Sigel's field of dreams

Baseball players of all ages flock to Sigel

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

SIGEL TOWNSHIP -- Major League baseball has the New York Yankees. The NBA has the Los Angeles Lakers. And a case can be made for the NFL to say they have the New England Patriots.

As for the Bi-County East Peanuts League...Sigel?

Well, to a certain extent, anyway.

For the fourth year in a row, a group of baseball players from Sigel aged 10-13 went undefeated in the Peanuts league, only to come up short in the playoffs.

But it isn't all about winning and losing, but more for the love of the game.

"Our main goal every year was for every one of the players to have fun," Sigel coach Jerry Holm said. "We preach to just relax and go have fun."

The Junior Bi-County East League gives boys and girls ages 8-18 an opportunity to play softball or baseball at a more relaxed level of play.

"A lot of my friends play out here, and its a real fun league," 13-year-old Alec Rasmussen said. He pitches and plays first base for Sigel.

One common thread among the teams in the league is that the players had parents who played in the system.

Alec's dad Glen Rasmussen, who currently resides in New Ulm, moved to the Sigel area in 1968.

"When I was a junior in high school, we moved to the Sigel area," Glen Rasmussen said. "And Alec's mother, who was born in raised in Sigel, pitched for the girls fast-pitch softball team. One of the requirements when Alec wanted to play ball was whether you were from the area. Most of the kids that play out there actually live in the Sigel area."

The purpose of building the park, which opened in 1969, has first-and-foremost always been about the kids.

"That's still the focus," Tony Berg, who is the President of the Junior Bi-County League, said. "The focus always is the kids sports first. The men's softball is an addition."

Alec Rasmussen, among others who play in the league, plays for a New Ulm traveling team that is taking off for a state tournament today in Marshall. He said there is a competitive difference between the two teams.

"It's a lot more just baseball really," Alec Rasmussen said. "It's really more of a fun league. We don't have to worry so much about winning and losing."

He said that there are several differences in the two leagues.

"The Sigel team [the pitching mound] and the bases are much shorter," Alec Rasmussen said. "Out on the tournament team, [the bases] are 90 feet."

He said that the mound is a lot closer in the Bi-County league than at the fields he plays at in town.

"It's a big difference," Alec Rasmussen said. "You can throw a lot harder from a lot closer."

"And out at Sigel, you play on flat ground, and in town here, you're pitching on mounds already," his dad Glen Rasmussen said. "It's quite an adjustment."

The rules are also different with how you run the bases.

"If you're stealing, you can't go until the ball crosses the plate," Alec Rasmussen said. "In town, you can go as soon as the pitcher starts his motion."

The Bi County East Peanuts baseball league features teams from Sigel, Madelia, Courtland, Essig, Searles, Lafayette, Winthrop and Gaylord, and it also includes youth softball teams that go all the way to age 18.

And for many generations, the league has been there to give kids something to do in the summer and it gives them a chance to meet new people.

"I grew up playing ball throughout the whole system -- to me, it's always been there," Berg said.