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Grand Junction, Colo. —
The Crowder College Roughriders and the other nine teams participating in the National Junior College Athletic Association took part in the annual NJCAA World Series banquet Friday night, prior the opening pitch Saturday.
More than a 1,000 people turned out to see three coaches elected to the NJCAA Baseball Hall of Fame and after that, got a chance listen to former Major League pitcher Dave Dravecky talk about his life, how cancer ended his playing career in 1989 and how he found out who he was.
The Hall of Fame inductees this year included Dennis Conley from Olney Central College in Olney, Ill.; Dave Dangler, former head coach at Yavapai College in Arizona; and Bill Hamilton, head coach coach of Pensacola Junior College in Florida.
Dravecky was a Major League pitcher from 1982-1989 with the Padres and Giants. He was originally drafted by the Pirates out of what he called “The powerhouse YSU Penguins” – Youngstown State in Ohio. He was taken in the 21st round in 1979 and traded in 1982 to the Padres.
“My teammates and I were talking at the end of spring training who would we have liked to play for and someone said the Padres because their Triple-A team was in Hawaii.”
Then, only a few days before spring training ended, he got a visit from the farm director of the Pirates, who said he got traded to the Padres.
The joy of knowing he was Hawaii bounded ended.
“They told me that I’m going to Amarillo, Texas. I asked, where is Amarillo, Texas?” Dravecky said. “They told me it was in the panhandle. I asked, what is a panhandle?”
His first year in the Padres organization he was 15-5 and was named the team’s minor league player of the year. In 1982, he was assigned to Hawaii. His daughter was born that year and he was called up to the big leagues two days after her birth.
Dravecky talked about how his wife, Jan, helped him make a big change after struggling early in his career. That change was to be able to admit your fears, Dravecky said.
“Of course I was scared, all of the batters looked liked Babe Ruth,” he said.
The next year, 1983, he was a National League All-Star for San Diego. Dravecky then started talking about how cancer consumed his body in 1988, came back in 1989 and forced him to have his left arm and shoulder amputated in 1991.
The Crowder College Roughriders and the other nine teams participating in the National Junior College Athletic Association took part in the annual NJCAA World Series banquet Friday night, prior the opening pitch Saturday.
More than a 1,000 people turned out to see three coaches elected to the NJCAA Baseball Hall of Fame and after that, got a chance listen to former Major League pitcher Dave Dravecky talk about his life, how cancer ended his playing career in 1989 and how he found out who he was.
The Hall of Fame inductees this year included Dennis Conley from Olney Central College in Olney, Ill.; Dave Dangler, former head coach at Yavapai College in Arizona; and Bill Hamilton, head coach coach of Pensacola Junior College in Florida.
Dravecky was a Major League pitcher from 1982-1989 with the Padres and Giants. He was originally drafted by the Pirates out of what he called “The powerhouse YSU Penguins” – Youngstown State in Ohio. He was taken in the 21st round in 1979 and traded in 1982 to the Padres.
“My teammates and I were talking at the end of spring training who would we have liked to play for and someone said the Padres because their Triple-A team was in Hawaii.”
Then, only a few days before spring training ended, he got a visit from the farm director of the Pirates, who said he got traded to the Padres.
The joy of knowing he was Hawaii bounded ended.
“They told me that I’m going to Amarillo, Texas. I asked, where is Amarillo, Texas?” Dravecky said. “They told me it was in the panhandle. I asked, what is a panhandle?”
His first year in the Padres organization he was 15-5 and was named the team’s minor league player of the year. In 1982, he was assigned to Hawaii. His daughter was born that year and he was called up to the big leagues two days after her birth.
Dravecky talked about how his wife, Jan, helped him make a big change after struggling early in his career. That change was to be able to admit your fears, Dravecky said.
“Of course I was scared, all of the batters looked liked Babe Ruth,” he said.
The next year, 1983, he was a National League All-Star for San Diego. Dravecky then started talking about how cancer consumed his body in 1988, came back in 1989 and forced him to have his left arm and shoulder amputated in 1991.
He came to the Giants in 1988 and made the opening day start against the Dodgers and Fernando Valenzuela. He earned the victory in a 5-1 win, and as he said, the most memorable part – a double off Valenzuela.
“Because, National League is real baseball and the pitchers have to bat,” he said.
Cancer struck him late in the 1988 season and he had his deltoid muscle on his pitching arm partially removed. His prognosis to play baseball was very slim, even a miracle would have to happen, the doctors told him.
On Aug. 10, 1989, he made a start for the Giants against the Reds. He threw eight innings to get the win. The next start he was throwing a sinking fastball to catcher Terry Kennedy. On the pitch, his arm broke in what was one of the ugliest baseball injuries on video.
His arm never got better, including a 10-month battle with a staph infection.
“The real problem began there, who am I now that I can’t play baseball,” Dravecky recalled. “My baseball card doesn’t define who I am. I had to define who I was. I had to go through a crisis to understand that. I no longer resist adversity that comes. I know it’s there to show me something and let me tell you that isn’t a bad thing. Losing 26-1 and being the starting pitching is not a bad thing, you just have to learn from it.”
Dravecky recalled his time at YSU where he helped guide the Penguins to their first ever NCAA playoffs against Wright State. Playing in Carbondale, Ill., Dravecky started and his team lost 26-1.
The loss of his arm to cancer also effected other parts of his life. There were a lot of things that Dravecky liked to do that he had to give up or alter how he did it. As he said, “golfing with two arms I was bad, I was even worse with one arm.”
He talked about trading in his golf clubs for a motorcylce that he converted to a tricycle. Then, he talked about fishing and how the question pops up, ‘how do you fish with one arm?’
He explained he casts it with his right arm, puts the rod in his armpit, and reels with his one hand. Dravecky went on to explain a trip to a fishing store and a befuddled look by the sales clerk, who asked, the ‘how do you fish?’ questions.
“I told him how I just got back from fishing in Alaska and I caught a fish this big,” Dravecky said holding up his one arm.
That got quite a laugh from the crowd.
