New Ulm HALL OF FAME Member

Herb Schaper

Non-Player (Officer, Director, Promoter)

Selected 1991

          Herb Schaper has been involved in New Ulm amateur baseball for seven decades, from the 1940's to the present.

          Herb served as the president of the New Ulm board for seven years after serving two years as its secretary. At that time, only Frank Tauscheck had served as president longer (11 years).

          Schaper championed the fight to relight Johnson Park after its lights were torn down in 1966, and he promoted the game throughout the area as the New Ulm Journal sports editor and a KNUJ sports announcer. Herb published the "Who's Who in Western Minnesota League" books and organized and chaired Softball King Eddie Feigne's appearance against area baseball all-stars.

          Herb got his start in baseball as a ball shagger and ice cream hawker. He advanced to become the New Ulm Miller's team scorer in 1949, and he soon added official scoring, public address duties, and stats keeping to his resume.

          Schaper also championed the cause of preserving New Ulm's historical baseball tradition through the use of data, and he created the Minnesota Baseball Greats website when he was 74 years old. 

          Herb chaired the 50^th Anniversary of Johnson Park Baseball Commemorative Committee and has served as the organizer, secretary, executive director, and treasurer of the Hall of Fame committee. Schaper also chaired the New Ulm committee which attempted to secure the Minnesota Baseball Hall of Fame in New Ulm, and he was the public relations and promotion committee chairman for two state amateur tournaments held in New Ulm.

         Schaper was the secretary of the Great West baseball league in 1960 and the league director of the Minnesota River, Western Minnesota, and Tomahawk Leagues.