Reusse: Minnesota townball keeps on keepin’ on ... with another Hall of Fame induction

The 1970s were hellacious, from the four Kent State protesters being killed by the Ohio National Guard to the last days of disco, to the Symbionese Liberation Army and psychedelic drugs, to the end of the Vietnam War and the end of the Nixon presidency, to pro football roaring past major league baseball in popularity.

It was nuts and if you would have asked me about two of Minnesota’s hokiest late-summer entertainment elements, the State Fair and the state amateur baseball tournament, I would’ve said both might be around in a few decades, but with very reduced popularity.

“Green Acres’' was long gone, “Scarface’' was arriving, and hokey was dead. I assumed.

Fifty years later, the Fair is an overpriced food festival that draws record-breaking crowds. On a steaming hot day, you can see a couple of grandmas in their 80s each walking around with a bucket of chocolate chip cookies (soon to be battered chocolate soup), and hundreds are waiting in line to try deep-fried ranch dressing.

As for amateur baseball, the number of teams isn’t what it used to be as farmers have gotten fewer, farm families have gotten smaller, and the rural population declines through large hunks of Minnesota.

As for larger towns or the outposts with a ballfield, a church and two bars that still have a town team … it now seems to have robust popularity..

For instance: Maria Davey, the general manager at KMSP-TV (Ch. 9), went to a Miesville Mudhens game and was intrigued. She suggested sending a reporter once a week to a ballgame and doing a newscast from there. That started in 2018, it was still going this summer and has worked dandy — for amateur ball and the station.

In the mid-’60s, when I spent 2½ years at the St. Cloud Times. St. Cloud was the center of amateur baseball. One reason for that was Dick Putz, a member of the state baseball board starting in 1964. He was the iron-fisted president from 1974 to 1989, when he died of a heart attack — perhaps caused when someone mentioned the golden era of the Hamel Hawks in his presence.

Lots of Gophers on those Hawks, and with Hamel outside the 494-694 corridor, they were an outstate team. “Putzie’' did not like that.

St. Cloud’s embrace of amateur baseball was marked by Glenn Carlson, president of Chamber of Commerce, pushing for the start of a Hall of Fame. That first year was 1963, with a Hall of Fame selection board independent of the powerful nine-person Board of Directors that oversees the Minnesota Baseball Association.

As an amateur baseball disciple, I’d only entered the political fray once and that was writing a couple of pieces promoting Joe Driscoll as a needed member. Being a great player (as was Joe) is a tough road to reach this Hall, which emphasizes organizing, managing, groundskeeping and promoting the game.

Joe made it in 2013 and he died in 2022. Lon Berberich lives in Henderson, managed Le Sueur for a time, and coached Legion teams and high school teams. He was also a good player for his hometown, Leavenworth, one of those dots on the road near New Ulm.

Most every time I ran into Driscoll at a ballgame, Lon was in the group. On Saturday night in St. Cloud, he will join Joe in the amateur Hall of Fame as a 2024 inductee.

There also will be this familiar figure receiving a Hall of Fame honor: Dick Jonckowski, broadcaster and P.A, announcer for endless games, and also the emcee for the Hall of Fame ceremony for a 42nd year.

Soon to be 81, he’s got every one-liner ever heard from the first time he saw Henny Youngman on TV as a kid, and a thousand of his own.

I was at his house in Shakopee and saw a basement full of fantastic sports memorabilia, and also a large fake parrot, made of some substance, that will repeat your words.

He’s billed as the “Polish Eagle,’’ although I did see a short piece on his upcoming induction where was referred to as the “Polish Rifle.’’

How many Hall of Fames so far? “This will be No. 10,’’ and then he offered the same laugh used for 60 years after one of his rapid-fire one-liners.