Northfield Millers--Jay's Latest Baseball Stint

One morning in May, Jay woke up super early (which isn't like him) and enjoyed a peaceful morning on the internet in the living room before the house awoke.  When I got up, he said very excitedly, that he had had a dream.  I said: "What was it about, Martin Luther King, Jr.?"  He didn't think that was funny but then proceeded to tell me that he had had a dream about a former baseball teammate, someone he hadn't thought about in ages.  It got him thinking that he'd really like to play ball again.  And NOT SOFTBALL, real baseball, he said!  So, he scoured the internet and found out that there is a 35 and older league and there just happened to be a team in our hometown of Northfield AND this former teammate played on the team!  With his June birthday approaching (which he would be turning 35), he decided to contact the coach.  The coach said he was more than welcome to play but was a bit leery when he told him he was a heart transplant recipient; he didn't know what kind of a player he was getting.  Jay wasn't sure if he might remember him from his days as a Northfield Knight; he hoped so.  Long story short, Jay bought about $200 worth of equipment (since he hadn't played in 12 years) and hit the road for his first baseball game in LeSeur, MN--some 90 minutes from home!  The first game was kind of a bust seeing they got beat 12-0 or something like that in just 5 innings, but he did get to play the last half of the last inning but never got up to bat.  The next game, just two days later was in Northfield and he was back at Sechler Park.  His first at bat, he got a TRIPLE!  He still had it and he was really excited!

Jay felt he really wanted another shot at baseball since his illness in 1996 did kind of halt his career.  He did come back for two seasons after his transplant but he was lugging around a lot of extra weight due to the meds and he just didn't feel good.  Jay's been running and in very good shape the last couple years and he felt this was his chance!  He's really excited about it and I'm happy to see him back into something he loves so much.  His other motivation was to have our boys grow up on the baseball field like he did.  He really loves the game and he hopes his boys do too.  So far Jack is loving attending his games and he's quite the little ball player himself--a t-ball post soon!

Jack watching his daddy play ball.  He loves going into the dugout and helping him clean up the field after the games!