Tag Archives: baltimore

How I Listened Myself onto My College Baseball Team

I played baseball when I was younger but didn’t make the high school team. I tried out for second base then but wasn’t very good. I couldn’t hit all that well and my second base proficiency was, well, second rate.

I tried all the positions growing up – pitcher, catcher, infielder and outfielder. Quite frankly, I may have decided on second base because it was the least dangerous. But I remembered that when I was a catcher in little league and elementary school, I’d won some accolades. I had a decent arm and good hands, and I felt less inhibited with all that gear (aka, the “tools of ignorance”) on.

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When I decided to go to college, I had three goals: I wanted to (1) go away to school, (2) get my bachelor’s degree, and (3) play baseball (and not necessarily in that order). I was intent on accomplishing all three.

I was not very studious in high school My grades weren’t that good; somewhat miraculously, however, I got accepted at Loyola College in Baltimore. I had barely survived the first fall semester, when, all of a sudden, here came spring, when a young man’s thoughts turn to … well, in my case, baseball.

I tried out for the varsity team as a catcher, taking my lumps along the way. The pitchers were out to impress and they were throwing hard. Because it was February and cold outside, we were indoors. The other catchers handling the pitchers were catching without a mask, but after I’d had my nose bloodied a few times, I swallowed my pride and wore one.

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My hitting had improved the previous summer while playing softball, but I hadn’t witnessed any curve balls in that league. Here I would encounter plenty.

As I stood in the on-deck circle during an intra-squad scrimmage that day, my eyes met those of “Walt,” another prospect whom I knew from the dorm. He’d observed that “John” threw the ball right down the middle. I concurred, having seen his repertoire of pitches in the gym while catching him.

When it was my turn to bat, I dug in, remembering what Walt had told me. It was late in the game and my dream was on the line. Sure enough, one of the first pitches I saw was a fastball right down Broadway. I hammered it out into left field, driving in several runs in the process. It was at a crucial point in the game. Not only did I surprise myself, but I surprised the coach as well, who now had a harder time deciding whom to let go.

After the game, I passed all the defensive drills the coach put me through and made the team. In all honesty, it was the advice Walt gave me, and my putting it to good use, that enabled me to realize my dream of playing college baseball.

Anyway, I’ll be giving a listening workshop at various American Executive Centers in August. Come on out and join us. To register for it, go here: http://www.americanexecutivecenters.com/summer-learning-seminars/

The Streets of Baltimore

Donte Hickman CNN

Now that some of the dust has settled in Baltimore, I thought I would add my two cents. I went to school there for several years, so I do have some experience with the city.

People ask me if I recognize the buildings they’re showing on television. First of all, I tell them, it was almost 40 years ago since I lived there. Secondly, my initial recollection was that I didn’t venture off campus much (it turned out I didn’t have to to get mugged – but that’s a story for a different day).

I started to think about the times I left what was then called Loyola College of Maryland’s campus. I left to go to Alonzo’s on Cold Spring Lane for a bite to eat and Jerry’s Belvedere for a pint after a sports event. I remembered that I would also hitchhike to Towson to get my haircut. I can’t recall the name of the guy that cut what was a whole lot more hair than I have now, but I know he did a great job.

And then I thought about all the running I did on the streets of Baltimore. Since I didn’t have a car – and it was BG (before Google), I pretty much knew where the train station was and where the campus was in relation to it – but that’s about it. If memory serves me correctly, Loyola’s baseball team, after we got the heave-ho from the soccer field on campus, would practice on diamonds all over North Baltimore. Oh, and I also remember playing midnight flag football in the Inner Harbor back when it was just being built.

So I suppose I was somewhat familiar with parts of the city. But East Baltimore was and is as distant to me as certain parts of Philly are today. I just never go there.

The Inner City

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But I am encouraged by the story of Donte Hickman, pastor of the Southern Baptist Church. Fire destroyed his senior citizen center in the unrest there last week. The development included plans for 61 units of affordable senior housing, workforce development and a place for teenagers to go. While the center had been scheduled to open in November, he now has set his sights on opening it in the spring of 2016.

Growing up, he was expelled from three high schools, living a rough life. It seemed as if he would become just another statistic.

Then he turned his life around. He passed the GED exam without preparation or success beyond the tenth grade. In 1994 he earned his bachelor’s degree. In ’97 he earned his Masters of Divinity. And this Saturday, May 8th, will mark nine years since he earned his Doctor of Divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. He’s doing some amazing things.

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I don’t believe a Marshall Plan for inner cities, as Tom Brokaw suggested, is the way to go. The answer is not about throwing money at the situation, as evidenced by the revelation that Baltimore received over $1 billion in state aid and yet hasn’t been able to improve the plight of its disadvantaged citizens.

Donte Hickman is living proof that with faith, parental guidance and an inner determination, there’s hope. And those are three things that all the money in the world can’t buy.