The Becker Buzzards baseball team is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

 

“It's hard to believe it's been 10 years,” said Co-Founder Mark Kolbinger. “The whole thing proved to be much more successful than we ever imagined.”

 

Over two decades ago, Deron Trovall and Kolbinger worked together on bringing amateur baseball back to Becker in the early 1990's with the original Electroz team.  Trovall picked the Electroz name in the hopes that NSP (now Xcel Energy) would sponsor the team.

 

“We never saw a dime,” said Kolbinger.

 

The next year, they were renamed the Bandits.

 

“We played together for a few years and then I became manager from 1996-2000,” said Kolbinger.

 

Trovall and Kolbinger drifted apart for a few years and then in 2008, they once again talked baseball and about starting s 35+ league.

 

“We awoke one Sunday morning and Deron’s wife, Jodi, was asking about this baseball team we were apparently starting again,” said Mark. “Our simple conversation turned into a commitment when I published an article about the idea.”

 

From there, they ordered t-shirts for uniforms, hesitant on whether their idea would go over or not.  But a simple story in the Citizen newspaper when Mark was working there led to 18 local guys answering the call to form Becker's first ever 35+ baseball team.

 

“We had some of us who were barely 35 years old and other guys (Gary Anderson) in his 50's who hadn't played baseball since Legion ball,” said Kolbinger.  

 

“It was a combination of people wanting to get back on the diamond as well as our hope that baseball in Becker would benefit from an organized group willing to give back to the community.”

 

During the past 10 years, Trovall, Kolbinger and their teammates have done a lot of work on the fields where they play (BAC), have helped out at youth tryouts and also sponsored community events such as the old-timers baseball game.

 

“We hope we have achieved a bit of our original goal of keeping Becker baseball on the map,” said Mark.

 

“While our ultimate goal was to have fun and give a spot to guys looking to play ball, we've also experienced a great deal of success on the field,” he said. “Including one state championship in the lower division and a third place finish at Class A.”

 

They have also scheduled games with teams from Iowa - ultimately doing a home-and-home series with the Iowa Hawks on an annual basis.

 

The Buzzards have had close to 50 guys play a game, including the father-son tandem of Jason and “Big Al” Pfingsten.  

 

“That was a pretty cool moment,” said Mark. “Big Al has been a great supporter and fan of Becker baseball since many of us players were in our teens.”

 

Another part of Trovall and Kolbinger’s plan was to bring a bit of history of the game to the younger generation by letting them know Becker has a proud tradition of baseball players.  Mark Wold played for the Buzzards for a few years. He's a former SCSU pitcher who experienced a great deal of collegiate success.  

 

Such was also the case for Jim Hanson, another former SCSU standout.  

 

Then there is Pfingsten, a former All American from Mankato State who was selected in the MLB draft.

 

The Buzzards also had some important impact on giving local guys a place to play closer to home. Mike Doetkott is one such player,  winning a state title playing in Freeport — but the Buzzards head trust was able to coax him into playing closer to home and he still plays for the Buzzards.

 

“I had known of Mike for many years,” said Kolbinger. “He's one of the classiest guys I have ever met on a baseball field.  He's a true baseball junkie. Younger players would be well served to strike up a conversation with Mike and spend a lot of time listening.”

 

That first wave of players 10 years ago has started to give way to a "younger" generation of players although Pfingsten and Brian Kolbinger still are top players in the Becker amateur baseball scene.  

 

Pranks and good natured ribbing are definitely trademarks of the Buzzards history and Kolbinger says one has to have a “real thick skin to play on this team.”

 

This year, Jason Baune took over as manager of the team.  He called a meeting when Kolbinger was out of town and got enough votes from the new guys to elect himself manager.  

 

“I guess that was the sign I needed to realize it was time to hang up the cleats for at least this year,” said Mark, laughingly. “I think he's finding out there are a lot of behind-the-scenes work to keeping a team afloat.” 

 

Kolbinger says the “older guys’ still get together and reminisce about starting the team. Kolbinger and Trovall just hope Baune continues the tradition of keeping it a home town roster with an eye towards community service and giving the local guys a place to play.  

 

“Deron and I are proud of what we've built and hope the tradition continues,” Mark said.