The DeLand Red Hats were part of the Florida State League from 1936-54 and were a summertime staple at the old Conrad Park, which sat on the same property (though facing the opposite direction) as today’s Melching Field, home to Stetson’s baseball team.

“ It was wonderful. It probably was the main activity for a lot of us back then,” says 79-year-old Frank Ford, a longtime DeLand attorney and Stetson booster. “I’d go with my father. Loved the regular old bottles of Coke you could get at a ballgame. You’d take a bag of salted peanuts and push them down in the Coke. It was good. We had a great time.”