Throwback Thursday: Baseball: The Titans Years

As promised, we're back for one more throwback to the Titans years. This week: baseball. Here I am pitching against New Buffalo.

I don't remember pitching all that often, but I have several photos of me doing it. So maybe I did pitch quite a few games.

Behind the plate is where I spent most of my time.

I got pretty good at it by the time I was done.

Fun fact: I didn't start catching until I was about 11. The Sodus Little Leaguers were in need of some catching help, so I gave it a try.

Before that, I spent all of my time in the infield, usually at third base because I had one of the stronger arms amongst kids my age. During the Titans years I logged limited time on the field outside of pitching and catching, but I did find some time at third and one inning at short.

Hitting was something I always enjoyed. Here I am lacing a double to center field at Covert. I hit it halfway to the parking lot but was limited to a double because they had no outfield fence, if you can believe it.

Coach Cox didn't make me run the bases too often, and not because I was the slow catcher. It's because we were trying to get two 5-inning or 7-inning games in before the sun set.

Along the way, we managed to win a few trophies.

When my senior season was over, the South Bend Tribune put together a Sports Fest filled with three teams of Indiana all-stars and one team of Michigan all-stars. We all got our names announced during a South Bend Silverhawks game at Coveleski Stadium and got to walk the field.

I caught for part of one of our games, but my career came full circle as I spent good time playing third base, helping the Michigan all-stars win the tournament and proving once and for all that Michigan is better than Indiana.