MANDY HELGET

Mandy Helget said that being elected to the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame is an honor to be going into a special class.

Helget played for 24 seasons for the Stark Longhorns and then managed the Essig Bluejays for six seasons.

“I was very much surprised when I found out that I had been elected,” he said. “Amateur baseball has been a big part of my life.”

Lindmeier

One of the many memories that he has of his playing career was that of getting into the state tournament.

“In our region then, we had four leagues and only two teams would get into the state tournament,” he said. “Now they have more teams getting in, and back then when you got into the state tournament, you cherished that because you knew that you really earned it — you worked hard to get there. And baseball back then was baseball at its best.”

Helget said that in 1997, he had moved near Essig so the natural draw was to manage the Bluejays, where he turned a struggling Essig program around.

“And my kids started playing in the Essig program, so it was easy for me to change,” he said. “Plus I had good friends on the Essig baseball board and the community, so it was not that hard of a switch for me — later we got into the regionals.”

Helget said that, through all of the baseball, he is most thankful to his wife, Carol.

“She has stuck with me all of these years — she was the biggest supporter that I ever had,” he said. “We lived for amateur baseball.”

Helget said that he was proud and honored to have been selected to the Hall of Fame.

DALE LINDMEIER

“It was very humbling when I found out that I had been elected to the [Minnesota Amateur Baseball] Hall of Fame,” Dale “Lumber” Lindmeier said.

“It was such a big surprise,” he said. “When you get into baseball, you play baseball for the love of the game — managing, being on the board and taking care of the field, working the concession stand — you do it all for the love of baseball and keep the game going for future generations and you do not expect to be recognized in this manner.”

Lindmeier said that he got out of baseball for a while, but then got back into it because he loved baseball.

“I wanted to see what I could do as an individual and as a board member to keep baseball alive and well in Springfield,” he said.

One of Lindmeier’s fondest baseball memory came in 1998, when the Tigers finished third in the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament.

“That year is a special memory that is etched in my mind, but then just the years that I have been involved in coaching or on the board [29 year board member] — every year has been very special,” Lindmeier said.

“Amateur baseball to me is a life blood,” he said. “You get so involved in all aspects of it — you love to see the younger players develop.”

Lindmeier said that the award caught him completely off-guard when his daughters told him about it.

“It will be completely humbling,” he said.