At the high school level in Benson, Hendrickson played first and third bases in addition to catching. As a junior, his first start as a catcher resulted in a no-hit masterpiece by his battery mate Rick Minor.
This was a resurgent time for baseball in Benson as a number of players went on to compete at the college level. Hendrickson says most of the credit must go to Benson's high school coaches including Dusty Lilleberg, Emil Hamman, and Dean Bowyer (Bowyer would later establish himself as one of the finest baseball coaches in Minnesota history while at the helm of Mankato State University) and American Legion coach John Goggin, for whom Hendrickson and others played.
In 1972, Bowyer and Jeff Gallagher resurrected the Benson Chiefs amateur team to take advantage of the homegrown baseball talent. This was the beginning of a successful nine-year career for Hendrickson playing town ball with the Chiefs. The team enjoyed a number of solid seasons including qualifying for the state tournament in 1976 and 1980.
In the fall of 1972 Hendrickson was off to the University of Minnesota - Morris (UMM) where Larry Edlund was the coach of the Cougars. Hendrickson played two seasons as a first baseman on the junior varsity team, having a batting average of about .350. However, the writing was on the wall as far as varsity playing time was concerned when the coach asked Hendrickson to instruct the team's best power hitter on how to play first base. As a senior Hendrickson decided not to go out for the team but Coach Edlund offered him the opportunity to be an assistant coach. This was an opportunity that was accepted and appreciated. In his letter supporting Hendrickson's Hall of Fame nomination, Edlund commented, "Bob was a very hard working player and was even a harder worker for me as an assistant coach. I know he loved the game of baseball." Edlund added, "He was an excellent team player for me in the ‘70s and I know he continued to do this work surrounding baseball with the same great attitude."
Hendrickson says he has many great memories of his time playing and assistant coaching at UMM. He recalled a series against Southwest State (Marshall) where one of their players, Steve Haag, pitched the first game of a doubleheader left-handed and played in the second game as a right-handed second baseman! Four years later, Haag was a teammate of Hendrickson's when he was playing town team again in Benson. Hendrickson's coaching highlight was playing against coach George Thomas and the Gophers JV team at Siebert Field. Before the game, Hendrickson was led to the Bierman Building and the office of legendary Gopher's head coach, Dick Siebert, to receive instructions about the upcoming games. Siebert, Hendrickson, says, was gracious and comfortable to be around. The Cougars were competitive in both games, losing 2-1 and 4-1. Morris was leading 1-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game when three "pinch hitters" that had been hitting with the varsity team showed up and knocked the ball around the field for the win.
After graduating from UMM in 1976, Hendrickson worked as an insurance agent in Morris. He coached the American Legion baseball team there for one year and continued to play for the Benson Chiefs. In the fall of 1977, he moved to St. Paul for a job. For the 1978 season, he made it back to Benson for all but a few of the games despite the long commute.
In August 1978, Hendrickson moved to Starbuck to become the manager of the Olson Insurance Agency at the First National Bank of Starbuck. He stepped up to coach the VFW and American Legion baseball teams for Starbuck. There was a good corps of baseball players on these youth teams that would play key roles in the future success of the Starbuck Stars amateur team. In 1981, Hendrickson joined the Stars along with Greg Starns who had been playing Cyrus. While the 11-12 season record for Starbuck was a far cry from what the two veterans were used to achieving with their former teams, it was infinitely better than the 0-16 record endured by Starbuck in 1980.
Hendrickson became the player/coach for the Stars in 1982. This was also the year he became involved as an officer in the Pomme de Terre League. He would serve as vice president or president of the league until 2003.
1983 was a break-out year for Starbuck, particularly in the playoffs. Starbuck knocked out the number one seeded Glenwood team in the first round behind a pair of strong pitching performances including a 2-0 shutout by Tim McIver. Alexandria's talented veteran team fell to Starbuck in the second round. Andy Pederson tossed a no hitter to beat Appleton in a regional win that clinched a state tournament berth for Starbuck. The Stars won a pair of games against Barrett to become region champion. This would be the first of four consecutive years that Starbuck would reach the state tournament.
The Stars put together another impressive string of seven straight state appearances beginning in 1989. The lineup was bolstered by the addition of a couple of former rivals from the east when John Toop and Bill Neuenfeldt joined the team after the Glenwood town team folded. Starbuck's best showing at state occurred in 1993 when they won their first two games to advance to the quarterfinal round. The Stars' most recent state appearance was in 1999. As a player or coach, Hendrickson has been a part of 14 state tournament teams.
As was mentioned previously, the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame emphasizes contributions to the game that extend beyond player statistics. It is worth noting that during the stretch of state appearances from 1983 to 1986 that Hendrickson played in over 100 games and batted .311. His contributions as a player, coach, and administrator are each measured over decades.
How many Bob's does it take to run a successful baseball program? Sometimes just one-although Hendrickson is quick to acknowledge the contributions of others. If you attend a game with Hendrickson and you look around to see people in various roles, you could feel confident that he can relate to everyone from the players to the coaches to the umpires to the field maintenance crew. He has worn many "hats" and worn them well.
Hendrickson retired as a player after the 2004 season but clearly this is not a retirement story as he continues to be involved as a coach/business manager/fund-raiser for the Stars and he is a charter member of the Minnewaska Baseball Association. Most importantly, he is still in the coaching ranks with his son Jackson's little league teams.
The six people to be inducted on September 20 are Gordy Bauer of Caledonia, Dave Bell of Cold Spring, John Bruenig of Jordan, Bob Hendrickson of Starbuck, Verne Radloff of Essig, and Todd Schmidtke of Blue Earth. Tickets to the 5:30 p.m. banquet are $20 per person (under age 10 are $10). Tickets can be ordered by contacting the Hall of Fame or by contacting Matt Pederson at 239-4426.
Some area people previously inducted to the Hall of Fame include Pete Bright of Cyrus, Hank Frisch of Dumont, Obert Gjerde of Sunburg, Wendelin Koep of Urbank, Edward Mohs of Belgrade, Ted Peterson of Alexandria, Tom Rademacher of Rosen, Butch Richter of Granite Falls, and Urban Spanier of Spring Hill.