David Mydland - Inducted 2023

One of the iron men of South Dakota baseball, David “Mydie” Mydland was an outstanding baseball player at SDSU and in the amateur ranks. He was an all-conference speedy shortstop for the Jackrabbits. He helped SDSU win a share of the North Central Conference title in 1973. The Minnesota Twins drafted and signed him in 1974. In his one and only season of professional baseball, Mydland hit .229 in 99 plate appearances in 31 games.

Mydland is credited for being the “Founding Father” of men’s senior baseball in South Dakota. Since the 1980s and for the next 40-some years, he recruited players from across the state to play on South Dakota teams to compete in senior baseball tournaments against teams nationwide. The South Dakota teams won and consistently competed with primarily amateur players. South Dakota won senior world titles in 1988 and 2008, and a handful of teams that he both played and managed finished as national semifinalists or runners-up.

Mydland played amateur baseball for almost 50 summers for several teams. He played on four amateur state championship teams and was MVP of the 1983 state tourney. Mydland has a lifetime amateur batting average of .385 with about 250 homers in almost 1,500 games. Mydland has twice hit two homers in one inning and three homers in one game. He has been his team’s or league’s MVP several times and appeared in approximately 35 state tournaments.

He has been inducted into the South Dakota Amateur Baseball and Roy Hobbs National Baseball Halls of Fame.