By Rob Patrick
Photos by Rick Nation
Two of Saline County’s most famous sons,[more] Cliff Lee and Travis Wood, were honored Thursday night at the Saline County MLB Showcase, a benefit for the youth baseball organizations in Bryant and Benton. The event was held in the new community center at Bishop Park and drew an estimated crowd of 850 including players and coaches from the Bryant Athletic Association and the Benton Optimist Club leagues.
Lee, a star left-hander for the Philadelphia Phillies, is from Benton and Wood, a rookie southpaw for the Cincinnati Reds, is from Bryant.
Their agent, Darek Braunecker, was the keynote speaker for the event and talked about his clients as close friends of his as well, offering them up as role models for the young players on hand, as players, people, fathers and citizens.
The duo patiently posed for pictures and visited with those in attendance, many of which played a role in their own development through the youth leagues they were helping to raise money for.
“We’re here trying to raise money for the kids in this community,” Lee said to open a press conference prior to the dinner and program. “We want to help these organizations to hopefully help these kids get better fields, better uniforms, better all-around baseball experience as a kid. You never know, there may be a few kids here that end up with a scholarship that could potentially be sitting here where we are someday. We’re trying to do our part.”
“We’re here just trying to give back a little bit,” Wood added. “The Athletic Association was great to me coming up through the system ever since I was little and it feels good and it’s great to be able to give back to them.”
“These are two guys that are very involved in their communities and certainly have never strayed from their roots and here they are giving this community an opportunity to benefit from some of their successes,” Braunecker mentioned. “Hopefully, they can give a springboard on to next group of guys that I’ll be representing some day.”
Talking about his formation in the hometown league, Lee said, “I think it’s important to be grounded and understand where you came from and be grateful. I think both of us do that. We’re still living here. This is home for us. A lot of guys from small town U.S.A. get drafted away and move to the big city and never come back but, for us, this is home. We’re outdoorsmen. We enjoy hunting and fishing. Obviously, this place provides a lot of that. For me, this is what I know. This is where I’m from. It’s what I’m used to. It’s where I’m comfortable.”
Wood added, “After a long grinding season, it’s nice to come back to a place that you know and you’re comfortable and all your friends and family are and just be able to sit back and relax. Like Cliff said, we’re outdoorsmen. This is a great place to get out and go hunting, duck hunting, fishing. It’s just a great atmosphere being away from everything. That’s what I love. I’m not a city boy by any means.”
In fact, one of the items auctioned off following the program was a duck hunting trip with Lee and Wood.
The program was emceed by Ray Tucker and also featured video highlights of both players. The video on Lee emphasized his work in two World Series including his memorable behind-the-back catch of a one-hop grounder back to the mound. The video on Wood featured his bid for a no-hitter and perfect game in his third start in the Majors. Both were shown throwing plenty of strikes, a common trait as both are known for pounding the strike zone while surrendering few walks when they’re at their best.
Lee, who pitched for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers last year, helping the Rangers make it to their first World Series, signed a lucrative contract to return to Philadelphia, where he had played in a previous World Series. Asked about his decision to choose the Phillies over the Rangers or the New York Yankees, he said, “Looking back, I feel like I couldn’t have made a bad decision. Either route I went was going to be fine and I think it would have worked out fine. Taking that out, I had to factor in where was my family going to be the most comfortable, which teams was going to give us the best chance to win over the life of the contract. I thought all three teams were good but I thought the Phillies were going to be better and I felt like my family was going to be more comfortable there than anywhere else.
“I enjoyed being traded,” he said, noting that he’d played in Cleveland before Philadelphia, Seattle and Texas. “I got a chance to play in some different environments and different organizations, see how different teams do things. And I got to play with some unbelievable players. It was a good experience. I went to two different World Series with two different teams. Now I’m going to hopefully go to four or five World Series with one team.”
As is often the case, Wood was asked how the veteran Lee might have influenced him or advised him about succeeding in the Major Leagues. “He’s helped me a lot with work ethic and getting after it and just how to keep your head on straight and let your stuff on the mound do the talking for you,” he related. “But, for the most part, we’re just like hanging out, kicking back and just let the season be past. If a subject comes up, we’ll hit on it a little bit but we don’t really sit around and talk too much baseball. Obviously, him being who he is, it’s a great guy to have that you know you can go to and ask questions, that works out and throws with you. He’s a great guy to look up to.”
Reflecting on their development through the youth leagues, Lee mentioned John Echols in his early years. “He helped me out a lot. He understood the game, knew how to teach it. He was pretty impactful up to that point. After that it was Scott Richey and Wes Gardner in American Legion and both of those guys really knew what they were doing. Wes pitched in the big leagues for a while. For me, it was easy to listen to what he had to say because that’s what I wanted to do. And Mark Balisterri at the high school. Those are the ones that really helped me here.
Wood said, “Ever since I was playing baseball until I started high school, it was my dad Jay Wood. He coached me and my brother both all the way up through when we were 15 or 16. He’s very passionate about the game, still is. He loves it. He’d sit and watch every game if he could. Then from there, Terry Harper was our high school coach and he was very good. We got along well and he taught me a lot. And Craig and Tic Harrison in Legion, summer ball. They love baseball. They live and breathe it. And they knew what they were talking about. It’s easy to learn from those guys that actually have an idea and are very passionate about the game.”
At one point, the two hurlers were asked if they helped each other develop new pitches and Lee quipped at Wood, “If you tried to teach me something, I’d try to forget it really quick.”
Wood answered, “Just get ready for May 23 because Cincinnati goes to Philly and it’s on.”
Rob Roedel
Rob:
Thank you for covering this event and letting the citizens of Saline County know the caliber of athletes that are from our county.
Rob