I am a math teacher and head baseball coach at Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I have been teaching and coaching for 8 years. With these two positions as my profession, I should say I’ve reached the second rung of my all-time goal. I’m afraid the top rung will never be reached. There just doesn’t seem to be much need for a 30-year-old rookie outfielder in the majors.

I have a lovely wife, Julie, and an energetic young daughter, Lucy. They are the loves of my life. You know, on second thought, I have reached the top rung – it’s right here at home!

My baseball playing background goes back to high school and college. I played baseball, football, track, and basketball in high school at Cedar Rapids LaSalle High School, excelling in the first three more than the last.

A couple of my athletic claims to fame:

• I am 1-for-1 lifetime against major leaguer Cal Eldred. I laid down a pinch-hit sacrifice bunt my sophomore year of high school, when he was a junior and an All-State pitcher. The bunt stopped right on the 3^rd base line and I got a fluke single – but it looked like a line shot in the scorebook!

• I was a track teammate with NFL MVP Kurt Warner.  He went to Cedar Rapids Regis High, and we combined teams for track. I never did get to know him that well; but I do remember him as being tall and fairly slow, but a nice guy.

• My senior year in college, I ran in the 100 meters of the Iowa Games. In the younger division was future Atlanta Falcon Tim Dwight. I never did get to run head-to-head against him, but I did have a faster time than he did in this meet. (10.87, I think.)

Then in college, I attended Mt. Mercy College in Cedar Rapids (can you say homebody?) and played baseball there. I played center field, but spent my first 2 years learning how to switch-hit --- hitting a buck-something my freshman year and getting over the .300 mark my sophomore year (.309, I think). I continued to get better, breaking the team record for steals in a season my junior year with 23. 

My senior season was magical. We were not a strong team so we had to run our way into games. We stole 309 bases in 52 games as a team. I happened to get 100 of them. That was an NAIA national record (<http://www.naia.org/news/bbo/bbc/1999/12/22/945874740108.html>) and also a small college national record (for all levels below Division I).

I graduated in 1991 and had several try-outs for scouts. Most notably, I got the chance to show my stuff in Busch Stadium (when it still had turf which was awesome – and I’m a Cardinal fan!!!) and Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series. I traveled all over, but to no avail. No one wanted a one-dimensional outfielder (all I had was speed) who was 5’7" and 140 lbs. Don’t you just hate genetics? Anyway, nothing every came of my attempts to play pro ball, but it was sure fun trying.

 

I still play baseball in a 27 and over Senior League here in Eastern Iowa.  I will never give up the game I love, but I have to assume one of these days I’m going to have to slow down.  But until then, I’ll keep running around the bases!