The Bisbee Blues’ Daniel Aldrich, center, is high-fived after he hit 8-10 in the Pecos League All-Star Game home run derby Monday at Fort Marcy Ballpark. For more photos, go to http://tinyurl.com/ok2bzv8. Jane Phillips/The New Mexican
The Santa Fe Fuego’s Brice Cutspec is the first up during the Pecos League All-Star Game home run derby Monday at Fort Marcy Ballpark. For more photos, go to http://tinyurl.com/ok2bzv8. Jane Phillips/The New Mexican
Trinidad’s Jamie McMillan won Monday’s Pecos League All-Star home run derby at Fort Marcy Ballpark, beating Bisbee’s Daniel Aldrich in the final round. Will Webber/The New Mexican
The Bisbee Blues’ Daniel Aldrich, center, is high-fived after he hit 8-10 in the Pecos League All-Star Game home run derby Monday at Fort Marcy Ballpark. For more photos, go to http://tinyurl.com/ok2bzv8. Jane Phillips/The New Mexican
The Santa Fe Fuego’s Brice Cutspec is the first up during the Pecos League All-Star Game home run derby Monday at Fort Marcy Ballpark. For more photos, go to http://tinyurl.com/ok2bzv8. Jane Phillips/The New Mexican
Trinidad’s Jamie McMillan won Monday’s Pecos League All-Star home run derby at Fort Marcy Ballpark, beating Bisbee’s Daniel Aldrich in the final round. Will Webber/The New Mexican
If Jamie McMillan were the kind of guy who took obvious signs to heart, he’d be sitting in an office cubicle somewhere in Georgia working for a bi-weekly paycheck like most everyone else.
Because he’s not, he gets up every day and pursues a dream he’s had since his dad taught him how to swing a baseball bat when he was 4 years old.
“Taught him to swing left-handed,” points out Tom McMillan, the proud papa who sat in the first row of Fort Marcy Ballpark’s scorching concrete box seats while his son, a jack-of-all-trades infielder from the Trinidad Triggers won Monday afternoon’s Pecos League All-Star Game home run derby.
The younger McMillan outslugged Bisbee’s Daniel Aldrich in the finals, winning it in an impromptu swing-off after both players launched eight homers in 10 swings during the championship round.
The fact that McMillan was there at all is a story unto itself. With tour stops at three different colleges in the deep south, he wound up at Valdosta State in his native Georgia last season. It wasn’t a good time, either. He suffered four concussions, was beaned in the face with a 90-mile-per-hour fastball, then simultaneously tore his rotator cuff and labrum in the conference tournament last May.
“It was always my dream to play professional ball and the way things wound up, I knew I might not have the chance,” McMillan said. “Me being a big guy, they don’t care about batting average. All they want to see is how far I can hit a baseball.”
Undrafted and unscouted by almost everyone, McMillan was barely 11 months out of shoulder surgery when he was invited to Trinidad’s spring training back in May. He made the Triggers’ roster and played well enough to make the Northern Division All-Star team for Monday’s game.
Before he took the field for that, he spent his afternoon launching moonshots into the trees beyond the 285-foot fence in right at Fort Marcy.
“I love it. Short field; it’s easy to take a look and think about sending one out,” he said. “In a game it’s hard because with that short porch you have to keep your right approach or you’re going to roll over every time.”
He cruised through the first two rounds, drawing admiring cat calls from the players and handful of fans gathered to watch. One of his balls cleared the thickets of the treetops and landed unmolested in the playground over at Fort Marcy Complex.
Even more remarkable is the fact that he did it all with yet another nagging injury. A few weeks ago in a game against Las Vegas, he tore the meniscus in his left knee.
“I can’t drive off my back foot so I’m hitting off my front foot again,” McMillan said. “Just going to play through it. I had a couple cortisone shots. Way I see it, you’re not gonna get out of the Pecos League sitting in the bench.”
Before the competition he was told by teammate Johnny Bladel to win the derby or face the consequences.
“It was Johnny’s spot, being in this thing, but he let me have it,” McMillan said. “Not sure what would have happened if I didn’t win. He’d probably beat me up.”
After smacking his clinching long ball, he walked out of the batter’s box with both arms raised as his Northern teammates came out to congratulate him. And to the winner went … nothing. No trophy, no plaque, not even a complimentary T-shirt or handwritten note of thanks.
“I get paid 57 bucks a week to be here,” McMillan said with a big smile as his parents, Tom and Susan stood nearby. “We’re at the bottom of the bottom. Everybody’s scrapping to get the hell out of here. It’s fun though. I’m chasing a dream and I’m having fun doing it.”
