Submitted Story
When Wayne and Warren Cook of Sleepy Eye were 16 years old, they had to make a choice about their career. Would it be music or sports? They were taking concertina lessons from music teacher Stan Meidl, who knew that they enjoyed baseball.
The Cook brothers chose sports. And, now, they will reap the benefits, being honored with the Glenn Carlson Distinguished Service Award at the Hall of Fame banquet September 16 in St. Cloud. The award is geared towards people who have made contributions in promoting amateur baseball in Minnesota.
“I’m humbled to win this award,” Wayne said. “It proves that people have noticed our dedication and commitment to baseball to make it better.”
“It means a lot to me,” Warren said. “Not a lot of people get this award. It shows that baseball people have recognized our contributions.”
The Distinguished Service Award is the testimonial to the Cooks having spent their lifetime, Wayne 50 years, Warren 40, to enhancing the game which is considered our national pastime.
It’s a career that started in 1974 for Wayne and in 1980 for Warren, who was coaching youth baseball teams when Wayne embarked on his umpiring journey.
“I have no regrets,” Wayne said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“For me, it was a hobby for 40 years,” Warren said. “It wasn’t work; it was fun.”
The Cooks gave up playing the concertina in favor of playing two years with Leavenworth in the Bi-County League.
“We didn’t get much of a chance to play baseball at St. Mary’s because of our size,” Wayne said.
“We had to do chores so that limited our chances to play,” Warren said. “Dad left us go play baseball as a senior.”
They dabbled in umpiring, hopeful they had made the right career choice.
How did they pick up their love for the game since their father, Wilfred, didn’t play or have an interest in baseball?
“Our second cousins, Don and Mel Cook (both Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Famers), played baseball,” Warren said. “We went to a lot of their games.”
Art Mathiowetz of Comfrey, an uncle to the Cooks, worked many years with the Northwest Umpires and was a role model.
“He was actually my partner when I worked my first plate game at New Ulm,” Wayne said.
Wayne’s godparent, Clarence (Skin) Cook of Sleepy Eye, also played a role, serving as the manager of the Mulligan (township) team, which was located two miles from the Cook family farm.
On that farm, they hand built a baseball field with a corn crib serving as the outfield fence 280 feet away. Yearly, the identical twins staged home run contests just like their major-league counterparts.
From a humble beginning, the Cooks found umpiring to their liking, joining forces with Southwest Umpires in 1980. Their reward: Working two games in the Class C state tournament.
They would compile 30 state tournaments between them: Warren 17; Wayne 13. Slowly, their names got statewide recognition.
The Cooks paired up to do college baseball, at DMLC/New Ulm (20 years), Willmar/Ridgewater (15 years) and Iowa Lakes/Estherville (10 years). They were also selected to umpire the 1998 Central Plains Regional (NAIA) in Mitchell, SD.
“Working the championship game behind the plate, that was the highlight of my career,” Warren said.
“I worked two days of the tournament and had to go back to Redwood Falls to put out a newspaper,” Wayne said. (Wayne was a reporter for the Redwood Falls Gazette)
As their careers were winding down, they got a recommendation from somebody unexpected: Brent Meyer, who managed Belle Plaine to the 1994 Class C state championship. The Cooks worked that finals.
It was 22 years later when Warren received a text from Meyer, wondering if they were still umpiring. They were, and Meyer asked a favor of them. Would they want to umpire in the Play Ball! Series in Chaska, a showcase of the top high school seniors in Minnesota? It was 2016, and Meyer served as the All-Star umpire-in-chief.
“Who said they don’t remember the umpires,” Wayne said. “If not for Brent Meyer, we probably wouldn’t have gotten a chance to work the All-Star Series, where the high school coaches treated us as kings.”
“I’ve worked five state tournaments, but they don’t compare to the All-Star Series,” Warren said.
Warren’s last game was in 2021 in the Series in Chaska. Wayne has been invited back to umpire the seventh time next season.
“I’ve really been lucky, I guess,” Wayne said.
Warren has retired after 40 years and 3,700 games. Wayne plans to cut back on games after having done 5,300 in his 50-year career.
Wayne may work more youth baseball as the volunteer umpire coordinator of the Redwood Area Youth Baseball Association (RAYBA), a position he’s held for
++15 years. Baseball, no matter what level, is still in his blood.
The Cooks have day jobs while they moonlighted as umpires. Warren currently works as a pizza delivery person for Casey’s in Sleepy Eye. Wayne works for Thielen Bus Lines in Redwood Falls.
While full retirement from baseball looms down the road for Wayne, their memories will be their legacy. And, their presence on fields in southern Minnesota will be missed.
Their umpiring careers have been distinguished. The Distinguished Service Award, named in the memory of the founder of the amateur baseball Hall of Fame, is appropriate.
“It was our way of giving back to the game we love,” Wayne said.
Warren was born in rural Sleepy Eye in 1950 and developed a great love for sports at a young age. However, he contracted polio as a three-year-old, which affected his ability to play sports. He also saw limited opportunities to play due to chores on the family farm, but became a batboy for Mulligan in the Twin River League as an 11-year-old. Later in high school, he became the team statistician for Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s football and eventually did some sports writing. While in college at Southwest Minnesota State University, he worked in the sports information office, and he also reported sports on the campus TV station three times a week. He graduated from SMSU in 1974 with a degree in Speech Communications.
While still in college, he and his uncle, Duke Cook, coached the Mulligan girls softball team and his two younger sisters, capturing the Teen League championship twice. He also coached his younger brother, Jeff, who was on some of his Leavenworth Jr. Bi-County and Bi-County baseball teams who won six league championships from 1973-80. He coached the Sleepy Eye Legion team in 1978, and after a 5-year hiatus, Warren helped re-start the Sleepy Eye Indians amateur baseball team in 1981. He managed the Indians for two years and served on the board. He was also a member of the Sleepy Eye Jaycees for two years.
Perhaps Warren’s greatest contribution to amateur baseball began in 1980, when he umpired for the first time. He worked 50 games on the bases that year and even worked with his twin brother, Wayne, in the state tournament in Brownton. The two brothers started South Central Umpires in 1990 and Warren served as its president for five years. He worked 16 consecutive state amateur tournaments from 1980 to 1995 and umpired the 1994 Class C Championship game in Arlington with Wayne. Through the years, he has worked virtually every level of baseball from high school, VFW, legion, amateur and small college baseball. He umpired five MSHSL state tournaments and worked the All-Star series in Chaska five times. All in all, he umpired over 3,700 baseball and softball games and officiated over 1,000 basketball games over 40 years.
Warren, along with his brother, Wayne, through their many interactions as umpires with coaches, players and fans have long been considered by many to be among the greatest ambassadors of amateur baseball in Minnesota.
Wayne’s Bio for Award
Wayne’s love for baseball began as a 10-year-old when he watched the MLB Game of the Week on the family’s small black and white TV. He quickly developed a liking for the New York Yankees and began memorizing the players’ statistics.
In 1961 at the age of 11, Wayne became a batboy for the Mulligan amateur baseball team in the Twin River League, whose diamond was two miles from his family farm. In his teenage years, he played two seasons for Leavenworth in the Bi-County League as a left-handed first baseman. During his high school days, he became the statistician for football, basketball and baseball which served as a precursor to his sports writing career. Along with his twin brother, Warren, he also coached a Little League baseball team for two years, which was comprised of kids in the neighborhood.
When he went off to college at Southwest Minnesota State University in 1968, he developed an interest in umpiring, a career that would span over 50 years. He even attended Joe Brinkman’s pro umpire school in Florida in 1978. During his umpiring career, he was active in seven different umpire associations and co-founded South Central Umpires Association with Warren in 1990. Wayne umpired approximately 100 youth, high school, college and amateur games per year. He umpired in 13 state amateur tournaments and he and Warren had the honor of working the Class C state championship game in Arlington in 1994. He umpired the Play Ball! High School All Star Series in Chaska for six years, worked 13 national fastpitch softball tournaments, earning the National Indicator Fraternity Award in 2019 and served as volunteer umpire coordinator for the Redwood Area Youth Baseball Association (RAYBA) for over 15 years. Wayne also received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from SMSU in 2023 and will be inducted into the Minnesota Sports Federation Softball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Wayne was a sportswriter for 25 years, and wrote columns, features and compiled weekly statistics for local amateur baseball teams and moonlighted as an umpire and basketball official. All in all, Wayne has umpired over 5,300 baseball and softball games, officiated over 2,000 basketball games and hundreds of football games in his career.
Through it all, Wayne was supported by his wife, Margaret, his son Jeff (Amy) and grandson, Hunter.
The GLENN CARLSON DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD is named after Glenn Carlson, who was the Executive Director of the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce for 33 years and the founder of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame, who also served as its 1st secretary for 35 years. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.
Purpose: The Glenn Carlson Distinguished Service Award is given to an individual who has made special meritorious contributions to furthering the promotion of Minnesota Amateur Baseball. This award was established to recognize individuals whose actions have brought outstanding positive recognition to amateur baseball in their community.
Eligibility Defined: The candidate’s greatest contribution to Minnesota Amateur Baseball was made in areas such as (but not limited to): media, board members, umpires, authors, financial supporter, or local, regional or state workers.
Candidates may or may not have been a player, coach or manager. The candidate may have been paid for his or her service. But, he or she has shown they go above and beyond assigned paid duty, for the good of amateur baseball in Minnesota.