Aafedt Field


Home plate entrance to Ardean Aafedt Stadium, Aug-2010.
The ballpark seats over 2000 fans, much as it did in the 1950s.
A look at the field from behind home plate.
Quick Facts:
The home of the Williston Oilers, both 1950s and modern varieties, is in a city park adjacent to the civic center that also includes a hockey rink. This park, built in 1950, saw immediate amateur and semi-pro action and became part of an independent professional league for four seasons later that decade.

The Manitoba-Dakota (Man-Dak) League was an “outlaw” league, a professional league that operated outside the auspices of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. As such, it avoided the restrictions the NAPBL placed on its member leagues and clubs. Teams in the league often had former major leaguers and Negro Leaguers on their rosters.

Ardean Aafedt, for whom the stadium is now named, was the director of recreation in Williston in the late 1950s. After the Man-Dak League folded, he worked with other local citizens to start a youth baseball league (ages 8-18). The stadium has since hosted numerous American Legion state and regional tournaments as well as the Babe Ruth League World Series in 1980 and 2003.

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This page updated 21-Sep-2011