Baseball Player

In Lynn, Massachusetts, there is a baseball field which from time to time has been the home field of various minor league and other teams. For a while the Lynn Sailors, an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners were there. But recently, none has lasted very long, in part due to the nearness to Boston and to Red Sox minor league affiliates in Portland, ME, and Lowell, MA.

I used to enjoy Sailors' games, and this year I decided to attend games of a fairly new team, the North Shore Navigators, who are part of the College Futures Baseball League. As the name implies, the players are college students. League rules require the majority of each team's players to come from the area of the team's home. But then others can come from anywhere. I noticed early in the season that one player was from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. Since I was once an applicant at a Benedictine monastery, once that caught my eye, I was interested. The guy had just finished his freshman year, with a fairly good season on the baseball team. I decided, since he wouldn't have any friends or family in the area, that I would cheer for him. It turned out he was one of the better players on the team, both batting and fielding.

Finally, on August 14, I brought along my camera and got these pictures at the last home game of the season.

Team during the National Anthem

My guy, Tim Hendricks, on deck

Tim at bat

Returning to the dugout

Manager, Richie Hebner (Massachusetts native, former major leaguer)

Tim in the dugout (standing)

Tim returning to the dugout

Tim on deck

Richie Hebner, third from right

Tim, behind Elwood, getting congrats (I don't remember if he just scored or drove in a run)

Tim in the dugout

Richie Hebner

Tim and most of the team on the top step of the dugout in the bottom of the 9th inning, hoping for a run to tie the game ("we" lost)

After some earlier games, I had seen where the players went after the game was over, and I  positioned myself at the top of the walkway they used, and when Tim came along I called to him, explained my reason for being interested in Benedictine U., expressed the hope that he had enjoyed his time on New England and his season with the team — which he said he had — and got him to autograph my program. I also got Richie Hebner's autograph.

A month later, this article about him appeared in what looks like a college sports site. It's really kinda fun to have gotten interested in a guy merely because of the university he's attending and to have him have such a successful season. I'm hoping he'll be back next summer, but he may be able to get into something at a higher level, like the Cape Cod League, which has produced a lot of big leaguers.