Morden’s Access Event Centre was packed Saturday night for the 2025 Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In total there were nine individuals, one family, one in the builders category, three teams and three honourary life members inducted Saturday night.
One of those was Altona's Field of Dreams Committee which was inducted as Builders for essentially turning a canola field on the west side of town into one of the best baseball facilities in the province, what’s now known as Access Field. Ken Wiebe, Ben Dueck, Gord Sawatzky and Jolanda Friesen, on behalf of her late husband Menno, accepted the award.
The project's beginning was in 2009, work started in 2012 after three years of fundraising, the first pitch was thrown at the full-size diamond in 2015 and the grand opening was in August 2018.
"You just find it very humbling," said Ken Wiebe. "It's a great honour to be recognized. Most of these inductees are players, and they have really interesting stories to tell, but we have been involved in trying to provide facilities for baseball to be played at, and it's just very humbling to be included."
Sawatzky echoed those sentiments.
"It's an awesome experience to hear these stories of these teams and individuals, and how do we even fit into that category," he reflected. "It is very humbling to be nominated, and to get this award. We're just trying to make facilities for our kids and our community and make the community a good place to play baseball."
And that idea of giving back is a piece of advice Dueck would give to other community groups that have big dreams like they did.
"For me it's giving back to the community," he shared. "Never quit giving back to the community what you love doing."
"That's what I was thinking as well," added Sawatzky. "Here's three of us, our kids never played on Access Field, and we're still doing the work at Access Field. I think we have to find people that are willing to do more than just coach their kids, or sit in lawn chairs and eat sunflower seeds when the kids are playing. The kids eventually move on and try other things, move out of the community or become coaches themselves. There's still some people that need to continue the dream, and what would Menno say? What would Menno do? You got to have a Menno Friesen in your community and then things happen."
Menno Friesen passed away in June 2018, and had played an integral role in the Field of Dreams Committee, something that was noted during the group's acceptance speech Saturday night.
"I find it extremely humbling, and difficult in a way," offered Jolanda. "I wish my husband Menno was here, but I know that if he knows this is happening, he would want me to be here. Every day I'm just grateful these guys still remember him, and the Access Field is just continuing to grow in the hands of these good men, now."
Four decades of Manitoba baseball coverage
Former Golden West Sports Director, the now retired Clayton Dreger, was also an inductee. He was recognized for forty years of covering Manitoba baseball across the province. He shared there really are no words to describe the honour, especially when he feels he was just doing his job all those years.
"The day before my birthday, October 1st, Dan Giesbrecht (Chair of the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame) called," said Dreger as he talked about finding out he was going into the Hall. "I was in my studio at the radio station, and he phones, and says 'Clayton, it's Dan. Congratulations. You're in in the Hall of Fame.' It was just like, wow. That was amazing to hear that from Dan personally."
He added when you think about the rich history of baseball in our province, he's just amazed he's now part of that through his induction.
"We covered baseball, every league from one border to the other border and minor ball, and we do that year in and year out," explained Dreger. "So, you think, well, that's just my job. Then for Baseball Manitoba, my dear friends there, to say 'By the way, we're nominating you, and you're going in,' Well, but you do know that this is what I do. And they tell you, 'We do know that, but you do it better than anybody.' Now that really hit home, and you just go, 'Ohh, thank you,' because that's hard to follow that."
Dreger points to covering baseball at the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg as a highlight, but was quick loop back to local, minor baseball as his favourite.
"When you find out one of those teams won, and you track down the coach and they're just so excited and so passionate and they reflect on the weekend and how everything came together and the excitement when the last out was made, and the parents and coaches and players it's a memory they have forever," he explained. "To hear that excitement, and to get that on the radio so our listeners can hear that, and then get the feedback of 'I heard such and such, talking about winning the provincials in wherever that was,' that always the most fun was getting them on the radio."
Also inducted Saturday night was the Manitou/Kaleida area Clayton family, specifically late father Stew and his three sons Randy, Greg and Wilf.
You can find the entire list, here.