West suburban coach wins national honor

Jim Peck, who began coaching youth baseball in Minnetonka in 1964, was surprised with a national award during a banquet July 31 in Osseo.

The huge plaque he received that night came from the national level of American Legion Baseball. The plaque mainly recognized Peck’s service to the American Legion, but his footprint in the state baseball landscape extends to other organizations and programs.

Peck, who owned Deephaven Drug and worked as a local pharmacist, wanted to volunteer in the community when he moved to town in the early 1960s. He found out that there was a baseball program close to home at Bennett Family Park and he volunteered to coach in the Babe Ruth Baseball program.

As he met people in the community, Peck discovered a passing for baseball in East Tonka. By the early 1970s, he had built one of the state’s strongest Babe Ruth Leagues with the help of others, including his good friend and co-coach, Guy Blessing.

After winning two state championships in the Babe Ruth 15-and-Under Division, Peck decided he wanted to move up to the Legion level, which serves players ages 16-19. Some of his Babe Ruth players moved up to the Legion level with him and he developed winning teams with players like Jim Stubbs, Lane Brettingen, Chris Buck, Mitchell Benson, Russell Jersak, Jon Morgan and Dick Crawford.

During his long and successful Legion baseball career, Peck has more wins than any other coach - 1, 940 to be exact. He has handed the reins of the Excelsior Legion program to Rob Hager, and the Fire Club, as the team is called, continues to thrive.

Now in his 80s, Peck stays in touch with the game as one of the State American Legion directors and as general manager of the Excelsior Legion team. He was a site director last weekend at the State Division I Legion Baseball Tournament in St. Michael, Osseo and Maple Grove.

“I became involved in coaching to impact the lives of young people,” Peck said during a break in the action at Maple Grove’s Gleason Field last week. “If I have helped save even one kid, then this has all been worth it.”

Peck worked all four days of the state tournament without any relief in some instances. He may not move as fast as he used to, but he has a sharp eye for the rules and makes sure every team has an equal chance to win.

Peck was grateful that he grew up in a good Minnesota sports town - Deer River. In addition to earning 15 letters in sports at the local high school, he played on the Deer River town baseball team alongside adults, beginning at age 15.

Love for the game brings Peck back year after year. He often has said, “This will be my last year.” One of his friends recalled hearing that as early as 1995.

Bruce Young of Shakopee, the director in charge of the State Legion Baseball Tournament last week, said, “There is no one who can match Jim’s credentials in youth baseball. No one in Minnesota anyway. We are so lucky to have him come back year after year. I don’t know what we’d do without him.”

Peck hears comments like that all the time. So what keeps him coming back? “My calling in life is to make things better kids,” he said. “Baseball is my way of doing that.”