Nov 02 2008 05:49 PM
Darren Hodges, related to Ron (and Casey)? Write Tom Bone and ask.
Kids get chance to learn baseball from Wagner and friends
By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
TAZEWELL, Va. — The grassy expanse of Lou Peery Field in Tazewell was populated by 98 young baseball players Saturday — and by one happy major league pitcher. The second annual Second Chance Baseball School, also known as “Wagner Challenge 2,” unfolded with Tazewell native Billy Wagner, the New York Mets ace relief pitcher, in charge, aided by an enthusiastic crew of young men.
“The future’s right here,” said Darren Hodges, a Ferrum College teammate of Wagner’s who is now the school’s head baseball coach.
“We’re losing a lot of fans in baseball, and World Series ratings were down,” said Hodges, who pitched for five years in the New York Yankees farm system. “So, hopefully, with people like Billy taking time to do things like this, it’ll get more kids involved.”
“What we’re trying to do is to build a foundation that the kids can build on,” said Erik Robinson, director of the Second Chance Learning Center that Wagner helped found. “There are kids (here) who’ve never played baseball before, but they’re out here because of Billy.”
Wagner said the day provided access to the game to children who “don’t get to have the exposure of colleges or professional teaching, to come in and really look at them, and give them a few pointers, and let them enjoy playing a baseball game.
“That’s the key — giving these kids an opportunity to see that there are other ways to make a living, to do something with their life.”
Even if they don’t go on to play baseball professionally, the children are receiving a benefit, Wagner said. “You teach kids the fundamentals, and the little special things about the game, and they start to understand it a little bit better.”
Trey McCoy, a former player at Virginia Tech and in the minor leagues for the Rangers and Mets organizations, paused from supervising batting practice to talk about the event.
He said, “Whenever you have a Major Leaguer come down like Billy to generate interest in the community and get the young people excited about baseball, so they’ll want to continue playing and learn the fundamentals and skills of the game — it’s wonderful for the game itself.”
Tazewell High School baseball coach Lou Peery, who coached Wagner years ago on the same field, said that Wagner’s efforts “confirm what I already knew — that he was a people person. He’s interested in more than his success, but to see that others succeed, too.
“That’s what people ought to do with their lives.”
The camp consisted of a morning session for younger children and an afternoon experience for an older group of youngsters. They were assisted by current and former members of the Tazewell High baseball team, plus players and coaches from Bluefield College, and coaches from Ferrum, Emory & Henry College and Tennessee Wesleyan.
Peery, who also works with youth baseball, said the children “are always excited when you say ‘Play ball!’ — and when you mention Billy, they’re excited about seeing him, naturally.”
Wagner said the children’s attitudes were “great. I didn’t think they’d be too happy at 8:30 this morning when it was so cold,” he said with a chuckle. “But they really just warmed up, and as it’s gotten warmer, they’ve gotten more excited.
“I don’t think they’ll be able to really appreciate it until later, on down the road, when some coach tells them about the same thing we’ve told them. Then they’ll go, ‘Yeah, now I understand.’
“But I think they have a good time, and I think it’s fun just to be around baseball and play it with the other kids.”
Wagner said, “I love coaching. If I never got to play another game, and just got to coach, I would be satisfied, whole-heartedly. I just enjoy seeing the kids’ faces and how they get excited, and they just respond so well.”
Wagner is working his way back from serious surgery on his pitching arm.
“It’s been slow,” he said. “I mean, I can’t throw or anything. But each week, it seems that there’s more things that I’m able to do. And in about two months I’ll start to be able to throw and, hopefully, in the middle of the summer, I’ll be back.”
He said his anticipated major-league comeback will occur “when your arm allows you to come back.”
The Second Chance Learning Center operates in two southwest Virginia locations, helping at-risk students who may require extra academic help or emotional assistance. Wagner was proud of the students’ improvements in their grades, he said.
Wagner said, “The kids in the area that we’ve been able to work with are starting to be able to make huge strides. We have the opportunity to put them into college, and give them a way out of here. ... Things are starting to work.”
“Erik is phenomenal,” Wagner said. “That school wouldn’t be where it is today if Erik and his staff hadn’t done such a great job.”
Wagner said, “The bottom line is, it’s all about the kids. It’s not about Billy Wagner, or Erik Robinson. It’s about these kids getting that opportunity.”
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com
