Rick Reiss was one of the top two-way players in Sheboygan A`s history.

A left-handed pitcher and centerfielder, Reiss played for parts of eight seasons. He came up with the club in 1965 and played regularly from 1966-1970. He moved out of the area when he graduated from UW-La Crosse and accepted a job teaching physical education in Marion. He returned to Sheboygan in 1975 when he accepted a job with the fire department. Reiss played consistently in 1976, but work and family commitments made it difficult to continue his baseball career, and he retired after appearing in only one game in 1977.

Reiss, a 1965 graduate of Sheboygan North High School, was the Most Valuable Player on the 1968 Land O` Lakes championship team. He went 5-2 with a 1.86 ERA that year, striking out 84 batters in 72.2 innings and appearing in 16 games.

Reiss followed up the 1968 season with another five-win campaign, striking out 97 batters in 80.2 innings, completing seven of his nine starts. He posted a 0.89 ERA that season, which still stands as a single season record. Reiss tossed two shutouts in 1969, a one-hitter over Grafton and a four-hitter over Theinsville-Mequon. Reiss` 2.01 career ERA stands as the second best all-time for the A`s. He struck out 310 batters in 269 innings, a total that ranks 9th all-time. Reiss hurt his arm his senior year in college and pitched more sparingly in 1970, though he managed three saves, eighth on the single season list.

Reiss posted a .301 career batting average and hit 15 triples, sixth on the career list. He drove in seven runs on August 13, 1976 against the Oshkosh Knights and scored five runs on May 30, 1970 against Kewaskum. Both rank second on the single game charts.

Reiss served as the Fire Chief in Sheboygan the final seven years of his career and has spent a great deal of time working with the United Way. He and his wife, Pam, have a son, John (Tricia), a daughter Kari (Jason Meyer), and two grandchildren.

Jason Bartelt is one of only two A’s players to hit .400 or better in three different seasons. Lee Wetenkamp is the only other individual to have accomplished that. A shortstop, Bartelt joined the A’s in 1997 after a fine career at Lakeland College, where he was a two-time All-Lake Michigan Conference player, and helped lead the A’s to their second ever Wisconsin State League Championship, the first being in 1991. He left the team after the 2001 season, in which the team also won the league title. In his five-year career, Bartelt posted a .393 career batting average, which ranks third all time.

Bartelt ranks in the top ten in 14 career and five single season categories. He holds the season record for runs scored (70, 1997) and held the assists record until it was broken this year. His six stolen bases on June 4, 2001 against West Allis is a single game record.

Along with Wetenkamp, Bartelt is the only A’s player ever to get six hits in a game, which he accomplished on August 6, 2001 against Manitowoc. He also collected five hits on two separate occasions.

Bartelt ranks second all-time in career stolen bases with 113. He led the club in hits, stolen bases and doubles in all five of his years. He was the Wisconsin State League Rookie of the Year in 1997, Most Valuable Player and leading hitter in 2000, and was the All-WSL shortstop in all five if his seasons.

Bartelt has been the head baseball coach at Marian College in Fond du Lac since 2002. He served as an assist at Lakeland from 1998 until accepting the position at Marian. Jason and his wife, Ann and son, Casey, reside in Fond du Lac.

Teammates Charlie Kometer and Dick Larsen were the 2005 inductees into the A`s Hall of Fame. Larsen played from 1967 through 1972; Kometer from 1968 through 1974. The two were instrumental performers. In their years together, the A`s were 90-61, won a Land o` Lakes League division championship and got all the way to the finals in the State National Baseball Congress Tournament in Madison.

Larsen, who died in 2002 at his home in Horicon, had a career .311 average and .458 slugging percentage. He led the club in home runs four straight years, and in slugging percentage twice. He hit .326 or better in four of his six years.

Larsen`s best year overall was in 1970 when he hit .333 and drove in 34 runs with five doubles, three triples and five home runs. His best year for average was 1972 when he hit .350 in 31 games.

Kometer posted a career batting average of .290. He led the club in home runs three times and in runs batted in three times. His best years were in 1972 when he hit .331 and in 1971 when he hit .288 with nine doubles, a triple, six home runs and 39 runs batted in.

Both played key roles in those early A`s years that rejuvenated baseball in the city after the team took a leave of absence in 1966, reorganized in 1967 under the sponsorship of Andersen`s Sport Shop, and fought the on-going struggles dealing with the antiquated Legion Park.

Chuck Zeichert, who managed Kometer and Larsen said, the impact Charlie and Dick had on and off the field during the early years of the A`s cannot be measured or forgotten.

Kometer is a South high grad where he was a standout football player (there was no high school baseball back in the 1960s). Larsen was a football and baseball standout at Milwaukee Lutheran and at UW La Crosse.

Fred Forsterling was the workhorse of the Sheboygan A's staff, working in 10 or more games in 14 of his 16 years with the club, and he threw 50 or more innings for 11 straight seasons. He posted a 67-42 record, appearing in a total of 239 games and throwing 903 1/3 innings. Forsterling finished with a career 4.97 earned run average (pitching a number of years when the Wisconsin State League was an aluminum bat league) and posted 11 saves.

"Freddie" struck out 534 in his career. His best year was in 1981 when he posted a 9-3 record with four saves. He appeared in 23 games that year, pitching 91 1/3 innings.

From 1980 through 1984 he posted a 33-11 record and then went 8-4 in 1987 and 6-2 in 1988. He was a 4-time A's Most Valuable Pitcher: 1980-81 and 1983-83. Big and strong, Forsterling was something of an "enforcer" with the A's. A fearless competitor, he holds the A's all-time hit batsman record with 49. Many of those "hits" came with a message. Forsterling played from 1978-1990 and 1992-1994.

Tom Gardner's 10-year career spanned 1985-1994 and included Most Valuable Player Awards in 1992 and 1993 and Most Valuable Defensive Player Awards in 1990 and 1993.

A .341 career hitter, Gardner graduated from Sheboygan North High School and then played at UW-Oshkosh where he competed on the national championship team.

His best season with the A's was in 1993 when he hit .422. His other MVP season included a .380 batting average, 18 doubles, seven home runs and 60 RBI. In 1993 he was the WSL's MVP, leading hitter .413, and was the all-league shortstop as well. He was named to the all-league second team five times. He is the A's career on base percentage leader with a .465 percentage and is the single season leader in plate appearances, posting 270 in 1992.

He was an integral part of the 1991 WSL championship team which finished with season with a club record 49-9 record.

In addition to his 425 career hits, Gardner walked 304 times, and struck out only 102 times in 1,590 plate appearances over 380 games.

Tom Eckhardt played with the Sheboygan A's for 11 seasons between 1985 and 1997 and was named the club's Most Valuable Pitcher six times. He struck out more than 100 batters three times including his big 1990 season when he fanned 139, won 12 games and posted a 2.05 earned run average. He was a pivotal performer in the championship 1991 season, going 12-1 with four saves, a 2.25 ERA and 129 strikeouts.

As he went into the Hall of Fame in 2002, he was still the career leader with 817 strikeouts and 13 saves. As the club's No.1 starter, always pitted against the opposition's best pitcher, he finished his career with a 63-46 record with 10 shutouts and 13 saves. He fanned 817 and walked 415 in 846.2 innings. Pitching when league hitters used aluminum bats, Eckhardt had a career 3.68 earned run average. He appeared in 176 games and finished 49 of his 110 starts.

Despite all the players who have donned Sheboygan A's uniforms since the club's first season in 1963, the name of Dale Ahrens always comes to the top of the list when the reminiscing gets around to the best long ball hitter.

Ahrens' home runs truly were bombs. He played for 10 seasons, 1969 through 1978, and despite playing all his home games in spacious Legion Memorial Park, Ahrens crushed 41 home runs. His best year was in 1975 when he hit .344 with nine doubles, three triples and 10 home runs. With the power alleys in his home park measuring well over 400 feet, Ahrens still managed to hit a homer run once in every 24 at bats. He led the team in home runs for five straight years, 1973 through 1977 and was a 2-time team most valuable player and batting average leader.

The Legend. That is what they call Gene Mand, and for good reason. When Gene Mand retired after the 1995 season he had played 25 seasons with the A's and was the holder of 21 A's records -- two one game records, two one season records and 17 career records. In his 25 years, he played in 1,087 games, went to the plate 4,413 times, scored 849 runs, collected 1,218 hits and drove in 550 runs. Of his hits, 212 were doubles and 137 were home runs.

Mand was selected as the A's Most Valuable player seven times, 1972-74, '77, '80, '82 and '84. He still holds the single season home run record, 18, and shares the RBI record, 83, both set in his big 1985 season. He hit .300 or better 18 times including 12 straight from 1977 through 1988. He hit .410 in 1984 and .397 in 1974. He hit 10 or more home runs in five different seasons. He also holds 17 Wisconsin State League career records, after finishing his 25 year WSL career with a .299 average.

Possessor of a blazing fast ball and wicked breaking pitch, Steve Kohls played 11 seasons with the A's. When he wasn't pitching, he played outfield and was a feared hitter as well.

An outfielder, Kohls finished with a .314 career batting average in 274 games. His best season As a pitcher, Kohls won 32 games and ran up 502 strikeouts in 549 innings. He was one of the leaders of the A's strong 1981 club, going 9-1 on the mound with a 1.39 earned run average and 69 strikeouts in 68 innings. He also hit .342 that season with eight doubles, a triple and nine home runs. His best year in terms of average was 1978 when he hit . 345. The club's most valuable pitcher in 1978, he holds seven club records.

If ever a player personified the term "he's our horse," it was Dave Kober. The Sheboygan A's hitched themselves to Kober for 11 seasons -- 1976 through 1986. He played regularly in nine of those seasons and never hit less than .283, finishing his career with a .324 average in an even 1,500 plate appearances.

His best year was in 1979 when he hit .395. His biggest year in terms of long ball production was the first year the A's moved from Legion Memorial Park to Wildwood Park in 1981. Kober crushed 16 home runs that year, hitting .348 and coming in with a .674 slugging percentage.

Strong as an ox, stories about Kober's loyalty to his teammates are legendary. He was a catcher and third baseman. He holds two club records and was the team's MVP in 1978 and 1979.

Although he played only seven seasons, a rarely seen mixture of talent, desire and dedication made Al Albert an easy Hall of Fame choice. His best season was in 1987 when he hit .415 with 14 doubles and nine home runs. He had five .300 seasons -- .396 in 1985, .361 in 1986, .415 in 1987, .323 in 1988 and .303 in 1989. Like Wetenkamp, he was a key performer on the A's first State League championship team in 1991 and holds three club records. He led the league in hitting in 1987 with a torrid .470 average. He played in an even 300 games in his career, mostly in the outfield, and finished with a .332 career average.

Consensually the best player in Sheboygan A's history, and arguably the best in Wisconsin State League history, Lee Wetenkamp was inducted into the A's Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

A .397 career hitter, Wetenkamp hit over .400 four times including two tremendous years -- 1987 and 1988 when he put .454 and .451 seasons together. His slugging percentage was over .800 in both seasons as he belted out 74 extra base hits in 100 games. Wetenkamp led the club in hitting nine years out of ten from 1981 through 1989 with only Gene Mand's .410 season in 1984 breaking the string. He won the club's MVP award eight times including a string of six straight seasons. His annual average in his 11 years was: .408, .370, .391, .357, .425, .390, .454, .451, 383, .366 and .360.

He holds 10 club records. Wetenkamp, an infielder, was the State League's MVP four times: 1981, 1985, 1988 and 1989. He was also the league's Rookie of the Year in 1981 and led the league in hitting in1989. He played in 521 games at second base, third base and shortstop for the A's.

A 17-season career that saw him play every position on the field and was highlighted by eight seasons in which he hit .280 or better got Rick Baumgart elected to the Sheboygan A's Hall of Fame. His best season was 1974 when he hit .349 and added 32 walks for a .440 on base percentage. He hit .326 in 1985, .317 in 1983 and .314 in 1978. He was a pivotal performer on the 1981 team that went 39-11. He spent most of his time in the infield, but also pitched, caught and played outfield.

Herr came to the A's following an 8-year professional career with the Braves organization, and he made an immediate impact, leading the A's to the 1968 Land o' Lakes Northern Division Championship with a 7-2 record and a gaudy 1.14 ERA. He finished his 5-year playing career with a 21-9 record and a 2.23 ERA. He also assisted Bob Sauger with managerial duties. He was the club's MVP in 1971 when he went 6-2 with a 2.19 ERA despite painful arm problems.

Arguably the best second baseman ever to play in Sheboygan, Gehr played 19 seasons with the A's following his 2-year stint in Viet Nam. In 569 games, he hit .302 and finished with a .955 fielding average. His best year was in 1984 when he hit .387 and had a tremendous .529 on base percentage, due largely to his keen eye. Gehr's frequent walks, nearly always had his final statistics showing him leading the team in runs scored. He holds four A's single game records, three one-season records and three career records. He was the club's MVP in 1969 and again in 1975 and won the Most Valuable Defensive player in 1984 and 1985. That award was initiated in 1980 and Gehr would likely have been an annual winner had it been awarded in the first 12 years of his career.

Sauger, a left-hander, was the mainstay of the A's pitching staff in the 1970s, posting 28 wins between 1974-1976. The club's workhorse completed 14 of 20 starts in 1974 and worked a total of 146 2/3 innings. Always matched with the State League's crackerjack pitchers, he won 10 games that year and threw four shutouts. He played from 1973 to 1983 and holds three single game records, seven single season records and one career record. He was the A's first Most Valuable Pitcher with the award was initiated in 1976. Sauger managed the club from 1985-90. His teams won 190 games for a .581 winning percentage.

Both Moyer and Zeichert were members of the first Sheboygan A's team in 1963 and both have been with the club ever since. In those early years, the club didn't play anywhere near the number of games it does now and it played in a huge park so that the statistics of the earlier players lag far behind those of current players. Nonetheless, Moyer led the team in home runs three times, in triples once and in games played once. His best year was the 1968 championship season when he led off and hit .300. His selection was made primarily on the basis of his off the field contribution. Moyer has served as the club's general manager since 1967.

Zeichert was a smooth-fielding infielder in his playing days. His credits include a short stint with Joe Hauser's Sheboygan Indians. He was a standout with the Kingsbury teams of the 1950s and was the senior member of the club when the A's began playing. Still, he played parts of 15 seasons (1963 through 1979) with the club and retired with a .317 career batting average. He is the winningest manager in A's history, posting 333 wins in his 15-year (1970-1984) managerial career.