Sowing Seeds of One Man’s Dream : College baseball: Former Angel pitcher’s vision of bringing back sport to Abilene Christian leads him to Nolan Ryan.

As the tale’s told here, Bill Gilbreth was walking through a wheat field near Abilene Christian University last winter when he first heard The Voice.

If you build it, he will come.

Gilbreth looked over the sea of gold and envisioned a baseball diamond.

Not sure if he had just gone ‘round the bend, Gilbreth figured he had just landed on a movie set in an Iowa cornfield.

“It was just like ‘Field of Dreams,’ ” Gilbreth said. “The only thing missing was Shoeless Joe.”

That’s not all that was missing.

Baseball hasn’t been part of this college campus for 11 years, and Gilbreth wanted to bring it back.

He started his pitching career at Abilene Christian 25 years ago, developing a fastball that landed him stints with the Angels and the Detroit Tigers in the early 1970s.

But Gilbreth, a 42-year-old accountant and father of two, was ready to give up on his dream. Fund-raising efforts hadn’t produced enough money for a ballpark, which the college wanted to build on the wheat field.

By January, Gilbreth was distraught. In a last-ditch effort, he and Abilene Christian vice president Gary McCaleb, also a former player, flew to Alvin, Tex., to find help.

They went to find Nolan Ryan.

Gilbreth’s dream started in 1988. He and a group of former Abilene Christian players began raising money for the Division II baseball program, which folded in 1979 because of cuts in the men’s athletic budget.

“We were expanding our women’s programs,” McCaleb said. “It wasn’t an anti-baseball decision, it was just a budgetary decision.”

McCaleb and Gilbreth knew the project wouldn’t be easy. They needed a new stadium because the university tore down the old one three years ago to build a biblical studies center. They knew of at least 100 men interested in playing, but had no uniforms or scholarships to offer. After 1 1/2 years of fund raising produced little more than complaints from alumni, Gilbreth was getting frustrated.

“The people who played with me had a lot of hard feelings about the way things were done (in 1979) and wouldn’t contribute,” Gilbreth said.

So Gilbreth contacted Ryan, who invited Gilbreth and McCaleb to lunch. They spent the next few hours talking everything from fastballs to fund-raisers.

Ryan, an Angel teammate of Gilbreth’s in 1974, listened to him describe the school’s fund-raising woes. By the time they finished dessert, Ryan had come up with a plan:

--Establish the Nolan Ryan Fund for Baseball at Abilene Christian University.

--Promote a $100-a-plate fund-raising dinner honoring Ryan’s record-breaking career. The dinner is scheduled for April 23 in Arlington.

Ryan, 43, knows all about struggling college baseball teams. He established a scholarship fund at Alvin Community College 10 years ago, and is active in the school’s baseball program.

“I’ve enjoyed watching that program grow over the years,” Ryan said. “It’s rewarding to see a new program at Abilene start out. I’ve known Billy for a long time and I wanted to help him out.”

The Rangers mailed banquet applications to season-ticket holders. Local sponsors underwrote the cost of the dinner so all proceeds will go to the baseball team.

So far, 620 people have made reservations, a profit of $62,000. The expected sellout will provide $100,000.

Shortly after the dinner was set, the university announced it had hired a coach--Gilbreth. He began April 1.

“When they announced the dinner, almost immediately things went crazy,” Gilbreth said. “I had no intention of coaching. I just wanted to put (Nolan) together with the school.

“We went from zero dollars to this. Nolan is a special person. He was very open to us and gave us all kinds of ideas about fund raising.”

Ryan’s philosophy was simple.

“To get something like this going, you have to get people involved,” Ryan said. “The more interest you can stimulate in a baseball program, the better off it is. But that’s not always an easy thing to do.”

One of Ryan’s ideas was to auction baseball memorabilia before the dinner, with all proceeds going to the team.

Autographed bats, balls and jerseys have arrived from stars such as Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Hank Aaron. Ryan encouraged several of the players to donate the items.

“Nolan asked me what I thought all this was worth,” Gilbreth said. “I think it’s worth a fortune.”

The dinner and the auction should provide enough money to clear the wheat field and lay down the grass surface, Gilbreth said. Grandstands, lights and a press box will have to wait until next year, when the program becomes part of the athletic budget.

With the help of Ranger groundskeeper Jim Anglea, Gilbreth started marking the field with stakes. After the wheat is harvested, construction will begin. The field should be ready by next fall.

“We want quality, not extravagance,” McCaleb said. “It’s going to be done well. It will depend on the funds. The sooner the money comes along, the sooner the field’s done.”

Without Ryan’s help, Gilbreth said the field wouldn’t be finished for at least two or three years, if at all.

“I told (Ryan) that he doesn’t realize how happy he has made a bunch of college students,” Gilbreth said. “Maybe we can bring out the talent in some kid, and he will have a chance to do what I did.”

Gilbreth didn’t play baseball at Abilene High School. The school didn’t field a team, so he pitched in summer youth leagues.

“He had a great fastball,” McCaleb said. “He was a senior in high school when I was a senior at ACU. Our coach had him come out and throw batting practice to us one day. He threw hard .”

Gilbreth, a left-hander, threw even harder after he graduated from Abilene High in 1965.

At Abilene Christian, he was a four-year letterman and as a junior led the NCAA in strikeouts with 134, an average of 13 a game.

Gilbreth was picked by Detroit in the third round of the 1969 draft, the 67th player taken overall. After a stint in the minors, he became the only Abilene Christian player to reach the majors when the Tigers promoted him in 1971.

By this time, Gilbreth had become a celebrity in Abilene, a city of 110,000 located 150 miles west of Dallas. Abilene Christian’s athletic reputation is in track and field, producing stars such as Olympic sprinter Bobby Morrow, Gilbreth’s neighbor, and Billy Olson, a world-class pole vaulter.

“My story’s like a fairy tale,” Gilbreth said. “I told some of our (ACU) kids that I’m living proof that you don’t have to go to a big school to get drafted. If you’re good, you will be drafted. The scouts will find you, no matter where you are.”

Gilbreth spent his first days in the majors watching from the bullpen. Then, as he was dressing for a game against Cleveland, Manager Billy Martin tossed him a ball and said, “You’re starting, kid.”

“I called my wife (Phyllis) and said, ‘I’m fixin’ to start and you better turn on the radio quick because I don’t know how long I’m going to be in there,’ ” Gilbreth said.

Phyllis listened to the entire game. Her husband pitched a five-hitter for a victory.

“I was just living in a tree,” Gilbreth said. “Everything was going right.”

In his next game, Gilbreth pitched a three-hitter against the Yankees. He was 2-0 and his earned-run average was below one.

His success didn’t last much longer.

After throwing an inning of relief against Washington, Gilbreth missed his next few starts.

Martin was juggling his pitching rotation, which included Joe Niekro and Mickey Lolich. Gilbreth was bumped to the bullpen, and by the end of the season, he was back in the minor leagues.

“I got totally frustrated,” Gilbreth said. “I started against Kansas City and got shelled. I didn’t pitch for two weeks and when I came back, I struggled with my control. I had no idea where it was going.”

Gilbreth was back in form during spring training the next season, throwing six innings of one-hit ball against the Pirates.

Then a stomach virus drained him for a month. He lost 25 pounds and returned to the minors.

“I had no luck whatsoever,” he said.

Citing burnout as a reason, Gilbreth quit baseball in 1973 and returned to Abilene. He got a job raising funds for the university.

That lasted a year.

He rejoined the majors in 1974, when the Angels bought his contract from the Tigers. In his only season with the Angels, Gilbreth appeared in three games, pitched 1 1/3 innings, gave up two hits and two earned runs.

He ended his final season in the major leagues with a 13.50 ERA, no decisions and no strikeouts.

With the Angels, Gilbreth met another young fastball pitcher from Texas. They were the same age and shared mutual acquaintances. He and Nolan Ryan became instant friends.

“The neat thing about it was he was just becoming a superstar and I was just becoming, “ Gilbreth said. “He treated me just like part of his family, and that told me something about him.”

While Ryan’s career blossomed, Gilbreth had things other than baseball on his mind. Within a year, his mother was paralyzed with a broken neck, his grandmother suffered a stroke and his father underwent eye surgery.

So, at 27, Gilbreth left baseball again. But this time it was for his family rather than himself.

“They took care of me a long time,” he said of his parents. “I had to go take care of them. Besides, when your parents are sick, you lose all interest in baseball.”

Gilbreth never played pro baseball again. He spent the next 10 years taking care of his parents and raising his own family.

Ryan said he wonders how Gilbreth would have done if he had stayed in baseball.

“His family situation certainly played a role in his career,” Ryan said. “But, as an individual, you have to do what’s in your best interests.

“I think he would have been a successful pitcher if he had stayed in baseball, but that’s not always what’s best for everyone. If he would have continued, he would have had a lot of opportunities.”

Five years ago, Gilbreth began helping pitchers at Cooper High School in Abilene. He taught them form, new pitches. The school won state 5-A titles in 1986 and ’87.

“After that. I was more or less the volunteer pitching coach,” Gilbreth said.

Baseball is again part of Gilbreth’s life. His playing experience made him a logical choice for the Abilene Christian job, McCaleb said.

“Bill’s developed a reputation in the area as being someone who knows baseball,” McCaleb said. “He has a great grasp of mechanics and fundamentals. For years people have been saying that he needs to get into coaching.”

Ryan agreed.

“The school made a good choice with Bill,” Ryan said. “He has always worked well with kids and he keeps them interested.”

Gilbreth’s not so sure.

“I know a little bit about baseball,” he said, “but I have a lot to learn about being a coach and recruiter. But when you work with guys like Billy Martin, you don’t have to be too smart to have some of that (managing skill) rub off on you.”

Gilbreth laughs when asked about The Voice. The folks in Abilene sometimes stretch stories a little, and Gilbreth enjoys telling this one.

“I might have heard some of the alumni standing behind me saying, ‘If you build it. . . . ‘ “ he said. “But Shoeless Joe didn’t come.”

In fact, Gilbreth hadn’t seen “Field of Dreams” until a few months ago. His daughters, Tiffanie and Melanie, rented the video and insisted he watch it.

Gilbreth smiled at the opening, when actor Kevin Costner first heard The Voice.

But he turned a bit misty eyed at the end, when Costner played catch with his father on the field he had built. Gilbreth’s father, W.P., died in November.

“It made me remember my dad, when he used to come home dog-tired after work and I wanted to play catch,” Gilbreth said. “He took me out there and taught me all he knew about pitching, even though he never played himself. That’s how this all started, me and my dad playing catch.

“All the connections came together when I saw that scene. That’s the connection to why we’re building this field.”