This is a production of SDB.

Baseball is America's pastime.

In South Dakota, we have a strong part in that legacy.

Tonight we're going to share some of the history stories and people who surround our ball fields in our state.

I'm network and welcome to mailbag.

This is tales from the Diamond.

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Tonight's journey begins from right here at the newly constructed Legion Field in Milbank.

This summer, American Legion Baseball celebrated its 100th birthday.

A century of baseball history and devotion to the youth of the United States.

I will keep the rules.

Keep faith with my teammates.

I will keep my temper.

I will keep myself fit.

Keep a stout heart in defeat.

Keep pride under and victory.

Keep a sound soul a clean mind and a healthy body.

Well, we think it's a great program.

Anything in the last 100 years.

Got something going for?

It's great education for the kids.

Every time you play a game of baseball, somebody's going to win or somebody's going to lose.

You got to learn not only to be a good winner, but you also have to be able to lose graciously.

This is 100 years of American Legion baseball.

This is something that parents way back when.

We're looking for something for their youth to do.

And baseball is a great American pastime.

And, you know, thank the Lord that they were able to get this exemption started and get it done.

And look at the number.

And thousands and thousands of kids have been put through American Legion baseball throughout the years.

Milbank, South Dakota while it's a town that means many different things to a lot of different people nationally, it's where American Legion baseball started a century ago.

You look back and on how the idea started, and that was in 1925, the state American Legion convention was here in Milbank, South Dakota state convention, and they had a guest speaker, Major John Griffith He was a collegiate commissioner in the league that was the precursor to the Big Ten.

So he had this idea of sporting contest to help develop young men, and, keep them athletic, show them discipline.

The guys embrace it.

The Legion members here embraced it.

Passed a resolution to National.

And they had a national convention in 1925, in Omaha.

And they said, yep, we're behind it.

And they got started with 100 years of history.

You don't have to look long to find plenty of big names who at one point in their life were part of the American Legion baseball system.

It's something that the American Legion takes pride in.

It's great that they had the talent to get there, but I also, for me, I also like the fact that they learned those lessons here that we try to impress on them, which is being a good sport, you know, and act like you've been there before, you know, and when you hit the ball out of the park, don't be a show off.

Right.

And when you lose, do it like a gentleman.

But the those are huge factors.

The, the big leaguers.

That's also somewhat.

To celebrate the 100th birthday of American Legion baseball before team tournament was scheduled in Milbank to celebrate.

We've been looking forward to this day for, I don't know, 6 or 7 years getting everything ready to go.

So this is a culmination of a lot of effort, a lot of folks, as part of the community is warm to it.

It's it's been real good for us and made Milbank.

I want to say we put him on the map, so to speak.

But, the community has really stepped up and made it a wonderful, wonderful year.

Part of the centennial celebration included a banquet for the teams.

Milbank even brought back one of their own, Joel Erdmann who's the current athletic director at the University of South Alabama, to be the keynote speaker.

Good evening, everybody.

Good, good, good.

It's great to be here.

Congratulations.

We're glad you're here.

Good evening.

I'm honored to be here with you tonight.

I was very appreciative.

I was humbled, you know, I was like, are you sure I'm.

Am I really the right guy or am I worthy of this?

Because this is a really neat thing and it's an honorable.

I knew that this was the birthplace of American Legion baseball.

I didn't really understand what that meant.

And it really.

I guess when you're a younger person, some things resonate, some things stone.

But I was aware of it.

The impact that American Legion Baseball has had over those 100 years, and the countless number of lives it has touched and made better, and friendships and success and losses, yeah, yeah, I don't I don't think you could ever really understand the complexity and the scope of the influence of American Legion baseball, but you can easily appreciate it.

I understand and respect.

Enjoy it.

Well, you got a man.

Play the game as long as you can play it well, play it hard.

I wish you all good luck tomorrow.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very.

And we'll talk a little bit more about Mill Bank's continued role with American Legion baseball a little later in the program.

But next we're going to take a trip southwest of here to discover a gentleman who takes pride in taking care of his town's ball diamonds.

Like most baseball fields in South Dakota, you need a devoted person or a group of people to care for the field in Castlewood, they have that with Jeff.

Sikkink.

As you'll see, Jeff's journey hasn't been easy, but his heart is always on full display in everything that he does.

It's always it's always fun to come play where you know, you know, you're going to have a good feel number.

Good soccer.

Yes, I've yet to run out on a sweet field and in front of a good crowd.

It's just nice to come to our home park and play in a nice field.

Jeff does a really awesome job just making sure, any team that comes here, has a nice field to play on and he does really nice job.

The upkeep over time has just greatly improved, and I think Jeff has a big part to do with that.

Well, I'm not here every day.

Some days, all day.

Just ask my wife.

The first.

So we did ask his wife because while pulling weeds and dragging the infield is important, tending to his family is even more so.

I love it because he always to the ritual needs this good guy.

He's a keeper.

I'm a keeper.

Don was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than 20 years ago.

I can do some things like it and I don't walk.

We wouldn't worry there.

So.

But yes, I understand that it's kind of scary.

She's faced heartache before she lost her dad to cancer when she was just ten years old, trying to be strong because people can't be strong.

Jeff agrees how she goes through what she does, I, I don't know sometimes what she's kind of the strong one for, for us.

The watcher watch in your studio.

I'm.

Other things aren't really that big of a deal.

Sometimes a lot of people might have struck out after all they faced, but the sick things kept falling off the tough pitches that life threw at them.

Then last year came the high heat.

Their granddaughter, Belle, was diagnosed with the rare and dangerous disease of aplastic anemia.

This is an autoimmune type disease, which she had to have a bone marrow transplant, and then she went to Minneapolis and they were she was totally in the hospital for a little over an year.

And when she had the bone marrow transplant, now there's complications from that with her lungs.

She's just a tough little girl, a special little girl.

And, she's another one who you got to look to see.

She's just handled it really good.

And and it's been really tough to watch that happen.

Then came another blow.

While Jeff was recovering from a mini stroke in the hospital, his dad passed away suddenly from a heart attack, too.

It's kind of tough now.

It's kind of like you're, I would say, my best friend passing away there.

So that's when hearts, despite it all, Jeff keeps showing up.

I think about what Jeff has been through and, again, he's not going to tell you like, oh my God, you know, woe is me, you know, pity me.

Whatever.

It's, it's the kind of thing where he just continues to do what he needs to do.

So what fuels Jeff to keep stepping up to the plate with kids and new, you know, family and just knowing that it's in God's hands and that's what you have to you have to go at that.

He has a plan and and cam will get through it, you know.

What keeps Dawn going?

Jeff does.

He's good to me.

So yeah.

I like she's an inspiration to a lot of people because she's the same way.

She loves to come down and watch the kids and and basketball.

After we won the state tournament, they were all giving her a hug too.

And that really meant a lot.

I did that, you know, I love those kids.

They are good to me, those kids and everybody.

So yes.

For Jeff, the baseball field is a labor of love and has become kind of a sanctuary.

He spends hours upon hours making this field shine.

Jeff Second does such an amazing job down here.

This park is just pure tough.

You just sit back and enjoy it and, it just makes you feel good when the kids are out there using it, and and it looks good for them.

Castlewood is a special place.

The field, the people, the heart behind it all.

You know, you ask people why they do things.

It's it's a self-sacrifice.

It's, you know, I just I want to see things good in this town.

And I, you know, a lot of communities have that.

Of course.

And I think that's what it is, you know, no stranger to that idea that, like, I'm going to take pride in the things that I'm doing down here and activities or whatever.

Sin there's always people that are right there and there's always somebody there to help out.

You know, it's somebody you can call, whether it's just to a castle and it's.

Spring and summer isn't just about baseball.

It's also about softball.

Softball has been a sanctioned sport for three years now in our state.

And this past June, something unique occurred at the state tournament with the Halverson family that you don't see every day.

Rylee and Syenna are both sisters.

They're both catchers, but they play for different teams.

For the Halverson sisters, Rylee and Syenna, softball has always been a part of their lives.

I've been playing it for 14 years, so it's literally been my life.

Brought me a lot of friends and stuff.

So, it means everything to me.

Honestly, it's been my life since I was probably started playing when I was four, but I started playing competitive like ten, so it means everything in the world to me.

Both the Halverson girls share a passion for softball, and that includes their position playing behind the plate as catchers.

At first when she started it, I was a little frustrated because I was like, why do you have to take my position, too?

But then I learned that, like, she was doing it because she wanted to be like me.

So then I just put my time into, like, teaching her what I learned from my coaches myself.

So, honestly, she's been my mentor since I was little.

She started coaching first.

She's the reason I started coaching, honestly.

She's my best friend.

And then also she's my inspiration for softball.

Honestly, they both play catcher, both will play shortstop.

It's it's a fun world.

And when you get to pack up two girls and travel with two catcher bags, it really can get interesting.

You, you make sure you carry a lot of extra stuff with catchers.

It's a lot of extra gear.

It's a lot of extra weight.

But they enjoy what they do, and they're both very good at.

As if packing two bags of catcher's equipment isn't tough enough on mom, she also spent all of the state tournament cheering on two teams as Riley plays for tall Rapids and Siena plays for Tri-Valley.

Tri-Valley.

Honestly, I transferred was in the seventh grade.

We moved to Sioux Falls, so we moved into the Tri-Valley district.

So my sister wanted to stay because she was already in high school, because she's two years ahead of me.

And I was like, I don't really care, I can transfer.

It was easier for me to get to school that way.

So, this week has been a challenge.

It has been trying to keep two girls with two different teams organized, figuring out which direction, who needs to go, where and when, and getting everybody and everything, including a missing suitcase to where it needs to be.

At my mom, they will very much watch each other's games.

They will watch each other's films.

They know each other's stats.

They will talk about different schools.

They will talk about who's playing that day.

They will talk about pitchers.

They will talk about catchers.

They can they can have their moments of argument.

But they also, do cheerlead for each other.

They support each other.

Mindy has traveled many miles to watch her daughters play softball, and she even sought inspiration from a famous mom in a different sport to help guide you.

Look at someone like Donna Kelsey, who has two sons in the NFL, and she's very, gracious and, very careful when she watches the game.

And she's like, she just loves to watch your kids play.

And that's 100% that you love to watch your kids play, and you enjoy the game.

While the Halverson sisters may not be teammates on the diamond, it's still sport each other as teammates do on Team Halverson.

She is that like all my games.

If she can.

We both try to be practice and stuff, but she watches a lot of my games, so I try to watch hers.

She's my biggest cheerleader.

I'd say I will be crying, because I don't get to watch her play anymore.

And honestly, that's we always watch each other play, whether we're on the same team because we played on the same team, who played on opposite teams.

So whether it's that we're going to support each other and, she'll come over and give me a hug and I'm sure.

And then, just watching her play that last, that last out or last hit, I'll be there to support her.

The ball diamond and Beresford is known as Jack Lawrence Field.

To those in the area.

It's just simply the Jack.

And while it may appear like just a name to some, to those in and around Beresford who knew Jack Lawrence, it's a name that represents tragedy, remembrance and a legacy.

The number two and Beresford has become a staple around town.

It represents a young man by the name of Jack Lawrence.

Jack tragically passed away from a car accident in 2014 at the age of 11.

More than a decade later, his legacy is still remembered.

He was so sassy, in a good way.

He was salty.

He could, get his digs in.

He was, you know, number six and seven kids.

He was used to being standing his ground, you know?

But he was extremely thoughtful and loving to his to everybody.

Jack's passion was baseball.

There wasn't a spare day.

If he found somebody that would pitch to him.

Let's go.

You know, we're going to go ahead, and playing catch him daily.

I mean, he worked.

He worked at it.

So, his his love truly was in the game.

Today, Jack's memory is honored through the baseball and softball programs in Harrisburg.

So after, the accident happened, we had all of these funds that we didn't need.

I mean, we didn't need it.

And so we were like, what are we going to do?

Like, this is we got to do something.

I guess my part was just not the legacy I wanted to really give back to the community because they were just.

Yeah, it was overwhelming to support tragedy strike in a small town.

It's the community really comes and just wraps their arms around you.

And when they don't know what else to do, you know, hopefully they'll send money.

So we have cash left over.

And then the idea was, what can we do with that?

With honor.

Jack.

So that's when we decided to aim was towards obviously softball basic baseball, softball.

We're going to each year there's a Jack Lawrence Memorial golf and baseball event.

In the first year of the Jack baseball tournament, Elk Point came out?

And all of their players had number two wristbands on?

Yes.

Or they said JL JL.

That's right.

Yep.

And they're all wearing Elk Point sports wise.

We don't like each other.

I mean, we just don't, you know.

Yeah, it's it's pretty amazing.

But I think that's kind of born and bred and people in here.

Jack Lawrence Field sits on the north end of Beresford.

When a new complex was built, the city offered to move Jack Lawrence Field, but ultimately the decision was made by the family to keep it where it's at.

This is actually going to be the softball championship field and what it what it is.

And so they were like, well, you can have a lawn, you know, so we, you know, so that was kind of yeah.

But we decided after we talked about it, this is where he played in spring, played his last game.

It was important to us that it remained.

I mean, it was the last dugout here that, you know, so all of our memories with him are on this field, and we want to keep the name on the field to.

This new field.

And Milbank broke ground in July of 2022.

And while Milbank has always been known as the birthplace of American Legion baseball, this new complex puts an extra emphasis on it.

Even though the field itself is good to go, there's still additional work in the plans to enhance the area surrounding it.

This field represents a vision that will pave the way for future generations.

The fields looking in great shape.

When we first went with the design stuff and some of our baseball community wanted turf.

And I like grass, I like natural grass.

And maybe you could say it was the final, final say in it cost wise, it's about the same.

Obviously the grass needs a lot more upkeep.

But it's beautiful.

We're probably 80% complete, the fields complete.

It's a great field for playing the rest of the facility.

We're still working on, but we've come a long ways this summer.

You know, your regular baseball fields, a dirt field, and you water it, the dirt gets wet, and that supplies the moisture to the grass.

Well, this is a sand based field where the side was put on that sand base.

So we have to consider because, you know, hot water goes through sand pretty quickly.

And so we have to continually keep this field the moisture level where it should be.

Going forward when we got this done, you know, we have a guy from the company that laid this out and he came here and kind of showed us what we had to do.

And I'm thinking, boy, this is going to take a long time.

He said, well, this this field will mirror, Target Field in Minneapolis.

And I said, okay, how many guys do you have in Target Field take care of this field?

And he said, well, it takes about 28 guys.

He asked me how many we had, and I said I had three.

And he looked at me.

He said, oh, you guys are going to be busy.

Then he said, so.

You're very biased because like, I don't know, just this amazing field.

More people are getting into it and better than the played baseball is mean.

It's awesome just being able to come out here and play on a reliable like field that we don't have to worry about there being many problems with it.

It's just awesome to be able to come out here anytime we want and play.

The complex has more to be completed, yet the vision moving forward will continue to expand on the history of baseball, the grand design of the complex that had all the amenities.

We would like to see a nice big covered grandstand.

The press box, digital scoreboard, barn, a nice building for concessions, and then, a Legion museum slash Hall of Fame to pay tribute to, what what's happened here over the last hundred years?

At the end of the day, community support and the love for America's pastime keeps the dream alive.

In Milbank.

All communities in the Dakotas are tremendous places to be raised to this day.

I cherish the fact that I grew up here and and look back on it with a lot of pride and a lot of joy.

The idea of American Legion baseball in a community of this size means you need to keep it going.

You know, it takes a lot of young people to do that.

And I think we're starting to see that.

Like our post is a very well, I don't want to say they're old guys, but they are old guy.

They're in their 80s and stuff.

And, we have fabulous players that are backing us 100%.

I'm just super proud to, to be a resident here, to be a very, very small part.

And this is summer, my whole crew has been excellent.

Again, I take no credit.

I give all credit to, to the crew that that work for the city and, you know, I think it's something Milbank can be proud of.

Just feels comfortable.

It's that, pair of shoes you put on that you got in the corner of your closet.

That, just make your feet feel lighter, and.

And you feel that confidence.

And.

And that's what my bank is all about, is just being relaxed, quietly confident and doing things right.

If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend making a stop in Milbank to see this new complex for yourself.

It truly is a thing of beauty that everyone can enjoy no matter where you call home.

The next time you take a drive or walk by your local ball diamond, remember the memories that you had playing as a kid.

Think of the generations that have played on that field, and think of the future generations that will make memories of their own someday.

Behind each ball.

Diamond stories are everywhere, and it's not always about the no hitter or game winning homerun.

For a lot of kids, it's much simpler.

This is where friendships were formed, or where maybe they first learned to become a member of a team.

On behalf of everyone on SDP, we'd like to thank you for joining us tonight for tales from the diamond.

I'm Nate Wek saying good night from Milbank.