Minnesota Amateur Baseball HOF

NOW is the PERFECT time to start organizing your town's nomination for the Class of 2026! Information on How to Nominate a HALL OF FAMER, or someone for the GLENN CARLSON DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD can be found at mnbaseballhof.com/nominations @MinnBaseball

The Gators have a March Madness pool. 65% payout (35/20/10) for the top three finishers (10 percent or entry fee back for third, whichever is greater). Cost is $20 per entry with a 3-entry max. Payment can be venmoed/paypaled to Matt Marek. Group password is GreatGators1!

BREAKING: Introducing the newest Class of 2026 North Star League Hall of Fame inductee, Eric Hanson! (1/3)

When he was 16 years old in 1952, Bob Johnson (right) went 4-for-5 with two home runs and a double in his first-ever townball game with Chanhassen.

Happy 64th birthday to 1980 New Ulm High School graduate, Golden Gophers all-time great, and three-time American League All-Star Terry Steinbach. Check out this home run that manager Tony LaRussa PREDICTED he'd hit in the 1989 World Series! Here’s a fun story: the Gophers moved hotshot Edina third baseman Greg Olson to catcher to make room for up-and-coming New Ulm third baseman Terry Steinbach. Steinbach was later converted to catcher in the Oakland A’s organization to make room for third baseman Mark McGwire. McGwire, of course, ultimately wound up at first base while Olson and Steinbach each developed into All-Star major league catchers. Steinbach made his major league debut as a 24-year-old September call-up in 1986 and homered off future Twins teammate Greg Swindell in his very first at-bat. He wasn’t the first Minnesota-raised catcher to homer in his major league debut—1976 Park Center graduate Tim Laudner had done it in August 1981. After being maligned by the press as an unworthy starter in 1988, Steinbach homered in his first All-Star at-bat en route to being named the game’s MVP. He also drove in the AL’s only other run in the 2-1 win with a sac fly. The AL only carried two catchers in the game, with the other being fellow Minnesota high school graduate Tim Laudner. Steinbach played in three-straight World Series with the A’s, winning a ring in 1989. In 1996, he hit 35 home runs, which still stands as the A’s single-season record for a catcher. That offseason he signed with Minnesota, where he played his final three seasons at a hometown-discounted rate. In his final few weeks in major league baseball, he caught a no-hitter by Eric Milton. (He had previously caught Dave Stewart’s no-hitter while playing for Oakland in 1990.) The final at-bat of his 14-year major league career was an RBI double driving in Matt Lawton. Fun Fact: The Oakland A’s scout responsible for drafting and signing Terry was none other than 1970 AL Cy Young Award winner Jim Perry. (On a related note, Camilo Pascual was the scout who signed Jose Canseco for Oakland). There were actually three Steinbach’s selected in the 1983 draft: Terry, his big brother Tom (also a Golden Gopher), and believe it or not, another Tom Steinbach from New York. Terry and his brother Tom were both assigned to the Northwest League that season and their teams actually faced each other in the league championship game, with Terry hitting a 16th-inning RBI single for a 1-0 Medford win over Bellingham. How storybook is that?! If anybody has any fun facts or interesting stories about Terry’s townball career, please share in the replies.

Awesome

Hey @MillersofNYM, any of your dads or grandpas in these pics?

Honored to host the FOX 9 Town Ball Tour on June 24. Indians take on @StarkLonghorns. Come out and pack the park! ⚾️

The FOX 9 Town Ball Tour returns for the ninth year, kicking off on June 10. Here's this year's lineup. fox9.com/news/town-ball…

The 2026 Hot Stove edition of the CRR is live. herald-journal.com/pageview/viewe… Highlights Include: - Remembering Soup - Pexa steps down as Cologne manager - Delano to host Baseball Day MN - Look back on state title run for @DelanoAthletics - and more #CRVL

June 1 deadline to nominate!! Please repost!

Hilton Smith was born in Texas on this date in 1907. Dick Reusse (Patrick's dad) recruited the former Kansas City Monarchs star to play for the Fulda, MN townball team in 1949. Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001—the same class as former #MNTwins Kirby Puckett and @DaveWinfieldHOF.

10 years ago, we inducted a great class of Hall of Famers.. mnbaseballhof.com/class-of-2016. Maybe YOUR community will have someone in the Class of 2026! Get Nomination info at mnbaseballhof.com/nominations @MinnBaseball @MBAState2026 @Fox9Sports @Kovar_HJsports @Rennecke76 @TownBallTuesday

@DLLigers Happy for you all up in DL. I managed and umped many games there.

We are officially homeless, and we couldn't be any happier about it! dl-online.com/news/local/ren…

In the words of one of our Chairpersons, “It’s getting REAL!” @MinnBaseball @Fox9Sports @NSPNminnesota @MNBaseballHOF @CityofShakopee @jordanbrewers @Chaskacubs @shakopeeindians @NP_Orioles @CityofJordanMN @StarTribune @Patrick_Reusse

@Rennecke76 My baseball people said Ken Phelps.

“What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for? He had over 30 HRs and 100 RBI last year. He’s got a ROCKET for an arm! You don’t know what the hell you’re doing!”

The smell of baseball is in the air! Now is the perfect time to put together a HOF Nomination for your local legend! Find info at www.mnbaseballhof/nominations. Deadline June 1. @MinnBaseball @TalkinTownball @TownBallTuesday

@AmyBoet53888984 @TownBallTuesday @MinnBaseball @TalkinTownball Please check our website for more info. mnbaseballhof.com/nominations

@MNBaseballHOF @TownBallTuesday @MinnBaseball @TalkinTownball I would love to nominate my husband Scott Boettcher

@Rennecke76 @MickHatten I remember that drill all too well!

To all coaches/ADs: If you don't report your game or individual stats to me or @MickHatten, we do our best to use other usually reliable sources to write up our roundups. So, PLEASE, email us with the results and correct info so we can be as accurate as possible.

@bobs_burner_01 @MinnBaseball @TalkinTownball @TownBallTuesday Not sure an active has ever been nominated. Id say if he meets criteria listed on our website, submit one. Our committee can debate and decide.

@MNBaseballHOF @MinnBaseball @TalkinTownball @TownBallTuesday Can you nominate a current player? If so, Jon Euerle would be my vote. HOF player regardless