Chris Grossman
I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and have been playing baseball since I was five years old. Like many kids who play the game of baseball it has always been my goal to make it to the Major Leagues. I was fortunate enough to have great coaching at a very young age. My coaches stressed the importance of the fundamentals of the game. The fundamentals of the game are what separate the great players from the average players.
I began catching at the age of eleven because my team didn't have a catcher and no one else wanted to do it. I fell in love with the position because the catcher is involved in every single pitch of the game, and controls the game. Catchers need to be able to analyze a persons swing and help the pitcher throw the right pitch in the right location to get the batter out. The catcher also positions the defense, and controls the running game for the opposing team. It is because of catcher's immense knowledge of the game that they make excellent managers.
I played collegiately at the University of California at Berkeley where I was a semi-finalist for the Johnny Bench Award (best collegiate catcher). I hurt my shoulder during my senior year and had to have surgery which caused me to not get drafted by a Major League organization. At the time I believed that my baseball playing days were over. However, after months of rehabilitation I went and tried out for the Golden League, an independent league in California. I was not selected to play for one of the teams in the draft, but a few weeks later I received a phone call asking if I wanted to go to Bradenton, Florida and play for Team USA in a World Cup Qualifying tournament.
The chance to play for my country was extremely exciting so I said yes. While working out with Team USA one of the coaches asked me if I had a job for the upcoming season. When I told him that I did not have one, he said that he knew a coach that was looking for a back-up catcher. I accepted the job, and began my professional career in Sioux City, Iowa. I ended up catching about a third of the games that year, and was the designated hitter for the majority of the remaining games. The New York Yankees invited me to Spring Training, and I thought that I was finally going to get my shot in an organization.
The Yankees released me three weeks into Spring Training because they didn't have a spot on a roster for me so I returned to Sioux City for another year. This time I was the starting catcher and had a very productive year (.305, 30 2B, 14 HR, 56 RBI). During the off season I received a call from the Saint Louis Cardinals asking me to come play for them the following year. I ended up making the low A team for the Cardinals (Swing of the Quad Cities) in the Midwest League. I spent a little over half of the year with them before being moved up to the Palm Beach Cardinals, the high A affiliate of the Cardinals. Following that season I was asked to go to winter ball in Colombia.
Two days before the roster was set for AA the following season I was released by the Cardinals organization, and I returned to Sioux City, Iowa for another season. I struggled at the plate that season but got our team into the playoffs, which was a first for my professional career. After the season I was traded to the Brockton Rox in the Can-Am League, which is another independent league. I had three good seasons with Brockton, where we made the playoffs every year, but could never seem to win a championship. Brockton was having financial troubles and folded after my third season there.
I was asked to play for a team in the Italian League the following season, and jumped at the chance to play in Italy for four months. However, the team I played for in Italy also ran into financial problems and folded at the end of the season. During the off season I received an offer to play for the Amarillo Sox and took it. We lost the last game of the season to miss the playoffs. I was very disappointed because we had a very good team, and still wanted to win a championship at the professional level. When the season ended I got an opportunity to play in Cuba for two weeks. The baseball in Cuba was amazing.
I was traded to the San Angelo Colts during the off season. I was really excited because the manager of the San Angelo Colts was the legendary Doc Edwards. I had also determined that this was going to be my final season playing, and was excited when Doc asked me to be a coach on his team as well as a player. I was going to have the opportunity to work with players on the team as the hitting coach, a batting practice catcher, and the pitching coach when our other player coach pitched in the game. I knew that Doc would be an excellent person to learn from because I want to get into coaching, and to be a manager some day.
I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and have been playing baseball since I was five years old. Like many kids who play the game of baseball it has always been my goal to make it to the Major Leagues. I was fortunate enough to have great coaching at a very young age. My coaches stressed the importance of the fundamentals of the game. The fundamentals of the game are what separate the great players from the average players.
I began catching at the age of eleven because my team didn't have a catcher and no one else wanted to do it. I fell in love with the position because the catcher is involved in every single pitch of the game, and controls the game. Catchers need to be able to analyze a persons swing and help the pitcher throw the right pitch in the right location to get the batter out. The catcher also positions the defense, and controls the running game for the opposing team. It is because of catcher's immense knowledge of the game that they make excellent managers.
I played collegiately at the University of California at Berkeley where I was a semi-finalist for the Johnny Bench Award (best collegiate catcher). I hurt my shoulder during my senior year and had to have surgery which caused me to not get drafted by a Major League organization. At the time I believed that my baseball playing days were over. However, after months of rehabilitation I went and tried out for the Golden League, an independent league in California. I was not selected to play for one of the teams in the draft, but a few weeks later I received a phone call asking if I wanted to go to Bradenton, Florida and play for Team USA in a World Cup Qualifying tournament.
The chance to play for my country was extremely exciting so I said yes. While working out with Team USA one of the coaches asked me if I had a job for the upcoming season. When I told him that I did not have one, he said that he knew a coach that was looking for a back-up catcher. I accepted the job, and began my professional career in Sioux City, Iowa. I ended up catching about a third of the games that year, and was the designated hitter for the majority of the remaining games. The New York Yankees invited me to Spring Training, and I thought that I was finally going to get my shot in an organization.
The Yankees released me three weeks into Spring Training because they didn't have a spot on a roster for me so I returned to Sioux City for another year. This time I was the starting catcher and had a very productive year (.305, 30 2B, 14 HR, 56 RBI). During the off season I received a call from the Saint Louis Cardinals asking me to come play for them the following year. I ended up making the low A team for the Cardinals (Swing of the Quad Cities) in the Midwest League. I spent a little over half of the year with them before being moved up to the Palm Beach Cardinals, the high A affiliate of the Cardinals. Following that season I was asked to go to winter ball in Colombia.
Two days before the roster was set for AA the following season I was released by the Cardinals organization, and I returned to Sioux City, Iowa for another season. I struggled at the plate that season but got our team into the playoffs, which was a first for my professional career. After the season I was traded to the Brockton Rox in the Can-Am League, which is another independent league. I had three good seasons with Brockton, where we made the playoffs every year, but could never seem to win a championship. Brockton was having financial troubles and folded after my third season there.
I was asked to play for a team in the Italian League the following season, and jumped at the chance to play in Italy for four months. However, the team I played for in Italy also ran into financial problems and folded at the end of the season. During the off season I received an offer to play for the Amarillo Sox and took it. We lost the last game of the season to miss the playoffs. I was very disappointed because we had a very good team, and still wanted to win a championship at the professional level. When the season ended I got an opportunity to play in Cuba for two weeks. The baseball in Cuba was amazing.
I was traded to the San Angelo Colts during the off season. I was really excited because the manager of the San Angelo Colts was the legendary Doc Edwards. I had also determined that this was going to be my final season playing, and was excited when Doc asked me to be a coach on his team as well as a player. I was going to have the opportunity to work with players on the team as the hitting coach, a batting practice catcher, and the pitching coach when our other player coach pitched in the game. I knew that Doc would be an excellent person to learn from because I want to get into coaching, and to be a manager some day.
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