Erik Kratz is a 30 year-old minor league baseball player for the Indianapolis Indians that I'm sure you have never heard of. Tomorrow he will become a major league baseball player for the first time.
Last night Kratz was playing in the AAA all-star game in Leigh Valley, PA. Because he grew up in Tedford, PA about 45 minutes from Allentown, he had a bunch of family and friends in attendance. During the fourth inning of the game his manager, who was also a coach in the all-star game, told him in the dugout that he was coming out of the game. Kratz asked why. He was schedule to bat one more time and play one more inning. His manager asked him if he wanted to play one more inning or play in the major leagues. There were handshakes and hugs all around. These guys weren't his everyday teammates, it was an all-star game, but they understood that one of their own had just achieved the dream that they were all working toward.
Kratz has spent nine seasons in the minors. Tomorrow he will put on a major league uniform (yes, it's the Pirates, spare the jokes) for the first time. Aside from all the excitement that will undoubtedly bring, this is a guy with a family who will go from making $35K to a pro-rated $400K for the next 2 1/2 months. Not every guy gets $5 million a year.
The all-star game was being televised nationally by the MLB network. The announcers quickly got him on the air. Here is the interview and accompanying story. It's pretty great.
2 comments:
love hearing stories like this!
It basically comes out to about $2400 a day every day he is on the 25-man which is not nothing for a guy who probably hasn't made a ton of dough since he was signed. Hard to root againsst guys like this ....... well, until they go 2-37.
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