This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is our American stories, and one of the things we've come to love is our stories about American history.

At the turn of the century, baseball was by far the most popular sport in America,

and almost everyone was participating in it, including a religious colony in Benton Harbor, Michigan,

founded by an eccentric man named Ben Pernell called the House of David.

Here's our own Monty Montgomery with a story of a baseball team of outguests that took America

by storm.

Growing up in Bering County, Michigan, I always knew of the House of David's existence.

Mostly due to the curiosity they brought, but what I didn't know was that they actually made a massive impact on the country outside of Benton Harbor.

And one of the ways they did that was in baseball.

Started as a way to deal of teenage boys in their religious belief as a colony in celibacy.

Here's Chris Seriano, founder of the House of David Museum in St. Joe, Michigan,

with more on that story.

The House of David baseball team was started because Benjamin loved baseball.

And in 1914, they had been going for 11 years by then, right?

They have a lot of teenage boys with a whole lot of pinup energy, and they can't be with the opposite sex, no way, no how.

They need something to do to get rid of this energy.

So he thought, let's play some baseball.

They played all the local teams and they were good.

But they weren't great yet, until they managed to bring in professional players for major league teams like the Cubs.

Yeah. they managed to bring in professional players for major league teams like the Cubs. It all started with Paul Mooney. He was a superstar pitcher, long black hair, super,

super talented, and he was recruited by the Cubs early on in the mid-teens.

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