Former Lakewood star Weber still believing in ‘church of baseball’
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Some news just plain stinks.
Lakewood Coach Spud O’Neil checked the agate type in a newspaper a few days back and read that his former protege failed to make the big club. ‘I was devastated for Jon,’ O’Neil said. That would be Jon Weber, whose name O’Neil prayed to see on the Tampa Bay Rays’ opening day roster.
Instead, Weber, 30, will enter his 10th consecutive season in the minor leagues, never having played in the majors. ‘I hope he’s not too down,’ said O’Neil, who coached Weber at Lakewood in the mid-1990s. ‘Hopefully, he’ll still get his shot.’
Places like Billings, Mont. or Fargo, N.D. Weber has called home, and now he’ll start the season in triple-A Durham, N.C. That’s right, the home to the legendary Durham Bulls, the team of ancient minor leaguer ‘Crash’ Davis in the classic baseball flick ‘Bull Durham.’ There’s a great line of dialogue when Susan Sarandon’s character says: ‘I believe in the Church of Baseball.’ I’m sure Jon Weber believes in the same thing.
For your viewing pleasure, here’s a ‘Bull Durham’ trailer...
-- Image from www.dbulls.com