East Side History
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# 1 Tony Gagliardi - Long time Merchant great and historical lead-off hitter, led East Side to it's third Minnesota Class A State Tournament 2nd place finish in history against the Minneapolis Angels (1991).
# 2 Joe Robinson - Merchant great who holds the single season records for homeruns, slugging percentage and triples at Iowa Central Community College. Played Centerfield for the East Side Merchants during 2004 and 2005 season's.
# 2 Joe Casey - Long time Merchant great, drafted by the St. Louis Blues out of Boston College in 1976 where he played both Baseball and Hockey for the Eagles. Son of former Hall of Fame Minnesota Twins Public Address Announcer Bob Casey.
# 3 Joe Paatalo - Long time Merchant great, played collegiately at Division 1 Wichita State in Kansas. Undoubtedly the greatest hitter in the history of the St. Paul League, next to Tim Kiemel, and in the history of the East Side Merchants where he holds numerous personal records.
# 7 Mike Vogel - Long time Merchant great, helped establish the East Side Merchants along with teammate Tim Kiemel, son Luke plays 1st Base for cross-town rival Rosetown.
# 8 John Harris - Long time Merchant great, began his career as a Shortstop before moving to 1st Base. Holds East Side records for stolen bases and runs in a season. Helping lead the East Side Merchants to it's only Class A State Championship berth in '1991.
#10 Kenny Mauer - Long time Merchant great, played during the mid to late 1970's as a star second basemen. Is currently a professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) since the 1986-87 NBA season. As of the beginning of the 2006-07 NBA season, Mauer has officiated in 1,167 regular season and 67 playoff games, including two NBA Finals (including 2008 between the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics). Mauer attended Harding Senior High School and played four years for Tim Kiemel in St. Paul and later attended and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1977. At Minnesota, Mauer played baseball and was named an All-Big Ten player. Mauer comes from a family heavily involved in athletics. Ken is a second cousin of Major League Baseball catcher Joe Mauer.
# 11 Mike Casey - Long time Merchant great, graduate of the University of St. Thomas. East Side Merchant MVP in 1976. Former De La Salle Athletic Director at only 22 years-old became the head baseball coach at the Academy of Holy Angels before becoming a full-time scout for the Minnesota Twins in 1980. Current Vice President of U.S. Group Consolidator in Eagan, Minnesota. Son of former Hall of Fame Minnesota Twins Public Address Announcer Bob Casey.
# 11 Chris Kroohn - Long time Merchant great, graduate of the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. Holds Merchants record for most games started at catcher while leading them to a Class A State Tournament Championship berth in '1991.
# 14 John Anderson - A Long time East Side Merchant always known for throwing the "heavy ball". Tim Kiemel is quoted as saying, "14 would throw every Sunday for us, he wouldn't win many games but he'd still throw, I don't think he cared." Since his playing career concluded with the East Side Merchants John Anderson has long since been synonymous with Golden Gopher Baseball. Before blossoming into the head Baseball Coach at the University of Minnesota, Anderson was an assistant student manager under legendary hall of famer Dick Siebert. Since then, Anderson has led Minnesota to 15 NCAA postseason appearances since '1981. Anderson has compiled a 946-591-3 (.615) overall record in 26 seasons at Minnesota, and is the winningest coach in Big Ten and Golden Gopher Baseball history with a record of 427-229 (.651). In his 26 seasons with the Golden Gophers, he has won eight regular-season titles (including four Wester Division titles) and eight Big Ten Tournament titles. Anderson has been named the Big Ten Coach of the year nine times.
# 14 Tim Kiemel Jr.- Son of Tim Kiemel Sr., and one of the greatest Merchants ever to roam the outfield. Current Assistant coach at Park of Cottage Grove where he has further developed current Merchants Deryk Marks, Brian Olson, Jason Kickhafer, Jay Melson, Steve Bahl, and Matt Doornink.
# 17 Joe Ross - Long time Merchant great, caught for East Side from '76-79. Attended Hill Murray High School and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Ross was named NJCAA North Central coach of the year twice, NJCAA Region 13 coach of the year four times, MCCC (Minnesota Community College Conference) coach of the year three times and NAIA District 14 coach of the year twice. Ross has also served as a scout in the Mets and Yankees organizations. Ross has spent the past 17 years as the associate assistant head coach for the University of Washington Huskies Baseball program in Seattle, Washington.
# 21 Dave Rueber - Son of Tim Kiemel Sr., long time Shortstop who began Merchant career in Centerfield before taking over for Dan Walseth in '2005. Played collegiately at the University of Wisconsin-Stout before playing semi-professionally for the Eau Claire Cavaliers in the summer of 2004.
# 23 Tim Kiemel Sr. - Arguably the greatest, longest tenured player in the history of Amateur Baseball throughout the state of Minnesota. A former Luther College (Iowa) and Chicago Cubs standout, Kiemel brought about the creation of the St. Paul Merchants shortly after the conclusion of his professional playing career. Kiemel helped further established the foundation of the great St. Paul League during the late 60's while also handling managing, bus driving, scheduling, and playing duties. As a former Third basemen, Kiemel holds every offensive record for the East Side Merchants while also holding numerous statistical records in St. Paul League play in homeruns, runs batted in, singles, doubles, total bases, and lifetime batting average. Known simply as "Solider" Tim Kiemel will go down as one of the greatest Amateur players of all-time and as the greatest Merchant to ever live. In the summer of 2008, Kiemel's legendary number 23 will be retired and never worn again.
# 30 Kent Ole "K.O." Paulson - Long time Merchant great, had more swinging punts and more catchers interference calls than any other player in the history of Amateur Baseball. Son, Chris Paulson, is also a current Merchant and collegiate standout at the University of Washington at St. Louis. "K.O" just recently retired from coaching high school baseball at Roseville Area High School. He also starred in the critically acclaimed film, "Little Big League".
# 28 Mike Marshall - Former National League Cy Young Award Winner in 1974 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Was named the National League Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News and member of the National League All Star Teams in 1974 and 1975. Named Fireman of the Year by The Sporting News with three different teams: in the NL in 1973 with the Montreal Expos and 1974 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a third time in 1979 in the American League with the Minnesota Twins. Marshall led his league in games pitched four times, saves three times, and games finished five times. He is the major league record holder for most appearances (games pitched) in one season with (106) in 1974, 12 more than the next highest total. Marshall attended Michigan State University, earning three degrees, including a Ph.D. in kinesiology. Marshall now teaches a pitching method he developed that he "believes" could completely eradicate pitching-arm injuries. Check out his personalized website at www.drmikemarshall.com.
# 31 Keith Bateman - Former Merchant great, three-time All-MIAC selection (1996-98) at Bethel College where Bateman earned All-Midwest Region honors as a catcher in his senior season. Bateman holds the Bethel career record for hits, along with single-season school record forbatting average. Current Augsburg Auggie Head Coach and former St. Paul Harding graduate under Tim Kiemel.
# 41 Joe "Stallone" Caffrey - Former Merchant great who filled the void as the teams everyday 1st Basemen throughout much of the late 1970's. To this day, Joe "Stallone" Caffrey still holds the Merchant record for 19 consecutive games with a hit. Joe played collegiate hockey with fellow team-mate Joe Casey at Boston College before becoming apart of the KSTP Channel 9 Company, where he still remains today.
Miami Herald, The (FL) - July 7, 1982
Author: Patrick Reusse Knight-Ridder News Service
It has been a frightful bottom of the seventh inning. The pitcher has coasted into the final inning with the score 11-3, but through combinations of bloop hits and misplays by the defense, the lead had been reduced to five runs, and the bases are loaded with two outs.
Now, the batter lifts a sky-high fly ball to the outfield and against the strong wind and the bright sun, the left fielder attempted to maneuver into position to make the catch. There was no assurance this would happen, since the left fielder, among others, had gone through a difficult afternoon.
The pitcher moved off the mound and looked toward the outfield. It was not a confident look and when the fly ball plopped into his teammate's glove, the pitcher smiled and shook his head from side-to-side.
"Thank You!!!," Mike Marshall shouted in the direction of the left fielder. Then, he smiled some more and accepted handshakes from teammates, who seemed a bit sheepish in their congratulations after the half-inning of misplays.
Marshall tried to get the fellow members of the East Side Merchants off the hook by saying something about the bad hops in the infield and the difficult conditions in the outfield. But Tim Kiemel, the Merchants' manager, came past and said, "Put something in the story about how lousy we played."
When he signed on with the Twins in 1978, and again as a free agent after that season, Mike Marshall contended it was not the money, but a passion for competition that kept him pitching.
Since Marshall's final contract with the Twins called for $850,000 over a three-year period, the talk about the thrill of the competition seemed simply to be more of Iron Mike's expansive rhetoric.
But there is no money in pitching for Marshall now, and that is how he has been spending his Sunday afternoons lately. There does not seem to be a perceptible difference in the intensity Marshall brings to a game in the St. Paul Amateur League and the emotion spent by Iron Mike while pitching for large dollars.
Mike Marshall 's stormy relationship with the Twins was chronicled in volumes, to the point most everyone ignored the reason Iron Mike was drawn to baseball in the first place. Beyond all the words, beyond all the strong and often outlandish opinions, Marshall possesses an unwavering affection for the game of baseball, and for playing it right.
"I've been to the Metrodome to watch the Twins several times, and I tune in the televised games," Marshall said. "Frequently, I wind up having to turn them off because I can't stand to watch bad baseball.
"I saw Bobby Castillo pitch a beautiful game, but the defense had no idea where to play. If Castillo's defense had been positioned properly, he would have won the game, 3-1. Instead, he lost, 4-3."
Marshall paused for a moment and then said with disgust, "It has to be the manager. He must not have an idea. I can assure you Gene Mauch would not make those mistakes."
It was Mauch who brought Marshall to the Twins in 1978, it was Mauch who also insisted Calvin Griffith give Marshall the large contract at the end of that season, and it was Mauch who insisted on Marshall's release in June 1980.
There were nasty words exchanged then, but, two years later, Marshall prefers to remember the happier moments of his relationship with Mauch, when they cooperated to turn Iron Mike into the most durable relief pitcher in baseball's history.
To Marshall, pitching was not trying to blow fastballs past a hitter. It was throwing specific pitches in a specific sequence to specific areas, so that the hitters would hit the ball in a specific way to defenders who were standing in a specific position. Mauch was the first manager Marshall found who would listen to his theories.
Pitching was a mind game, not a power game to Mike Marshall and, on a dusty ball field adjacent to Woodbury High School, it stays that way.
"I'm sure I could blow the fastball past some of these hitters, but I'm not interested in pitching that way," Marshall said. "I treat this as I have always treated pitching. I throw all of my pitches, and the idea is the same; to take the sting out of the bat."
It could not be a conversation with Marshall if that phrase was not included, "take the sting out of the bat." When Iron Mike would enter a game and the result was not positive, more often than not, Marshall would explain it by saying, "I took the sting out of the bat. It is all I can do."
The media and the populace, and finally Gene Mauch, tired of the explanation, but it was Marshall's theory and, perhaps, the defense mechanism that made him a great relief pitcher and it still is with him today.
Pitching for the East Side Merchants, Marshall will turn to his teammates and wave them a few steps in a different direction. Between innings, Marshall is involved in almost constant conversation with one teammate or another.
"I do offer advice. I guess offering advice is in every Ph.D's nature," said Marshall, a doctor of kinesiology. "I came from grassroots' baseball, and I feel very much at home here.
Marshall remains convinced he can pitch in the big leagues: would you expect any less from the good doctor? But, he is convinced, finally, that it is over for him. Marshall has suggested to friends he has been blacklisted, and he was asked about that charge.
"What do you think? Last year, I pitched in 22 games for the Mets, with an ERA of 2.60," Marshall said. "Does that sound like someone who can't pitch in the big leagues?"
Marshall was released as soon as the Mets fired his friend, Joe Torre, as manager and has not heard from a major league team since. These days, Marshall, 39 last January, seems more intrigued by coaching college baseball than pursuing any remote chance to return to the big leagues.
"The opportunity to give instruction to college players fascinates me," Marshall said. "I attended most of the University of Minnesota's games this season, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is unfortunate they do not have the chance to receive first-grade instruction."
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Charley Walters; Staff Writer
March 3rd, 2008
Local amateur baseball legend Tim Kiemel, 65, who has played infield for the top-tier East Side Merchants team since 1966, is switching to the over-35 Crosstown Traffic team this year. "Too hard on my body; I can't run as well, and that's not fair to the kids," said Kiemel, who has a batting cage in his backyard in Afton.
Star Tribune
Patrick Reusse; Staff Writer
May 7th, 2005
Stan Jeske and Tim Kiemel came home from college to play a few summers of baseball for the Union Printers team in the St. Paul Municipal League.
"We played a couple of games a week," Kiemel said. "Jeske and I agreed that we wanted to play more baseball than that."
Kiemel was signed by the Chicago Cubs after his senior year at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He played one season as a Third Baseman in the low minors.
"I was offered a job teaching history at (St. Paul) Harding," he said. "I was married with two kids. It wasn't a tough decision to make really; take a teaching job at my alma mater, or chase a long, long shot in baseball."
Kiemel went to work at St. Paul Harding High School in the fall of 1965. When the next summer came, he and Jeske had formed the East Side Merchants to compete in the St. Paul Municipal League.
Obviously, a number of businesses on the East Side got together to cover the expenses for this upstart amateur team - right, Tim?
"Not exactly," he said. "There had been a team with that name in the early 1950's. I called the old timer who had run that team and said, "Do you know what happened to those uniforms?"
"His answer was, `I still got them over here. You can have them." That's how we became the East Side Merchants - to go with the name on those original uniforms - and we've never changed the tradition, never" Kiemel said.
Jeske gave up baseball after a few years to concentrate on family obligations. Kiemel filled the void, and then some. Forty summers after the Merchants uniforms came out of mothballs and dust, Kiemel will again be a player, manager and chief financier of the Merchants.
"The players kick in $100 apiece, plus they are responsible for their bats and pants," Kiemel said. "I throw in the rest of what we need to run it, which was about four grand last year."
The Merchants have made up only a portion of Kiemel's baseball passion. He was the head coach at Harding High School for 33 years, giving up that role when he retired as a teacher in '2002. Now he's a volunteer assistant at Park of Cottage Grove, where Reid Tschumperlin is the head coach and Kiemel's son, Tim Jr., is the assistant.
There is also senior baseball. Kiemel, 61, has played in a 35-and-over league since '1992.
Jim Lawton, 58, is the player/manager of Highland Park, a longtime Merchants' rival in the St. Paul League.
"The difference between Kiemel and me is I know I'm too old for this," Lawton said. "I bat 20 to 25 times a season, and that's when we're shorthanded. Kiemel gives himself four at-bats every game. He'll play any place, anywhere, as long as it means he will get four at-bats."
Kiemel played in 102 games last season - 55 for the Merchants, 30-some in the local senior league and the rest in senior tournaments in Fort Myers, Fla., Phoenix and Las Vegas.
"We only have 52 games scheduled with the Merchants this summer," Kiemel said. "The younger guys don't want to play that much. They have things in their lives with a higher priority than baseball."
Kiemel stared at the grass in front of him, shook his head and said: "I suppose that's the way it should be, to have other priorities, but "
He paused again, looked at the cutout of an infield in that grass, and said: "The schedule we use to have with the Merchants ended a lot of marriages. Including mine."
Kiemel was remarried 12 years ago to Maureen Rueber, a Harding teacher.
"She loves baseball," Tim said. "She's the one who convinced me to start going to Fort Myers in the fall - to play in all those tournaments, to play more baseball."
Kiemel was sitting in the home dugout at Park's home field on Friday afternoon. Stillwater would soon arrive for a Suburban East Conference game against the Park of Cottage Grove Wolfpack.
Kiemel looked at his watch. "Maureen's going to be here at 5:30," he said. "She's picking me up and driving me to the game."
You're getting forgetful, Tim. You're at the game.
"I got another one," he said. "I'm playing an over-35 game tonight."
Ernie Banks has the copyright on "Let's play two." For Kiemel, it's not a slogan but an existence.
"The Merchants played 98 games one year," said Tim Jr., a fixture on his father's teams. "We had a doubleheader every Saturday. Then, on Sundays, we would play our St. Paul League games in the afternoon, then go play a game in Wisconsin - Ellsworth, Menomonie, or New Richmond - at night."
Tim Sr. nodded and said: "I've always had a 12-seat van. If a player wants a ride, he's there at the set time. And, if he wants to take batting practice, he gets there an hour early."
Batting practice? "I have a cage and a pitching machine in the backyard," he said.
Of course you do, Mr. Kiemel.
