Mike Kingery played professional baseball for 17 years. He had stints with the Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates. During his career, he nearly won the National League batting title before the strike shortened the season in 1994 (he was batting .349 at the time). He combined with Roberto Mejia to hit the first-ever back-to-back home runs at Coors Field. He played alongside All-Star outfielders including Bo Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr., Dante Bichette, and Larry Walker.

Mike was born in St. James, Minnesota in March, 1961. Later that year his family moved to Atwater, Minnesota. Mike was a highly decorated athlete when he graduated from Atwater High School in 1979, winning All-State awards in football, baseball, and track and field. He was signed as a free agent out of high school by the Kansas City Royals. He progressed through the Royals’ minor league system and eventually earned a starting spot in rightfield in 1986. He was traded to the Seattle Mariners, where he played centerfield, only to give way to Ken Griffey, Jr.

Mike married his wife, Chris, in 1982. Chris and the growing Kingery family traveled with Mike through the baseball years. They settled in Minnesota after Mike’s retirement from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996. The Kingery family now lives near Mike’s hometown of Atwater. Mike and Chris have been married for 25 years and have 8 children, Rachel, Anna, Michelle, Rebekah, Elizabeth, Abigail, David, and Joshua, their ages range from 24 to 4.

In 1997, Mike created Solid Foundation Baseball School, Inc. It was in answer to strong demand from local baseball teams and players. The mission of Solid Foundation Baseball School is to train and lead each student to reach their full potential as a baseball player, an athlete, and a person.

Mike is a well received motivational speaker. Using his life experiences in baseball and the experience of raising a large family, he relates valuable insights and engages any audience with his good nature and humor. The most important thing to Mike is his relationship with Jesus Christ. Mike became a Christian during the 1980 baseball season in Sarasota , Florida. He speaks to churches and Christian groups. Mike and his family sing and play music together. They perform at churches and community events. His four oldest daughters also have a string quartet.

The Kingery Family:
Anna (banjo, cello, flute, penny whistle, piano, vocal), Joshua (vocal), Rachel (violin, piano, viola, guitar, vocal), Mike (emcee, vocal), Abigail (piano, violin, vocal), David (piano, violin, vocal), Elizabeth (piano, flute, penny whistle, harmonica, vocal), Rebekah (violin, piano, vocal), Chris (guitar, vocal), Michelle (piano, violin, mandolin, vocal)

The Kingery family started singing in 1994 when Grandma Marion Kingery started taking Rachel, Anna, Michelle & Rebekah to play music and sing at area nursing homes. It has become our family's ministry and over the years has branched out include playing and singing at churches, music festivals, fairs, community events, funerals, dinners, benefits, business functions, coffee shops, weddings, and of course still lots of nursing homes! We play and sing mainly gospel, bluegrass, hymns and a variety of original songs that we've come across over the years. We love singing as a family and are grateful that the Lord has given us the opportunity to minister to people in this way.

Prices: We do not have a set price that we charge. Whatever the Lord has put on your heart to give is fine. We do ask for mileage for places that are over 30 miles away from us. We do not charge nursing homes anything.

For booking info call (320) 857-2244 and ask for Chris.