Senske era records its final out

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- On Saturday afternoon, May 31 2003 at 2:44 in the afternoon, the greatest chapter in the history book of New Ulm baseball -- and in Minnesota High School Baseball -- saw its final chapter written.

When Hutchinson shortstop Andy Dammann fielded a groundball off of the bat of Brian Kamm with two outs in the last of the seventh inning and threw to first, it ended the 40-year baseball coaching career of Jim Senske.

In that 40 years, Senske set marks that will never be beaten -- or even dreamed about by high school baseball coaches, again.

He would win a state-record 707 games, guide his team to trips to the Minnesota State High School Tournament a record 19 times and win 26 South Central Conference titles. In 2002, Senske and his team captured the Class AAA baseball crown, highlighting his stellar career that began in 1964.

Back in 1964, Neil Gulden was a junior left fielder on the New Ulm High School baseball team.

It was a season that, going into, no one quite knew what to expect. The previous season, New Ulm finished with a 4-10 record. But the Eagles would have reason for optimism as six lettermen -- including Gulden -- were back for that 1964 season.

And there were two new faces that would hold key positions on the varsity. One was a righthanded pitcher, Gary Cunningham, who has transferred to New Ulm from Two Harbors.

The other was an a young and unknown assistant coach who would take over for Vern Zahn as head coach.

His name was Jim Senske.

"Vern Zahn was a laid-back coach and I think that our team was ready for something," Gulden said, who is now the Director of Fluid Marketing at AMPI in New Ulm. "We needed a spark and that was what coach Senske gave us. He was the epitome of intensity. And that and his love for the game just drove us. Nobody had ever thought about hitting practice on Saturdays and fundamentally, he would not let you be satisfied with the status quo."

And with Senske, the Eagles were scheduled to open their baseball season at Lamberton. But Mother Nature, like a veteran baseball pitcher, fooled southern Minnesota with a curveball in a snowstorm that cancelled the Lamberton game and pushed back the Eagles' opening game until Thursday, April 16 when they hosted Fairfax High School at Johnson Park.

Senske and the Eagles opened with a 12-4 win over Fairfax.

Little did people watching know that Senske -- who won his first high school baseball game that day, would win 706 more. It would also be a year that saw New Ulm go from a middle of the road team in the South Central Conference to an SCC championship and a berth in the 1964 Minnesota State Baseball Tournament -- falling to Benson in the first round. But the Eagles responded with wins over Ely and South St. Paul for the consolation title.

It would be the first of 19 state tournament appearances for Senske and his team.

And that initial season would also be the start of "the comeback" that New Ulm High School baseball teams have staged over the years, leaving opposing teams scratching their heads as they saw victory turned into defeat in later innings.

"It was the (1964) District 10 title game against Springfield," recalled Gulden. "It was late in the game and we had the bases loaded and we were down by a couple runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. And Bruce Burdorf cracked a bases-clearing double to right-centerfield and we won the tournament. That sparked us and we were off and running. We went to the state that year and that was not supposed to have happened. We were all on Cloud Nine. We knew that Coach Senske was something special. You knew that he would get the most out of his players. If you were not ready to play Jim's way, you would not play."

Gulden said that Senske also had "that discipline." "He would not let things slide," Gulden said. "On and off the field you were disciplined. He made you believe in yourself and your abilities."

And that believing in yourselves was something that Senske would stress to his players in his career. Even when trailing in the last inning, Senske's teams -- like himself -- never quit.

In the Eagles last two tournament games this year, New Ulm needed late-inning rallies to win over Shakopee and Willmar.

So maybe that was why, even trailing by three runs going into the last of the seventh inning, the fans at Johnson Park still hoped.

But like a baseball game, everything has to come to an end. And perhaps it was fitting that Senske end his career where it started -- coaching third base where he did for 876 games and for approximately 6,132 innings.

And it is more fitting that Senske end his stellar career at Johnson Park, where it began. Maybe the baseball gods that roam Johnson Park wanted that last chapter penned that way.

Senske now becomes a big part of that New Ulm baseball history book as a great chapter is closed. On Thursday, July 3 prior to New ulm Legion Gold's game here against Eagle Lake, Senske's uniform will be retired -- his "24" will be the first number to ever be retired at New Ulm High School. That day will also be proclaimed "Jim Senske Day" in New Ulm by Mayor Joel Albrecht.