Andy Neary pitched a one-hitter in high school that earned him a Division I scholarship, threw a perfect game into the sixth inning in college before Curtis Granderson broke it up, and watched all 50 rounds of the 2000 MLB Draft without hearing his name. A voicemail from pitching coach Todd Proworth changed everything, landing him a free-agent deal with the Helena Brewers.
Questions this video answers
18 foot diameter circle, 60 ft 6 inches from home plate.
June 2000; all 50 rounds.
Curtis Granderson (a freshman at the time).
Pitching coach Todd Proworth (who relayed that scout Harvey Keene, Jr. called about a free-agent contract).
Helena Brewers.
Chapters
Let me close by sharing the story, guys.
I told you at the beginning of the talk.
That it was my dream to play professional baseball.
What I didn't share with you is how close I got.
So as a kid, I did hate attention because I was a chunky kid. But for whatever reason, there was one place I felt comfortable getting attention and that was on the pitcher's mouth. That 18 foot diameter circle, 60ft 6 inches from home plate was my safe haven. It's actually where attention found me. And I grew out of that extra weight as I had a kid and I turned into a pretty good high school baseball player. In fact, I played high school baseball for my dad, which presents a whole different level of attention. Some of it you don't want. But my career in baseball was always about grabbing the right attention at the right time. In high school, it was throwing a one hitter in the playoffs of my senior season with the coaching staff from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in attendance, which led to a Division 1 scholarship weeks before I graduated. It was taking a perfect game into the sixth inning of a seventh inning game in college against UIC Illinois Chicago, with MLB scouts in the stands. By the way, anybody want to know who broke up my perfect game? This little known unknown freshman by the name of Curtis Granderson. He ended up having a slightly okay career.
What's that? And then he went to UIC Illinois Chicago. Yep. In fact, I think the baseball field's named after him now. But guys, it was always. I always seemed to step up when the spotlight was the brightest.
So by the time my senior season ended at uwm, I actually thought I had a chance to get drafted. So for three long days in June of 2000, I sat in front of my computer screen and watched all 50 rounds of the MLB Draft, hoping to see my name come across the bottom of the screen. But it never did. And I thought my baseball career was over.
But something happened that following Monday, I came home from the first day of what was going to be the worst summer internship I've ever had with data entry for a financial services institution. And I came home to a voice message on my answering machine. Yes, I am that old.
And it was my pitching coach, Todd Proworth. And he sounded urgent. He wanted me to call him back right away. Well, I called him, got on the phone. What I learned was earlier that day, Harvey Keene, Jr. Scout for the brewers, had called Todd and wanted to know if I'd be interested in signing a free agent contract. So on Monday, guys, I'm sitting in my dingy apartment on UWM's campus. On Friday, I'm in the bullpen pitching for the Helena Brewers.
