A native of Fall River, Mass., Dick Siebert began his baseball days at St. Paul Concordia High School and went on to attend Concordia Junior College. From there, he moved to the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis with full intentions of becoming a Lutheran minister. But the lure of baseball was too much for the calling of the pulpit, so Siebert starter his pro career in 1932.

After a few brief minor league stints in the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals' systems, Siebert became a regular first baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics under the legendary Connie Mack in 1938. Siebert played for the A's through 1945 and appeared in the 1942 All Star game. In all, he played in 1,035 games over his big league career and finished with a very respectable .282 lifetime batting average.

In 1948, Siebert took over as head coach of the Golden Gophers. The "Chief" would go on to become one of the greatest coaches in college baseball history and helped develop baseball at all levels in Minnesota. By the time his career had ended in Gold Country, Siebert had become the winningest coach in Gopher history with a 754-361-6 record and a .676 winning percentage. He sent five different teams to the College World Series and, of course, he brought home three NCAA titles in 1956, 1960 and 1964. His teams also captured 12 Big Ten titles. Amazingly, he endured only three losing seasons.

Siebert served as the president of the American College Baseball Coaches Association. Among his many honors and accolades, Siebert was twice named as college baseball's Coach of the Year; is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame; and was a recipient of college baseball's highest award, the Lefty Gomez Trophy, which recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution and given service to the development of college baseball.

On Saturday, April 21, 1979, the University of Minnesota Baseball Stadium was officially renamed "Siebert Field," in honor of their great coach and friend.

Richard Siebert