Joe Bares inducted into Baseball HOF

REDWOOD FALLS — Joe Bares never played baseball. He never coached baseball. At the Div. II State Tournament Banquet in Redwood Falls on Aug. 1, he was inducted into the Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame.

Wait? What?

The community of Jordan had a strong baseball program in the mid-2000s; however, Jordan Post 3 wasn’t all that active. Bares said it had around 15 members. In 2008, three members held a revitalization. They wanted the post to exist for baseball and for the veterans.

Jordan hosted a district tournament. Bares got to know 3rd District Baseball Director Bob Zellmann and started helping him.

Meanwhile, Jordan coach Ron Beckman was producing great Jordan Post 3 teams, ones that featured the legendary Tanner, Tyler and TJ Oakes. The Oakes boys were named Graduates of the Year at the Div. I Banquet in Osseo on July 31.

In 2013, Bares was at the Div. II State Tournament in Bird Island, and State Director Darwin Berg and 2nd District Director Rocky Wedin were watching a game. Bares asked, “Need help?” And since then, he’s been helping out at the Div. II state tourney annually. He also helps 3rd District Director Bruce Young with substate action.

“I’m just a veteran who wanted to help with the program,” Bares said.

Post 3 membership went up, and it presently is at 54 members. It does more than just baseball, too. It sends boys and girls to Boys/Girls State, and it sends kids to the Oratorical Contest, too. It helped raise funds for Jordan’s Veterans Park and is involved in Veterans Day and Memorial Day observances.

Bares was Post 3 commander for eight years and now serves as membership director. He is involved in the 3rd District. At the Department of Minnesota, he sits on the Credentials Committee, which organizes and tracks voting strength of delegates at conventions.

Bares grew up on a farm near Tyndall, S.D. He has three older brothers and three younger sisters.

He served five years in the Navy, never on a ship. He worked security in Italy, at Naval Air Station Sigonella. He was stationed there during the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in 1985. Next, he was at Jacksonville, Fla., at NAS Cecil Field. After some schooling, he worked for eight years in South Dakota before coming to Jordan for the past 25.

“Jordan was a great community to raise a family,” he said. “We had an opportunity to move to Sioux Falls. My family was against it, and I am glad I stayed.”

Legionnaires can find him voluntarily attending Baseball Committee meetings and helping out with Pheasant Feed Committee efforts. Now, they will find him in the Baseball Hall of Fame, too, listed near the back of the rulebook.