I was in Granite Falls Saturday to broadcast three baseball games! Whenever I go to the ballpark to watch baseball I always see something or experience something new. I have broadcast hundreds of baseball games over my career and it is always fun to call a game. Baseball is America’s pastime.

Richter Field in Granite Falls is one of the nicest baseball facilities around. It is one of my favorite places to broadcast a game. The press box has the old style baseball feel to it. It is located above the third base line bleachers and has great site lines to see the field. The best part is you can see the Minnesota River beyond the right field fence and all the trees on the bluff. Very pretty. The field is always in great shape and looking like a major league ballfield. Next to the baseball field they built an indoor batting facility. Richter Field also holds many great memories for me. I played on it in high school and Legion baseball back in the 70’s. My sons also played on it and a few years ago the LQPV baseball team won the section tournament to go to state.

The press box Saturday was a busy place. Some former students of Dick Newman, who is my broadcasting partner, came up to visit and say hi. Dick being a retired teacher and coach gets that a lot. Tim Knapper did the PA and the young man running the scoreboard kept us entertained for three games. It is always nice to visit with Tim, who is the YME activities director and his son Nikson is a very good baseball player. After each game we name a Neon Needles Player of the Game. Our first player of the game was YME’s Tyler Nordaune who went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s vs Canby. I have never met Tyler before, so when he came up to the press box to get his POG t-shirt, he said hi to me and told me he follows me on Instagram. So Tyler knew we were going to take a picture of him and post it on social media. I did the same thing with Lqpv’s Carter Amland who hit a grand slam home run during the Dawson game. The last game Dick and I named two Sting players, Nikson Knapper and Cody Dahlager, who came up big in a 2 to 1 win over the Eagles in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Like I said earlier, when you go to the ballfield you experience some great moments and different things. During one of the games a foul ball was hit behind the back stop and it landed on the fly in a large garbage can! I never have seen that happen before. Everyone laughed. This is a busy week for section sports, softball, golf, track, tennis and more baseball. I love the game of baseball and all that goes with it.