605 Sports 

MITCHELL — The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association honored Rusty Antonen of Lake Norden with its Ralph Macy “Man of the Year” award.

Antonen, who has been the caretaker of the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in Lake Norden for the past 34 years was presented with a plaque between games of last week’s first round action at the state amateur baseball tournament.

Every summer since 1987, Antonen has walked across the street from his office at J&R Distributing to unlock the doors to the hall of fame and then walk back over to lock it up at night.

During the winter, he keeps a key for visitors to view the countless artifacts that tell the story of amateur baseball in South Dakota. In addition to caring for the memorabilia, Antonen pays the bills, records donations and takes care of any maintenance issues that comes up.

In 1985 an addition was added to the hall of fame building and in 2010 the hall of fame underwent a remodel and reorganization, which was mostly funded by a donation from First Premier Bank.