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D-backs recall their youthful jobs before baseball signed their paychecks

Mar 7, 2016, 7:12 PM

Before Chris Hermann was a catcher for the D-backs he worked in construction for his father’s com...

Before Chris Hermann was a catcher for the D-backs he worked in construction for his father’s company. (Photo by Jessica Watts/Cronkite News)

(Photo by Jessica Watts/Cronkite News)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Paperboy. Caddie. Construction worker. Farmhand.

Golf maintenance worker.

Before they embarked on their big league jobs came the minor ones Diamondbacks players labored at in their youth.

As an 11-year-old, infielder Jake Lamb delivered his local neighborhood newspaper on Wednesdays after school.

“My brother and I would split up the pile and hop on our bikes delivering the local paper. The toughest part was having to wrap up the papers a special way and throw them in the bag, then double-wrap that because of all the rain,” the Seattle native said. “Delivering them was the fun part unless it was raining.”

Lamb said he took a few lessons away from the job, but the biggest was reliability.

“I felt important because I had the responsibility of getting these people their news. Even if I was tired, I still had to do my job because people were relying on me and it was only once a week,” he said.

D-backs pitcher Josh Collmenter and catcher Chris Hermann both had construction jobs during the summer when they were 15. Collmenter worked for his uncle and Hermann for his dad’s company.

From the construction job, Collmenter learned “the values of hard work and being on time.” He also learned about teamwork. “Working on a team, you have to have a lot of people putting everything together to be able to complete different jobs or projects.”

Collmenter also worked as a caddie at a golf course in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  The job helped him communicate with people.

“You have a lot of people coming through, so it was a lot of fun because I got to talk to a lot of different people from around the world and country. I met some really interesting people,” he said.

Hermann learned about safety and responsibility. “Construction is a pretty dangerous job and my dad has gotten hurt plenty of times building stuff. Safety is definitely first on the list, but responsibility is key, too,” he said. “Waking up early and getting stuff done and learning to do things the right way is what I took away.”

If he weren’t playing baseball, Hermann’s dream job would be working in the video game industry.

D-backs outfielder A.J. Pollock also worked at a golf course, but his duties were different.

“My first job was at a golf course doing maintenance. I’d show up and get there about 5 a.m. so wake up call was around 4 a.m.,” Pollock said. “My buddy and I had to rake every single bunker by hand before the first golfer went out.”

Pollock held the maintenance job for a couple years in high school and said it was the only job he’s had.

“It taught me to how to show up at work basically still asleep and get the job done. It was awesome and a lot of fun to get a paycheck in high school. We were doing the hard labor and tedious stuff but we did it every day and enjoyed it,” Pollock said.

Pitcher Shelby Miller didn’t have a job in high school, but growing up in Texas his grandfather had a ranch where he worked with cattle during the weekend.

“I’d work for him feeding cows and stuff, do what he needed, and he’d give me some money for the weekend. He had a little farm out there with a lot of cows, a couple horses and chickens that I helped with,” Miller said. “It wasn’t hard work because I wanted to do it.”

Miller, like Hermann, said the job taught him the “right way” to do things.

“My grandfather liked things done the right way, that’s what he was big on. He was a guy, if he told you to do something, he wanted it done right away and done right,” Miller said. “He taught me a lot about cattle and just life in general. Overall, to respect people and be a good person.”

Miller said he is playing his dream job, but if he weren’t, then he’d like to be a professional golfer.

“I wouldn’t want a real job in an office, that’s not realistic. If I had to choose another sport, it would be golf, that would be a fun career path.”

 

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D-backs recall their youthful jobs before baseball signed their paychecks