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The game of baseball is one of America’s favorite pastimes. For Mike Wenninger and his two sons, Skyler and Cade, baseball is a way of life.
“We learned a lot of life lessons. We made friends. What life teaches you, we’ve learned through baseball,” Skyler Wenninger said.
“How you handle success, how you handle failure – all those things we’ve learned through baseball. … We learned from our parents and school as well, but obviously baseball is what we’ve known our life and what we’ve gone through. The game has taught us many life skills.”
Mike Wenninger has been around the block as longtime baseball coach for the Luverne Cardinals. He’s watched both of his sons grow up in the Luverne baseball program.
“My dad started me in baseball,” Cade Wenninger said. “I had my first glove by the time I could walk.”
He said baseball has been a part of his family as long as he can remember.
“A lot of vacations have been baseball oriented —either to see my brother play or to visit cool stadiums,” Cade said. “I’ve had a lot of moments with my dad when I was practicing in the cage or throwing to him.”
On Tuesday, May 11, Mike experienced a first during his coaching tenure when it was father and son versus son for the Cardinals game in Worthington to take on the Trojans.
Mike Wenninger and Cade Wenninger squared off against Worthington and the Trojan coach Skyler Wenninger.
“Coaching is always something I’ve looked forward to, maybe not against my dad,” Skyler said.
“I was always hoping to coach with him, but I think this is the next best thing to coach against him. Just to see him smiling at me and being proud of me. I’ve looked up to him my whole life. Being able to compete against that guy — it’s a lot of fun.”
Facing off against his older brother’s team, Cade picked up one hit and drew a pair of walks.
When the two teams squared off again on Monday, May 16, Cade’s lone hit in the game was a double.
Skyler said he felt conflicted when his younger brother came to the plate against his team.
“It stinks when he comes up to bat,” Skyler Wenninger said. “Do I want him to get out? Yes. But maybe in the back of my mind I wouldn’t be too mad if he hit a double. It’s just a different feeling. You want them to do well, but you still want to win the game.”
Skyler’s path to become a baseball coach started from a young age. Some of his earliest memories revolve around the game of baseball.
“As early as I can remember things, I remember playing baseball,” Skyler said. “I remember hitting off a tee. As soon as I could walk I was probably swinging the bat.”
Following his prep baseball career, Skyler played college baseball at South Dakota State University.
During summers, Skyler is a member of the Luverne Redbirds amateur baseball team.
His first year as coach was expected to be the spring of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Minnesota State High School League spring sports season was canceled.
As Skyler guides his way through his first year as head coach, there’s one person that’s consistently been in his corner.
“I’ll call him and ask him a lot of questions,” Skyler said. “He’ll guide me along the way. He always tells me to do what I believe in and follow my gut. My biggest help was at the start of the year. I asked him what he focuses on at the beginning of the year. He gave me a couple of things they really focus on and that was part of our practice plan.”
The conversations that Skyler and his father have about coaching remind him of the conversations they used to share at the dinner table following one of his games as a player.
“We talked about things that we could do to get better,” Skyler said. “It was always me asking questions to my dad. If I was playing and I did poorly, that’s not something we wanted to talk about at the dinner table.”
With Luverne and Worthington both residing in the Big South Conference, Skyler and Mike will be seeing a lot more of one another.
Cade won’t be part of Chapter 3 next season.
The Luverne senior will likely have to wait a few years before he could possibly become the third member of the Wenninger family to get hired to be a baseball coach.
There is no doubt that he has passion for the game of baseball.
“I like the lessons you can learn from baseball,” Cade said.
“For example, learning how to trust your teammates. Also, the individual aspect that provides to the whole group. When you pitch you get to control the game, but you also need your teammates there to help you.”