Talk about YOUR baseball "career"

[Just Regular]

Cal Ripken once saw me homer off the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.

It was a tarp crew wiffleball game on a maybe it will rain, maybe it won't kind of day (the best!) where home plate was beyond the fence, but still.

That job also afforded rare opportunities like lingering as close as one dared to the bullpen batters box while Nolan Ryan warmed up, nodding in commiseration with Age-19 Ivan Rodriguez as he plopped grapes into the pants of relievers leaning too far forward watching the game, and once relaying a message for Curt Schilling where an attractive fan should meet him in Fells Point later that night.

[Tony-OH]

45 minutes ago, CarrRun49 said:

Long time lurker. First time poster, awaiting my account to be approved. I miss Orioles baseball.

 

I played baseball throughout my life and was the game I loved most. Tee-Ball, Little League, Travel, AAU, Select, and on to College.  I played with local travel teams from age 7 to 14.  Transitioned over to AAU and Select ball thereafter.  My Dad would drive me from Northern Harford County, multiple times a week, to Southern Anne Arundel County for practice.  The highlight of my baseball career was when I tried out for a select team that was compromised of the Orioles own, LJ Hoes, former orioles farmhand Jeff Kemp, and others that would continue to go on and play D1 baseball or get drafted.  I stepped to the plate for my try out and LJ was on the mound. First pitch, line drive double off into the left center gap.  Went on to make the team, starting RF for 3 additional years and place 17th at Nationals. 

Most recently, I find it much more difficult to hit a much larger softball (adult beverages may be consumed), but can track them with the best of them. I have now retired from the game I love, with a growing family and the need for little ones and their dad.  Nothing crazy, but since some old orioles and farmhands were involved, I wanted to post.

 

Thanks and hope to add some insight in the future!

Welcome and glad to have you here. Look forward to having you join in on the conversation! 

[Tony-OH]

14 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

Cal Ripken once saw me homer off the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.

It was a tarp crew wiffleball game on a maybe it will rain, maybe it won't kind of day (the best!) where home plate was beyond the fence, but still.

That job also afforded rare opportunities like lingering as close as one dared to the bullpen batters box while Nolan Ryan warmed up, nodding in commiseration with Age-19 Ivan Rodriguez as he plopped grapes into the pants of relievers leaning too far forward watching the game, and once relaying a message for Curt Schilling where an attractive fan should meet him in Fells Point later that night.

Cool memories..

[mdbdotcom]

The last time I played I was an emergency fill-in on my son's fall ball team in Harford County. Only 8 guys showed up and they dragged me out to right field, where I made the most embarrassing attempt at catching a fly ball in athletic history. I made up for it somewhat in my first at bat.

There was a huge hole between first and second and I aimed a dribbler over there. Still don't understand how the first-baseman never got to it, but I ended up with a single. Somehow, I made it to second base, where I had to dive back to the bag to avoid being picked off. Wow, did that hurt. I shortened my lead so I wouldn't have to do that again and then scored on a solid single. I was 43-years old and hadn't played ball since my softball days in Central Park 20 years earlier (I was a very good 3B). I needed oxygen.

My next at bat the first pitch was right at my head. I got out of the way and, after striking out, found someone to take my place. So ended my "career."

[MongoBoy]

18 hours ago, UMDTerrapins said:

I started off as a pitcher and was going to break every record in the book. Some crazy chick shot me, not really sure why....I don't really like to talk about it. I was thinking about making a comeback but, you know, coronavirus. 

 

 

Ya know, she told me about that once.  Something about old girlfriends and steak knives. We had a good laugh.

[Ridgway22]

(reposted from 2018 thread)

This is a cool thread.....

Played varsity at Hueneme High School, Oxnard, California in 1980, Terry Tackett was the coach, father of the O's own Jeff Tackett. Mark Berry, Reds coach was also on that team.

Tall, lean, threw hard, decent curve, questionable command. We had a player on our team all the scouts were out to see, John Cox. However, he kept getting shelled and I would come in to clean up. Normally the scouts would vanish when he came out of the game, but one, a bird dog for the Brewers, stuck around and was drinking beers in brown paper bags with my Dad. Scout ended up writing me up and I got drafted before I graduated High School.

(Note: John Cox went on to play at Cal, where he was a teammate of Bryan Pryce, recently fired manager of the Reds. I got to know Bryan at several of John Rubinow's ProBall camps. Good dude.)

Anyway, Brewers offered a contract of no bonus money, $500/month, plus room and board on the road, Butte Montana Pioneer League.

Ended up going to Ventura Junior College (arrived the year after Brook Jacoby left to the Braves), thinking I'd dominate and raise my draft stock. Instead, pitched marginally, pitched for money in a weekend semi-pro league and shredded my shoulder pitching too many innings.

Played some softball, etc. until 2001, found an Ad in North County San Diego Newspaper for the Mens Senior Baseball League (MABL/MSBL), and decided to make a comeback in a 35+ league. Had so much fun at the MSBL World Series in Phoenix that year, decided to get rotator cuff surgery so I could pitch without pain. 2004 World Series, we lost in the playoffs to a team from Tucson with Jack Howell, who went on to win the 35+ Mountain Division. (Our team was Dream Foundation / North County Padres)

2005, we had a loaded team (I managed)... Had an ex-major leaguer who came up with the Phillies and was minor-league outfielder drafted by the Rockies and turned into a pitcher, Mike Farmer. His first Major League start (and first major league hit) came against/off Greg Maddux. (1996). We also had a former Mariners AAA pitcher named Vic Martin, who had absolutely pin-point control. Our shortstop was Jeff Bonchek, who had played A ball for the Indians. We ended up winning the 35+ Mountain that year. The next year, with much the same cast, we won the 35+ Wood American division, so I have 2 MSBL rings.

Retired a few years later when I saw a video tape of myself pitching. Ugh. 

Sorry for the long post. Got going and couldn't stop!

[Ridgway22]

17 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

(you have never seen politics until you deal with a men's baseball league)

Thanks for reminding me of the trauma & drama!  Ugh.

[glenn__davis]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

Despite my inability to hit a hardball, I was (and still am, sort of) a pretty good slow pitch softball player.     Once my kids came to watch me play and I came up with the bases loaded and crushed a ball over the LF’s head.    That was great, except that I pulled a calf muscle charging out of the batter’s box.    I managed to limp my way to 3B on what surely would have been a grand slam.    I kept playing, and lo and behold the bases were loaded my next time up.   I hit a long liner that perfectly bisected LF and CF and kept rolling.    I’m limping along, but my biggest problem is there’s a woman ahead of me on the bases who didn’t know what to do, so I’m having to lag behind her.    As she finally heads towards home, I head to third and by now a relay throw is coming in there.    It sails over the head of the 3B and I hobble home.    Just after I touch home plate and peel off behind the backstop, my 6/7 year old daughter leaps into my arms and says “Daddy, you’re amazing!   You’re the best dad in the whole world!!!”     If I had died just then, I would have died a very happy man.

I've got a somewhat similar story.

A few years back - I think my son was probably 6 or 7 at the time as well - we had a coach's HR derby at the end of season picnic.  We were in the little league field but we had to use a T-ball bat.  A couple of other guys went and nobody hit one out.  I came out and on my 3rd and final pitch got a high one that I tomahawked over the LF fence.  

My son was over on the other field - I didn't even know he was watching.  But as I took a very slow, glorious victory lap around the bases, I heard him yelling over everyone else "YES!  YES!  I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO DO IT!!!"  I mean no one else even cared, but he thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.  He then sprinted over to the field (and he doesn't sprint, ever) as fast as he could to give me a high five.  One of my favorite memories.

[weams]

44 minutes ago, MongoBoy said:

Ya know, she told me about that once.  Something about old girlfriends and steak knives. We had a good laugh.

Second prize, steak knives. 

[MongoBoy]

2 hours ago, weams said:

Second prize, steak knives. 

[DocJJ]

What a painful question.   I was 13 when I stopped playing.   Last season of little league.   I was a slick fielding shortstop who couldn't hit a lick.   Mark Belanger was my inspiration.   We lost in the Playoffs when a grounder dribbled right between my legs with the bases loaded with 2 outs in the last inning....

On a happier note, my son plays 14U travel and can actually hit....!

[beervendor]

Played in little league and in high school. Unlike some of you incomplete players who were all-hit or all-glove, I was remarkably consistent in all aspects of my game. That is to say, I was awful. Like historically awful. Hidden in RF and the first pitch of the game becomes a routine popup that bounces off the heel of my glove ? Check. Take strike three looking with a full count, bases loaded, final inning after rallying from five runs down only to lose by one? Check. Chase countless balls to the fence because I can't ever correctly decide to stretch from 1B or come off the bag? Check. Yup, Coach always knew EXACTLY what he could rely on me for every day. As an ongoing tribute to my consistency - to this day, I'm nearly 50 and just as left-handed as the first day I picked up a bat.

[Tony-OH]

21 hours ago, Ridgway22 said:

(reposted from 2018 thread)

This is a cool thread.....

Played varsity at Hueneme High School, Oxnard, California in 1980, Terry Tackett was the coach, father of the O's own Jeff Tackett. Mark Berry, Reds coach was also on that team.

Tall, lean, threw hard, decent curve, questionable command. We had a player on our team all the scouts were out to see, John Cox. However, he kept getting shelled and I would come in to clean up. Normally the scouts would vanish when he came out of the game, but one, a bird dog for the Brewers, stuck around and was drinking beers in brown paper bags with my Dad. Scout ended up writing me up and I got drafted before I graduated High School.

(Note: John Cox went on to play at Cal, where he was a teammate of Bryan Pryce, recently fired manager of the Reds. I got to know Bryan at several of John Rubinow's ProBall camps. Good dude.)

Anyway, Brewers offered a contract of no bonus money, $500/month, plus room and board on the road, Butte Montana Pioneer League.

Ended up going to Ventura Junior College (arrived the year after Brook Jacoby left to the Braves), thinking I'd dominate and raise my draft stock. Instead, pitched marginally, pitched for money in a weekend semi-pro league and shredded my shoulder pitching too many innings.

Played some softball, etc. until 2001, found an Ad in North County San Diego Newspaper for the Mens Senior Baseball League (MABL/MSBL), and decided to make a comeback in a 35+ league. Had so much fun at the MSBL World Series in Phoenix that year, decided to get rotator cuff surgery so I could pitch without pain. 2004 World Series, we lost in the playoffs to a team from Tucson with Jack Howell, who went on to win the 35+ Mountain Division. (Our team was Dream Foundation / North County Padres)

2005, we had a loaded team (I managed)... Had an ex-major leaguer who came up with the Phillies and was minor-league outfielder drafted by the Rockies and turned into a pitcher, Mike Farmer. His first Major League start (and first major league hit) came against/off Greg Maddux. (1996). We also had a former Mariners AAA pitcher named Vic Martin, who had absolutely pin-point control. Our shortstop was Jeff Bonchek, who had played A ball for the Indians. We ended up winning the 35+ Mountain that year. The next year, with much the same cast, we won the 35+ Wood American division, so I have 2 MSBL rings.

Retired a few years later when I saw a video tape of myself pitching. Ugh. 

Sorry for the long post. Got going and couldn't stop!

Thanks for sharing. I find all these experiences really interesting.

[Tony-OH]

Since we're bored I'll share another story.

The year was 2005 and I had just returned from spending a year in Afghanistan and was happy to be back in Hawaii with my family. Obviously I had not played in over a year when I found a local men's 18 and over team looking for players. 

With the itch to play again and a desire to try out my new "PRK fixed" eyes, I came out of "forced retirement/military service" at 35 years old. The team ended up being pretty good even though we ran out of pitching occasionally and I had to pitch, which is never a good long term fix for any team (haha).  I mostly played outfield and some second base for this team and we ended up in the playoffs. 

Even though I was one of the older players on the team, I typically hit leadoff and was having a pretty good year hitting well over .350 with an on base percentage close to .500 (I walked a lot and rarely struck out). 

Let's fast forward to the semi-finals game with the winner getting a chance to play under the lights in downtown Honolulu on this beautifully manicured field. Down by two in the bottom of the 6th inning (we played 7 inning games), with runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs, I drive the ball to right center, knocking in both runs to tie the game while ending up on 3rd after a play at the plate.

Feeling fast, and perhaps all hyped up after my game tying triple, I noticed the left-handed pitcher was not paying any attention to me at third. I kept faking like I would steal home and would have to stop myself because I realize I was almost half way down the line and no one on that team was saying anything about me. 

So that's when I decided I was going to do it. I had tried to steal home since Pony League ball when  was 15 years old, but dammit, there I went. Head down, arms pumping, I knew I was going to steal home and we would be ahead with just an inning to go. With about 15 feet to go and before I could start to slide, I saw the catcher stand up and get ready to catch the ball. We had a no contact rule so as he caught the ball, I decided to try and reach my foot out to touch the plate before he could tag me. 

Unfortunately for me, I was running at full speed and when my foot landed on the side of the plate and in the dirt, my cleats caught and my momentum twisted my knee as I fell face first into the dirt. As I fell, I felt one of the worse pains in my life as it felt like someone had just chopped my leg of at the knee. My teammates eventually helped my off the field and we actually ended up winning the next inning anyways so we were heading to the Championship.

Even though it was my right knee, I drove myself home, but made the mistake of not going straight to the hospital. After an awful painful night on the couch (so I could keep my leg straight and on ice) my wife had to enlist me neighbor to help me to the car so she could take me to the Hospital.

My leg was so swollen they couldn't do an MRI, but the doctor was pretty sure I tore my meniscus and most likely my ACL. He gave me some pain meds, and told me to come back for an MRI in a week when the swelling went down.

So here's my dilemma. We had this championship game to play and I wanted to play.

The championship game was two days later and I couldn't put any weight on my leg so it looked bleak. Luckily for me, two days later I was able to walk on it and I even tried to jog in a straight line which I did with tolerable pain levels.

I show up and convinced the manager I could DH and then he could use a courtesy runner if I get on. He kinda looked at me like I was nuts, but I showed him that I could run at about 1/3 speed down the line and took batting practice to show that I could hit on it. I just hid the excruciating pain when I pushed off my back leg (haha).

In my mind, my knee was already torn up so screw it, it was just pain. I think I took 1600MG of Motrin to try and dull it some.

So sure enough, he lets me play and I end up going 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs, and even convinced him to let me play an inning at 2B after the fill in made two dumb plays that cost us runs. That was really stupid because I tried to go back and catch a popup and thought someone had shot me in the knee again. 

We end up winning the championship by a run, and a few months later I was in the operating room getting my Meniscus and ACL fixed.

It was also the last time I even even thought about stealing home again!

[DocJJ]

My father once played slow pitch softball in a Men's over 60 League.   Most of the guys can still hit and throw, but as we get old, we lose our ability to run.   Once my father drilled a line drive to right center that looked like a good, clean, hit... until the Right Fielder threw him out at first base.   

I yelled, "Dad, that's embarrassing... getting thrown out at first on a hit to Right Center like that!"

 

He said, "You missed last week... they threw me out on a hit to Left Center...."....