Over 465 gathered Wednesday night at the Martin
Luther College in New Ulm for the annual Division I
banquet.
Jim Senske, longtime coach at New Ulm, who was in the
state tournament as both a player and a coach, was the
featured speaker.
He compared baseball to life.
"Baseball never stops giving
you a chance to do well, and it never stops putting the
pressure on you. In that way, it's just like life."
Senske said as long as you do your
best, failng was okay. He recounted the time when in the
state Legion tournament in 1955, he had to take over for
the all-star shortstop who had appendicitis.
"The next day, I was at the hospital to visit my
friend, and the pastor was there. The pastor said to my
friend, "Who was that sieve that played shortstop in
your place last night?"
Failure can make you better, Senske said. "Pick
yourself up, stop whining, and get on to the next
task."
The banquet ws emceed by Toni Breu and featured a special
presentation by Red Wyczawski, a longtime New Ulm
baseball volunteer. Wyczawski has collected autographed
baseballs at 35
Jim Senske
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state
tournaments, and he presented them to the Minnesota
Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. Among the
autographs were Paul Molitor, Jim Eisenriech and Terry
Steinbach.
The American Legion presented its top awards for the
year:
*Bill Davis of Richfield was honored as Graduate of the
Year. He played Legion ball for Richfield, and later
played both basketball and baseball for the University of
Minnesota, where he made the NCAA all-tournament team in
1964.
"Play hard between the lines," he told the
players.
*Tom Yelle, coach of the Coon Rapids team for 30 years,
was honored as Coach of the Year.
*Roger Niebeling of Borup, Ninth District Baseball
Director, was honored by being elected to the Minnesota
American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame.
*Sacred Heart Post 229 was honord as the Post of the
Year. The award was accepted by Paul Lannin.
Bill Davis
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An
interesting thing happened on the way to New Ulm.
The champions forgot to come.
This year's field of 16 teams will be minus the two
winners from last year (both the first and second place
teams advance to national regionals): Eastview and
perennial powerhouse Eden Prairie.
Eden Prairie had won four straight Minnesota Division I
titles before coming in second last year.
What that means is that there will be a new champion, and
that the field is perhaps more open than it has been in
years.
Apple Valley remains the favorite, ranking first in the
final American Legion poll with 10 of a possible 14 first
place votes.
Hopkins is second in the poll with two first place votes,
and Eden Prairie and St. Paul Park had the other first
place votes.
The poll included (First place votes ( ) is followed by
total points awarded by Legion pollsters):
1. Apple Valley (10), 127
2. Hopkins (2), 104
3. Hamline Purple, 84
4. Excelsior, 82
5. Eden Prairie (1), 74
6. Rochester Patriots, 64
7. St. Paul Park (1), 42
8. Grand Rapids, 30
9. Eagan, 26.5
10. Wayzata, 23.5
11. Burnsville, 22
12. Eastview, 21
13. New Ulm Gold, 20
14. Mankato National, 13
15. Oakdale, 8
16. Waite Park, 7
17. Lakeville North, 6
18. North St. Paul, 5
19. Rochester A's, 3
19. Academy Stars, 3
Maple Grove, Fergus Falls, and Willmar also had votes.
For a list of voters and
week-by-week poll results, take this link to the MN Statewide American
Legion Coaches & Media Poll.
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