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Diamond Spotlight: Hutson Dodds

  Throughout my life I have grown up around the game of baseball. I am very fortunate to have such a supportive and loving family. I grew up playing baseball, football and basketball like most young kids. However, when I went on to high school I focused in on just football and baseball. Football has always been one of my great loves, but due t… The new DP website is here. For all the great DP content, subscribe. If you have any login/subscription issues, please contact our support team. Your feedback on the new experience is appreciated as well. Username Password Remember Me     Forgot Password

What My Future Holds?

By: Paul Bennett – January 23, 2006 What’s the best and the worst thing about preparing for the future? I’d say not knowing what to prepare for; it’s the excitement of the unknown mixed with the apprehension of uncertainty. That’s where you’ll find me, a 22 year-old senior shortstop at Elon University: in the middle (no pun intended) and “on the bubble”. And that’s where I find myself, in between a dream of baseball and the reality of the working world-between childhood and manhood. Here I am, three weeks from my last, “first game” of the college season. I find myself sending my resume’ to employers and filling out pro scout questionnaires in the same day. My life has become a “Choose your own adventure” novel, only I’m not choosing. It will either be a pro club choosing me or a Human Resources manager at some business firm. I guess it doesn’t sound quite so bad when I say it like that, and it’s not. But there’s definitely significant inner turmoil. I’m sitting in an interview for a marketing position (for after I graduate) in Charlotte wondering, “If he offers me this job, can I take it?” And I can’t, not in good conscience. If I did, I would feel like I was quitting on my dream – a dream that’s brought me through four great years of college ball and almost fifteen years of youth baseball before that. But I’ve worked almost as hard to be prepared for my first job as I have to be prepared for baseball at the next level. I’ve made all the grades, aced all the tests, typed all the papers, volunteered, interviewed…I’ve done all the extras. But what about all those hours I’ve hit off the tee, took groundballs, ran my butt off, lifted weights, iced my arm or my legs or agonized over a slump? Which one was preparing me for the rest of my life? The best part is, both of them were! I learned how to differentiate a product by market analysis; and I learned it in the classroom. But I also learned how to persevere by breaking out of a week-and-a-half-long slump; I learned that on the baseball diamond. I learned about work in books and classes, but I learned how to work in the batting cage and on the infield dirt. That’s what makes baseball players different from all other athletes. Baseball is not an occupation, it’s not a job, nor is it a scholarship or a paycheck. Baseball is a lifestyle and it is part of who we are. We couldn’t get away from it even if we wanted to – we love it too much. There’s something about the symmetry, the cause and effect, and the perfection of the game that draws us to it. There’s something captivating about an event demanding so much physical ability yet even more mental acuity. That’s why I can’t take a job that starts this summer; that’s why guys spend their life savings driving across the country to try-out; and that’s what sends us to Asheboro, Mankato, Chatham, Edenton, Columbus and Wareham to play summer ball in small-town America only days after a 56+ game college season has ended. And that’s what brought me to this conclusion: I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to enjoy my last season with the best friends I’ll ever have. I’m going to enjoy four-hour intra-squads and base-running cycles. And I’m going to stand on the field when the last out of my last collegiate game is made and I’m going to say, “I left it all out here on this field!” And if that doesn’t set my phone to ringing on draft day, then I’ll have to be ok with that. But I’ll sit by the phone on June 6 and wait, one way or another…I will be waiting for the rest of my life to start. About the author: Paul Bennett concluded his career at Elon as a four-year starter and went on to enjoy three seasons in the Atlanta Braves organization, playing as high as Triple-A before retiring in 2009. Since then, he has covered a load of games for DP, gotten married, now has a successful job outside of baseball and is living in Charlotte, NC. .

Where Are They Now

Name Date Steven Tolleson January 2006 Bryan Harvey I January 2006 Bryan Harvey II January 2006 Tom Mastny February 2006 Patrick Hogan February 2006 David Marchbanks February 2006 Dallas McPherson March 2006 Brett Harker March 2006 Jeremy Plexico March 2006 Billy Sylvester April 2006 Bryan Triplett April 2006 Chip Cannon May 2006 Jonathan Ellis June 2006 Aaron Rawl June 2006 Steven Jackson July 2006 Byron Barber July 2006 Matt Betsill August 2006 Kip Bouknight I December 2006 Kip Bouknight II December 2006 Brad Chalk December 2007 .

Diamond Quotes

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:18-25 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’ Jeremiah 29, 13-14 “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room on Earth.” “If your mind can believe it, you can achieve it.” Muhammed Ali “I have always been determined to never compromise my faith or my principles. I always relied on my God-given talent when I took the field. So the idea of using PED’s to enhance my performance was a line I chose not to cross.” Tim Salmon “How great is our God who not only pursues us, but transforms us as well. This is not to say that Christians are perfect, or have it all figured out, or don’t struggle. But we know that our flaws and shortcomings do not hinder the work God is doing. It is a process, a journey that we are on for the rest of our lives and all we really have to do, is give it up to God and surely we can do all things through Him.” Heath Bell  “Paul wrote about faith and perseverance and hard work overcoming  adversity, and he didn’t worry about why things had gone against him.  The more I read, the more I realized the one thing that I was to do  during a tough spell, a long slump, a “jinx”: Press on, look forward,  trust the One who truly controls my life.” Gary Carter “God does not show favor in who wins or loses a ballgame. However, he does have delight in those who honor him during their successes and their failures, on and off the playing field.” Anonymous “God has taken me a lot of places. Plenty of teams and Japan for a while too. I believe that he was preparing me for this moment and this opportunity. His plan is always better than ours, I give Him all the glory and I am only in this position because of Him.” Ryan Voglesong, following NLCS Game 6 “I don’t want to cower at somebody’s interpretation of what I’m about. I’m supposed to be doing it and I’m going to throw this word out there-with excellence. There’s no reason for me to give anything less that all I’ve got in everything I do. That’s scriptural. For me, that’s the foundation of who I am.” Mike Matheny “When you become a Christian, you learn to lean on Jesus, and now I don’t see how people go through life without him. I’m not legalistic in that. I don’t feel like I can perform for God and adhere to a bunch of rules for God to love me. But Jesus has become my best Friend. I talk to him like that. When I approach God, I call Him “Daddy” like it says we can do in Romans. And that kind of relationship soothes you when things don’t go the way you want them. That’s basically what has helped me get through my crazy career.” Paul Byrd  In the Dominican Republic, when you’re a baseball player, you’re almost a god. People were telling me, “You’re young. You should be having fun. You might be a millionaire. You don’t need God.” I told them they were wrong. There is more to life than being rich and famous. Baseball stays here. It’s important to me, but I have my priorities. God is first! Matthew 6:33 – Aumary Telemaco “In 2003 while in Albuquerque I gave my life to Christ for the first time. My wife already a believer gave her life to Christ at the same time as well. Since that day my thoughts, and actions have taken a complete turnaround. In-turn my life has been saved thanks to promises of love and salvation I’m promised by God. I now have a purpose and goal in life and that is to be next to my father, Lord and Savior when my day of judgement comes. I want to be a diciple of Christ and and follow his teachings as well as draw others to follow and dedicate their life to Jesus Christ. Everyday is a new challenge and opportunity to make a difference. Life, baseball and everything is God given and if not for him we wouldn’t be here.” Adrian Gonzalez “God brought me to Himself at about the age of 4. My parents were devout believers and my Dad was in Bible College at the time. I remember hearing the gospel in Sunday School and I talked to my Mom about it one night before bed. It was clear to me that I was a sinner and I was not going to heaven if I died without accepting Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for me. I was brought to Christ out of fear of going to …

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