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Bo Schultz goes from beer-league softball in Brooklyn to Citi Field
You can almost guarantee that no two journeys to Major League Baseball are the same. Sure, there are similarly smooth roads for some, but for many more they are forced to face adversities ranging from injuries to illnesses, from prior commitments to simple lack of opportunity.
Every player had the dream and every player pursued that dream from a different angle, under different circumstances, but each had their own moment when the door opened and their own path that led them through the door. That includes Toronto Blue Jays reliever Bo Schultz, who at 29 is just a rookie in MLB after years spent searching for a way into MLB.
Schultz's story is as unique as they come, and it's currently fresh in everyone's mind after his pitching appearance at Citi Field against the New York Mets on Tuesday night. That appearance represented a homecoming of sorts — though he's actually from Dallas, Texas — while also showing just how far he'd come, beginning as a beer-league softball player in Brooklyn to the bright lights of MLB in New York.
"I remember early on, I was playing third base, knowing what kind of arm he had," says Jordan Heller, 40, manager of the Turkey's Nest squad since 2000. "A ball was hit to the deepest part of right field. He tracked it down, spun, and threw a perfect strike to nail the runner tagged up from second by a couple of feet. The guy looked up at me like, 'You have got to be kidding.' Nobody ran on him again."
He, the legend in right field, is Bo Schultz, 29, believed to be the only player to ever rise from McCarren Park Softball to Major League Baseball.
"I'll say, first, only, and forever," says Heller.
Schultz went from beer-league softball to walk-on pitcher at Northwestern, where he managed to catch the eye of the Oakland A's despite posting a 9.00 ERA during his senior season. After a relatively short stint in that organization, he moved on to independent-league ball before landing his next opportunity with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012.
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At that point, he was finally getting close to a finished product. After two years of seasoning, he debuted for Arizona during their season-opening series in Australia last March. Though he only made four appearances overall, that door was now open, and he walked through it again last week for Toronto.
Now he's playing for one of the hottest teams in MLB, while hoping Tuesday's appearance in New York will be just the first of many.
The VICE story was actually published back in February, but it provides a much more in-depth look at where Schultz's journey ultimately led him and the struggles along the way. His journey even includes a summer internship with Men's Journal magazine as he looked to give himself as many options as possible.
Even if you'd heard the story or read it before, it's well worth reading again knowing the story has come full circle.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
