Five former standouts have been chosen as the 2023 induction class for the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.
The honorees include Orville Harmdierks of Wessington Springs, Nick Ernster of Emery, Ron Miller of Canova and former Martin, Clearfield and Winner teammates Dan O'Neill of Tuthill and Wayne Johnson of Rapid City.
Orville Harmdierks
The 6-foot-5 Lane native known as 'Big O' developed a notable reputation as a dangerous power hitter in the Pony Hills League in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He spent most of his 21 years in the league playing for Alpena before concluding a 26-year career by playing in Armour.
“It’s pretty exciting and very unexpected,” Harmdierks said in an interview with the True Dakotan. “When I got the call that I had been selected to the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, it definitely took me by surprise.”
He opened his baseball career as a shortstop and intimidating pitcher, but after hurting his arm, he moved to first base and quickly became known for his prestigious home runs.
Responsible for writing the hall of fame application for Harmdierks, longtime sports writer and now-retired newspaper publisher Craig Wenzel of Wessington Springs said that Hardierks’s home runs are something of which local baseball legend and folklore are made.
“When he came up to the plate to bat, infielders backed up and pitchers broke into a sweat,” Wenzel recounts. “It’s kind of folklore at this ball park in Springs to talk about the time Orv hit a home run that cleared the road and landed in the swimming pool. To be able to say ‘I was there when Orville hit one in the pool’ is truly something magical.”
Some of his highlights included hitting a three-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap a ninerun comeback against White Lake, hitting eight homers in a span of 32 at-bats while playing part-time for Alpena in 1990 and clearing the fence on a check-swing homer in a state tournament game in 1983.
“The nine-run comeback against White Lake was the biggest deal. That just shouldn’t happen,” Harmdierks remembers. “A lot of fans left after the eighth inning. They couldn’t believe it when we came back and won. You can say they regretted their decision to leave early.”
Harmdierks played in 20 state tournaments.
“The first state tournament I played in, I got picked up by Woonsocket. The first hit I got off was from Lee Goldammer. It was a ground ball between the first and second basemen but it was a hit,” Harmdierks said with a laugh about the pitch from Goldammer, the South Dakota Sports Hall of Famer who won 312 games and struck out 4,292 batters in a career spanning more than 35 years.
Throughout his decades-long career,heplayedwith10different teams in state tournaments. Alpena held a special 'Orville Harmdierks Night' — part of a surprise retirement party in 1989 in which the team retired his No. 7 jersey. The communities of Alpena, Woonsocket and Wessington Springs held 'Orville Harmdierks Day' on Nov. 25, 1989.
'I’ve been a lifetime baseball fan and grew up watching Pony Hills League Amateur Baseball,” said Wenzel. “I was downtown one day several years ago and saw Orv’s wife Vicki and said you know, ‘Orville should be in the baseball hall of fame.’” Wenzel said she was both interested and pleased he suggested that. Wenzel also knew that timing is key when it comes to hall of fame inductions — there were some older players that had been waiting in line ahead of Orville so he tabled it for the time being.
“The time came two years ago, I asked her if she had a few clippings that would help with the nomination and I submitted it. A few weeks ago when Orville stopped by our house and told me and Penny he got in to the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, I just got goosebumps,” said Wenzel. “Whatever small role I had in that to see him so happy was totally worth it. I can’t imagine anyone else more deserving than Orville.”
The 2023 induction class will be honored on Saturday, Aug. 12 between evening Class B semifinal amateur baseball games in the 2023 state tournament at Mitchell.
The Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 4 in Emery.