When Bruce and Pat Miller noticed some relatives and friends in attendance at a recent Babe Ruth game they attended in Charleston, they didn't think it was suspicious. Their grandson, Caleb, coaches a team -- which went onto win the state championship -- so to see some family members there wasn't unusual. The game was especially well attended, but that also didn't seem cause for alarm.
The Millers didn't fully understand why so many friends and family came together that afternoon until an announcement came between games of a very special presentation to a very special couple.
To their surprise, the Millers were commended for decades of commitment to the Babe Ruth League and formally inducted into the Missouri Babe Ruth Hall of Fame -- the highest honor anyone involved in youth baseball could receive.
"It just wouldn't have been right to induct one without the other," a Babe Ruth official stated.
To say that baseball has played a major role in the life of the Miller family would be an understatement. When they moved to Dexter in 1974 to establish Specialty Engineering, they had four growing children -- a daughter, Kathie, and three sons, Greg, Mike and Rick.
"We were extensively involved in baseball and basketball living in Columbus, Indiana," Bruce explains. "So, it was something of a shock when we moved to Dexter to learn that the high school didn't have a baseball team."
In the summer of 1975, the Miller's eldest son, Greg, then 16, was invited to play on a Senior Babe Ruth team from Chaffee. He played on the team for three summers, with the team finishing second in the state for those three years.
"We, as parents, learned a lot about Babe Ruth (baseball) through that affiliation," Pat explains.
The Millers, along with several other parents of high schoolers in Dexter in the mid 1970s, worked to convince the school administration to establish a high school ball team. Eventually, they were successful, with the first DHS team taking to the field in 1977 under coach A.J. Nugent.
"At about the same time," Bruce explains, "Babe Ruth baseball for summer play began. In the summer of 1979, we saw our Junior Babe Ruth Team advance through the state and regional tournaments to play in the World Series in Nogales, Arizona."
Although the team didn't come home with a win, Bruce says they represented the community well. It was an experience those 1979 players, now in their 50's -- some teachers and coaches themselves now and others local business owners -- will never forget.
Nor will they forget Bruce and Pat Miller and the roles the pair played in not only establishing Babe Ruth baseball in the area, but sustaining it throughout the years.
Over more than two decades, Dexter not only competed well both Junior and Senior Babe Ruth. They also hosted several state tournaments.
"Families from all around stepped up to host the kids in their homes. We assured their parents they'd be well fed and well supervised. I remember one year having six boys stay at our house for about a week," Pat notes.
The Millers' commitment to baseball meant logging thousands of miles during a baseball season.
"We traveled to a lot more than we hosted," Bruce notes. "We went to Jeff City, Marshall, Boonville, Lebanon, Kirksville, Columbia, Farmington, Doe Run, Potosi, Cass City, Carl Junction, Carthage and Flat River, to name a few."
Bruce Miller managed too many Babe Ruth teams to count. And always at his side was Pat, keeping score. In the early days of record keeping, she recalls having to record everything with five carbon copies.
"People nowadays wouldn't have any idea what that involved," she laughs. "Things have changed a lot since those days."
Like Father, Like Sons
Baseball and basketball for the Millers seemed to come as natural as walking and talking. The boys played from the time they could pick up a bat, while daughter, Kathie, served as scorekeeper.
"Kathie was our top cheerleader and the most accurate and loyal scorekeeper I have ever known," says her father. "She always let the guys know she had seniority, too."
Mike Miller played in at least three state tournaments. He had a strong arm, his father attests, and later pitched at the college level.
Following the example of the eldest, Greg, the youngest, Rick, played Babe Ruth ball in the mid 1980s.
"He was a southpaw vacuum cleaner at first base," his dad recalls. "In 1985, we won the Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament in Carthage, Missouri, and the regionals were held in Farmington. We were just one out away from a walk-off victory, but settled for second. Rick was part of that group. They were a really good defensive team."
During a period from 1981 to present, Bruce served as Babe Ruth president, and his wife served as secretary. It's often hot, tedious work that has required total commitment, but baseball is in their blood, it seems.
Boundaries were stretched in an effort to draw in more players. They went from Perryville in the north to Caruthersville in the south and as far west as Ozark, Mo.
"I know we bent some rules over the years -- probably broke a few," Bruce smiles. "However, the whole purpose was to keep Senior Babe Ruth baseball alive in Southeast Missouri."
After the heyday of the 1970s, the popularity of Babe Ruth baseball began to wane in the early 1980s. Bruce credits the downfall with the establishment of traveling teams.
"They played at beautiful facilities and only on weekends," he says. "Also, many parents and coaches thought their players had a better chance to get a college scholarship playing on those teams."
From 1981 through 2017, Babe Ruth teams had diminished to the point that the Dexter Youth League Age 16-19 was the only league in all of southeast Missouri.
It is for more than 35 years of service to Babe Ruth League baseball that Bruce and Pat Miller were honored with induction into the Babe Ruth Hall of Fame. They join a select group who also have played an integral role in not only bringing Babe Ruth baseball to various communities in Missouri, but who have devoted endless hours -- year after year -- to keeping the league alive, sometimes in spite of obstacles in their path.
It was for their "excellent leadership" and example to Missouri's youth that their names will remain in the history books of the Missouri Babe Ruth Baseball League.
Bruce Miller perhaps summed up the couple's sentiment after receiving the prestigious award, stating, "We got so much more out of this than we put into it."