Photo by 12th Man Foundation
Texas A&M Baseball
* Thinks they were able to do a good job of taking the core of old Olsen Field and were able to accrue everything around it. He saw a picture of people sitting out on the berms during a game and he thinks that is exactly what A&M needs because they got into a little bit of a lull attendance wise a few years after he left.
* He thought the 1999 team he was on was a good team, but as the season progressed and the guys game together, he realized that he was on a great team. He jokes with people that when he was playing, his stat line of 34 home runs and 105 RBI’s wasn’t a big deal. The older he gets the more he realizes how crazy of a stat line that is.
* His single season home run mark of 35 is still the 7th best all-time at the college level. Being on top of that record list with the likes of Lance Berkman and Troy Glaus is crazy.
* The year after his stellar home run season, he put too much pressure on himself because he went from having two great seniors hitting on either side of him in the batting order, to having two freshmen around him who were just getting accustomed to the college game. He tried to do too much and put too much pressure on himself, which he suffered for. He wishes he would have what to do now, but being an aggressive hitter came back to bite him that year.
* He agrees with John Scheschuk in that if the 1998 team would have made it to Omaha, then the 1999 team had a great shot of winning it all because of the familiarity that would have been there. His team didn’t have any clue what to expect going into the College World Series because the last A&M team to have gone was in 1993. He thinks that if the team can get a four-year span of a freshman coming back as a senior who has been to the World Series, then that experience is huge and could propel the team to great heights.
* He spent three years with the Oakland A’s, one year with the Chicago White Sox and one year with the Las Angeles Dodgers trying to make it to the big leagues. He had a great time playing in the A’s organization, but once he was traded, he learned that the MLB is a business and not just a game. He didn’t like getting traded and swapped around like a piece of meat. With the Dodgers, he made it all the way up to triple-A and after that year he got tired of the baseball lifestyle. He had his first child and jokes that he had to grow up a bit and be responsible which also led to him giving up baseball. Having a kid made him realize that he needed to do something that would make some money and that riding around on a bus in single-A ball wasn’t cutting it. He told his agent that if he could get to double-A he would try to stick it out and give it a chance, but if not then he is done playing.
* He has three kids now and is working at Glacier Distributing based out of Dallas. He thinks his three-year-old has the best swing out of all of them, but his seven-year-old has the best drive for the game so far. He is in his second season of coach-pitch ball, but has the drive to do well down the road.
* It’s fun to watch his kids play the sport he loves and is very fortunate to have former big league pitcher Sean Lowe help him with his coaching. Having his and Lowe’s experience at the professional level is something that not many other little league teams can say about their coaching staff. One thing he is grateful about his team is that the parents are very understanding and allow the coaches to do what they want to do with the team. He loves to watch the kids grow and learn more about the game. He is a pretty relaxed coach who understands that the kids will make errors, but that it’s part of the game and that they will only get better with practice. His goal is to get his son to be better than he was and to go from there.
* He figured that Coach Mark Johnson would get back to going to games at Olsen Field after he retired from coaching. He talks to him every now and then and he thinks that Coach Johnson is a great man. He learned a lot from him, not only in baseball, but in life off of the field as well. He has always been a great mentor to him and there are a lot of things that Coach Johnson did that he translated to his life. He got more out of him talking with him in his office, rather than on the baseball field.
Aggie great Daylan Holt talks '99, current team & new park
Notes from "Aggie Flashback" with Daylan Holt
* He does the best he can to keep up with the baseball team and A&M sports in general. He has not had a chance to see Blue Bell Park yet, but is planning to be in College Station for the Oklahoma series this year. From what he has seen on the internet however, he thinks it’s a great facility and if A&M has recruiting problems, it’s because they are doing something really wrong, with a park like Blue Bell in its pocket.* Thinks they were able to do a good job of taking the core of old Olsen Field and were able to accrue everything around it. He saw a picture of people sitting out on the berms during a game and he thinks that is exactly what A&M needs because they got into a little bit of a lull attendance wise a few years after he left.
* He thought the 1999 team he was on was a good team, but as the season progressed and the guys game together, he realized that he was on a great team. He jokes with people that when he was playing, his stat line of 34 home runs and 105 RBI’s wasn’t a big deal. The older he gets the more he realizes how crazy of a stat line that is.
* His single season home run mark of 35 is still the 7th best all-time at the college level. Being on top of that record list with the likes of Lance Berkman and Troy Glaus is crazy.
* The year after his stellar home run season, he put too much pressure on himself because he went from having two great seniors hitting on either side of him in the batting order, to having two freshmen around him who were just getting accustomed to the college game. He tried to do too much and put too much pressure on himself, which he suffered for. He wishes he would have what to do now, but being an aggressive hitter came back to bite him that year.
* He agrees with John Scheschuk in that if the 1998 team would have made it to Omaha, then the 1999 team had a great shot of winning it all because of the familiarity that would have been there. His team didn’t have any clue what to expect going into the College World Series because the last A&M team to have gone was in 1993. He thinks that if the team can get a four-year span of a freshman coming back as a senior who has been to the World Series, then that experience is huge and could propel the team to great heights.
* He spent three years with the Oakland A’s, one year with the Chicago White Sox and one year with the Las Angeles Dodgers trying to make it to the big leagues. He had a great time playing in the A’s organization, but once he was traded, he learned that the MLB is a business and not just a game. He didn’t like getting traded and swapped around like a piece of meat. With the Dodgers, he made it all the way up to triple-A and after that year he got tired of the baseball lifestyle. He had his first child and jokes that he had to grow up a bit and be responsible which also led to him giving up baseball. Having a kid made him realize that he needed to do something that would make some money and that riding around on a bus in single-A ball wasn’t cutting it. He told his agent that if he could get to double-A he would try to stick it out and give it a chance, but if not then he is done playing.
* He has three kids now and is working at Glacier Distributing based out of Dallas. He thinks his three-year-old has the best swing out of all of them, but his seven-year-old has the best drive for the game so far. He is in his second season of coach-pitch ball, but has the drive to do well down the road.
* It’s fun to watch his kids play the sport he loves and is very fortunate to have former big league pitcher Sean Lowe help him with his coaching. Having his and Lowe’s experience at the professional level is something that not many other little league teams can say about their coaching staff. One thing he is grateful about his team is that the parents are very understanding and allow the coaches to do what they want to do with the team. He loves to watch the kids grow and learn more about the game. He is a pretty relaxed coach who understands that the kids will make errors, but that it’s part of the game and that they will only get better with practice. His goal is to get his son to be better than he was and to go from there.
* He figured that Coach Mark Johnson would get back to going to games at Olsen Field after he retired from coaching. He talks to him every now and then and he thinks that Coach Johnson is a great man. He learned a lot from him, not only in baseball, but in life off of the field as well. He has always been a great mentor to him and there are a lot of things that Coach Johnson did that he translated to his life. He got more out of him talking with him in his office, rather than on the baseball field.
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