[clarkzac]

Not knocking your coach but he's probably one of the thousands who hit a homer off of Clemens in high school.

I highly doubt that. I don't think there were thousands of high schoolers that hit a home run off of Clemens. Just an example, I know it isn't the same, but its a similar idea, Joe Mauer only struck out once during high school. I know Clemens wasn't a top draft pick out of high school, but I still don't think he gave up thousands of home runs in high school, especially considering how short of a season high school ball is

[Gtbrian23]

Not knocking your coach but he's probably one of the thousands who hit a homer off of Clemens in high school.

Thousands? Wasn't trying to call him awesome or anything, more of just a fun fact. So Clemens give up and average of 250 homers a year in high school? Must have been the lack of steroids haha

[Kingofallmarks]

Baseball was never my strong sport growing up but I did go to high school with a guy that nearly made it to the majors. Evan Rust, I think he got to triple A ball before injury caught him, he played in the,Rays and Cardinals organizations.

[ohioarmy05]

I personally never made it past 16 playing ball, but I did play against one of Paul O'Neills sons in a city tournament. Jayhawk Owens who caught for the Rockies in the early 90's has been the only person from my high school to make it pro. I also had an NCO a few years ago from Puerto Rico that was invited to the Dodgers Spring Training camp. Unfortunately he was in a motorcycle accident a week or so before he was due to fly to the states. He ended up busting his knee up and never made it.

[muz0]

All these stories makes me want to listen to Glory Days while having a few brewskis.

[waynetalger]

Closest I ever came to playing baseball for a pro team was in 1995.
I was struggling to make it on my own and worked at a welding supply store who also delivers CO2 ( for fountain drinks and Oxygen to supply hospitals
Try outs started in Snyder Texas and it was a walk up for tryouts anyone could try out. So on Saturday at noon when the store closed I left went to the house I was renting and suited up. Since I didnt have a phone and I never talked about personal life with co-workers my boss came to my house and said he would pay me 2x my base pay by the hour to deliver 25 oxygen bottles to one of the hospitals we supplied to and the hospital was on reserve oxygen. Since this was money in hand versus potential no money at all. I had to make the delivery. When I got there I even had 1 doctor and 2 nurses (male) come out and helped me hook it up the oxygen bottles.
One way I missed out on my chance but in another I felt I made the right choice in taking this job to help and possibly saved lives. There are times I wished I didn't take my one chance and others I am glad I didnt for I met my wife through my job and have been married for 18 years this April and have 3 lovely kids. The Braves didnt come back the following years so I will never know what might have been.

[DrMitchJ]

The older I get the better I was. I pitched and played centerfield in high school. My fast ball was 115 mph, with a change up in the low 100's. I had a knuckleball that danced like a stripper at De Ja Vu. My curveball started at 18 o'clock and dropped so much it dug holes in the dirt 6 feet deep.My nickname was "The Undertaker". I was 27-0 and only pitched in 17 games. My ERA was -32.50. I struck out 637 batters in one game. I never issued a single walk. My games were so good that they tried to think of a term better than a "perfect game".
However hitting was my specialty. I hit 1.0001 one season, with 296 home runs in only 113 at bats. I only drove in 1,234 runs that season. None of my teammates could get on base. I stole 1 base, because every hit I had was a home run, but my eye was so sharp that I took a walk once. I was so fast that I was on third from first before the pitcher even looked over at me. The stat keeper didn't know how to mark it, so he only gave me 1 stolen base. I tried to bunt once, but I accidentally got it on the sweet spot and it went 397 feet, just clearing the fence. My coach was mad.
In the outfield I could throw it from 200 feet beyond the fence and one hop it into a coffee cup. One time a kid smacked a ball and thought it was a home run. I climbed on top of the fence and jumped 127 feet in the air and caught it. The kid went into a deep state of depression and lived in his parents basement for 47 years. In fact, if any person ever hit the ball into the outfield in any direction, I ran it down. My coaches decided to put the other two outfielders in the infield because they weren't needed out there with me.
I was drafted #1 overall into the Japanese league at the age of 9. I was offered a 4 million dollar signing bonus, but turned it down to focus on my studies. I knew I was destined to make the big bucks being a teacher.
After my senior year of high school I was offered a full ride scholarship to the University of Central Miami of Ohio State College. I turned it down. The Yankees drafted me in the 14th round. Apparently, I had some character issues. Something about not being able to tell the truth and making up outlandish stories.
I decided to end my career as a baseball player and continue working on my teaching degree. In fact, instead of playing college ball and getting college for free, I decided to pay for my college and just get really far in debt, just to make $35,000 a year and deal with whiny little brats all day.
I tried my hand at professional bowling, but realized I wasn't very good at that. Every now and then my story pops up on ESPN 8. It's called "The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth".
I get asked a lot if I regret my choices to not play MLB ball. I don't. Sure I would have been in the Hall of Fame before I even retired. Sure I would have won the MVP every season, and won multiple World Series. Yes, I would have made millions and scored lots of good looking girls in every town I travelled to, but then I wouldn't have been able to tell my story to all of you today.

LOL ... That was pretty funny!

Hey, did you ever try your hand at fishing?
I bet you caught Moby Dick with a piece of string, a paper clip and piece of white bread.

[SGC300ier]

LOL ... That was pretty funny!

Hey, did you ever try your hand at fishing?
I bet you caught Moby Dick with a piece of string, a paper clip and piece of white bread.

I did try fishing, but in my first tournament, I just yelled and all the bass jumped into my boat. They said that's illegal and kicked me off tour.

[mnc99]

6th grade, that was as close as I could get. I was too shy as a young kid, and stopped playing because of it. I had no hitting skills or fielding skills, and I was pretty slow. I had a pretty powerful arm though with really good accuracy. My coach always wanted me to pitch, but I didn't want to get smashed in the face. lol After that, I played sandlot ball with friends every summer until college.

[lilgman]

To answer the original question of how close any of us came to playing in MLB...? Well, not close, but...... I played HS and made 3rd team all state my senior year, played college and was team MVP my senior year, and then was signed to play in the independent frontier league in 1998 for the Evansville Otters. I played one year of pro ball (well I was signed in July so a half of year since it is only 82 games) before going to graduate school. I come from a baseball family. I am a small guy, but always took pride in my hard work and it kind of paid off for me because one of my goals was to play professinal baseball....even if for a short time....and I feel I was realistic about my expectations, however I wish I gave it one more season. My brother was signed out of Rutgers University and played one year in the pioneer league for the Butte CopperKings and my father was drafted by the Phillies in 1969 and played about 5-6 years and made it to AA, actually making all-star teams and won an MVP in Single A as well. Here is a link to all three of our pages on baseballreference.com....

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl/pla...=Giallella