Joey Dettrich Baseball Foundation busy helping others

The first two of Joey Dettrich's three seasons as a pitcher for the Princeton Rays were measured in patience as he underwent the long and rigorous rehabilitation on the road back from Tommy John (elbow) surgery. 

Those first two summers of 2007 and 2008 combined as a P-Ray saw the left-hander from Arlington, WA only get to test his arm in five innings pitched over four appearances. During those two seasons of much on-field inactivity however, he used what could have been idle time by becoming a fixture when P-Rays' players were asked to help others in the Princeton community and make other promotional appearances throughout the region. His diligence to community service in Princeton saw him garner the nomination in 2008 for the Princeton franchise for the Tampa Bay Rays' annual Erik Walker Award, which is presented annually to the player in the Tampa Bay farm system that best displays volunteerism, community service, and the ideals of being a good teammate. 

As a result of his hard work and patience, Dettrich's time to shine on the professional diamond came in 2009, when he was a regular member of the P-Rays' starting rotation and logged a 5-5 record (61.2 innings pitched) to go along with a 2.92 earned run average that placed him among the league leaders in the Appalachian League for that category. 

Joey only spent one more year (2010) playing professional baseball, splitting his time between the Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York-Penn League and the Florence Freedom of the Frontier League. He then retired from baseball but never ceased putting others in front of him when he could be of assistance. His post-baseball years were then spent by returning to his native Washington to both coach young players while pursuing an education in Fire Science.

However, news reached Princeton that on October 10, 2013, Dettrich tragically died in an automobile accident at the age of 25. 

Due to the fact he spent three seasons here and developed many friendships, Dettrich became a fan-favorite in Princeton. As news of his death spread, the many fans and followers of the Princeton Rays all had a good memory to share or story to tell about this member of their P-Rays' baseball family, Joey Dettrich.

Despite the great pain in their hearts, family members and friends in Joey's hometown acted quickly and benevolently, certainly in a fashion of which Joey would have appreciated, to establish the Joey Dettrich Baseball Foundation.

The primary goal of the Joey Dettrich Baseball Foundation is to provide financial support for baseball development for selected players. The mission statement of the Foundation is that it will award annual scholarships to selected players based on their individual merit, need, and personal character. All recipients are to be selected by the Foundation's board of directors. The Foundation will direct its assistance to young players that have completed Little League and that are in the process of advancing to the next level.  

The Princeton Rays organization asks everyone to take a moment, in the memory of a popular former player that wore the P-Rays' colors, and learn about this new foundation while forwarding this information on to others. This foundation and its mission will stay in front of fans at Hunnicutt Field this summer in the form of signage and an advertisement in the team's 2014 program/yearbook to help us remember Joey as well as tell others how we can carry on his spirit of helping others.

For more information this charity, please type in the following web address: www.facebook.com/Joey Dettrich Baseball Foundation and the Princeton Rays ask you to forward this information on to others.

Contributions can be directed to the Joey Dettrich Baseball Foundation and mailed or delivered to:

c/o Edward Jones

427 N. Olympic

Arlington, WA 98223

**Receipts for tax planning purposes will be mailed to contributors from the Arlington Education Foundation