When Gabby Weiss wanted to give youth baseball a boost in Austin 40 years ago, he never thought it would grow to this.

The Austin All-Stars youth baseball program will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the International Tournament in Todd Park this weekend and a fun night for kids will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

It all began for Weiss when he came back to  his hometown after coaching VFW baseball for a stint in South Dakota. Weiss had helped with the Austin club league, but he wanted to raise the bar for baseball in Austin. His inspiration came from Canada, which often brought teams to Austin for tournaments. Eventually, the All-Stars made their own annual trip to Canada and today the program makes an annual trip to Omaha, Neb.

“Forty years ago I walked up to IJ Holton [the former leader of Hormel Foods] and asked him for some equipment for a baseball team and I was expecting him to give me a couple of Spam t-shirts or something,” Weiss said. “A week later he had nice uniforms, hats and a hundred dollar bill for us. He said ‘you’re starting something great, now keep it going.’ That was 40 years ago. I wish IJ was here today to see it. He was a good guy.”

For the past generation or two, playing for the All-Stars has become a pretty big deal for baseball players growing up in Austin. Austin head baseball coach Joe Kroc played All-Star baseball in the late 1990s and he went on to play for the Packers and St. Cloud State University.

Kroc said Don Leathers, Mike Raso, Lefty Kelly, Bob Stratton, Bob Wilson, Mike Knoebel and Weiss all had a big impact on baseball in town.

“I would always hear Gabby’s name and being able to be coached by him was a dream as a little kid,” Kroc said. “When I played in high school and saw him watching me in the stands. Then he would have conversations with me about baseball when I played in college. He’s been very, very dedicated to baseball in Austin. I can’t say enough about Gabby and how many young males, where he’s been part of their success in baseball. All-Stars baseball gave me the chance to play with some friends of mine that are still friends of mine.”

Dan Ransom is currently the head coach of the CMG 12-year old All-Stars and he said All-Star baseball helps kids play more competitive baseball at an earlier age and it gives them life skills in teamwork, sportsmanship and the ability to handle failure. Ransom said that Weiss’s presence is strong on the diamonds at Todd Park.

“The kids are always on Gabby’s mind. He is always saying we are doing this for the kids and we want to give them the opportunity to play baseball. He definitely wants what is best for the boys. Gabby has had an impact on so many kids in Austin and you can see that when you are at a game in town with him,” Ransom said. “Guys that he has coached in the past are always coming up to talk with him and reminisce about their time in All Stars. He has coached All Stars teams and also AYB teams. He has kept the cost way down for the kids to play by working hard fundraising and trying to get local businesses to sponsor a team. Gabby is the face of the Austin All-Stars program.” 

There is no way to calculate how many hours Weiss has put into youth baseball in Austin or how many lives he has touched over the years, but he said he sometimes hears from players he coached decades ago about how much they remember the days of All-Stars baseball. Weiss is thankful for every player that grew to love baseball as kid and he’s proud of how far the All-Stars have come.

“I never thought it would get this big. Now we have five teams. We have teams playing in Omaha and all over and we’ve won a few state championships,” Weiss said. “It’s a fun sport and the kids have a ball. It’s something they’ll always remember. They’ll always remember when they’re 10, 11 and 12-years old playing baseball. There’s really nothing greater than looking at a 10-year old kid and he’s looking at that baseball uniform for the first time. Their eyes just light up, they can’t wait to get in that uniform when they get home and they won’t take it off for awhile.”