Creve Coeur Baseball Player Honored As Rising Star Finalist

The St. Louis area is one certainly well known for achievement in the world of professional baseball, but this week, the amateur baseball community came together to honor contributors past and present at the annual St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame dinner.

Baseball present included Tate Matheny, one of six finalists for the Rising Star Award, given to the area's top high school baseball player. Matheny, a junior, is an offensive catalyst for the Wildcats, with pro and college scouts drawn to Creve Coeur to see the outfielder and son of former Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny. The Rising Star honor went to Francis Howell's Brett Graves, a University of Missouri signee.

Matheny was still pleased to make it this far. " It’s an honor to be with big name guys like David Schmitz. (CBC)", he said. “This season we’ll have a blast. We have lots of talent and we are shooting for the championship.” after a win earlier this week against .

Other Rising Star Finalists included Jake Mavropoulos (University City) and Mark Wilson (Francis Howell North)

The headliner for this year's event was former Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog, who received the Bob Burnes Lifetime Achievement Award. Herzog, a Sunset Hills resident, was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame last summer. John Burroughs coach Jim Lemen received the Bob Broeg Award.

Inductees this year included Robert Buschmann, Mike Dunnigan, James Ehlmann, Barney Esler, Rodney Epps, Armin Hemsath Jr., Art Hill, Joyce Jones, Richard Keefe, Roy Mueller, Dennis Pieper, Bob Pietroburgo, Bill Pruneau, Allyn Rohlfing, Mike Sinovich, Mike Stewart, Gary Stroot, Robert Ruck and David Yeast.