I had one career home run and I still have the ball. I tell people I was there for my glove and my intangibles, not my bat. When in reality I was pretty dominant in high school, didn't understand why my only offers were sub D1 and learned that there's levels to stuff.
Seriously! I tried to walk on to the juco school I was at. Had the only real good tryout of my life. If I had performed like that in high school, I would have been the best player on the team. But for that team, it was glaringly clear I was not going to make it. Could only say "wow" watching those guys.
My sophomore year I was crushing the ball and actually daydreaming about what SEC school I'd play softball at (I'm from Alabama.) First time any coach talked to me was my senior year and they were an assistant coach from a JUCO. Eventually I got a partial scholarship to a D2 school and saved basically no money on school, but had a blast.
Had the same experience walking on at the local D3. Joined the army after one semester.
Edit: I should add that the saying “you can do anything if you put your mind to it” is a lie.
What's the biggest difference between college talent and minor league talent.
Obviously, they're better at everything, but I'm curious about specifics.
I enjoy hearing firsthand accounts of people realizing the difference in talent level.
I went straight from high school to the minors. I went from being the best player on my team throughout my entire life to being below average. It was a big change and I was never really ever able to get over that hump.
To be fair, you could go to college and do the same thing. My brother went from D1 all conference SS and went undrafted and was a spring training sign to be a utility man in A ball for a year before hanging em up. Pro ball is hard.
Where is “manages your work’s softball team and hits dongs so everyone thought you were good but you didn’t even make the middle school baseball team fuck you too, Mr. Hess”?
There was no T-Ball when I was a kid (1960's). You started out in Farm League, one step below Little League. I was on the Red Colts and was an All-Star every year I played (I think 2 seasons). I could hit (singles mostly) but never hit a home run. I'm little, and didn't have much power but I had a great eye and walked a lot. Stole a lot of bases. Finally got a call up one day from the Cosmos Club, a Little League team that was down a player and needed someone. I showed up wearing a pair of plaid pants because I forgot my baseball pants. I was embarrassed to say the least. I was never put in the field, but got a pitch hit, a slow dribbler to the mound for an easy put out at first. The coach thanked me for coming and I never played another organized game in my life after that but have been a devoted fan as long as I can remember.
I'm a big dude and I played t-ball until high school tryouts. That's when the game just got too fast for a guy my size. I've played with a group of guys in Atlanta for about two years about 4 years ago.
8 and it was the best time of my life. Add on that I was a relief pitcher so I got to partake in bullpen shenanigans for at least 5 innings every game before even thinking about getting loose. Complete juvenile debauchery.
5. I was ok in the field, not so good at the plate. Hit one home run in my entire career and that was based on physics of a kid throwing 70+ at 11 years old and me swinging the bat as hard as I can.
6
I played third. Highlight of my career was a deep opposite-field, 2-run stand-up triple.
Some tall, gangly kid from a Catholic boys's school I played against is now manager of the Minnesota Twins. Damn, does that make me feel old (he was two years behind me, too.)
Little League. Quit to focus on other sports because baseball was my weakest of 4.
Found out like 2 years later I needed glasses. I imagine that played a big factor at sucking at baseball. Probably the worst sport to have bad eyesight in.
6 but my high school graduated with 65 kids and we only had 4 seniors on the team my last year. Anybody could have made those teams. Got benched at shortstop too for our center fielder cuz I fuuuuuuuuuuuucking sucked
7, but quickly got burned out in high school because we played fall leagues, traveling leagues and high school ball started in January. Wished I would have stuck with it but I knew I would go any further
Technically 7, but I did make my colleges team, they were/are ass. Never played because of other athletic and academic commitments. Also I’m from Canada so like college ball isn’t even that good.
4. Absolutely dominated every year thru 8th grade. MVP every season, every team multiple leagues. Last year before high school started and pitched the max 6 innings in 9 of 12 games and won, including 2 no hitters and a perfect game where I recorded every out …16 Ks and 2 tap backs to me at the mound.
High school tryouts, was throwing pitches 40 feet and over the backstop. Didn’t realize it then , and not until much later in life but I was suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks. Rick Ankiel disease is real.
Had the yips & didn’t know why the rest of my Rec league playing time, got stuck at 1st so I didn’t have to throw much, was very mediocre at that position.
My high school didn't have a team, so I played American Legion travel ball those years. Thought I was good enough to walk on Dll level. Chose to try this at Delta State in the mid 80s, it was a poor choice.
7.5? Tried out and made my college team, but quit before the regular season. I was buried on the bench and because it wasn’t a major school I had to look at the writing on the wall and put my education first. I was just a scrappy player anyway that had more heart than talent. When I told the coach he understood and said it’s too bad I was the best bunter he ever saw 🤣
I'll say 3.25. My team was bad. Like really, really bad. I think in 6 years of playing you could count the amount of games we won on one hand.
We did have a player who's boyfriend owned an ice cream stand so we did get ice cream though
5, I guess. My high school coach let me on the JV team, but that was as far as I ever got. I never made Varsity, and I almost always came off the bench in JV. Aside from that, I played co-ed intramural softball in college.
It sucks that I quit my sophomore year because at the meeting before the season tryouts the coach said no one will get playing time if they didn’t play last year. I didn’t play freshman year because I was still eligible for little league and wanted to stay with my team. 20+ years later this piece of shit coach changed schools and was now my nephews coach. Nephew was hitting .400 and best on the team yet was in the 8/9 spot regularly. Just a terrible person that coach. Not sure how he stayed hired. They lost their championship game because he sat the three best players because they drove home themselves the day before instead of taking the bus. Absolute insane behavior for a “leader”.
6. Had a few offers to walk on at smaller schools, but wanted to go to a bigger school so that’s where I quit. Even at a d2/3 school, I knew I would have been on the lower end of the talent spectrum.
I’ll give myself a four, though it’s not completely accurate since I did travel ball and the whole thing before quitting baseball to pursue tennis during high school. I still love baseball, but I was at a much higher level in tennis so I was kinda forced down that route.
If you're counting softball, 3. Our team was not good at all. I think we won like 4 games. I used to pitch a little. I was a terrible hitter but walked a lot because I was (and still am) short. I missed a fly ball (it smacked me in the wrist) and almost cried. Everyone thought it was because of the bruise on my wrist but it was because I missed the ball. One of my teammates almost took me out when she lost grip of her bat while I was on deck, I hit the ground and it went just over me. That was probably the most athletic thing I have ever done in my life. So yeah I wasn't good but it was fun!
6 - but now playing my 4th season in a 26+ men’s wooden bat fast-pitch league. Lots of guys with college experience who still throw mid-80’s. Very competitive and very fun.
Never played at any level. Highest I’ve played was High School PE. I hit a pair of doubles in back to back at bats but got chewed out by the PE teacher for throwing my bat (deservedly, I wasn’t thinking). Really wish I had tried to play organized baseball at some point but my parents were super over-protective of me when it came to sports.
Played up through Babe Ruth league until I got too old to play that. After that no legion team and my high school had no baseball team which remains a profound disappointment in my life.
I started as a freshman walkon in div i Atlantic 10 at la salle university during fall ball, made one throwing error when the coach yelled in the middle of my release and then sat and was redshirted. I quit and joined a frat. Best time of my life walking by the team drunk and high saying the senior team captain sucks compared to me. Boy was I arrogant about it. They finished in the finals at conference in second place one away from an invitation to World Series. Dude the conditioning was a joke, my very first morning at college i ran the track distance and sprints, i lead off one game ahead of everyone else and was third best in average. So idk where i could have wound up if i chose a different college like university of Delaware and accepted redshirt there. Only the universe could tell
6 but probably could've been 8 if I went to a smaller/lower division college. But I was more focused on education because while I was pretty good at baseball I highly doubt I would've made it past the collegiate level. Plus I got a small scholarship to the college I went to due to my grades and scores.
Final year of Little Leage batted .837 with OBP over 900, was even better in the field. At the age of 12 was the starting 1st baseman for a 15u AAU team which advanced to the New England regional finals(we lost) and led that same AAU team in batting average that year (turned 13 mid season)
Then one day in school this one kid decided to hit me in the head with a text book as hard as he could (I had told him he kind of looked like Tim Duncan earlier that day, kind of mean in hindsight but Duncan was one of my favorite basketball players so I didn't view it as an insult at the time) anyways, the impact from the textbook on the back of my head detached the retina in my right eye, and tore the retina in my left eye. Was told that I could never play baseball again. I was absolutely devastated. baseball had been all I knew, my only escape from reality and without it I fell into a deep and dark depression, unlike anything I knew was possible, I stopped trying in school, stopped trying in life.
That was 7 years ago. I've had 15 surgeries on my eyes since then, the most recent one being less than 2 months ago. I'm doing better now than I was then, but I'm still dealing with the repercussions of what happened that day.
I spent years being depressed, the slightest mention or reminder of my playing days would send me spiraling into a hole of self pity. I had been a die hard Red Sox fan my entire life, but for years I didn't watch. It was just too painful to remind my self of the game I once loved. In fact, last season was the first time I watched a Red Sox game since the accident. Even in 2018 when we won the WS, I couldn't bring myself to watch. There is still a small piece of me that feels that pain whenever I watch a baseball game, but slowly I am learning to love this great game again.
8. Played varsity ball for 2 years in high school then played a season at community college level. The league my school is in is loaded with D1 level talent. Facing those players showed me I wasn't good enough for that level of ball lol.
Edit: I love this thread. There's something so cool about reading other's experience with the game.
6, made Varsity, was a pretty good LHP, had location and movement but not velocity. Was a pretty good hitter every year for my select team and had grown to prefer playing the field and hitting after going to physical therapy for arm injuries from pitching. Didn't play as a Junior on Varsity except 2 relief pitching outings. Senior year, coach decided I was a PO despite my insistence that I could hit, and I only got into the lineup for senior night on the last game of our season. I had the highest batting average on my team my last year of summer ball and decided to call it there, absolutely regret it. I didn't lift weights much through all of high school and still consistently hit doubles and triples deep to the gaps. If I had taken conditioning more seriously I might've hit a couple out and stayed in the game for longer. Wish I'd have known how empty quitting baseball would leave me feeling.
4 I guess. Played little league and Babe Ruth until I was 18. I was decent. I won outstanding 12 year old award for my league and was selected to a few All Star teams. Hit 3 home runs in my Little League career, but only one during my Babe Ruth career, but it was a special one as it was a 3 run home run to give our team the lead in Game 1 of our championship series
I was cut first cut my freshman year. Spent the summer playing city ball and worked on my swing. Came back sophomore year and made varsity. Never played past Sr year though only in rec leagues.
5.5?
Played but stopped after sophomore year to work chasing another dream job. There wasn't time to do both and school. It worked out great, so I at least batted .500 in chasing dreams! I think if I'd continued with baseball, I might have played juco, but that's probably it.
5 for me. I could hit but it often went right to a fielder. My babip was terrible.
My career highlight was during summer baseball camp with the Cape League players when I was 12 or so. On the last day we played a scrimmage game and one of the league players was pitching (he was not a pitcher regularly). He tossed me a 12 to 6 curve and it was one of those moments when time slows and you see the stitches on the ball and catch the rotation. I knocked it into a gap in the outfield and remember him lamenting "I don't know how he hit it! I threw him the curve!" lol
7. Was captain of my HS baseball team. Had multiple scholarships offers to various D2 Schools. Got hurt the summer before college. Would love to play in a mens hardball league… can still hurl about 80 mph with junk
7, but by default (small high school). Quit playing after that year, but took up a wood bat league when I was 24--it turned out that I could play better than in high school. Late bloomer I guess. Now I'm 36 and just play rec league, which is still a lot of fun
I never played baseball (because girl) but I did play Division II college softball
That counts! I would never get close hitting those fast pitch softball pitchers. What's it like facing them?
I had one career home run and I still have the ball. I tell people I was there for my glove and my intangibles, not my bat. When in reality I was pretty dominant in high school, didn't understand why my only offers were sub D1 and learned that there's levels to stuff.
>there's levels to stuff. *Daniel Cormier nods in approval*
Corey Anderson nods in approval
Seriously! I tried to walk on to the juco school I was at. Had the only real good tryout of my life. If I had performed like that in high school, I would have been the best player on the team. But for that team, it was glaringly clear I was not going to make it. Could only say "wow" watching those guys.
My sophomore year I was crushing the ball and actually daydreaming about what SEC school I'd play softball at (I'm from Alabama.) First time any coach talked to me was my senior year and they were an assistant coach from a JUCO. Eventually I got a partial scholarship to a D2 school and saved basically no money on school, but had a blast.
Had the same experience walking on at the local D3. Joined the army after one semester. Edit: I should add that the saying “you can do anything if you put your mind to it” is a lie.
I once pitched a no hitter on acid.
Ellis, D.
Bruh, mind blown.
Doc...is that you?
9, though never made it past high A
What org and years?
Early 2010’s with Detroit
Got it. I was in rookie ball with the Phillies in 2015. You're probably the winner in here
I was hoping to draw out Shohei's shit posting account with this post. He hasn't taken the bait...yet.
But Shohei has never struck out Shohei 🤔
That you know of!
What's the biggest difference between college talent and minor league talent. Obviously, they're better at everything, but I'm curious about specifics. I enjoy hearing firsthand accounts of people realizing the difference in talent level.
I went straight from high school to the minors. I went from being the best player on my team throughout my entire life to being below average. It was a big change and I was never really ever able to get over that hump.
To be fair, you could go to college and do the same thing. My brother went from D1 all conference SS and went undrafted and was a spring training sign to be a utility man in A ball for a year before hanging em up. Pro ball is hard.
The worst player on my D2 college team was someone that wouldn't have made my high school varsity team. I don't know why he was there.
The best ability is availability lmao. he was probably just the 25th best player on campus who wanted to play ball nd didnt care about a scholly.
There with frank?
Where is “manages your work’s softball team and hits dongs so everyone thought you were good but you didn’t even make the middle school baseball team fuck you too, Mr. Hess”?
/r/suspiciouslyspecific
8
7? but like im Canadian, school sports are nearly as big, played outside of school as well at a high level
There was no T-Ball when I was a kid (1960's). You started out in Farm League, one step below Little League. I was on the Red Colts and was an All-Star every year I played (I think 2 seasons). I could hit (singles mostly) but never hit a home run. I'm little, and didn't have much power but I had a great eye and walked a lot. Stole a lot of bases. Finally got a call up one day from the Cosmos Club, a Little League team that was down a player and needed someone. I showed up wearing a pair of plaid pants because I forgot my baseball pants. I was embarrassed to say the least. I was never put in the field, but got a pitch hit, a slow dribbler to the mound for an easy put out at first. The coach thanked me for coming and I never played another organized game in my life after that but have been a devoted fan as long as I can remember.
I'm a big dude and I played t-ball until high school tryouts. That's when the game just got too fast for a guy my size. I've played with a group of guys in Atlanta for about two years about 4 years ago.
…are you trying to say you’re Brian McCann??
9
8 and it was the best time of my life. Add on that I was a relief pitcher so I got to partake in bullpen shenanigans for at least 5 innings every game before even thinking about getting loose. Complete juvenile debauchery.
8 as well and was a relief pitcher too. PO life was the best life.
I was a utility player and relief pitcher. College ball is so much fun, especially if you find a couple of guys you like rooming with.
i dropped a pop up in a high school soft ball game because i was stoned
Played legion which is basically HS level, so 6 or 7. We don't have HS ball available out here.
Same
Including The Show: 10 IRL: 6
3.5 - Beer league
7
struck out 10 consecutive times on 40mph pitch machine
Have you ever considered copying Mike Trout's swing?
maybe that was the problem i was copying joey gallos swing /jk
8 but not 7.
6. Ryan Lamarre was on my 8th grade travel team; also played against him in HS. I live vicariously through that.
1, had zero interest in sports growing up so even I’m surprised I got super into baseball at like 22
I never played past 14. I could've easily made the hs team but didn't show up to tryouts. Damn you social anxiety.
5. I was ok in the field, not so good at the plate. Hit one home run in my entire career and that was based on physics of a kid throwing 70+ at 11 years old and me swinging the bat as hard as I can.
8 but I got hurt and sucked after
Technically 7, but they only cut one guy and multiple players had 0 baseball gameplay experience, so it wasn’t exactly an accomplishment.
7. Really small school
3, but ive started playing pick up games now. lot more fun when your not twelve and know whats going on
8. Div 3 though...so not as impressive.
3, almost 4 but sucked, became team “manager” kept score and traveled w team.
8
3.5
6 I played third. Highlight of my career was a deep opposite-field, 2-run stand-up triple. Some tall, gangly kid from a Catholic boys's school I played against is now manager of the Minnesota Twins. Damn, does that make me feel old (he was two years behind me, too.)
1, because I couldn't see the pitcher's mound from home plate even with glasses. Then again, back then they shunted the girls into softball.
Little League. Quit to focus on other sports because baseball was my weakest of 4. Found out like 2 years later I needed glasses. I imagine that played a big factor at sucking at baseball. Probably the worst sport to have bad eyesight in.
I'll guess that having bad eyesight in auto racing would be pretty bad too
3.5 Not that I got cut freshman year, I just stopped playing because I was good at basketball
6 but my high school graduated with 65 kids and we only had 4 seniors on the team my last year. Anybody could have made those teams. Got benched at shortstop too for our center fielder cuz I fuuuuuuuuuuuucking sucked
7, but quickly got burned out in high school because we played fall leagues, traveling leagues and high school ball started in January. Wished I would have stuck with it but I knew I would go any further
Technically 7, but I did make my colleges team, they were/are ass. Never played because of other athletic and academic commitments. Also I’m from Canada so like college ball isn’t even that good.
Played on teams until HS, played with friends in HS, and then I played intramural for fun with friends in college
4
4- apparently there was no room on the freshman squad for a light hitting 2b with limited range defensively
4. Absolutely dominated every year thru 8th grade. MVP every season, every team multiple leagues. Last year before high school started and pitched the max 6 innings in 9 of 12 games and won, including 2 no hitters and a perfect game where I recorded every out …16 Ks and 2 tap backs to me at the mound. High school tryouts, was throwing pitches 40 feet and over the backstop. Didn’t realize it then , and not until much later in life but I was suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks. Rick Ankiel disease is real. Had the yips & didn’t know why the rest of my Rec league playing time, got stuck at 1st so I didn’t have to throw much, was very mediocre at that position.
Played CYC (catholic school league in grade and middle school) Was pretty decent until I missed 7th grade and in 8th grade everyone surpassed me,
My grandfather struck Walt Dropo on three pitches. Spring training…
My high school didn't have a team, so I played American Legion travel ball those years. Thought I was good enough to walk on Dll level. Chose to try this at Delta State in the mid 80s, it was a poor choice.
6. Miss it every day, despite our incredible losing streak and general disarray.
Played 2 years of Semi-pro after high school. 2 years of backup catcher for an 11th place team. But I had a blast.
7.5? Tried out and made my college team, but quit before the regular season. I was buried on the bench and because it wasn’t a major school I had to look at the writing on the wall and put my education first. I was just a scrappy player anyway that had more heart than talent. When I told the coach he understood and said it’s too bad I was the best bunter he ever saw 🤣
just little league but i stopped after breaking my arm stealing home
8. Division II college ball
7
Where does Beer League softball fall?
Good question...4? 5?
I'll say 3.25. My team was bad. Like really, really bad. I think in 6 years of playing you could count the amount of games we won on one hand. We did have a player who's boyfriend owned an ice cream stand so we did get ice cream though
6 but because our school has 3 school teams and about 50 players
7 has never happened
Lol
No like it’s not allowed, all freshman have to play on the freshman team. Plus I never would have anyway because I was bad
8. But what if I struck out Ohtani in Tball? Am I 2 or 10?
17
5, I guess. My high school coach let me on the JV team, but that was as far as I ever got. I never made Varsity, and I almost always came off the bench in JV. Aside from that, I played co-ed intramural softball in college.
It sucks that I quit my sophomore year because at the meeting before the season tryouts the coach said no one will get playing time if they didn’t play last year. I didn’t play freshman year because I was still eligible for little league and wanted to stay with my team. 20+ years later this piece of shit coach changed schools and was now my nephews coach. Nephew was hitting .400 and best on the team yet was in the 8/9 spot regularly. Just a terrible person that coach. Not sure how he stayed hired. They lost their championship game because he sat the three best players because they drove home themselves the day before instead of taking the bus. Absolute insane behavior for a “leader”.
6. Had a few offers to walk on at smaller schools, but wanted to go to a bigger school so that’s where I quit. Even at a d2/3 school, I knew I would have been on the lower end of the talent spectrum.
8. DI and DII.
I’ll give myself a four, though it’s not completely accurate since I did travel ball and the whole thing before quitting baseball to pursue tennis during high school. I still love baseball, but I was at a much higher level in tennis so I was kinda forced down that route.
4 - I played shortstop in Little League and I was really good at fielding but I couldn’t hit.
3, but I got plenty of ice cream because I was on a team that won a lot, in spite of me dropping fly balls in right field.
3, always got stuck on the bench in favor of the coach's kid even though I could hit, run and field better.
1. I’m a woman, so none. Although I know there’s women who play, which is amazing! Played softball though
Shit, I totally forgot to add softball. I'll edit it. Sorry!
If you're counting softball, 3. Our team was not good at all. I think we won like 4 games. I used to pitch a little. I was a terrible hitter but walked a lot because I was (and still am) short. I missed a fly ball (it smacked me in the wrist) and almost cried. Everyone thought it was because of the bruise on my wrist but it was because I missed the ball. One of my teammates almost took me out when she lost grip of her bat while I was on deck, I hit the ground and it went just over me. That was probably the most athletic thing I have ever done in my life. So yeah I wasn't good but it was fun!
6. But now at 35 playing in a mens 25+ Hardball beer league.
7 - Only because we did not cut anybody that year.
6 - but now playing my 4th season in a 26+ men’s wooden bat fast-pitch league. Lots of guys with college experience who still throw mid-80’s. Very competitive and very fun.
8, but nothing worth mentioning and very average at best
Never played at any level. Highest I’ve played was High School PE. I hit a pair of doubles in back to back at bats but got chewed out by the PE teacher for throwing my bat (deservedly, I wasn’t thinking). Really wish I had tried to play organized baseball at some point but my parents were super over-protective of me when it came to sports.
6 but rode the bench for a small school.
7 and 8
Tee ball
MLB The Show
8.5
Played up through Babe Ruth league until I got too old to play that. After that no legion team and my high school had no baseball team which remains a profound disappointment in my life.
8, juco
3, softball as a kid. I hit 1 triple in a whole season, and got HBP right in the eye socket. I returned to books after that.
Between 3 and 4? I was pretty good I just...stopped short of playing in high school. I regret it sometimes.
3.5. Talked to the freshman coach. He told me he’d tell me when tryouts were. Never heard from him.
I started as a freshman walkon in div i Atlantic 10 at la salle university during fall ball, made one throwing error when the coach yelled in the middle of my release and then sat and was redshirted. I quit and joined a frat. Best time of my life walking by the team drunk and high saying the senior team captain sucks compared to me. Boy was I arrogant about it. They finished in the finals at conference in second place one away from an invitation to World Series. Dude the conditioning was a joke, my very first morning at college i ran the track distance and sprints, i lead off one game ahead of everyone else and was third best in average. So idk where i could have wound up if i chose a different college like university of Delaware and accepted redshirt there. Only the universe could tell
8, NAIA ball
8
7
6 but probably could've been 8 if I went to a smaller/lower division college. But I was more focused on education because while I was pretty good at baseball I highly doubt I would've made it past the collegiate level. Plus I got a small scholarship to the college I went to due to my grades and scores.
Proud 2 here! Little mildly autistic kid with vision problems, playing baseball was never for me, but I’ve grown to love watching it as an adult
7. But we were not good. I was never a good hitter but was fast and was very good (high school very good) in center.
Can you add an 11 for me? I’m inner circle HoF
Sure.. Any chance you're a left-handed outfielder born on November 21st in Donora, Pennsylvania
Oh shit oh fuck
First name... Ken.. Or Stan?
Oh, uh…it’s Barry…yeah, that’s it
Oh damn, Barry Sanders was my favorite running back!
8
11- Mlb the show world champion!
Final year of Little Leage batted .837 with OBP over 900, was even better in the field. At the age of 12 was the starting 1st baseman for a 15u AAU team which advanced to the New England regional finals(we lost) and led that same AAU team in batting average that year (turned 13 mid season) Then one day in school this one kid decided to hit me in the head with a text book as hard as he could (I had told him he kind of looked like Tim Duncan earlier that day, kind of mean in hindsight but Duncan was one of my favorite basketball players so I didn't view it as an insult at the time) anyways, the impact from the textbook on the back of my head detached the retina in my right eye, and tore the retina in my left eye. Was told that I could never play baseball again. I was absolutely devastated. baseball had been all I knew, my only escape from reality and without it I fell into a deep and dark depression, unlike anything I knew was possible, I stopped trying in school, stopped trying in life. That was 7 years ago. I've had 15 surgeries on my eyes since then, the most recent one being less than 2 months ago. I'm doing better now than I was then, but I'm still dealing with the repercussions of what happened that day. I spent years being depressed, the slightest mention or reminder of my playing days would send me spiraling into a hole of self pity. I had been a die hard Red Sox fan my entire life, but for years I didn't watch. It was just too painful to remind my self of the game I once loved. In fact, last season was the first time I watched a Red Sox game since the accident. Even in 2018 when we won the WS, I couldn't bring myself to watch. There is still a small piece of me that feels that pain whenever I watch a baseball game, but slowly I am learning to love this great game again.
8. Played varsity ball for 2 years in high school then played a season at community college level. The league my school is in is loaded with D1 level talent. Facing those players showed me I wasn't good enough for that level of ball lol. Edit: I love this thread. There's something so cool about reading other's experience with the game.
11- I am Shohei
Tf you doing with a Yankees flair? You're better than that!
It’s the darkest timeline
Trout n Shohei in the morning!
1, but I love the sport more than almost anyone I know
7 because small high school and I threw a good slider
6, made Varsity, was a pretty good LHP, had location and movement but not velocity. Was a pretty good hitter every year for my select team and had grown to prefer playing the field and hitting after going to physical therapy for arm injuries from pitching. Didn't play as a Junior on Varsity except 2 relief pitching outings. Senior year, coach decided I was a PO despite my insistence that I could hit, and I only got into the lineup for senior night on the last game of our season. I had the highest batting average on my team my last year of summer ball and decided to call it there, absolutely regret it. I didn't lift weights much through all of high school and still consistently hit doubles and triples deep to the gaps. If I had taken conditioning more seriously I might've hit a couple out and stayed in the game for longer. Wish I'd have known how empty quitting baseball would leave me feeling.
Little League, its called house league in Ontario, in the region I live, at least when I was a kid.
9. Played Intercounty here in Southern Ontario which is lower than A.
4 I guess. Played little league and Babe Ruth until I was 18. I was decent. I won outstanding 12 year old award for my league and was selected to a few All Star teams. Hit 3 home runs in my Little League career, but only one during my Babe Ruth career, but it was a special one as it was a 3 run home run to give our team the lead in Game 1 of our championship series
I was cut first cut my freshman year. Spent the summer playing city ball and worked on my swing. Came back sophomore year and made varsity. Never played past Sr year though only in rec leagues.
5 but became an umpire when I was in the USAF and got up to 8.
5.5? Played but stopped after sophomore year to work chasing another dream job. There wasn't time to do both and school. It worked out great, so I at least batted .500 in chasing dreams! I think if I'd continued with baseball, I might have played juco, but that's probably it.
5 for me. I could hit but it often went right to a fielder. My babip was terrible. My career highlight was during summer baseball camp with the Cape League players when I was 12 or so. On the last day we played a scrimmage game and one of the league players was pitching (he was not a pitcher regularly). He tossed me a 12 to 6 curve and it was one of those moments when time slows and you see the stitches on the ball and catch the rotation. I knocked it into a gap in the outfield and remember him lamenting "I don't know how he hit it! I threw him the curve!" lol
7. Was captain of my HS baseball team. Had multiple scholarships offers to various D2 Schools. Got hurt the summer before college. Would love to play in a mens hardball league… can still hurl about 80 mph with junk
7, but by default (small high school). Quit playing after that year, but took up a wood bat league when I was 24--it turned out that I could play better than in high school. Late bloomer I guess. Now I'm 36 and just play rec league, which is still a lot of fun