Leist’s first game of baseball as a player was likely his last

A Northeast Wisconsin legend on the softball diamond made history July 27 at Ashwaubomay Park by being the oldest player to ever put on a uniform for the Algoma Penguins baseball team.

Tim “Ernie” Leist, who won well over 1,000 games throwing high-arching moonballs in slow-pitch softball leagues decades ago, got his very first taste of hardball that night. His 65th birthday was Feb. 11.

After the ‘Guins’ clean-up hitter, Owen Dannhausen, was hit in the face by a pitch, there were only a few choices for the short-handed team.

“The options were John Diller in tree-cutting clothes, Rich Zirbel in flip flops, or me,” Leist said. “Diller ran for the kid that got hurt so the game could continue, then I played field. I’m like, well I’m here; it would suck to forfeit.”

It wasn’t quite, “Put me in coach, I’m ready to play,” but he found an Algoma jersey and grey pants that fit, retied his tennis shoes and gave it a shot.

Let the record show that Ernie chased down some base hits to right field and struck out three times in three at-bats in a 14-10 loss. But this wasn’t as much about stats as it was stepping up for the team.

“A lot of these guys are 17- and 18-year-old kids,” Leist said. “I’m old enough to be their grandpa.”

Or their dad.

One of those teens was his oldest son, Carson, a 2025 AHS graduate. His other son, Braeden, a ’26 AHS grad, played home games.

Did Carson offer any pointers?

“No, (he was) laughing,” Leist said.

Said Carson, “It was an awesome experience, and a great memory. He had good speed out there; stopped a couple balls. I’d have never thought I’d play baseball with him ever, but I guess it happened.”

Ernie, a 1979 AHS graduate, once pitched 130 games in a single summer. His best season came in 1992, when his teams won five leagues — in Algoma, Brussels, Casco and two in Luxemburg — and five tournaments. He finished that season with a 68-11 pitching record.
Leist threw plenty of no-hitters, but admits there were nights he gave up 10 or more runs and still won. On the other hand, there were some games where he gave up only a hit or two, but lost.

“I played two nights a week toward the end, and a few tournaments,” Leist said. “Then slow-pitch died. Luxemburg Oldtimers was the last league night. Then I played over 50 league for three years in Green Bay.”

A little more than a decade ago, he began coaching his boys in Little League, and tournaments. He did plenty of throwing and some batting in practice, but had zero experience playing.

While there’s no official record, Leist may have been the oldest to ever play in the more than 60-year-old history of the Shoreland Baseball League, which was born out of the Manitowoc County Baseball League in the 1930s.

Against the Lookouts, he was in the batter’s box staring at a ball much smaller than he eyed in slow-pitch, and it was coming past him a whole lot faster.

“Contact would have been like a home run,” Leist said. “I told the pitcher and catcher, $20 in the kitty; don’t hit me.”

Asked if he would be hanging up his street shoes used in the game or buying some cleats for a comeback, Leist deadpanned, “It’s over, a few Door County Leagues teams called. I didn’t answer.”