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The Minnesota Twins recently donated $5,000 to assist in the rebuilding of Stockton’s Ralph Benicke Memorial Field.
The field, once home to adjacent, fenced-in softball and baseball diamonds, was destroyed by flooding in August. Border fencing was pulled from the ground, infield material washed away and chain-link backstops became unscientific flood-level gauges, clogged with grass and debris.
“They used to keep it so nice,” said Orphie Kukowski, a Stockton resident who lives across the street from the field and couldn’t return home for two months after the floods. “The outfield grass was beautiful. They used to have a lot of ball games out here.”
A matching grant — the Stockton Area Promotional Group has agreed to match the donation — the Twins’ donation will be combined with $37,000 allotted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bring baseball and softball back to Stockton.
Stockton is the third area recipient of a Twins’ grant. Minnesota City and the Winona Winhawk Baseball Club also received $5,000 donations this summer.
The Ralph Benicke Memorial facilities were the home field of two co-ed youth baseball teams, Hope Lutheran High School’s softball team and a recreational softball team.
With the field stripped down to dirt and spotty grass for the past 11 months, it was used intermittently as a staging area for fill and debris. It forced the youth baseball teams to suspend their seasons, while Hope Lutheran played its home softball games in Rollingstone, Minn., and the rec softball team played all its games on the road.
Wendy Peterson, a baseball mom, brought the Twins’ grant to the attention of Stockton clerk and treasurer Beth Winchester.
“It’s really the only youth program we have in Stockton,” said Dave Johannes, a Stockton youth baseball coach who’s helping to organize the rebuilding. “There’s no other program like it for kids.”
Rebuilding will have to begin soon. The FEMA allocation came with a stipulation that the money be put to use within one year.
“Unfortunately, the ball fields have taken a back seat to other projects,” Winchester said. “We still hope to be done by the fall.”
The Twins’ grant, which was approved by the Twins Community Fund Board of Directors, is part of the Fields for Kids program. Since its inception in 1999, the program has contributed more than $1.3 million to help renovate 357 ball fields in the Upper Midwest, Southwest Florida and Latin America.
