RANDOLPH, MINN. - Caleb Thielbar and his parents, Calvin and Janet, lettered in the same sport for the Randolph Rockets. We're not talking about a sport divided by gender, such as basketball. We're talking baseball.
"I don't imagine that has happened too often in Minnesota," Janet said.
She graduated from Randolph High in 1976 as Janet Johnston. She came from a farm family and was turned into a baseball player by two older brothers.
"They were throwing baseballs to me, and I was swinging an old broken bat at age 2, I'm told," Janet said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to play Little League in Randolph as a girl, and that hurt my hitting."
There were two junior boys out for baseball in 1975, so Janet joined in. They all sat on the bench behind nine seniors that spring. And then as a senior, Janet was the Rockets' starting shortstop.
"I had a good arm, and at a little under 5-foot-4, I drew a lot of walks," she said.
Calvin Thielbar was the assistant baseball coach at Randolph in 1976. Eight years later, Calvin and Janet were married, and Calvin's three daughters from a first marriage lived with them. Caleb arrived as the little brother in January 1987.
Caleb and his neighborhood buddy P.J. McIntee killed much grass in two-man ballgames in the Thielbar's sprawling backyard. "We were out there every day in the summer," Caleb said.
