Johnson Park gets fresh look for tournament

This is the third of a four-part series on the 2003 Central Plains American Legion Baseball Tournament that will be held at Johnson Park in New Ulm August 14-18.

This week, we look at Johnson Park and the teams that have had success in past Central Plains Tournaments.

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- If you have driven past and looked at Johnson Park in the last two weeks, you have noticed what rest for the field and some hard work by volunteers and City of New Ulm workers have done.

The field itself is in great shape. The field, which has seen four-to-five games a week has now bene able to rest the past few weeks and get healthy.

New sod has been laid and it is coming in perfect -- the field looks immaculate both in the infield and the outfield.

Grass has been trimmed and edged along the edges if the baselines and the foul area and the grass is a deep, rich plush green.

The dugouts have been repainted by volunteer Larry Oslund, who also repainted the entire backside of the grandstand as well as both restrooms. Larry has put in countless volunteer hours on this project. Bob Weber has also been painting at the park.

Jim Hames -- another volunteer -- is putting in new concrete steps by the third base dugout and city workers are edging the grass on the outside of Johnson Park.

The press box has a new floor and all of the five cubicles have new formica tops to accomodate out of state radio and newspaper people.

Any chipped or broken concrete in the park is being replaced entirely.

It has been a lot of hard work by volunteers and New Ulm city workers especially by Mike Kollman, who has done a great job on the Johnson Park playing surface.

Once the tournament starts, New Ulm and Johnson Park will have one priviledge that none of the seven other regional tournaments going on nation-wide will have.

New Ulm will be permitted to sell beer.

But beer sales will take place only on the football field and no beer will be allowed into Johnson Park. If you do buy beer, you are please asked to only drink it outside the fence near the first base line. You can still see the game but will not be on the Johnson Park premises.

The only reason that New Ulm was allowed to sell beer is because Schells Brewery has been and is a great sponsor of baseball in New Ulm.

Paul Sabatino of Paul's Electric has also donated work on updating all of the facilities at Johnson Park.

There have also been many, many people in New Ulm who in the past weeks have come forward to volunteer putting the number of volunteers for the tournament at near 130. That is tremendous.

And a big thank you to Dave Bechtold, the Park and Rec Director here in New Ulm for his cooperation and help. He has done a great job.

And the state champions from Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota that journey here to New Ulm will be very impressed by not only Johnson Park but also the City of New Ulm.

If you are looking for a team that in the past has taken the Region 6 (Central Plains) title and will probably be here in the City of Charm and Tradition for the tournament it is either Rapid City Post 22 or Creighton Prep -- a familiar name for Upper Midwest Classic fans.

But Excelsior, which ended up second in the American Legion World Series last year and returns nine players because of the new 19-year old rule, will be a favorite this year.

All in all, it will a fun five days. Tickets for the banquet, which will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 13, at Turner Hall for $15 are available. Passes are $20 for adults or $35 for a family pass. They can be obtained from either Red Wyczawski at 354-5441, Gordy Palmer at 345-2768 or Asta Reinarts at 354-5659.

NEXT WEEK: We will attempt to follow each state tournament and see their progression as they trek to DESTINATION: NEW ULM.