Where Have You Gone, Scott Neuberger?
"When I was playing baseball, I had the attitude I was getting paid to play a kids' game. I never thought of it in terms of the pressure I see people in the business world put on themselves to try to do well. It wasn't until I left the game that I realized that I was pushing myself just as hard all along while I was playing baseball," said Neuberger in a January 10 phone interview.
Since playing his last game in 2005, Neuberger is now on another path of pursuit, one that will culminate with him being the recipient of a bachelor's degree in Business Management from Florida State University. And he certainly has the "home field advantage" here since, despite being a Maryland native, he has called Tallahassee, FL his home since the mid-1990's. However, he has travelled a lot of the winding roads of minor league baseball between the time he first planted roots in Tallahassee and now.
The first sticker on his minor league suitcase was to say Princeton, where Scott was the starting right fielder, appearing in a team-leading 67 games, for the inaugural edition of the P-Rays in 1997. He did feel that the Appalachian League proved it's merit as the launching pad for him to test his resolve in the world of professional baseball.
"It wasn't like I was overwhelmed but going from hitting .440 in the Panhandle Conference (where he played for Tallahassee Community College) to .276 my first year in pro ball was humbling. The big difference was the pitching. I felt like I was hitting against everyone's number one starter every day and there rarely felt like there was any dropoff in the pitching talent I faced," commented the 30-year old.
The numbers Neuberger posted (.276, 9 HR, 53 RBI) that rookie season played a large part on a 1997 team that gave Princeton one of it's most memorable seasons in the franchise's 21-year history. Long-time Princeton fans remember the late season charge put on by that team, coming from far back in the Appy League's Eastern Division standings to tie Bluefield at the season's conclusion and forcing a one-game playoff for the right to face the Pulaski Rangers for the league title. Despite falling to Bluefield in extra innings in the one-game playoff, Neuberger still ranks that '97 P-Rays' team number one in his mind in terms of comraderie.
"I still remember that group of players better than any other team I played on. I remember (manager) Charlie Montoyo in particular being so fiery in the clubhouse and keeping us pumped up to make that run at the pennant," recalled Neuberger, who joined Princeton as an 86th round draft pick. He can still recite the starting lineup on that team with the 39-30 record and says he still keeps in regular contact with former '97 teammates Paul Hoover and Jared Sandberg.
Neuberger also ranked the Princeton fans as tops in his memories as well.
"The people in Princeton were warmer and more inviting than anywhere I ever played. They really embraced us whereas the other towns I played in, the fans were kind of distant and removed," assessed Neuberger.
He was but one piece in a Princeton powerhouse lineup that year that featured 1997 Appy League MVP Sandberg and the record setting 34 doubles and 44 extra-base hits of first baseman Robert Berns. There were other solid players throughout the batting order such as Hoover, Sandy Garcia, Miguel Suriel, Luis Cruz, and Eric Benavidez along with Tampa Bay top prospects Paul Wilder and third baseman, and future NFL quarterback, Doug Johnson. For the entire season, the 1997 P-Rays averaged over seven runs per game!
He also foresees a bright future for Sandberg, who is now entering coaching in 2008 for the first time as a member of the Hudson Valley Reenegades staff.
"I remember, even in 1997, that Jared was one of those guys who liked to talk shop all the time, always talking about hitting. I hope this works out for him," said Neuberger.
In his six years immediately following his time in Princeton, Neuberger played two years of "A" ball, three years at AA Orlando, and one year at AAA Durham before implementing his own self-imposed retirement following the 2003 season.
"By 2003, I was in my seventh year with the Rays. I was in my mid-20's and was going to hang it up. I was already married and I didn't want my wife to be a minor league wife that was always packing up and moving every six months," recalled Neuberger of that '03 season in which he hit a solid .268 in 62 games before breaking his wrist in mid-season and seeing only a few at-bats for the balance of the campaign.
But, like so many people who have played minor league baseball before him, there was still one more unique twist in the baseball journey of Scott Neuberger.
That "twist" came in October, 2004 in the form of a phone call from Mark McKnight, the Tampa Bay scout who originally signed Neuberger. McKnight explained that the Pittsburgh Pirates were needing some outfield help and asked Scott if was interested in reporting to the Pirates' 2005 spring training and giving baseball one more chance. After consulting with, and getting encouragement from, his wife Kim, Scott rolled up his sleeves and worked hard in preparation. The result was an assignment to Pittsburgh's AA team, the Altoona Curve, where he hit .263 in ten games early in the 2005 Eastern League season before fate intervened again.
That fate saw him traded back to Tampa Bay for a player to be named later, and he was reunited with his first professional manager, Charlie Montoyo, with the AA Montgomery Biscuits, where he hit .231 with five homers and 15 RBI in 31 games. The path his career had taken, which had now traveled full circle, finished with three games at the end of the 2005 season with Tampa Bay's AAA team, the Durham Bulls. A two-hit performance in his final professional game sent his career out on a high note.
Other than just falling short of the big leagues, Neuberger is very content with his eight-year career in professional baseball, it's experiences and all the people he met. It's really the intangibles he misses the most now.
"I do miss the guys and just the simple things like staying up all night and playing cards with my teammates," admitted Neuberger.
As for today? When Scott is not attending his classes at FSU, he goes to his job as Technical Director at the Tallahassee Sleep Diagnostic Center. Then it's home to Kim, who is a nurse in the maternity delivery room at a Tallahassee hospital, and his 14-month old daughter, Carsen. As he puts it, he has a great life now and wouldn't change a thing as to how he got to this point.
Yes, it's a full day every day for Scott, but as he learned long ago, he has always had a more than full life that he has successfully navigated without even considering the stress it would weigh on someone different in his shoes.