SIOUX FALLS/MADISON – Five former greats will be inducted into the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame this September.
The new inductees include Mike Garry and Brad Goldstine of Sioux Falls, Pat Schmidt of Dell Rapids, Lee Stoddard of Madison and Lonni Stover of Redfield.
The Hall of Fame class will be recognized on Saturday, Aug. 11, during semifinal day of the State Amateur Baseball Tournament in Sioux Falls.
The Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29, at Nicky’s Restaurant and Lounge in Madison. Further details on the banquet will be finalized in the coming weeks.
Mike Garry
Garry played for Montrose, the Sioux Falls Merchants and Harrisburg during a 22-year amateur baseball career in which he batted .335 and compiled 154 pitching victories.
His baseball career included Little League, Teener and American Legion ball. He also played four years at Sioux Falls College (now the University of Sioux Falls) and was selected to the Tri-State Honor team in 1972 and 1973.
During his three years of amateur ball in Montrose, he recorded consecutive no-hitters against Marion and Spencer – a state record. He spent one year with the Sioux Falls Merchants and played in the Class A state tournament before closing with a 15-year stretch (1978-1992) with Class B Harrisburg.
He played in 11 state tournaments, including two as a pickup player with Canova and Larchwood (Iowa) and eight with Harrisburg – which finished second in the 1982 state B tournament and also reached the semifinals in 1980, 1981 and 1984. Garry played on Cornbelt League All-Star teams in 1984 and 1986 and earned all-tourney honors at the state tournament in 1980, 1981 and 1983.
Garry also played in the Over-40 Men’s Senior Baseball World Series in 1992 and coached youth baseball in Harrisburg for 15 years. He also coached Harrisburg’s amateur team for one season.
Brad Goldstine
The Bridgewater native also enjoyed plenty of success as a hitter and pitcher during a nearly two-decade amateur baseball career with teams in Emery, Bridgewater, Salem and the Renner Monarchs.
A four-year college football starter at South Dakota Tech in Rapid City, Goldstine never hit below .370 in his first 15 seasons of amateur ball. He batted over .500 one season in Bridgewater and well over .400 in another at Salem. He also compiled a 10-0 regular-season pitching record one season at Salem and compiled a 26-game hitting streak in 1976.
The left-handed hitter and thrower spent more than a decade at the close of his career as a mainstay for the Class B powerhouse Renner Monarchs, where he compiled a 17-2 record on the mound and earned the team’s most valuable player honors in both 1979 and 1984.
Goldstine played on Renner state championship teams in 1980 and 1983, and earned all-tourney honors at the state tournament in 1979 and 1982.
Lee Stoddard
The Parker native also spent nearly 20 years as a standout player for amateur teams in Lennox, Montrose, Freeman and Arlington-Oldham before playing his final 12 years with the Madison Broncos.
The Broncos, with Stoddard as one of the leaders, captured state championships in 1974, 1978 amd 1981 and also reached the semifinals in 1970, 1977 and 1979. Stoddard served as the player-manager for the 1978 state champions.
Stoddard started playing organized baseball at the age of six in Parker and also played Teener and American Legion baseball in Parker before serving as a first baseman and pitcher at General Beadle College (now Dakota State University) in Madison.
Noted as a power hitter, Stoddard batted over .350 during his amateur career and recorded two five-hit games in the state tournament in 1977 and 1979.
Stoddard earned all-tournament honors in the state tournament five times – 1970, 1972, 1974, 1977 and 1979.
Pat Schmidt
Schmidt played collegiate baseball at South Dakota State University in Brookings before embarking on a notable amateur career as a standout hitter and shortstop that spanned from 1989 through 2015.
He was a mainstay both offensively and defensively for much of his career as a member of Dell Rapids PBR, which claimed Class B state titles in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002.
Schmidt consistently batted over .400 for much of his career and had two seasons where he batted over .500. He earned Class B all-tournament honors at state in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996, and was named the Class B MVP in 1994.
He played in 19 state tournaments – 16 with Dell Rapids PBR from 1989 through 2005, one as a pickup player for Garretson in 2009 and two with the Renner Old Timers (Over 40) in 2010 and 2012.
Lonni Stover
The Webster native opened his 26-year amateur baseball career with his hometown Dux before closing it with an 18-year run as a member of the Redfield Dairy Queen teams that compiled a record of 520-118 from 1995 through 2012.
Stover was a regular on the mound and in the lineup for the Redfield teams that won 16 district championships and state Class B titles in 2000 and 2006. Stover was named the Class B MVP in the 2000 state tournament and went 12-0 on the mound that season.
The right-handed hurler won 176 games and lost only 36 during his career, going 42-19 with Webster and 134-17 with Redfield. He notched 30 consecutive wins from 2000 through 2002 and went 26-6 in the postseason for the DQ teams.
The former basketball standout, who led Webster to the state B title and earned the state’s Mr. Basketball Award in 1982 before playing collegiately at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, also batted .292 during his career with Redfield.
