Photo courtesy of Sleepy Eye Area Historical Society Leonard Youngman, bottom center in front row, peeking around the left arm of a New York Yankee player at age 11 on Oct. 16, 1922. Babe Ruth, front right, stopped in Sleepy Eye for a barnstorming baseball tour. Youngman died Oct. 16 at age 107 on the 96th anniversary of the event in Virginia, Mn. New York Yankee Bob Meusel is pictured front left. Others in the photo that have been identified as behind Youngman, Sleepy Eye baseball team scorekeeper John Cutting, “Booksie” Wagner, to the immediate right of Ruth; Ed Berkner, to the right of Wagner; back row from left, Andrew Johnson, Ray Johnson, Len Schneider, Joe Cassidy, railroad man and Sleepy Eye catcher, and “Spin” Schroepfer, 10.

SLEEPY EYE — A 107-year-old Sleepy Eye native photographed with New York Yankees players Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel at Sleepy Eye Baseball Park in 1922, died Oct. 16 on the 96th anniversary of the major league baseball player barnstorming game with local stars.

On a chilly day at age 11, Leonard Youngman chased down a home run ball hit by Ruth on Oct. 16, 1922. He can be seen on a photograph, standing between Meusel and Ruth, amidst a band that was part of the event.

Perhaps it was what Youngman did away from baseball that really set him apart.

Youngman defied his age and served others in his life. He was cited for volunteering at the Virginia hospital for 25 years and served as a eucharistic minister and reading at the nursing home Mass at 105. He lived in his Virginia home from 1950 until just a few months ago.

In addition, Youngman said he felt volunteering was better than sitting home by himself. He said he wanted to serve God, live a clean life and that he enjoyed life. He said his mother told him that in order to have friends, he had to be one.

Youngman said he didn’t take any pills until age 104.

On that chilly day in Sleepy Eye in 1922, Youngman was playing with friends behind the outfield fence at Sleepy Eye Baseball Park when Ruth hit his one of his two homers.

Youngman said he heard the large crowd at the game yelling before he saw the ball fly over the fence. He grabbed the ball, got Ruth to autograph it, and kept it over the years.

Youngman moved from Sleepy Eye in 1940 after getting a sales job with the George A. Hormel meat company. He and his wife Millie (Mathilda) Hillesheim were married for 59 years before she died in 1997. They had three sons, David, James and Robert, seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren, and a sister, Marge Sykes.

Several years ago, Leonard’s grandson Joel received the autographed baseball from his grandpa as a gift and recognized a story done by Fox Sports North’s Pat Fischer.

Joel contacted Sleepy Eye Area Historical Society Board President Randy Krzmarzick and told him his grandpa was in the photo of Ruth and Meusel taken in Sleepy Eye in 1922.

Several years ago, Krzmarzick and Sleepy Eye baseball enthusiasts Dean Brinkman and Scott Surprenant were featured with the Youngmans in Virginia on KARE 11’s “Land of 10,000 Stories” with Boyd Huppert. The report won a regional Emmy award in February 2016.

Brinkman talked about how he felt traveling to Virginia with Krzmarzick and Surprenant to visit Youngman.

“From the minute we met him, it became an instant friendship,” Brinkman said. “I know he enjoyed reliving his Sleepy Eye days with us. We sure enjoyed reliving them with him! His photographic memory and attention to detail is impeccable. His wonderful sense of humor, kindness and caring for others was truly remarkable. The three trips in three years were not enough, but for that, we are grateful.”

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com