In 2009 Madison slugger Kevin Leighton hit his 500th home run for the amateur Canova Gang. He broke the state record 169 homers before.
Leighton was just one of many memorable South Dakota baseball players — many of whom we’ve written about in South Dakota Magazine.
Like Leighton, Bill Prunty played amateur baseball for many years. But he’s best remembered for a single blast, known for years as the Home Run in the Dark. In a 1938 state championship game, Claremont and Aberdeen were tied 4-4 in the 10th inning. Umpire Tommy Collins announced that if there were no runs at the end of the 10th, the game would be replayed the next day. That was bad news for Claremont because their pitcher, Clayton Feser, had already pitched a winning game against Watertown that day plus all 10 innings against Aberdeen. It would have been impossible for him to pitch again in the morning.
Aberdeen didn’t score in the top of the 10th. Claremont had two outs in the bottom of the inning when Prunty came to the plate. He worked the count to 3-2, even though he could barely see the ball. The sports editor of the Aberdeen American News later wrote a poem about his next swing:
A sharp, clear crack and out through space
The leather pellet flew,
A blot against the darkening sky,
A speck against the blue.
Above the fence in deep right field,
In rapid, whirling flight,
The ball sailed on, the speck grew dim
And soon was out of sight.
No one needed to see where it landed – the resounding crack from the bat was enough. The ball was found in the morning and is now exhibited at the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in Lake Norden.
Red Loecker’s baseball career is most notable because no one expected it to happen. After being hit with sniper fire in Vietnam, he was told he might never walk again. But he was determined to get on his feet and play baseball back home in Yankton. He not only returned to the ball field, but won batting titles in 1969, 1970 and 1976, and was the state tourney MVP in 1969.
Women are also part of our state’s baseball history. Amanda Clement of Hudson was the first umpire inducted to the South Dakota Hall of Fame and the second female. Born in 1888, she grew up next to the Hudson ballpark and often played ball with her brother, Henry, and other kids in town. Because she was a girl, the boys often made her call the balls and strikes. She umpired her first real game at age 16 for Renville vs. Hawarden; it was the first game on record in which a girl earned money for umpiring.
Clement’s services were in high demand. She knew the game, plus coaches learned that they could sell more tickets with a pretty, young umpire behind the plate. She worked about 50 games each summer in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas. Her earnings paid her way through college. The Boston Post reported that she had turned down 60 proposals for marriage while umpiring, dubbing her the “heartless arbitrator.” Clement also broke a world record when she threw a baseball 279 feet.
Those are just three of our many heroes of summer. Every town has different memories and different stars. For a state with long winters and short baseball seasons, we have more than our share.
Katie Hunhoff is the editor of South Dakota Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine published in Yankton. Visit www.SouthDakotaMagazine.com for more information.
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