 minutes intermission, he took the mound for the same team against LaMoure in another nine-inning encounter. Litchville won both contests.
Dilly was the youngest of four brothers, all of whom, including James, performed on the Cooperstown and Hannaford teams at one time or another. The Sinclair family settled in Bald Hill Township, near Cooperstown in 1884, and the next year a good, sod-peeled diamond was laid out in the center of the community near the Sinclair farm by these early baseball enthusiasts. After these farm youths had developed a strong team, Cooperstown businessmen heard of the promising farm team and persuaded the group to represent that city in baseball campaigns.
Billy made his debut with the Cooperstown club in 1892, when a youth weighing only 114 pounds. During the following 12 years, he didn't miss a game for Cooperstown, playing third, shortstop and doing some pitching. The 1900 and 1901, Cooperstown aggregations are acclaimed by old-timers the best the state had at that period. The lineup, coached by Attorney A. M. Baldwin, boasted an excellent battery in Chester Hoar and Tamber. Field trips to Minnesota baseball centers of the period, Litchfield and Willmar, were taken when amateur teams in the state objected to scheduling games with a team that they could not defeat. Fargo, Valley City and Jamestown clubs were shut out repeatedly. In fact, the club members would make wagers that they would shut out an opposing team as a method of making the game interesting.
In 1904 Sinclair moved to Hannaford and began campaigning for that city's club. Hannaford had its best team in 1907, when their aggregation of fast fielders and heavy stickers proved practically unbeatable. Members of that team included, in addition to Sinclair, Dick Leiser of Colgate, Henry Westrum of Bowbells, Eli Parker of Minneapolis and Attorney John Sad of Valley City.
Sinclair remarked about the enthusiasm displayed by old time fans and players toward the national pasttime. In 1905, he played third for Portal against Minot in a game which would net the winner $1,000. Practically the entire population of Portal came to Minot by special train to witness the game. Enthusiasm at game time was reflected in betting and bonuses. Gilmore, the Portal hurler, had $165 in his baseball uniform at the end of the game, all of which had been handed him for strikeouts. Portal won 6-3.
Constant practice and rigid training are attributed by Sinclair as the reason for his long baseball career. During the best years of his playing days, he never had a sore arm or was out of condition to take his pitching turn or handle an infield assignment.
"I have advised many of our present promising young throwers of the need of sufficient practice while young to avert possible soreness and later injury, but they simply will not do the necessary work." He says the American Legion through its junior baseball program is doing much to provide this training.
Cap Anson, Chicago first baseman, was Sinclair's baseball idol.
In addition to his baseball activities, Sinclair was quite some bicycle racer. He defeated Olof B. Holten, now of the naturalization department at St. Paul, for the North Dakota championship in a five mile race at Jamestown in 1897.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 30