The Play Ball! Minnesota Terry Ryan Award honors a member of the Minnesota baseball and/or softball community that has been a major leader in supporting the game(s) at the youth level. The award acknowledges significant contributions to the overall promotion and improvement of Minnesota youth baseball and/or softball as well as passion and dedication for the game and its participants. This is Play Ball! Minnesota's highest honor.

Established in 2006 as the Play Ball! Minnesota Award, the award was re-named after long-time Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan following his retirement as the general manager in 2007. The award was named after Ryan in honor of his passion and dedication to the promotion of baseball and softball in Minnesota.

Each year nominations are accepted from baseball and softball fans in Twins Territory and the founding members of Play Ball! Minnesota select a winner. The winner is presented with the award at the annual Baseball Writers Association of America Diamond Awards along with many other prestigious Twins awards.

Nominees are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Number of years involved with Minnesota youth baseball/softball
  • Strong candidates would have many years of involvement
• Contributions to Minnesota youth baseball/softball
  • Strong candidates would display many contributions, however only Minnesota contributions are considered
• Notable accomplishments in Minnesota youth baseball
  • Strong candidates would display many accomplishments, however only Minnesota accomplishments are considered
• Overall enthusiasm and passion for Minnesota youth baseball/softball

 

Terry Ryan

Terry Ryan was named the fourth General Manager in Minnesota Twins history on September 13, 1994; a job he held for 13 years until his retirement. As GM, Ryan was responsible for assembling the Twins roster, negotiating contracts, overseeing the coaching staff, and managing the entire baseball department, including team travel and baseball communications.

Prior to becoming General Manager, Ryan was the Twins Vice President of Player Personnel. In that role, he was responsible for scouting and evaluating all talent at the major league level and assisting in personnel decisions. He was also responsible for signing all major league players with less than three years of major league service.

 Through the efforts of Ryan and his staff, the Twins won American League Central Division championships in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. In 2002 and 2006 he was named Sporting News Executive of the Year. In 2004 and 2006 he was the recipient of the Andrew “Rube” Foster Legacy Award as American League Executive of the Year by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. In 2002 and 2004, the Twins were named Organization of the Year by Baseball America and USA Today.

Ryan began his professional baseball career with the Twins in 1972. He was drafted that year in the 35th round out of Parker High School in Janesville, WI. He pitched in the Twins’ organization for four seasons, posting a 14-3 record, including a 10-0 record in 1973. An arm injury unfortunately cut his career short.

Ryan returned to baseball in 1980 as Midwest scouting supervisor for the New York Mets. He worked for the Mets for six years before being name the Twins’ scouting director in 1986.

Throughout his career with the Twins, Ryan was dedicated to youth and amateur baseball and softball in Minnesota and through it all he remains one of the games’ greatest supporters. Upon his retirement, it was an honor for the founders of Play Ball! Minnesota to rename their highest award after such a strong and influential figure in Minnesota baseball and softball history.

Play Ball! Minnesota Terry Ryan Award Winners

2006
John Wilkens
St. Michael, MN

Having been involved with Minnesota baseball for over 50 years, John Wilkens has a lifetime of baseball experience and service. As a player, Wilkens split his collegiate career between the University of Minnesota and Mankato State University.

Since 1970, Wilkens has been a coach at various levels. He has guided numerous teams at the high school, American Legion, town ball, and most recently collegiate levels. A highlight of his coaching career, Wilkens helped guide the North Team to the gold medal in the 1987 United States Olympic Festival in North Carolina. His mentorship has touched the lives of countless youth in Minnesota.

Wilkens’ service to baseball isn’t confined to his coaching career. Since 1978, he has been the secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association. Wilkens also serves as the clinic director, where his duties have included organizing the annual statewide coaches’ clinic since 1978. He also worked in various administrative areas for USA Baseball from 1988-1998 and was the business manager for the 1998 World Champion 16 year-old USA team.

Wilkens has received a number of awards for his contributions to the game including the Baseball Meritorious Service Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association.

 

2007
Bill Peterson
Saint Paul, MN

Bill Peterson has been a major figure in Saint Paul baseball and softball ever since his early days at Central High School. After a successful high school career, Peterson played for the hometown University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. When his playing days ended, Peterson turned to coaching, beginning one of the greatest coaching careers in the state’s history.

Peterson coached numerous youth baseball teams in Saint Paul from 1961-1967 including a stint at highly regarded Cretin-Derham High School from 1973-1975. In his career, Peterson guided teams to 23 championships at the city, state and national levels. Helping to shape the lives of youth in Saint Paul through baseball and softball, Peterson’s most famous pupils include National Baseball Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor.

In 1977, Peterson left coaching and became involved in baseball and softball umpiring. He spent 20 plus years on the American Softball Association national umpire staff and is still a member of NAFA Men’s Softball National Staff. Recently, Peterson has returned to coaching in the Saint Paul Midway baseball program and Minnesota Twins RBI All-Star program; guiding the RBI All-Star to a regional championship and berth in the RBI World Series in 2008.

Peterson’s legacy in Saint Paul is not only defined by his coaching accomplishments and membership in national umpiring circles; he was also the supervisor of Saint Paul Municipal Athletics from 1977-1984 and from 1991-1999. During his time with Saint Paul Municipal Athletics, he administered the baseball program for the Saint Paul Division of Parks and Recreation. Continuing his commitment to Saint Paul baseball and softball, Peterson is still an active volunteer for Saint Paul Municipal Athletics maintaining the Midway baseball field and Dunning Toni Stone Stadium.

For his dedication to baseball and softball, Peterson has been recognized by membership in the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame, the Mancini Baseball Hall of Fame, the ASA National Softball Hall of Fame and the St. Paul Central High School Sports Hall of Fame.

 

2008
Tink Larson
Waseca, MN

The legacy of Tink Larson began when he was a young dominant shortstop from Kasson, Minnesota. Forty seven years later, that legacy is still being written. Larson is nationally recognized as a passionate proponent of youth and amateur baseball. In Minnesota, Larson is involved in every level of baseball from T-ball to Town ball.

Larson’s coaching pedigree is staggering. Beginning nearly half a century ago, he has coached more than 4,000 games at numerous levels and has won more than 2,500 of those. Larson has captured multiple championships, highlighted by a Minnesota State High School Class A State Championship in 1990. 75 of his players have gone on to play collegiately and seven have advanced to the professional level. His coaching awards include 15 Coach of the Year trophies won through many different associations. Tink is also in 10 different baseball halls of fame.

In addition to his success as a coach, Larson serves the game in unparalleled ways. Larson has served on advisory committees both statewide and nationally. He has been an integral part of baseball’s development in Minnesota as a member of the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association, serving as president in multiple years. “Tink’s pride for Minnesota baseball has allowed this state to have one of the most stable and functional amateur coaches associations in the country,” said Minnesota Twins Senior Advisor to the General Manager, Terry Ryan.

Larson also finds time to address another true love of his. In Waseca, the baseball diamond and playing surface – that he maintains - , is immaculate and would rival any surface in the country. For this reason, Waseca Community Field was renamed Tink Larson Field.

“Tink is a walking ambassador for the game of baseball at the youth, high school, American Legion, collegiate and professional levels in the state of Minnesota. He is everything good about the game of baseball,” said Ryan.

 

2009
Jim Peck
Minnetonka, MN

Long before his fabled youth baseball career in Minnetonka, Jim Peck’s sports career began in Deer River, Minnesota. Peck graduated from Deer River High School as a fifteen-time letter winner; an impressive record that still stands today. After Deer River, Peck attended the University of Minnesota where he received a Bachelors of Science degree in Pharmacy in 1963 and has been a practicing pharmacist ever since. Among all his accomplishments, perhaps the most notable is that while serving his community as “the local pharmacist” – a demanding and time consuming profession – Peck still managed to devote endless hours to youth baseball.

Peck’s coaching career has spanned 46 years including 10 in Babe Ruth Baseball and 36 in American Legion Baseball. During those 46 years, Peck has amassed over 1,500 wins including four state championships, five state runners-up, one American Legion national runner-up, two American Legion regional championships and two American Legion regional runners-up. Peck holds the distinction of coaching the only American Legion team in the nation to win two different American Legion titles in two different regions.

Peck has taken his players on learning experiences around the world by participating in national and international competitions. Some of those far flung destinations include trips to Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, New Zealand and Sweden.

More than 300 players Peck has coached over the years have moved on to play college baseball, 17 have signed professional contracts and four made it to the Major Leagues. Peck has not only dedicated himself to coaching, he has also served as an American Legion World Series staff member for many years and is the current program director and coach for the national 18 and under American Legion team that participates in the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars program.

For all his accomplishments, Peck has been recognized by three halls of fame. He is a charter member of the Minnetonka Baseball and Softball Hall of Fame as well as a member of the Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame and the only youth coach to ever be selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

 

2010
Ed Lippert
Eden Prairie, MN

Ed Lippert has always had baseball in his blood; his father was a minor league pitcher. As a child, Ed often assembled a gang of neighborhood kids in the shadows of Nicollet Park and played pick-up games “everyday and all summer long.” Like many kids of the time, he would ride his bike to the park in the morning only to return home for a quick lunch and dinner.  Ed followed in his father’s footsteps and pitched during his playing days, however an arm injury forced him to stop playing and turn his attention toward other ways to be involved in his favorite sport.

After a brief time away from Minnesota, Ed returned with his family in 1990. The next year he volunteered to coach his eight-year-old son and began a career of service in Minnesota youth baseball that is matched by few. Like his father did with him, Ed inspired a love of the game for his kids as he continued to volunteer with the Eden Prairie Baseball Association from 1990 through 2003; coach state champ teams along the way.

In 1993 Ed joined the Eden Prairie Baseball Association Board of Directors and served through 1999. During that period the board became one of the first in the Twin Cities area to mandate criminal background checks for all baseball coaches and other key volunteers. While serving as board Treasurer in 1995, Ed led fundraising and planning efforts for the beautiful Eden Prairie Round Lake Baseball Stadium which was completed in 2008.

Perhaps Ed’s most challenging endeavor was away from coaching. After some discussion with Eden Prairie Baseball Association members in 1995, Ed put his computer programming talents to work and began construction on a league web site that would display scores and league standings.  After spending a year on the Southwest Traveling League web site, Ed was summoned by Metro Baseball League, the largest youth baseball organization in the state, to create a web site for the more than 100 youth teams they had at the time.

What started out as a simple tool to collect scores and display league standings evolved into a project that over the course of a few years required over one thousand hours a year and became a fully functional resource for team scheduling, umpire scheduling, league fee payments, cancellation notices, tournament scheduling and a lot more. While working on the web site for the Metro Baseball League Ed also served on its board of directors from 1994–2005.

“In the end, I have been very fortunate to be able to combine the three things I dearly love - my family, baseball and computers. My sons have grown into outstanding young men who still love baseball. I hope the hundreds of young men that I have coached have grown up and matured into men. I have a great sense of satisfaction in what I have done and I hope that my efforts have allowed the league to function better and allowed the volunteers more time to concentrate on the most important thing in youth baseball – the players.”

 

 

2011
Dale Welter
Chaska, MN

A family man at heart, Dale Welter loves spending time with his wife, kids and grandkids but there is another side of Dale that is almost as important; baseball. For nearly all of his nearly 70-year-young life, Welter has found himself somewhere inside of America’s past time.

For Welter the love affair began on the farmlands of Chaska, MN. Growing up on a farm, Welter did not play organized sports. During that time it was the farm boys themselves who would organize game; squeezing them in between chores and meals. Welter often found himself being the one to steer the games toward stick-ball or pick-up baseball, but only when the cows agreed to share the pasture. Welter developed a love of baseball the way any kid develops a passion, he just played and played until mom or dad called him inside for one reason or another. Although he was not involved in organized sports himself, he did often get the opportunity to witness it. Welter recalls the special trips into town to watch the local townball team compete; furthering his desire to learn and play baseball.

Welter finally played organized baseball when he reached high school age. He played for Chaska High School and American Legion baseball in the summer. He followed up his prep days by playing at the University of Minnesota – Mankato and later for his beloved Chaska townball team for over 20 years. However, it was during his time in American Legion baseball where he began to think about a life in baseball.

Welter developed a strong relationship with his American Legion baseball coach who was also a teacher. He really admired what his coached did and began asking him about it; he was inspired to coach and teach as for his career and he did so at the high school level for 34 years and in many ways is still doing so.

Welter began his coaching career at Maple Lake High School where he was the head baseball and basketball coach as well as the Athletic Director from 1968-1970. Following Maple Lake he pursued his teaching aspiratios to Bloomington, MN where he spent time teaching, but all the while he really missed coaching. In 1978 he decided it was time to get back into coaching, while still teaching, so he became the head baseball coach at Eden Prairie High School until 1981. In 1981 he made the definitive move in his coaching career when he got the chance to return home to Chaska, MN to coach and teach. Welter was ecstatic about the chance to come back to where it all started and he made sure it would be the last place he would be a head coach staying for 28 years. During his tenure, Welter’s teams won five conference championships, made four trips to the Minnesote State High School Tournament and had 106 all-conference players. When it ended in 2008, Welter had amassed 346 wins, good enough to place him in the top 35 among all-time among retired and active coaches in the state of Minnesota.

Since the late ‘80s, Welter has also been heavily involved in the Minnesota Lions High School All Star Tournament; the premiere high school showcase tournament in the state of Minnesota. Welter still head the grounds crew where he oversees all the field details. He also oversees any player relations issues and helps organize the selection process. Because of the efforts of many, including Welter, the tournament has continued to grow while the focus remains on having the opportunity to honor as many of the talented kids state-wide as possible.

Welter has also played an integral part in the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association. He served a two-year term as president and was honored by selection to the MSHSBCA Hall of Fame in 2005; he remains active on the Advisory Board. Welter has also assissted with the set up and operation of the MSHSBCA Junior Showcase each year since it’s inception five years ago. His contributions range from advising on the operations to help selecting players to help operating a pitching machine for batting practice and anything in between. Welter also serves as an advisor for the planning of the annual MSHSBCA annual coaches clinic.

After a distinguished coaching career and induction into the MSHSBCA Hall of Fame and Minnesota State Amateur Hall of Fame and receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lake Conference you might think Welter has had enough. However he is still heavily involved with youth leagues, setting up coaching clinics, youth clinics and practices for Chaksa coaches, players and parents. Comfortable in his retirement, he has moved into a self-proclaimed consultant role, if anyone need any assistance he is always ready to help where needed.

Welter loves the game, you will find him at almost every baseball function in the state. If it means improving the game of baseball he is willing to imagine, create and execute it. Often times you see him around the ballpark in Chaska, but for Welter, his efforts are about baseball throughout the entire state of Minnesota. A true grassroots person, Welter does is simply for the love of the game.