New Ulm Sports Central - Preserving and Sharing New Ulm Area Sports History

To ensure that the 500th hit in amateur baseball for Scott Schaefer is duly recorded in New Ulm's athletic history, NUSC has placed Jim Bastian's column in both this archiving position and also will create it as a special object among the all-time historic records. This allows the column to be found by using either of two search engines (see left side) which are part of this website: "Search NUSC's Current Articles" and "Search Sports History From Yesteryear". Bastian's article follows.

Brewers baseball player reaches milestone
POSTED July 2010 New Ulm Journal

By Jim Bastian, Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM - July 10th was not a special day for the vast majority of New Ulmites - it did not hold special significance to them.
But that is not the case for the New Ulm Brewers' Scott Schaefer.
That night in a game with Springfield at Johnson Park, Schaefer laced a single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning.
And to many people at Johnson Park, it was nothing special and many fans at the game wondered why Brewer players immediately asked home plate umpire Keith Klawitter for the baseball.
Schaefer's base hit off of right-hander Jason Nachreiner was his 500th hit in his amateur baseball career in New Ulm.
He now joins come elite company in Tom Steinbach and Brady Ranweiler who each have collected 500 career hits playing amateur baseball here in New Ulm.
Schaefer said that he did not know that he was close to 500 career hits until he was inducted into the New Ulm Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in June.
"They said that I was then at 490 career hits," Schaefer said about the statistics that were collected by New Ulm Baseball Historian Ron Reinhart. "That was kind of neat."
Schaefer gradually climbed closer to the "500 Club" and following a single in a game at Redwood Falls for his 499th career hit, he needed one hit to put him into baseball history here in New Ulm.
"But I knew that I really wanted to get that (500th) hit at home," he said. "That is where I would have preferred to do it. Johnson Park is where I have always played."
In his first two at-bats Saturday he had walked before he popped up in his next at-bat.
But in his fourth plate appearance, Schaefer drove a 2-2 pitch between short and third to reach the 500 mark.
"I just wanted to get it done," said Schaefer who got the hit in front of his family including his parents along with his wife, Jamie, daughter Emma, 9, and sons Ian, 6 and Elliot, 2.
When asked what 500 hits means to him, Schaefer said that "it is just a number. It does have a lot of meaning to it."
Schaefer also did remember his first hit in amateur baseball when he was playing for the New Ulm Kaiserhoff back in 1993.
"I never thought that I would get 500 hits," he said. "I am glad that I have been able to play as long as I have been here in New Ulm. I did spend a season driving back and forth from the Twin Cities before I was able to get a job here in New Ulm. I am very fortunate to have been able to stay in New Ulm."
Saturday was also a busy day for Schaefer before his game against Springfield. That afternoon, Schaefer caught for the Searles Bullheads in the Over-35 League.
"I did not have a hit that game," said Schaefer who is 36-years old this year. "But I played (with Searles) the next day. I played four games this past weekend so I was sore. The game on Sunday, I sat on the bench for five innings just to recover. I caught both games for the Bullheads."
Schaefer said that he does not know how long he will play baseball yet.
"I still enjoy it but my time commitments will change with my kids playing softball and baseball," he said.