Helping The Hometown Team: Rob Lind, Sioux Falls Pheasants
by Kolbe Nelson
September 05, 2011 7:00 PM
Rob Lind, our Taco Johns Athlete of the Week, had a decent baseball career at Georgia State.
"Put up real good numbers my junior year," Lind says, "I thought I had a pretty good senior season too."
Good enought that he thought he might be picked up by a professional club, but when that didn't happen, he returned home to Hartford.
"Kind of did some odd-and-end jobs just to try to have some cash." Lind says.
Lind thought he was done with baseball, and had started working as a roofer. Then something happened.
"I came and took batting practice with the Pheasants and kind of told them my situation." Lind says.
Despite the fact that there weren't any openings on the team, the Birds were impressed, and it paid off for Lind.
"We kind of liked what we were seeing." Pheasants Manager Steve Shirley says, "And then we had some injuries happen so we placed a phone call."
Lind joined the team in Kansas City, and immediately delivered, picking up a pair of hits in his first game. It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops for Lind though, he had rust to shake off from not swinging a bat in months, and wound up finishing the season with a .148 batting average in 27 plate appearances.
"It's frustrating not to be too successful," Lind says, "But I've had a fun time and enjoyed meeting the guys and the coaches."
And it sure beats working on a roof.
"This is a little bit better than that as far as difficulty on the body." Lind says.
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