What was the highest level of baseball that you played?

[janderson1622]

Great thread! Really cool to see everyone’s baseball journeys.

As for me, stayed local and played 4 years at Stevenson University (D3). Graduated in 2012 and have continued to play in the York Central Baseball League in southern PA during the spring/summer.

[now]

Fun thread!

Little League: cup of coffee, couldn't hit the hard stuff.

Sandlot: Loved neighborhood pickup games for fun.

Adult: softball tournaments, pumped from a long HR, came up with sacks full and wind blowing and poor right fielder, so overswung and tapped weakly to first.

Claim to fame: friend of mine, Ron Guidry lookalike, shared once that he struck out Barry Bonds three times Ina high school game. But quit baseball.

[ArtVanDelay]

3 hours ago, weams said:

Brooks allowed me to go two for three off him in New Bloomfield PA.

What was Brooks doing up in Perry County?

[ArtVanDelay]

I played 2 years of community college ball.  Played CF.  Had some power and speed but hit below the Mendoza line.  

[weams]

8 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

What was Brooks doing up in Perry County?

He played several baseball games against and with campers had a fine steak dinner with us, and generally was just the best guy there is. This was 19 years ago now I think. 

[weams]

1 minute ago, weams said:

He played several baseball games against and with campers had a fine steak dinner with us, and generally was just the best guy there is. This was 19 years ago now I think. 

http://old.post-gazette.com/travel/20020404field0407trp2.asp

Landisburg, not New Bloomfield. My bad. 

[Otter]

Went to a D-1 college (same school as two former Orioles) on a partial scholarship.  Well, everyone was on a partial on the baseball team as opposed to the football team where even the 3rd string punter was on a full ride...

Hurt my shoulder sophomore year, lost 5 mph on my fastball and D1 career was over.  Coach strongly "encouraged" me to transfer, and I ended up at a small D3 school for the last two years of college.  Funny thing was I enjoyed playing D3 more than D1.  D1 was a job, but D3 was just simply baseball for fun.

Played some semi-pro here and there, but shoulder wouldn't let me continue.  In fact, it's hurting right now as I type this 20 years after I injured it...

[Yardball85]

Accidentally clicked "Non-academic uniform team while in high school."  Meant to click high school baseball team.

[Roll Tide]

I was a sidearm pitcher in high school and the coach hated it despite the fact that I was effective.

[StottyByNature]

4 years of high school ball on a decent team in a competitive league.  Pitched a lot because I could throw strikes but never had overpowering stuff.  Developed a pretty good change up but my curve never amounted to much.  Probably topped out at 75-80 mph.  Never hit enough to play the field much.  Gave it up when I went to college.  A few years ago I got a massage and got some comments that my right shoulder had a lot going on and they guessed that I was a pitcher.  I can still make lots of funny sounds with it.  

[Snutchy]

Made it all the way to varsity in high school. I pitched and played 1B. I was a much better 1B, but pitching will always be my first love.

I know it's off-topic, but there is a kid from my alma mater that was drafted in the 32nd round by the A's last year. Caleb Evans. He's from Smith Island. Those kids have to make a 12 mile boat ride back and forth to school every day. Smith Island has a very small population, and they speak with a really unique dialect. Probably because they're so isolated most of the time. I can only imagine how proud they are of him on that island. 

 

[InsideCoroner]

I played my senior year in high school in rural PA, then didn’t play for the longest time aside from softball games, until I moved to Holland about 8 years ago.

Unlike in Germany where I had been living, baseball is known by the Dutch, and especially popular with the people from Curacao and Aruba (both are Dutch colonies, so people from there have automatic Dutch citizenship). I joined an all-ages uniformed team, third division (along with two friends), and played 2B for a season. We took it seriously but were pretty bad, although it was also a lot of fun. I then moved back to Germany and would love to find a casual league, but you don’t even see any fields over here. It’s 98% soccer, 1% basketball and 1% handball (yeah...handball). 

[Snutchy]

My wife's cousin just signed to play for SUNY Albany next year. That kid is a beast and will likely get drafted eventually. I tease him and tell him that his ears create too much drag that affects his speed rating. I hope he doesn't have me for secret santa this year. 

Quote

Beauchamp delivered one of the most memorable moments of the 2017 season in Section V baseball. The then-10th-grader hit a pitch over the outfield wall at Frontier Field, home park of the Rochester Red Wings.

"That was awesome," Fuller said. "We were down 2-0 to Rush-Henrietta. I think we were being two-hit at the time. It was like an eight-pitch at-bat. I think he went one ball, two strikes; 2-2 and 3-2 (in the count). 

"It might've been the eighth pitch of the at-bat, before a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh of a Section V final. That jump-started us, the comeback."

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/high-school/2018/07/26/ben-beauchamp-mcquaid-baseball-suny-albany-university-albany-football-rochester-ny-section-v/841117002/

[PA Bird Fan]

Played for a small Christian liberal arts college that is now D3. (Weams they are not that far from you.) If you could play at all you were on the team. I remember striking out my first batter on a team being coached by Larry Sheets. I threw a big sweeping curveball - strike one, a second big sweeping curveball - strike two, and a fastball on the outside corner. Out looking. This was not Sheets, he was coaching. Thought I was hot stuff though. Later in the season I learned that middle of the order hitters could launch that big sweeping curveball long distances. We had scouts look at a few of our players. Not me, of course, but it was fun knowing they were there. We all threw a little harder and ran a little faster - just in case they might notice. 

Later I played on the local adult league team and remember striking out a guy who played AAA. Don't remember his name. Played in the Reds system. I do remember that he was yelling at the ump that I was balking and the ump wasn't calling it. A teammate yelled from our bench what I was doing and I stopped it. By this time the guy was so hot he was distracted. I threw him a 3-2 curveball that caught just enough of the plate. I think the ump was tired of his jawing too. 

I really enjoyed softball after baseball was done. A favorite memory came from a Fall tournament under the lights. A guy had taken an extra base on me earlier in the game and I wanted a second chance at him (was playing right center field) . He did get on again later in a close game and the next guy up tended to hit my way. I was hoping it would come to me and I got my wish. The guy launched one that was headed for the fence. I turned and ran and caught the thing backhanded, high over my head and a little bit out in front of me just a few steps from the fence. I knew the guy would try to advance so I planted and fired to second (without really looking). The shortstop told me later that it came in on a line that he caught about head high on the bag as it was still rising. Beat the guy by a few steps on a double play to end the inning of a close game. Fired up everyone. I have no idea how the ball went right to the base. I really did not look. I just knew about where it was.

I had just enough ability to create a few highlights along the way without really being all that great. That was all a very  long time ago.  Good times and good memories.  Thanks for this thread.

 

 

 

[backwardsk]

I played throughout high school and played my last season of American Legion  in the summer before heading off to college.

I pitched against some D1 guys and held my own.  I did give up a moonshot to a kid who got drafted by the Twins earlier in the week.

When I was younger, I played in a tournament led by future MVP Jimmy Rollins.