B.A.T. honors McDowell with Lifetime Achievement Award
SAN DIEGO — Sam McDowell stood on the podium in entrance of a packed ballroom stuffed with his household, admirers and colleagues on the ultimate day of MLB’s Winter Meetings and grinned.
The prestigious Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T) Lifetime Achievement Award was only a few ft away and minutes from being handed to him, however as typical, all McDowell may take into consideration was celebrating others and shining mild on the human spirit.
It’s how McDowell has operated for near 4 many years. He’s a giant purpose why B.A.T. is among the most profitable organizations in sports activities.
“I’ve been with B.A.T now for 35 years and to me, the heroes are the volunteers,” McDowell mentioned. “I have never met individuals in my life that are willing to give up so much of their time. They all got full-time jobs and they’re willing to give up 100 hours of volunteer work every week as needed. Although they are giving that trophy to me and I’m going to take it home, a piece of it belongs to every one of the volunteers.”
McDowell wasn’t the one celebratory story Wednesday morning.
Dennis “GoGo” Gilbert, the longtime sports activities agent and particular assistant to the chairman of the Chicago White Sox over the last 20 years, was honored with the Big B.A.T./Frank Slocum Award for exemplary service and dedication to B.A.T. Gilbert, the founding father of the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation (PBSF), is a former Minor Leaguer, and the supervisor accomplice of Paradigm Gilbert. In 2020, B.A.T. absorbed the PBSF platform, which allowed for the group to serve scouts on a larger scale. As an agent, Gilbert represented a number of high-profile gamers together with Bobby Bonilla, George Brett and Mike Piazza. A giant proponent of deferred cash, it was his thought to barter Bonilla’s well-known contract with the Mets that pays him $1.2 million each July 1 by way of 2035.
“It means a lot to me to share this moment with people who understand when I say baseball is just not a game, it’s not just a sport or job. It’s a way of life,” Gilbert mentioned. “I want to thank the great people who are part of the baseball family, the great people who have supported me through the years, the most wonderful and beautiful supporting wife that anybody could have. Married 44 years. Three daughters, two grandkids. And lastly, I want to thank B.A.T. very much for taking over the scouts foundation. They do such a wonderful job and taking care of our entire baseball family.”
The program additionally acknowledged B.A.T. grant recipient Leonel Bejaran, a former Minor Leaguer for Royals, who’s now a coordinator for academic and cultural applications for the Oakland A’s.
Bejaran accomplished his highschool diploma on-line whereas on the Royals’ academy within the Dominican Republic and earned an athletic scholarship to Mid-American Christian University in Oklahoma City. B.A.T.’s scholarship program helped him pay for his school bills, and he graduated final yr with a level in Business Administration.
“B.A.T. has an amazing reputation of being professional, caring and empathetic and walking you through a seamless process to get the help you need as part of the baseball family,” Bejaran mentioned. “They treat you with dignity and respect throughout the whole process. They helped my wife and I get opportunities we would not have thought of otherwise.”
As for “Sudden” Sam McDowell, the six-time All-Star and a member of Cleveland’s Hall of Fame was the psychological well being and habit restoration advisor for B.A.T. from 1986 by way of 2016. He joined the B.A.T. Board of Directors in 2017 and later served as vp from 2020 to 2022. Among his many contributions, McDowell offered assist on B.A.T. consciousness and fundraising campaigns with gamers and membership entrance places of work. Tim McDowell, the previous pitcher’s son, now serves within the psychological well being and habit restoration position for B.A.T.
“Sam McDowell and the Baseball Assistance Team probably saved my life,” former Major Leaguer Bernie Carbo mentioned. “There was never a time you couldn’t call Sam McDowell. Three o’clock in the morning, four o’clock in the morning: ‘Sam, I am buried, and I don’t know what to do, where I need to turn.’ He was there. It didn’t matter. He gave you the time, he gave you an understanding, he talked to you. He knew what we were going through.”
McDowell’s story is well-documented and stays an inspiration. His profession was sidetracked by alcohol, and the habit ultimately value him the whole lot. He was out of baseball by 1975 and moved again into his childhood residence. Instead of pitching, McDowell bought insurance coverage. He ultimately checked himself into rehab and later earned levels in habit and sports activities psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. He opened his personal consulting agency and it led to a job with the Texas Rangers, a pathway again to baseball.
“When I graduated high school, I wanted to be a doctor and years later, I became a counselor,” McDowell mentioned. “I just believe very strongly in helping people.”
Simply put, McDowell’s work with B.A.T modified the sport.
“If I wouldn’t have gotten in touch with him, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, alive, or with two kids or married for 32 years,” former Major Leaguer Mike York mentioned. “I love Sam McDowell. He saved my life. The Baseball Assistance Team saved my life.”
Created in 1986 by a bunch of former Major Leaguers, B.A.T. was shaped to assist members of the baseball household in want of help. Throughout the years, the group has awarded $59 million in grants to its 9,100 members “to restore health, pride and dignity to members of the Baseball Family.”
The Baseball Family contains present and former, on-field Major and Minor League personnel in addition to scouts, umpires, athletic trainers, Major and Minor League entrance workplace personnel, Negro League gamers, and gamers from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. B.A.T.’s protection additionally extends to widows, widowers and kids, ages 23 and beneath.
In addition to the United States, candidates symbolize the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and different South American and European international locations.
In 2020 and 2021, B.A.T. offered $12.1 million in help to greater than 4,100 candidates, protecting objects comparable to medical health insurance, family bills, mortgages, prescriptions, medical payments, utilities, remedy and extra.
“I think the greatest thing I could say is that I have never forgotten the fact that being a baseball player, but I’m still a human being. Being part of the baseball family. We’re still human,” McDowell mentioned. “We’re prone to any drawback that anyone else has and what makes issues completely different with Major League Baseball is we now have a company that may assist with these issues and to unravel it, so people can return and be part of life and be productive.”
