Left: Butch Hert, center left, and Jeff Justesen pose with the newly-revealed sign for the Little League area on Kramer Field. Above, board president Ronnie Glenn begins the ceremonies.
Left: Butch Hert, center left, and Jeff Justesen pose with the newly-revealed sign for the Little League area on Kramer Field. Above, board president Ronnie Glenn begins the ceremonies.
THE DALLES — To honor a coach of many decades, Butch Hert, Wasco County leaders gathered to rename the Babe Ruth facilities on the season’s opening day, April 11.
But first, David McBride threw the year’s ceremonial first pitch. He’s been playing baseball since he was 8years old, started coaching with a Babe Ruth team in 1984, and has been at it ever since.
Commissioner Phil Brady then welcomed the year’s 425 players.
Commissioner Phil Brady, left, speaks from the mound.
Martin Gibson photo
“I want to begin by speaking to the coaches and say thank you for your work, your service will be remembered,” said Brady, noting his own memories of coach John Byers. “He taught us that the most important thing we’re learning here is teamwork. ...we’ve all been able to watch the incredible flight of the Artemis mission: Every astronaut will say it’s teamwork. It’s the four of us supported by hundreds of ground control, thousands building the equipment that makes it all look so easy.
“That teamwork starts right here on the baseball field, where we learn that we don’t let our teammates down.”
From 47 teams, with almost 250 games of baseball and softball on the schedule, that should be something to watch.
Commissioner Jeff Justesen then called the unsuspecting Butch Hert to the Little League mound to honor his career in Little League coaching.
Butch Hert and Ali Postlewait, Wasco County, listen to the commissioners speak.
Martin Gibson photo
Hert began watching his dad and uncles play grange softball on a team managed by his grandad. His dad was his first coach. He won a high school state championship in his junior year. He took an aluminum plant job in The Dalles in 1964 and worked here for 46 years. He’s been coach, president of the American Little League, regional commissioner for Babe Ruth, and later half of a traveling husband-and-wife team that ran tournaments across the Northwest and into Canada, bringing multiple regional tournaments to The Dalles. He also ran efforts to ship two softball teams to the Babe Ruth World Series in Florida, all helped by a team of volunteer he’s quick to credit, Justesen said. “And of course, almost everyone here has had a hamburger at Quinton Street that Butch has cooked.”
He added, “He says he takes the most pride in having given so many players in this area the opportunity to play baseball. Never did he tell a player they cannot play on a team: If they were short on funds, didn’t get signed up on time, missed tryouts or had something unforeseen occur, he didn’t say no. He would get a waiver, adjust a roster, or pay the fees out of his own pocket.”
Jeff Justesen reads a speech honoring Butch Hert's work with Little League.
Martin Gibson photo
In thanks, the Kramer Little League Field was officially renamed that day, as two men pulled the sheets off a shining new sign that reads, “Hert Field.”
Information on The Dalles Little League is online at www.thedallesll.com. There’s games every week.
Commissioners, coaches, staff, TDLL board, and friends gather around the new sign.
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