Aces’ Simon gets No. 20 retired

Owatonna Aces 20-year veteran Brian Simon had his No. 20 retired by the team this past weekend to commemorate his final season playing for the squad.

Simon, who grew up in Owatonna, began playing summer baseball at Dartts Park with the VFW squad in 2001 and has been both a player and a manager for the team during his career.

“I didn’t know anything about it beforehand. I guess someone put it out on our Facebook and mentioned it was going to happen. When I heard about it that day, I thought maybe it would happen after the games, but then I saw my dad come out to the mound before the game and give a speech and it kind of surprised me,” said Simon.

As members of the Aces took the field, Gene Simon, Brian’s father, entered with a microphone to welcome his son onto the field.

The elder Simon spoke of Brian’s love for the game, as well as his passion for the Aces organization – garnering a welcoming round of applause from a packed house of fans in the stands.

Simon was gifted a framed photo from the season, as well as the honor of watching his No. 20 be retired, only the second in Owatonna Aces’ history.

“On Friday night, it didn’t really hit me that hard, but on Sunday we had a double header for our last regular-season home games. After the games, I kind of just walked out into the outfield by myself, and it was nostalgic,,” said Simon.

According to Simon, the time was just right to call it a career.

“It’s going to be tough. I know it’s time to hang up the cleats. My body is telling me it’s time. But being how much time I’ve spent there working on the fields, getting things prepped for games or even just at practices… it’s going to be an odd feeling not being there,” he said.

Fortunately for Simon, his life around the sport is far from over.

While his cleats may be headed into retirement, his new journey with the game will take place at the local little league fields, where his three sons will begin their careers the same way he did.

Simon plans not only to coach for his sons’ little league teams but also said he looks forwards to supporting his former team at Dartts Park in the years to come.

That being said, Simon’s 2023 curtain call is not over yet.

The Aces will round out their regular season schedule this week with a final game against Stewartville on Thursday, July 20, at 7 p.m., before preparing for the playoffs.

“We have the team to make a deep run and hopefully get to the state tournament. We’ve got a great roster full of a lot of talented guys. I’m hopeful we can end our regular season with some wins to secure home field advantage, and then we’ll go from there,” said Simon.