The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 11, 1978, Page Page 14, Image 14
"V an Bever
4
in minors ]
By Sally Wilson
Gamecock Staff Writer
The odds.
Somehow they hardly seem
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baseball prospect to try
to break.
But hundreds of young baseball
players, including former USC
second baseman Mark Van Bever,
spend summer after summer in
towns like Reading, Pa., or
Greenwood, S.C., trying to move
through the minor ranks to reach
big-league baseball. Statistics
show one of every 30 players will
make it.
ine mougni 01 naving only an
elusive chance at pro ball doesn't
bother Van Bever that much. At
least not as much as it bothers his
minor-league teammates, many of
whose futures depend solely on the
whims of tobacco-chewing
managers and scouts.
When Van Bever reports next
March for spring training in
either Kinston, N.C., or San Antonio,
Tex., he will have a cushion
in the shape of a blue-ribboned
diploma to ease his fall if
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escape him. Van Bever, who
stayed in Columbia last week on
his way home from Class A ball in
Kinston, has two more quarters of
school before receiving his MBA
from Florida Institute of
Technology.
But the business world can wait
for now. Van Bever wants to see
what he can do with a baseball bat
| first instead of a calculator.
"I've got to give baseball a shot.
I've always wanted to play," Van
Bever says. "I " on't be satisfied
until it comes to he point where I
know I won't make it, whether they
| release me or I quit on my own."
A college Academic AllAmerican
player, Van Bever
helped lead USC to the 1977 College
World Series in Omaha. A week
before leaving for Omaha, the
Baltimore Orioles drafted Van
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Bever, a speedy .335 hitter at
Carolina, in the seventh round.
The Orioles sent Van Bever, who
has the national career record of
122 steals, to their Class A team in
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minor-league play wasn't very
encouraging.
"I stunk," he said about his twomonth
debut in Miami. "They
tried to change the way I was
hitting. They wanted me to take a
lot of pitches. I quit hitting
altogether. I played good defense,
but my hitting was next to zero."
Van Bever was back at spring
training this past March in Miami,
though, and things temporarily
hpfffln fn lrvnlf hpttor AWof
beginning his MBA program at
USC and tutoring at the Roost last
fall, Van Bever was ready for the
season's start.
"I was hitting over .300, and had
no errors," he said. "The last day
they said we don't need you.
Here's a check to go home ; see you
later."
A few phone calls to coaches and
three days later , Van Bever found
that Miami was not going to be the
end of his baseball career. April 19
he began playing Class A ball with
the Dodgers at Clinton, Iowa.
Van Bever played well enough at
Clinton to make the All-Star game
at second base. But the draft
brought three second baseman, all
who needed to be given a chance at
that Dosition.
"They stuck me in left field. I
talked to the farm director and told
him I felt like I was wasting my
time there./' Van Bever said.
A co-op Class A team in Kinston
took Van Bever at second base,
where he played every remaining
game after his first night. He led
the team with a .310 average,
which was also one of the top five in
the Carolina League. "My game
improved there," he said. "I felt
like I was working for something.
In Iowa I was just filling a spot."
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Van Bever hopes to make it tc
Double A ball with the Dodgers in
San Antonio next March, but he
realizes how intense minor league
competition is.
"So many good players never gel
a chance," he says. "If they don'l
produce right away, they're
thrown away. A lot of it is who gets
what breaks."
"A lot of guys hope people gel
hurt, so they can get a shot. Some
have wives and kids to su^ port.
It's just like any other job, unless
you get to the big show. Then they
trpat vnn wall "
Ven Bever might or might nol
make it someday to the big
leagues. If not, he has another
challenge to move on to ? the
banking business.
"I've thought about it a lot. I'd
like to get into management
banking. I've talked to a lot of
people, and have gotten information
to prepare myself for
when the time comes. Baseball is
so unpredictable."
Tf- J 1 1
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"7 was hitting over 300
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a check to go home, see
you later.
Mark Van Sever
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