A day for Dale

It’s the kind of sultry day that makes catchers shudder.

Which makes it just the kind of day Dale Borgstahl would have slapped his shinguards on with a smile and trotted out behind the plate.

It’s the kind of sunny day just meant for baseball.

And baseball was the kind of sport just meant for Dale Borgstahl.

Borgstahl and baseball run deep, and that connection was honored on Saturday afternoon at Bell Field with the first memorial in the history of the Faribault American Legion baseball program.

“We’ve never had a memorial until today,” said baseball chairman Ray Sanders. “God bless you Dale and Norma.”

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Dale Borgstahl was born on October 24, 1923, in Howells, Neb., to Walter and Matilda Borgstahl. At a young age, he was sent to work in Faribault. He never left. Dale played baseball for Faribault High School from 1940-42, always as a catcher, then played for the Elysan American Legion team with his best friend, Buck Burkhartzmeyer, because they couldn’t make the Faribault semi-pro team.

“We had a lot of fun,” Buck remembered. “Dale loved baseball. It was his sport and he excelled in it.”

He spent his life as a farmer and township clerk in Cannon City Township, where he was a founding member of the National Farming Organization in Rice County. He raised pigs and grew grains.

With all the loves in his life — farming, his wife Norma, his children, Trinity Lutheran Church, music and wood puzzles — there was always baseball. Baseball and Borgstahl went together like a ball and a glove, one just slipping into the other with grace and nestling into that perfect pocket.

“He just liked to watch the game,” his son, Scott, who played for FHS, Post 43 and the Lakers. “He didn’t even need to know anybody. It’s just the idea of going out and watching a game.”

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Dale’s eldest daughter, Sharon Smith, remembers going to games her dad was playing in until she was 8.

“When I was little he was still playing ball,” she recalled. “I’m glad I got to see some of that before he quit playing.”

But even after he graduated from his playing days, baseball was never from Dale’s heart, and Dale was never far from baseball.

Even after Scott finished his playing career — which included playing for Concordia College — Dale remained dedicated to his evenings at Bell Field, sitting in front of the press box behind home plate.

Dale’s daughter Sandra remembers she always needed a solid excuse if she wasn’t going to attend a game.

“I definitely went to a lot of baseball with my dad,” she said. “If I wasn’t at the game, it was like, ‘Gee, why aren’t you at the game, Sandy.’ And it better be an excuse like work.”

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When Dale passed away on Feb. 27, 2011, at the age of 87, he did something no one had ever done before. He put the Post 43 baseball team in his will. Instead of flowers, he asked mourners to leave memorials to Faribault Legion baseball or Trinity Lutheran Church. With some of the funds raised, Sanders bought new hats for the players to wear this year, embroidered with the initials DB over the left ear.

“We appreciate his work and everything else,” Sanders said.

But that wasn’t enough for a man who dedicated his life to improving baseball in Faribault. Each year he hosted a hog roast and corn feed on the family farm for Legion players. So Sanders decided to hold the first memorial in the 59 years he has been associated with Faribault Legion ball.

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So on a sweltering Saturday afternoon, Dale’s family converged from their stations across the midwest: Sharon and her husband Bill and son Chris from Stanley, N.D.; Scott and his wife Kim from St. Peter; and Sandra and her husband Dave from Annandale. They watched stoically as the Post 43 Color Guard posted the colors.

Then Sharon took to the microphone and showed off that Borgstahl family musical prowess with a sparkling rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

“That was quite an honor,” Sharon said. “It was a big honor to be able to do something like that and honor dad and his memory in a place that I grew up.”

Each of the family members was presented with a cap and program honoring the man they called “dad” and a poem was read in his honor.

“Wasn’t this special?” Sharon said. “It’s fun to see somebody be recognized for the little parts. He did a lot of little things to help baseball in the town.”

Then she remembered her thoughts from when Minnesota Twins great Harmon Killebrew died this spring: “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, dad is going to be so excited to meet him up in heaven. He was a such a fan of Harmon’s. Baseball has always been a wonderful thing for my dad.”

And dad has always been a wonderful thing for baseball.