SPORTS DIGEST, 3-25-09

SPORTS DIGEST

DADE CITY, FLORIDA

FAMILY PRIDE-

Two Byham grandsons live in Florida.  They both started in baseball and had moved to Little League together. Ed always seem to have a good feeling in his baseball play while younger brother Matt dropped the glove and ball to take on the sport of soccer 

We have been able to watch them grow into teens while watching them grow in their respective sport choice. Ed is now a freshman at the University of Tampa while Matt is a sophomore at Pasco High School.

The pride for us comes from the fact that both have moved their academics to a new level while keeping up with a full schedule in their sport choice. 

Ed has wanted to play baseball from the time he was chosen to play on a "coach pitch" style of Little League baseball in the community of San Antonio. He liked the game even at that very young age so he played all the catch he could while batting off his T. It seemed he was never without his bat and glove. Matt, a lefty, started his baseball at the same level and was doing well when he made the switch to soccer. The two of them can argue their sport in family debates and neither will take a back step in feeling their sport is the best sport.

I won't take you through a bad situation for Ed in high school baseball but he landed on his feet with new coaching and a change of position to get his name recognized as second team All Conference catcher while playing for Wesley Chapel High School. He was not recruited but his new coach was a one man "agent" in promoting his talents to the University of Tampa staff. 

With his strong academic ability, Ed could pick and choose a college but that baseball desire was a priority in his making a decision. 

UT is an NCAA D-2 school and its baseball program has won the national championship two times in this decade. Currently ranked in the Top Ten, there is speculation the team can make another run for the D-2 championship. 

What made the UT choice for Ed was a walk on invitation to the program as part of the UT junior varsity team. There was a roster of over 30 young men playing at that same level. Some were recruited. Some are already sophomores or older since it is common for a varsity player to "come down" to get their baseball back in order. But Ed is in the mix and is getting playing time at third base and catching while being used quite often as the designated hitter.

Matt, meanwhile, had played himself out of middle school soccer and had proceeded to the Pasco JV team as a defenseman. He is also playing age group Competition Soccer (U-17)

He started out as a self made player but with some good coaching plus his desire to be "always better' he is being counted on to play a lot of minutes for both of his teams. At the outset of his school soccer season he was a JV starter but at the end of the  season he was a varsity regular. This is his second full season as a starter with the U-17 Pasco Pirate soccer team which is on its way this coming weekend to Jupiter, Florida where the large District 2 tournament is being held. 

Matt's sport season started last fall as a cross country runner. It was another case where he ran as a junior varsity competitor at the start of the season but ended up with the varsity runners.

It feels good to be able to get down here and to see the boys play their games.

O'MALLEY CALLS

March is a very important month for Tom O'Malley. He spends the month chasing major league baseball teams here in Florida and then out in Arizona. He is looking for THAT player who he feels can fit in playing baseball in the Orient while making a sizable contribution to the Hanshin Tigers drive for a baseball championship. 

"Tough job. " he said to me the other day by phone from Arizona. "Really tough for a guy like me who loves baseball. All I do is go around to all of the major league teams, see them play day after day and talk to some of the guys about playing baseball for Hanshin."

Something I had not given thought to about taking an American ball player into Japan was the fact that player needs to really be educated about playing and living in the Japanese culture. 

"The rules limit the number of Americans on a team so the Japanese players form the largest population of a team of 25. Somehow we have to get the American player to find his place on the ball club. Equally important is to get that player to understand what it is like to live in a Japanese city, to stay with the culture.  Going to the store, going out to eat or a hundred things they would take for granted playing in the states"

"That is some of my job.", said the Montoursville native. " Not only finding the player who wants to play in Japan but finding the player we feel can cope with all of the changes that are about to come into his life. After signing such a player I will head to Japan and spend several weeks mentoring the player and his family about where they are living and playing."

Really interesting stuff.

DANEKER IN TAMPA - 

Loyalsock Twp.'s Pat Daneker is in Tampa and in the New York Yankee spring training camp as he prepares to serve a second year as pitching coach to the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn Short A league.

The Yankees made the post season play in 2008 before bowing out after winning the first round of the playoffs.

THAT'S 30