WILLMAR — Quinten “Lefty” Hoien of Litchfield, Harlen “Butch” Steen of Raymond and Rudy Vigil of Willmar are the 2020 inductees into the West Central Minnesota Baseball Hall of Fame.
The trio is selected by the Kandiyohi County Historical Society and will be honored in early 2020.
Hoien is a 1952 graduate of Twin Valley High School who went on to play baseball for Eastern Arizona and Colorado State, where he participated in the College World Series in 1955.
He played amateur baseball for 25 years with Belgrade and Dassel-Cokato. He also coached high school and American Legion baseball and was inducted into the University of Northern Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.
Steen played high school baseball at Browns Valley High School and Legion baseball with Browns Valley and New Effington, South Dakota. He played one season of baseball at South Dakota State and played amateur baseball in New Effington from 1962-64 and Browns Valley from 1965-86. He pitched a perfect game in 1975 and played for six decades. He helped restart the baseball program in Raymond, leading them to 12 state tournaments, including a state championship in 2016. He is a member of the Raymond Rocket Hall of Fame.
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In a career that began in the Willmar Tee-League in 1970, Vigil played for Willmar High School, Willmar VFW, Willmar Legion, the Willmar Rails and Willmar Community College. He also played first base for the University of Minnesota. He also played for the New London-Spicer Twins, Raymond Rockets and Atwater Chuckers from 1979-1999.
