(#84) (Fine-tuned in September, 2024)
Baseball has been a Clarke family tradition for as long as I can remember.
I coached for 32 years and my oldest son Josh was hitting off a batting tee at the age of two. He started playing youth baseball at 9 years old (we skipped tee ball). I helped coach some of his youth league teams. He played high school baseball at Clinton, JUCO baseball at Hinds, and finished by playing two seasons at Belhaven University. He was, as Hill Denson would call him, a “ballpark rat.” When Josh was growing up, he was with me at the ballpark at Hinds as much as he was at home. He was there when Hinds became the first Mississippi team to play in the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado… in his mother’s womb. He even took pregame infield with my teams. Josh followed me into coaching and I believe he will be a baseball coach for the rest of his working life. He’s cursed. It’s in his blood. He coached for a year at Hillcrest Christian School (my fault), at Madison Central for a year, Belhaven for 7 years, and is currently the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Hinds. I’m very happy about that.
My youngest son Jake was born 8 1/2 years after Josh. By that time I was almost out of coaching, only about two or three good seasons left and a couple of disasters. At the end, I wish I had not mellowed and put up with so much drama. Jake didn’t get the same baseball treatment that Josh had gotten while growing up, but he had the same confidence and grit that Josh had and he always wanted to be just like his brother. I never thought he had the arm strength and throwing motion to pitch in high school, but he worked hard, practiced hard, and played hard and was a pretty decent hitter and position player, but he always had a great attitude, was a great teammate and always gave it everything he had. What more could you ask for? He even won the MVP award during his 9th grade season at Clinton.
But after Jake’s sophomore season, Eddie Lofton left for Biloxi High School and Clinton hired a new coaching staff and before Jake knew it, he was replaced in the lineup, relegated to the bench, suddenly estranged from his longtime, teammate friends, and virtually ignored by the coaching staff every day; secret signals for “why don’t you just quit?”
It affected him deeply and my wife and I took notice. Because of the coach’s code, I never spoke to the coach about it. I just told Jake to suck it up, work hard and win a spot in that lineup. And he was certainly willing to do that, but he knew what I didn’t know. He was not going to be given an opportunity to compete for a position or even be “coached up.”
Patty did contact the coach by phone and she didn’t tell me for a long time. And she made it clear to him that her concern was not Jake’s playing time (she was a coach’s wife and understood all of that), it was the isolation Jake was subjected to by his coaches and teammates that bothered both of us the most.
I won’t say Jake was depressed, but he was withdrawn which was definitely out-of-character. He was disappointed and didn’t understand the silent treatment he was receiving. What did he do to deserve that?
Jake decided he didn’t want to play baseball anymore, but he was afraid how I might feel about it.
When we finally talked, it broke my heart that he would be so concerned about what I thought, but I assured him that it made no difference to me whatsoever if he did not want to play baseball anymore. Baseball is not life. But I told him he would have to complete the season because he had made a commitment to the team. After that he could walk away and skip the senior season and never look back. I told him the only thing that mattered to me was that he was a good man and that he was saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and lived his life accordingly.
He is and does.
Jake decided to double up and play baseball and golf during for the rest of the spring semester. With baseball opportunities no longer on the table, he turned the page to golf. A smart and savvy move.
That summer we got a family membership at Randy Watkins Golf Club where he could practice and play as much as he wanted at Lake Caroline, Whisper Lake, and Patrick Farms.
It was a great decision, because his really put his heart into it and in the long run, the baseball playing days eventually end for everybody, even the coaches, but you can play golf for the rest of your life.
His Saturday morning golf group includes such notables as: Tommy Groves, Clay Norton, Jarvis Chappell, Norm Chappell, Kevin Brantley, and Hubie Renfrow, among others… all great mentors and friends.
He had a great senior year, was voted Student Council President and named to the Clinton High School Hall of Fame. Not bad at all.
He played golf at Belhaven for 3 1/2 years, missing a good bit of his junior year when Covid-19 cancelled most of the season. He also had to deal with problems of three major surgeries in his last two seasons. Try walking thirty-six holes in a day and 54 in a tournament when going through all that. He’s finally healed, thanks to God and Dr. Russell Rooks.
Jake’s motivation and determination in golf paid off greatly and he even shot a career low 63, recently at Caroline. I’ve shot a 63 many times and then played the back nine. 🙂
He decided not to pursue coaching like his brother did. We both advised against it.
But while in college Jake decided he would follow his dad into the real estate business. He received his salesperson’s license when he was 21 and joined me at my brokerage, NuWay Realty MS. One year later. he received his broker’s license and has become a very good real estate professional with a six figure income in 2021, even before receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Business Administration in December. He recently obtained a master’s in Business Administration. He is now the “responsible” broker at NuWay, but I have retained my spot as the “irresponsible” broker. In 2024, Jake is in the top 10 in real estate sales in Central Mississippi.
I love my boys unconditionally and am very proud of both of them. They are great young men. Patty and I are blessed. They chose different career paths, but the fundamentals of success are the same:
“Make decisions, take action, and evaluate & adjust when needed and stay at it until you get what you want.”
And the discipline, confidence, motivation, and determination… toughness stuff, that worked so well with my players over the years in baseball, also works well in whatever you choose to do in real life.
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 