2013 Male Player: Dan Helfrich
/Dan Helfrich
During a 1--year period from 1972 through the 1982 season, Dan participated for two of the finest teams ever to play the game from Southern Illinois. He started playing USSSA softball with the Belleville Shamrocks in 1972, which was the first team to play USSSA ball in Southern Illinois. They were a powerhouse team that went to two "Class B" world tournaments, finishing second in Baltimore in 1973. This is where Dan earned All-World team honors while playing right field.
During world tournament play, he swatted 7 home runs and batted .711. The following year, Dan was the state tournament Most Valuable Player prior to the team folding at 1974’s end.
“I think the USSSA was the best thing for slow pitch softball in southern Illinois. It brought uniformity to the game and the different classifications allowed it to be fair for all players.”
This was when Dan began playing for manager Rich Kaiser who was building a team called the Loggers, which became Southern Illinois’ new power team. During his years with The Loggers, Dan made numerous all-tournament teams, while setting a career .610 batting mark, while swatting 560 home runs. He played over 100 games every year for the Logger team, which expected to go to the world tournament each year. And they did.
Dan was an excellent defensive outfielder that possessed a great arm, which allowed him to throw out many unsuspecting runners that tried to take that extra base.
When Dan was asked about the Illinois USSSA organization he said, “I think the USSSA was the best thing for slow pitch softball in southern Illinois. It brought uniformity to the game and the different classifications allowed it to be fair for all players."
The Illinois USSSA welcomes “Mad Dog” to the Hall of Fame.