SLAYTON BASEBALL IS A LOVE THAT RUNS DEEP BUT NOT AS DEEP AS LARRY MANCH’S LOVE OF HIS HOMETOWN

The game of baseball has always meant much to Slayton and its people.

Now a native son whose family has an extensive connection to both the town and the game has written a book detailing our community’s love affair with America’s Pastime.

Larry D. Mansch, a 1976 graduate of Slayton High, recently completed “Hometown,” an ode to baseball and its history in Murray County.

The book, which features Forewords by famed writer Patrick Reusse and former major-league pitcher Dana Kiecker — both of whom are noted Minnesota baseball authorities — includes more than two dozen chapters devoted to particular Slayton natives and their experiences in the game.

The men come from notable Slayton families, with familiar names such as Beers, VandeVelde, Lucker, Cote, McClintock, Sandmann, Gerber, Johnson, Engebetson, Rice, Peters, Prahm, Huyink, Bothof, Ohme, Stafne, Bennett, Dillon, Konkol, Boelter, Morin, Denker and Grieme.

The chapters are written in firstperson style by Mansch, who took inspiration from one of the most famed baseball books, “The Glory Of Their Times” by Lawrence Ritter. Each individual story details the highlights, heroes, history and high jinks that remain fresh in the memories of the Slayton men through growing up and playing ball in their hometown.

Kiecker, who grew up near Slayton in Fairfax and pitched for the Boston Red Sox before returning to Minnesota and playing Town Ball, wrote this: “Hometown will put you back in the seats on a summer afternoon in Slayton, Minnesota, watching the Wildcats or the Rockets, with a warm breeze blowing in from left field.”

Reusse, who grew up in Fulda and has a long history with baseball in the state, dating back to his father’s involvement with the Slayton Rockets’ longtime rival Fulda Giants, wrote this: “(I endorse) Larry Mansch’s effort here to put Slayton and its athletes in a fine light. As a Fulda boy, I must say that this was an almost insurmountable task that Mr. Mansch has pulled off.”

There are dozens of tales in the book devoted to Slayton baseball, from Little League to high school to Town Ball. It’s a journey that takes the reader through stories involving fathers and sons, brothers and brethren, teammates and towns, and friends and foes.

On Sept. 30, Mansch plans a book launch party in Slayton with his interview subjects and guests.

The book is the sixth of Mansch’s career. A standout athlete at Slayton High and one of the high school’s few 1,000-point scorers in basketball, Mansch graduated from Hamline University. He later obtained a law degree from Creighton University and had a long career as an attorney and high school History teacher. Mansch also served for decades in the US Army’s Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, retiring as a Colonel.

Mansch’s book “Hometown” is available for purchase online at Barnes and Noble.