Mankato Area Youth Baseball Association (MAYBA)

The Mankato Area Youth Baseball Association has announced that Rudy Kleist and Bruce Winter are this year’s Hall of Fame inductees.

A baseball lifer, Rudy Kleist was raised in Eagle Lake where his love of the game was first formed with his family. He played baseball in Eagle Lake starting at age seven under Don Wesley and by the time he turned 14 he started playing Babe Ruth and VFW in Mankato before going to the state Legion tournament with an Eagle Lake team led by Jeff Dahline. His MAYBA coaching career began when his son Mitch was six and once Mitch’s younger brother Ben was old enough to play, Rudy served as a head coach for the organization from 2005-2013. He continued to coach after his sons aged out of travel ball and although his last year as head coach was in 2021, he continued to assist with Legion teams and Eagle Lake Expos up until this last year.  He began serving as a MAYBA staff member in 2005 and for the last two decades has been MAYBA’s Equipment and warehouse Manager.

Bruce Winter spent several years both coaching MAYBA teams and umpiring MAYBA games.  A Le Sueur, Minn., native who played college soccer and ran track at both Golden Valley and the University of Minnesota Duluth, Bruce taught for a few years before joining All-American Foods in Mankato where he worked for two decades. He coached both of his sons, Jason and Brian, during their years as young baseball players in Mankato, a span that lasted from 1991-2001.  In an officiating career that included baseball, basketball and football, he started umpiring MAYBA games in 2002 and worked in-house, and Royals games, along with travel ball and high school games until last summer. Winter passed away in November of 2024.

The 2025 MAYBA Induction ceremony is scheduled for Thursday night (Oct. 2) at the Loose Moose Saloon & Conference Center at the 12th Annual MAYBA Night Out fundraising event.

- 30 -

We are now excepting nominations for the 2025 MAYBA Hall of Fame.  Nominations should be forwarded to the Mayba General Manager at general_manager@mayba.com or by mail to Mayba at 1925 Haughton Drive, North Mankato, MN 56003.