Big win for the small town of Essig

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The date August 10th does not have a lot of significance to many people.

It is not a date to be remembered like Christmas or a birthday or a wedding anniversary.

But for the baseball fans of Essig, that date -- August 10 -- will be one that will be remembered as fondly as Christmas, a birthday or a wedding anniversary.

On that day, the Essig Bluejays earned their first-ever trip to the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball State Tournament with a 5-4 extra inning win over Stark.

And for loyal Bluejay fans who have seen their team come close year after year, it was an early Christmas present.

The same can be said for players who have donned the uniform of Essig over the years -- perhaps the win was redemption for all of them.

One player who was deserving of a state tournament trip -- this time wearing a blue and white shirt and pants of his own Essig team -- was veteran Terry Helget.

Helget has gone along as a drafted player for other teams to a state tournament for 11 years. He was drafted 12 times.

That is kind of like being asked to be best man at a friend's wedding when he is marrying your old girlfriend.

"I didn't think that going to the state tournament with my own team, Essig, was ever going to happen," he said after the win.

"Things did not go our way early, but we kept in it, kept battling and things went our way," Helget said. "The Lord was looking over us today, I think.

"I have waited for this moment for many, many years," he said

And while Helget has battled for 12 years to get to a state amateur tournament, Bluejay manager Doug Radloff has waited even longer for this moment.

"This team has worked for this for so long," said Doug Radloff who has waited for 20 years for a trip to the state tournament. Radloff, like Helget, has also gone along for the ride to a state tournament as a drafted player with another team.

"Essig has had teams on and off since the 50's and 60's," said Verne Radloff who, in 1984 managed Essig.

"This (state tournament trip) means so much to Essig," he said. "This is probably the most exciting thing that has happened here in baseball. They have been so close and basically never gotten there until this year."

And baseball in a small town like Essig -- a population Radloff estimates at 50 -- means so very much. "You take small towns like Essig or Leavenworth or Searles -- they have a much better following, because that is all there is in these small towns, and that is a big thing," he said.

Verne Radloff, who did the public address for the game and has been the PA announcer for years, said that there was a lot of emotion after the game.

"They are already filling a fan bus to the state tournament because it has never happened before," he said. "This is not only for Essig but for a lot of small town teams like Essig and Leavenworth and Searles. It is the excitement of going somewhere they have never gone before."

And for Verne Radloff and his wife Sandy, it was a bittersweet win. Their son-in-law Cory Haala, is the manager of Stark, the team that Essig beat Sunday to advance to the state tournament.

"It was a tough game because my son Doug is the coach of Essig, and Cory is the manager of Stark. It was at tough game," he said. "As far as I am concerned, I could not have lost today."

But Radloff said that he is still an Essig fan.

Perhaps the whole meaning of the win by Essig happened when Sandy Radloff -- perhaps the biggest Essig baseball fan -- was on the field crying.

"I have not missed a lot of Doug's games over the years," she said. "I am so glad that I was here for this one."