New mini-Target Field replica in Webster named after 1973 WHS graduate Laurel Prieb

WEBSTER — A life in baseball came full circle for 1973 Webster High School graduate Laurel Prieb on Friday.

That's the day that Webster held a grand opening for its new Casual Play Field at the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex. The field, a mini-replica of the Minnesota Twins' Target Field, was named in honor of Prieb.

Prieb enjoyed a 44-year career in Major League Baseball that started with 14 years as the traveling secretary for the Minnesota Twins.

"To have a life in baseball was really beyond anything I could have imagined," said Prieb. "But it all started here (in Webster) and it all started on that place (old baseball field) on West 10th Avenue with that wood grandstand."

That place Prieb was referring too doesn't have the ball field anymore.

Longtime Webster Mayor Mike Grosek, who served as the master of ceremonies for Friday's program, told those in attendance how it all happened. It started when a foam industry in Webster burned down in the 1980s, making land available before a movement to build new baseball and softball fields started to gain momentum in the 1990s.

After surveying the public, ground was broken in 2000 on the new $700,000 Veterans Memorial Sports Complex. The complex includes a regulation-sized baseball field (Bob Wiley Field), two youth fields for softball and baseball and the new Laurel Prieb Field. The original complex was paid for with money saved by the City Council from sales tax. More than $100,000 has been raised to cover the cost of the new Laurel Prieb Field.

The complex top-notch facility and a lengthy project that has been spearheaded by Webster American Legion Baseball Coach Chad Hesla and a large group of volunteers working with him.

"Chad with his passion, his dedication and his dream. This is what has come about," said Grosek. "A lot of teams and towns around the state wish they had this facility. This is not just a nice ballpark. It's a super baseball complex."

Prieb, whose wife Wendy is the daughter of former Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, also spent 14 years working for the Milwaukee Brewers (a team owned by Selig at one time) and 16 years with Major League Baseball. The Priebs and their daughter Natalie were all on hand Friday, although Prieb thought his presence in Webster was essentially due to his 50th class reunion.

Hesla had asked Prieb to make some comments at the ceremony, but he supposedly didn't know that the field was going to be named in his honor. It's a not a Major League field, but to have any baseball field named in your honor has to be a good thing.

"This is unbelievable," Prieb said after being introduced by Grosek. "I was just going to say thank you and good night. I suppose I will have to indulge you a little longer."

Friday's program also included Dave St. Peter, the president and chief executive officer of the Minnesota Twins; Mark Weber, director of Florida business operations for the Twins; and Augustana University President Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Prieb graduated from Augustana.

City Council; members and donors, contractors and volunteers who assisted with the construction of the casual play field were recognized.

St. Peter and Weber joined to give Prieb is very own Minnesota Twins jersey.

"I don't know what type of player Laurel was, but I do know what type of man Laurel is," said St. Peter. "This is a man who would go on to spend parts of five decades working in Major League Baseball. Throughout that time, Laurel demonstrated a level of professionalism, class and attention to detail that I think we can all learn from. I want to congratulate you. You deserve all of this and more."

A number of other people Prieb worked with in his MLB career also offered video tributes that were displayed on a video board behind the center field wall. The first video tribute came from his father-in-law Bud Selig.

Each of Webster's youth baseball and softball teams were announced and also got to watch the program.

Prieb says he'll continue to monitor everything going on with baseball and the complex in Webster and is hopeful that the efforts will pay off by inspiring other youngsters in the town to develop the same love of the game he has.

"I look back at the magic of baseball and what it can do," said Prieb. "And I just pray that it can be as a result of everything on this complex might instill that same love of this great game, the diamond game, to all of you and generations to come.

"Thank you to all of you for being here today and for all of you who play this game, continue to love it and embrace it. It's the best. There's no game like it and I thank you for this incredible, humbling honor today."

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: A life in baseball comes full circle for 1973 Webster grad Laurel Prieb