Part two of two, By Paul M. Banks
Given the well publicized and egregiously exorbitant salaries of many major league ballplayers today, the fact that most players within the major league farm system play for miniscule salaries is largely ignored. Within a team’s community, local host families play a crucial role in not just housing the player, but also helping him adjust to life in a strange new city. The families provide assistance and guidance to players who would otherwise be on their own. One of the biggest misconceptions regarding the host family experience relates to the schedule of the ballplayers. Max Akerman and his wife Jane have hosted a few future major leaguers including former White Sox Ross Gload and 2005 All-Star Scott Podsednik.
“People just think these guys play only two or three times a week and the rest of the time they are off, free to teach the host family kids how to play baseball, help them with their fielding and batting. They don’t realize that this is a full-time job,†Akerman said.Â
Both at home and at work, the life of a Kane County Cougar is very different from what many people expect.
“Their hours are completely different from someone with a normal life, someone with a 9-to-5. They might come home at 10:30 p.m. and not have had anything to eat. Here in Kane County, McDonald’s may be the only thing open at that time on a weeknight. Then the next day, they need to get up right away and first go work out, then come to the ballpark and play their game. Day after day, that’s the life of a ballplayer,†Jane Akerman continued.
Akerman also articulated the changes that occurred once the Cougars changed major league affiliation from the Florida Marlins to the Oakland Athletics.
“The biggest difference is Florida’s draft policy was to draft out of high school—kids who have never been away from home, never traveled, never been in hotels, restaurants, never done a lot of the things that come with the experience of going away to college. And we were that much younger on average than the rest of the Midwest League, making it very difficult to compete. They had the same physical attributes, but there was on average a two year gap maturity wise and that was so important.â€
Akerman continued, “When we switched to Oakland, their policies were to draft a majority of their players from college. It was so noticeable because now it was much easier for us to compete. It was now on even keel. Because the college guys have been through being away from home, they’ve been through a season of travel, they’ve been through all that and it makes a heck of a difference,†Akerman revealed.
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For more on Kane County Cougars Baseball
https://www.kccougars.com/
To learn more about becoming a player host, contact Jeff Ney at (630) 232-8811
Completely unneccessary photo of Podsednik’s wife, former Playboy model and Fox Sports Net reporter Lisa Dergan
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Another great read and thanx for sharing the unnecessary pic of Pods wife it was a nice finish to the story!!
Pretty sure my friend that used to play for the Cougars never had a host mom that looked like that…
Scotty’s former host parents said Lisa Dergan was really down to Earth, and Pods was a very well grounded, nice guy too. They had dinner with them a couple months ago they said