Oldham another talented player produced by Connellsville youth program
Bob Oldham is another outstanding baseball player out of Connellsville.
Oldham was a product of the outstanding Connellsville youth baseball system that nurtured some fine talented players through the years.
无毛视频淚 played Llittle league all the way through teener league in Connellsville,无毛视频� Oldham said.
When he got to high school Oldham did not go out for the baseball team. Connellsville was a powerhouse back in those days.
无毛视频淚 didn无毛视频檛 think I was good enough to make the team,无毛视频� Oldham offered. 无毛视频淢y gym teacher, the late Lou DeSimone, thought I could play. I was throwing a dodgeball in gym class and he told me I should go out for baseball.无毛视频�
Oldham went out for the team and made it.
无毛视频淢y first year all I did was pitch,无毛视频� Oldham recalled. 无毛视频淢y second year I played mostly first base and pitched a little bit. My senior year I was 5-0 with a two-something ERA.无毛视频�
The Falcons were on quite a roll in those days. Longtime Falcons coach Tom Sankovich retired and Bob Renzi took over in 1991 and guided the Falcons to their seventh consecutive WPIAL playoff appearance. The Falcons finished with a record of 19-4 and lost North Allegheny, 11-1, in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
Connellsville made it eight playoff berths in a row in 1992 and posted an outstanding record of 21-2 before they were knocked off by Butler in the semifinals, 4-0. The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for the Falcons.
无毛视频淚t was very disheartening to lose that game to Butler,无毛视频� Oldham stated.
Looking back, Oldham was part of a solid pitching staff at Connellsville.
无毛视频淚 was the number three starter,无毛视频� Oldham said. 无毛视频淚t was Clint Weibl, then Nick Tzan and me. I had good numbers at the plate as a third baseman.无毛视频�
When Oldham graduated from Connellsville in 1992 he wasn无毛视频檛 thinking about going to college.
无毛视频淚 was pitching Legion ball against Smithfield Masontown and pitching real well, and Mark Edenfield, who played at Odessa College, saw me and asked me if I thought about going to college,无毛视频漁ldham explained. 无毛视频淚 said, 无毛视频楴o,I don无毛视频檛 think I无毛视频檇 do any good in college.无毛视频�
He said if I can get college paid for, would you go to school? I said absolutely. He said what if it was out of state and I said if you can get college paid for me I will go anywhere. He got me hooked up with Coach Rich Zimmerman at Odessa College in Texas.
无毛视频淭he reason why I didn无毛视频檛 go that year was because he didn无毛视频檛 have any scholarships left. I wound up playing at Odessa in 1993-94.无毛视频�
Odessa was a top notch Junior College program. The Wranglers went 40-18 in 1993-94 and lost in the district playoffs.
Two other Connellsville players were at Odessa at that time, Weibl, a star pitcher, and Jeremy Miller, who did not play because of a sports hernia.
无毛视频淚 played one year at Odessa,无毛视频� Oldham said. 无毛视频淚 went in when Coach Zimmerman was doing cuts and the first thing he said to me was I don无毛视频檛 know what I无毛视频檓 going to be able to do with you this year, but you throw the ball too hard for me to cut you.
无毛视频淚 was used as a starter, the only time I was not a starter was in the loss to Galveston in the state playoff game and I pitched well.无毛视频�
无毛视频淪ome scouts saw me. It rained and we had practice in the swimming pool and I fell off the diving board and ripped the callus off my toe,无毛视频� continued Oldham. 无毛视频淭he Indians had come to see me pitch and I didn无毛视频檛 pitch. The scout asked me to throw in the bullpen, which I did to a first baseman. They were interested.
无毛视频淏ob Mayer, an Indians scout from Somerset, took over. I threw up in Somerset and then at Jacobs Field and they said they were going to draft me. I touched 98 on the radar gun, but was normally about 94-95 and had a decent curve ball. They selected me in the 12th round of the 1994 draft and I signed.无毛视频�
Oldham pitched in the Indians farm system for three years. The 6-foot-5, 200 pound Oldham compiled a 6-22 record with an 8.20 ERA. He recorded 201 strikeouts. He was released after the 1996 season at age 22.
无毛视频淭he minors were a different experience,无毛视频� Oldham stated. 无毛视频淚 wasn无毛视频檛 used to throwing that much and I think I got tired my first year. The second year I was stronger. But, I never really adjusted and I was released.无毛视频�
Oldham came back to Fayette County and bounced around at several jobs and started pitching in the Fayette County League. In 1997, Oldham, pitching for Connellsville, went 9-1 with 111 strikeouts. His win total and strikeouts led the League.
无毛视频淗e was almost unhittable,无毛视频� said then Connellsville player/manager Dan Kupets.
Unfortunately, Oldham sustained serious injuries in an auto accident in January 1998. It spelled the end of his baseball career.
无毛视频淚 had a brain injury,无毛视频� Oldham explained. 无毛视频淚t ended pitching for me. I was 23 years old. It was so disappointing.无毛视频�
Now 50, Oldham has been working for Sensus in Uniontown for seven years. He and his wife Kristen have been married a year and have three older daughters from other relationships.
Looking back, Oldham feels he missed an opportunity in pro baseball.
无毛视频淚 just wish I had someone behind me talking to me and helping me and pushing me,无毛视频漁ldham said.
Oldham is back doing some Little League baseball coaching.
无毛视频淚 really enjoy coaching,无毛视频� said Oldham. 无毛视频淚 like to see the kids get it when you are teaching them. I like to see it when they get it and understand, and their eyes light up.无毛视频�
George Von Benko无毛视频檚 无毛视频淢emory Lane无毛视频� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 无毛视频-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.