I recently had a chance to send some questions to Leelanau County native Jason Wuerfel. He starred in athletics at Glen Lake and went on to play college baseball at the University of Michigan. He played minor league baseball for the Mid-Missouri Mavericks in 2004 and recently published his first book, Pray for Rain: A College Baseball Story. He is also heavily involved with Traverse City’s new minor league baseball team, the Traverse City Beach Bums. Here’s what he had to say…
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Leelanau Sports Guy: What’s your role with the Traverse City Beach Bums?
Jason Wuerfel: I am the Vice President and currently run the Baseball Operation for the team until we hire a manager sometime in the next couple of months. Since my family and I are extremely hands on, my title only goes as far as what needs to be done that day. For instance, I’ve done my fair share of shoveling, landscaping, sweeping, and cleaning. We aren’t the type of people to sit back and complain if something doesn’t look good - we’ll fix it ourselves.
LSG: At what point did you realize your family’s dream was finally going to be reality?
JW: Not until we broke ground. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, we’re really going to do this.” It seemed like we’ve been trying to make it a reality for so long that when it actually happened, it was very surreal. Even now when I drive up on the stadium I think to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding me, look how great this place looks.” It has been a dream of ours for such a long time and honestly, it has turned out even better than we pictured it. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about opening day when we crank up the music, the Beach Bums take the field, the crowd starts to cheer, and the mascots go crazy. It’s going to be awesome.
LSG: Any events during the inaugural season you can tell us about yet?
JW: It is tough to say for sure, because nothing can be put into concrete until the league generates the schedule. However, we have put the pressure on ourselves to make Wuerfel Park the best place to be every night from May to September. Our slogan says it all, “If you’re not here, you’re missing out!”
Look for giveaways on a nightly basis (from sunglasses, to t-shirts, hats and flip-flops, etc.) Also look for big promotions on a nightly basis - for instance many minor league teams run what’s called a “Diamond Dig,” where the team buries a diamond along the warning tracks and lets all the women in the crowd dig for it after the game. Also look for crazy games between every inning, and a never ending amount of prizes. We want everyone to go home with the feeling the got more than they paid for.
LSG: You played baseball at the University of Michigan. What was that like?
JW: “Best time of my life” sounds a little too cliche, but I’d have to say that I’m to have a tough time topping the experience. The intensity of practicing and playing on a Division I team is incredible, and it is very difficult to find anything like it after it’s done. The relationships you build are the same way - I spent a year playing in the Frontier League (same league as the Beach Bums), and it is a very different feeling in the locker room in professional baseball. You don’t have the “all for one” mentality like you do in college. I’m not sure if I can ever recreate the level of friendship I’ve had with the guys I met at Michigan.
LSG: What advice would you give to anyone who wants to play college sports?
JW: Go for it, never give up, and don’t let anyone tell you can’t. I don’t care who it was that I met going through college and the minors, everyone faces people who tell them what they can or can’t accomplish. The truth is, and always will be, you get what you put in. Don’t let what others tell you affect how hard you work. I’ve known too many people that have given up on themselves and stopped working hard because everyone around them told them they couldn’t make it. However, kids have to realize the odds, and just how many kids there are out there that they are competing with. In order to beat all those kids, you have to out work them, bottom line. And sitting on the couch playing Playstation isn’t going to cut it. As Kevin Garnett once said, “Being the best starts now.”
LSG: You were a star athlete at Glen Lake. What are some of your favorite high school sports moments?
JW: One of my best memories is from football. Playing Frankfort was always a good game, but my favorite was the game my junior year. It was the last game of the season, both of us were undefeated, and it was back when you went to playoffs based on the point system. And the way the region was shaking out, if we lost just one game we wouldn’t have enough points to qualify for the playoffs. I missed an extra point early in the game and we failed to convert a 2-point conversion on our next touchdown. So with about 8 seconds left I had a 40 yard field goal into a freezing late October wind with our team down 13-12. Frankfort took two time outs to “ice” me, but I was glad to have the extra time to think. When we finally got the play off, my holder ended up with the ball laces-in (the direct opposite of what you want) and I remember panicking for a split second until I hit the ball. When I looked up I saw it was straight and I instantly starting going crazy, never even considering distance. However, the game film showed that I only cleared the bar by about five yards.
My other favorite memories was playing in the regional finals my senior year in baseball. I hit 2nd in the line-up behind Brian Maurer, and we were both first team all-state that year. With two outs, a runner on second, and our team up by a run in the fifth inning over Central Lake, they decided to intentionally walk Maurer to face me (Something I had never experienced). The pitcher hung me a first pitch curveball and I hit it onto what is now the soccer field at Glen Lake. Rounding the bases never felt so satisfying.
LSG: What is it about the game of baseball that attracted you to it?
JW: This question could be the subject of a 2nd book for me, but I’ll keep it brief. Baseball is a game of perseverance where anyone who can’t handle the adversity is quickly weeded out. If you can’t believe in yourself through mistakes, this game will drive you crazy. It can make the best teams and the worst teams equal on any given day. It is a game that tests your attention, where one brief lapse can cause your team the game. It is a game of skill; there will always be a spot on the infield where a good bunt will get you a hit no matter who is pitching or who is playing third base.
It’s magically, really, whether you are playing it or sitting in the stands. It is so complicated and so involved that everyone can go through their life not knowing anything about it are think they are an expert because there is no one to tell them otherwise. Jake Fox, one of my friends from Michigan who was drafted in the third round by the Cubs told me recently, “All of these college and professional coaches who have studied hitters for years and know all this stuff about the swing and I have finally come to realization that they don’t know anything. In the end you still grab the bat and hit the ball.”
LSG: Tell us about your book, how did that come about?
JW: I mentioned early about my experience at Michigan. Well, when I was finished with baseball I was met with a bit a depression. It was such a great time in my life, and it was difficult to let go; so I started writing.
The writing was therapy for me. I started creating characters that reminded me, if only slightly, of the friends I made at Michigan. Every time I sat down to write about these characters I felt them come alive, develop personalities, and more than anything, remind me what it was like to be living the dream, playing college baseball. So I sat down and wrote as much as I could, it was a feeling that I had to get off my chest.
It is a baseball book, about athletes going through many different experience in college, but the premise is this: we all have difficult times in our lives and to use a baseball analogy, sometimes we just need a rain out. Thus the name of the book, “Pray for Rain.”
LSG: One final question, how would you fix the Detroit Tigers?
JW: It’s great that the Tigers, namely the owner, Ilitch, is showing a little more interest in winning by signing some big name guys in the off-season. This is a great first step, but the problems with the Tigers run much deeper than who is hitting clean-up in the big leagues. Look at organizations like the Atlanta Braves, who recently clinched their 14th division title in a row. Every year they get help from unlikely heros and where do those unlikely heros come from? Their farm system. I challenge anyone to name more than a couple guys on the Tigers roster than started in and came out of the Tigers farm system. Yes, big names are going to make your team, but the farm system is the glue that holds it together.
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You can buy Jason’s book Pray for Rain: A College Baseball Story at his web site, www.lulu.com/jasonwuerfel or at Amazon.com. You can find out more about the Traverse City Beach Bums at www.traversecitybeachbums.com.
