Professional Players
A number of current
or past professional baseball players played for teams in the Junior
League World Series before making it as stars in the big leagues. They
include Gary Sheffield, Eric Bedard, Brett Myers, brothers Jose and
Javier Valentin, Erubiel Durazo, Chad Hermansen, Derek Bell, Delino
DeShields, Shannon Withem, Adam Loewen and Chris Brock. Sheffield and
Bell were teammates on the Belmont Heights team from Tampa, Florida,
that won the Junior League world championship in 1982. Some future major
leaguers may be on the rosters in 2014.
Other future stars to
play in Taylor have included Chris Dingman and Steve Reinprecht, Junior
League teammates in 1989 with Edmonton, Alberta, who went on to play in
the National Hockey League. Matt Cassel (Northridge, California, 1995)
is a quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings in the National Football
League. Mark “Bo” Pelini, a member of the 1981 champions from Boardman,
Ohio, went on to play safety for Ohio State University’s football team
and is now head football coach at the University of Nebraska. Another
football star was Andy Mignery (Hamilton, Ohio, 1994), former tight end
at the University of Michigan.