Playing for a small town

Bernard. Zwingle. Peosta. Cascade. You probably never heard of these towns right? Unless you're from the state of Iowa.

About 2 years ago in the summer of 2012, right before my senior year at Mount Mercy started, I played in a summer game for a small town team in Iowa called the Bernard Indians. According to the 2012 Census, the town of Bernard had 112 people living there.

I got a call from one of my teammates on Mount Mercy one morning and asked if I wanted to play in a summer game with him. To be honest, I wasn't up for it because I was feeling a little sluggish from the night before. But he said they needed someone on the team so I agreed to go.

When he came to picked me up at my on-campus apartment, I wasn't feeling the greatest. All I wanted to do was just sleep.

We arrived at the field 10 minutes before the game started. The field was about an hour 15 minutes away in a small town surrounded in nothing but corn fields.

The coach was yelling at us as we were putting on our baseball pants and getting ready at the car.

Once we got to the dugout,
1. We drank a whole can of Rockstar to get our day going.
2. Put cleats on.
And 3. Play catch for maybe a minute or so

We did those three thing in about 5 minutes.

I remember Shep, the coach, came up to me and asked me where I wanted to play and if I was a good hitter.

He ended up putting me at shortstop and batted me in the 6th spot in the line up.

I remember going up to bat and the guy on the mound was a tall lefty. I want to say he is about 6'4" to 6'5" from Upper Iowa University with a good run on his fastball.

Before he got taken out, I went 2 for 3 against him with a single and a double.


The game was fairly close and it came down to the bottom of the 9th inning.

In-between innings, I remember talking to the guy that was doing the stats book for the day. Really cool guy in his 30's and he's told me that he's been through the major league umpire camp. He said it didn't work out for him so he decided to live out in Iowa.

Shep called him up to pinch hit before me.

He didn't even have time to get lose and just went up to bat saying, "Well, we'll see what I can do."

At this time, the tall lefty pitcher was out of the game; a right handed pitcher was up there with some run on his fastball too.

I think it was 1 out and a runner just got picked off at 3rd.

I just thought, "Oh great. there goes the game." I think a couple of pitches later, stat book guy got a base hit up the middle.

So, I was up to bat. I could potentially be the last out of the game. The new guy, the guy that just shows up for one game, the only Asian guy probably to ever step foot in the town of Bernard.

Before I walked up to bat, I said to myself, " Just hit the ball hard."

I step into the batter's box...

First pitch, ball 1...

Second pitch, ball 2...

Prior to this at-bat, I swung at every 2-0 and 3-1 pitches I got to even if it was in the dirt and I was doing well that day so I just stuck with my approach (which I don't know what it was til this day).

So as the pitch was thrown, I lifted my legs and got my foot down and swung the bat...

The next thing I saw was the ball clearly jumping off my bat over the fence in left-center field into the corn fields.

I remember the crowd roaring and seeing some of the guys on the team jump off the bench from the corner of my eyes.

I have to say, that was only the second home run I hit over a fence in my lifetime thus far. The first time was my senior year of high school during league play.

I jogged the around the bases as other players on the team congratulated me.

As I round 3rd base, Shep gave me a handshake and was jumping with joy and the guys were waiting for me in front of home plate.

That has to be one of the best feelings in the world.

But little did I know, it was the last game of their season and the game I was playing in was Bernard's own tournament and it was the championship game.

Talk about ending the summer with a bang, I literally did.

Shep asked me where a small Asian guy gets his power from after the game and the first thing that came into my mind and said was, "I eat a lot of rice."

...

Lets fast forward to the summer of 2013. I was in Iowa for the summer so I thought I make the best of it by playing for Bernard for a season. Shep kindly allowed me to be on the team and couldn't be more greatly for the opportunity to play, travel, and meet new people along the way.

I was playing in a game at Bernard once again, I think it was the first home game of the season. I was up to bat and I hear someone in the stands say "Go Jun! Get a hit!"

As a baseball player, when you step up to the batter's box, you want to be focus on one thing: hitting the ball. But that moment when someone I never met before, and heck I didn't see who it was, yells my name in a small town I only been to once in my life, You stop and think about it for a second.

This is really a small town...

After the last 2013 summer game I played with the Bernard Indians at Dyersville, Iowa (Photo Credit: Anna Weber)

Playing for the Bernard semi pro team made me appreciate the small towns I came across that I've never heard before. It gave a "homey" feeling playing games, even if it was an away game. The people for the town would always be there. And I could tell you this because everyone one from Bernard was at championship game of the tournament I played in Dyersville, Iowa.

And it's crazy how people still remember who you are after being there for less than one day a year ago.

And to be honest, I wish I was playing for them again this summer. The guys on the team are awesome and the fans are great.

Bernard, the town of 112 people, I hope to see you guys again soon.


Jun



http://m.cpioneer.com/sports/article_bfce66e4-f75f-11e1-a896-001a4bcf6878.html

Get to Know: Jennifer Valliere

I thought I would start a blogging about people I know. We all build new friendships throughout our lifetime but not every one of your friends necessarily get to meet each other. So I thought I would tell everyone about one my of friends each week (if I can keep it up)...

First up to bat, Jenny...

Jenny and I at Mount Mercy's Thanksgiving dinner

This is Jenny. ------------->

I met her in Cedar Rapids, Iowa when I moved out there to go to school at Mount Mercy University. Everyone thinks she Hawaiian, but really she's a mixture of a Korean, French, Irish, Czech

I would say she is one of the most genuine people I know. I couldn't tell you when the last time I saw her mad at anything. She always bring that positive attitude everywhere she goes.

Before I knew who Jenny was, I remember I had a class with her my first year at MMU and all I could think of was, "There's are asians in Iowa." Ha.

I didn't talk to her until the end of the semester when we had to do presentation a class. I'm pretty sure the conversation went like "Hey, how do you think you did on your presentation?" "I think I did ok."Pretty boring, right? But you have to start somewhere to meet new people.

Throughout the years, I got to know Jenny a little more and I could relate to her in many ways, one of them being we both had goals in life that are bigger than us.

But first, here's a little about Jenny.

She was born and raised in Iowa. In 7th grade, she moved out of Iowa and lived in Hawaii for a year with her mom, whom had a sister who lived in the Aloha state, after her parents got divorced. Then due to child custody battle between her parents, she moved back to Iowa and lived with her grandparents until she was done with high school.

In high school at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School, she competed in figure skating, which she started doing since the 3rd grade, but gave it up after her first year of college and just did it for fun and exercise due to working 3 part-time jobs, being part of theatre and writing the the university newspaper, which became too much to handle at times. She also was involved in theatre, played volleyball, ran track, was a first chair violinist in an orchestra and did the morning anchor news for the high school television news team.

But that wasn't all she did during high school. In her sophomore year, she received a letter from National America Miss. From what she told me, National American Miss is a pretty big system and a good starting point for those girls who want to compete in Miss American or Miss USA in the future. She thought it was a hoax so she didn't compete in it.

Then, the very next year, she received the same exact letter from National America Miss, and she decided to compete in it. That was the first pageant she competed in and didn't win any awards as she competed with 60 other girls. But after one competition, she got hooked to pageantry.

But senior year was when everything fell into place. She competed in the same competition again and placed 2nd runner up. Soon after, other pageants contacted her to compete in their system.

Jenny told me, "I always had a really low self-esteem and I was so shy growing up, but pageantry gave me confidence that I never really had and kind of taught me more about myself and gave me the skills to do a majority of the things I am involved in today."

"I used to get report cards back from teachers saying I needed to volunteer and talk more in class. Now they probably couldn't get me to shut up and I talk for a living."

When she said "I talk for a living," she is talking about her job as a radio personality at the Cedar Rapids local radio station, KZIA, or also known as Z102.9. But her job just doesn't involve talking into a microphone 5 days a week. She gets to work at events like baseball games, ceremony of some kind, etc to promote KZIA.

As she works for KZIA, at the same time, she plans to compete in pageants as long as she can, as she looks to compete in her 5th Miss Iowa pageant this October.

"I am competing in this pageant because I believe it's going to open so many doors for me career wise. I am very career focused and want to always continue to grow. I think miss Iowa USA is the ultimate networking opportunity and can give me even more experience and skills I need for my future career whether it be to stay in radio broadcasting or eventually move to television."

"I love working for Z. It's an amazing company; I enjoy working with the people. I have learned an incredible amount of skills from live broadcast to hosting events to welcoming crowds at the U.S. Cellular center, producing commercials and promos, and also web content development!"

Thought Jenny said she is career focused, she has other things in mind as well.

"Another reason I want to win miss Iowa is to be a role model for those girls who didn't have confidence like I did or grew up in unhealthy environments and don't think they have the capability of going to college or doing all these extracurricular activities because they can't afford it or don't have family support. Because I would be a prime example that you can, and it's my way of giving back to pageants of how they helped me realize that by not giving up."

But her ultimate goals?

"My goal is to win miss Iowa, but career wise, I know I want to work in the entertainment industry. My dream job would be to be someone like Ryan Seacrest! He gets to do the whole shebang: television host, radio personality, producer. I would LOVE to do it all!"

Thanks for your time Jenny!


Jun

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." -Lao-Tzu

It's all part of the journey

Everyone has a story to tell...

Exactly a month ago, I started my first day as a full-time employee at Fox Sports. I was only a part-time employee for about 9 months there but it was a long 9 months, as people could attest who have been working there longer than I have. It is has been a blessing and I have been fortunate to work with people at Fox Sports who have helped me as I was worked my way up and still am, and I want to thank each and one of you for that.

But lets step back and rewind a few months before I got offered the full-time job.

After I finished playing summer ball in Iowa, I knew that my playing career came to an end. I want to say I wasn't the worst player, but I wasn't the best but I gave it 100 percent every single day when I was on the field. But solely based on my statistics from my senior season at Mount Mercy, I probably didn't really have a chance of playing anywhere afterwards.

So once I got back home from California in August, I landed job at Fox Sports as a freelancer, thanks to a person who I would call my best friend. But even though I knew I had a great job right out of college, I still had the itch to play.

So throughout the first couple of months I started working at Fox, I talked to a couple of my friends and coaches about wanting to play. After having the discussions, I sent out emails to organizations in American and internationally to see what my chances were of possibly living the dream.

I got one email back around October from a League manager in Colorado and he suggested me to do a Spring League in Texas for a month in March to showcase for a couple of team. Unfortunately, I didn't have the funds to paying the league fee and support myself living in a hotel for a month.

My initial thought were, "Well, there's always next year. But that means I'll be a year older and teams are always looking for younger players." In moment of the time I was on the fence of things, I decided to lean towards living the so-called "American dream."

Then from there we fast forward to the week of April 13th. I woke up on Monday morning, 3 weeks after I started my first day as a full-timer at Fox, to start my morning routine of making coffee, check up on the social media world and emails.

I saw that I had a lot of junk emails in my inbox, but I noticed a email from a guy named French.

So I opened the email and it was an offer to play in France in the city of Chartres.

Although it wasn't going to pay a whole lot, my mind was racing with excitement, but also lost in what I should do because of the job offer I took earlier last month. But when does a chance to play baseball and live in France come around? Probably not often.

Before I sent an email back, I made sure I talked to my mom and a couple of my friends about it. Everyone had different perspectives on what they suggested me to do, but ultimately, it would come down to my decision on what I want to do with my life.

During the span of 6 days, the president of the league and I exchanged a few emails, the first one I sent out being an unsure answer of if I wanted to play or not, depending on an additional situation of what he was going to offer.

In the end, I received an email informing that the team has found another player and they decided to keep him throughout the season.

Honestly, staying at Fox Sports would have been the logic thing in my situation, but I think I would have jump ship and went to France to live the dream. I mean, it's what I always wanted to do as a little kid.

I remember someone came up to me and and asked me if I was going to do it, even though I'm not sure how he found out because I didn't tell many people. But as we talked, he told me I should do it because it might be been a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should do it while I'm young.

...

Everything happens for a reason and its all part of the journey. I traveled and moved to the middle of no where Barstow, California to moving out to Iowa to play collegiate baseball and all lead to this moment.

From all this, I learned that if you want to do something in life, don't hesitate and go for it; its like fielding a ground ball. if you hesitate one step, you're going to be too late to get the out.

I still have an itch to play. We'll see what happens next year...

Jun

R.I.P. Auntie Youriko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx8aBuudgcg

Journey in Japan 2014: Day 1

Man, so much went on in this day. It was hectic...

So, I woke up at 8:10 in the morning, Friday March 14th, to shower up and do my baseball draft before I left for Japan. I only to do 3 draft picks, which my three picks were Miguel Cabrera, Dustin Pedrioa, and David Wright. I didn't even want Wright, but my computer was glitching and it chose him. Then 2 minutes later, I signed off .

Then at 10 am, I went outside my apartment to get in to the mini van taxi my sister requested to come in to pick us but, ended up coming up with a Prius for 4 people and 4 suitcases. Probably wasn't smart of that Taxi company. We ordered another taxi.

30 minutes later, the other taxi came to pick us up.

In one car it was my youngest sister and my mom. The other was me and my other sister. 

The first few minute in the car was pretty awkward. We didn't talk or had said anything in the car. once we got onto the freeway, I was pretty bored so I asked to the driver, "What's the craziest story you have for me while work in the taxi business?"

I never would have thought but I encounter a driver who got a gun pulled on him, after the fact that he told me he see all the sloppy girls he picks up from Hermosa beach on weekends.

There was a lot more but I'm gonna keep that short. He dropped us off at LAX around 11:00 a.m.

My sisters, my mom and I board the plane around 12:45 p.m. Our plane was suppose to departure at 1:00 but it was delay for an hour.

Plane flight was around 11:10 minutes. Sat next to my mom....Later on the flight, I started to get annoyed by her.

When we land, it was around 6:45. Then we had to go on a shuttle for an hour and 30 minutes. 

So, then I finally got the the hotel and checked in, but the thing is, I had someone to meet up in Japan. 

It was my high school Junior Varsity coach from my sophomore year of high school.

He messaged my the day I left and we decided, since he lives in Japan, we should meet up somewhere. It worked out because I was only about 20 minutes away from where he wanted to meet.

So as soon as i checked in, I asked the front desk lady where at train station was at and I ran there and bought my ticket to go to Yokohama, Japan. The train ride took only 20 minutes. I was really thinking about, "What if I get lost?" since I don't have a working phone with me and this was my first time I been to Japan in 10 years and been out alone.

So I finally got Yokohama and waited about almost 40 minutes to find that my coach was at the other exit than I was. Just my luck.

As soon as we met up, he gave my a spirit beverage and walked as we drank.

It's crazy. You can actually drink out in public if you want to and you won't get in trouble.

As soon as he approached me, he said lets go to the karaoke bar.

We proceeded to the karaoke bar and the first thing he did, was sing a Japanese song. 

For all I remember, this guy had no knowledge of Japanese, except the fact the he went to a school that was populated with 80% Asians.

After he sang that, we sang some Eminem, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and some T-Pain.

Then after about 30 minutes, we just talked about life.

One thing I mentioned, was he preached "mental toughness."

I told him that during my roughest times playing baseball in college, that phrase would always pop up in my mind as I was about to either down or give up. As stupid as it sounds, and many of us did, it sucked with me throughout college and helped me to go through a rough 5 years of collegiate baseball.

After we went out ways, I had a hard time find my way back. I could not figure out where I was suppose to take a train back to. So I just took a bullet and took what-is-equivalent to a 70 cab ride back to my hotel. I wasn't so bad because the taxi driver was pretty cool.

Now I am back at my hotel and I am writing this, when I should be asleep because my flight leaves in 7 hour from now.

Better get going to sleep!

Jun

Embrace the Challenge

We all go through adversity at some point in our life time, whether if it's a rough patch in a relationship, struggling in school, not getting enough playing time on the field, etc.

Trust me, I'm only 23 but I've been through a bunch of obstacles in those 23 years and it help me grow as a person.

In those 23 years, I had the privilege to meet a lot professional athletes on the way; from the Majors League level to independent professional players. Those athletes put in countless amount of hours on the basketball court, in the cage, in the ring, on the field, in the gym training to become to best they can be at what they do. And all athletes know that they go through adversity every single day of their lives.


Recently, I got a phone call from one of my good friends that is playing independent baseball and is pursuing on going to the next level in the future.

As we talked on the phone, his tone of voice didn't sound to lively as usual, so I asked him what was wrong.

He had told me that the team he had signed with signed 2 other players at the same position with minor league experience and he was really bummed and discouraged with the opportunity that was given to him.

As we continued to talk, I told him, "Don't worry about the little things. Don't be concerned with what others did or is doing. You have to stay focused and do you and keep working hard. You worry about the other things, then it's just going to be all in your head. You just keep working hard and get better."

...

Couple days later, I went over to his house to get work out and asked him if he was feeling all right.

He told me, "Yea, I'm all right."

Then I told him, "Look at it this way. There are numbers of people that rather be in your position, rather be fighting for a starting spot on a professional team, than being in the position I am in."

He replied, "Yeah. I just have to embrace the challenge."

Like I mentioned at the top, We go through adversity at some point in our life time whether we like it or not. Sometimes, you overcome those hard times, sometimes you don't. But it's how you go through  with it and how you handle yourself in the situation.

You have to remember, whether you have a good day or bad, tomorrow is always a fresh, new start...Always take it one day at at time.


"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work." 
- Colin Powell

Jun

After hours

Just a random thought that came into my head after work today...

So we all have those friends you're really close with. you guys probably met during elementary school, middle school, high school, college, was on a basketball team together, join a club, had the same job, etc.

The friends you hung out with during those times you might consider close to, but how well do you know them?

Today, I was talking to one of my co-workers after work today. We usually discuss about what we did at work that day.

I feel like I am pretty good friends with my co-worker considering the fact that I never hung out with him before outside of work (beside the work holiday party). 

Then I thought to myself, we really learn about someone after hours of whatever you are a part of or involved in.

Let me elaborate.

For an example, I talk about my buddy Taylor at times. I say I know this guy more than anyone of my friends right now.

People that know us remembers Taylor and I playing on the same junior college baseball team for one year, meaning I hung out with Taylor only at the baseball field.

Little did people know, the first time I hung out with Taylor was before the semester start at El Camino when I transferred back there.

I didn't know him at the time but we were friends on Facebook and saw a status he posted. I asked him if he wanted to talk it out and so we met up at the Wahoo's in Torrance.

Never ever talked to him before, but I thought since we were going to be teammates, why not talk to this guy.

Ever since that day at Wahoo's, he's been like a brother to me. Always taking care of me and looking after me. 

During that year we went to State Championships in 2010, it wasn't just about going to practices and games, but it was about hanging and drinking beers and eating 12 blackjack tacos, watching punk'd or parental control on MTV on a 1990 big screen TV, smoking a cigar on his last day in the South Bay before he left for San Diego, going to graduations and talking about life.

Other examples would be college and/or after bar hours, but that's a whole another story.

Sometimes taking risk and hanging out with someone, even if it late at night or you have to skip dinner to help them out, is worth the time to make a better friendship with someone.

If I didn't hit up Taylor to meet up at Wahoo's, who knows if we would have been friends in the long run and where I'll be in life right now. For all I know, I might be working in a cubicle office space right now.

Don't get me wrong, every one of my friends mean the world to me. But hanging out outside of whatever is going on makes it more memorable.

Jun

The Simply Things in Life

With all this social media and texting, the true meaning of communication is really disinegrating...

I got home last night around 11:30 pm after sitting in a chair at a desk for 8 hours at work.

My norman routine goes: take off my shoe; take everything out of my pockets; take off my button up shirt off; go to the kitchen to grab dinner and eat.

While I was putting away my stuff out of my pocket, I saw a letter for me placed on the table. A letter all the way from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

A few weeks ago, my friend Mary (lets call her Maltch in this post), texted me for my address. It seemed pretty urgent, though how can you tell the tone of a voice through a text, right? So I gave her my address.

My first thought was, she probably inviting me to her wedding, but thats not like the Maltch I know. So my second thought was she was going to send me a pack of Double Diamond cigars that we used to smoke after nights at the bar.

Ill tell you one thing. Maltch is a mysterious person. I still can't figure her out 'til this day.

Getting back to that letter I got, I opened the envelope and there were four pictures included with a card her and Molly (lets call her Maltch 2 in this post. How they got this name is a whole another story) sent to me.

Although Maltch and I text each other at times and only lasts about 8-10 texts every 3 weeks, reading this letter from both Maltches made my day 10 times better than what it was.

After reading this, I thought to myself that with having all kind of technology and social media to communicate now, the true meaning of connecting with people is being forgotten.

Sure the 21 Century's way of communicating now-a-day is through social media but, I think that it is more meaningful when you actually go up to talk to someone or receive a hand written letter from one of your friends that live 1,800 miles away.

Doing something as simply as writing a letter can make someone's day that much better.

So stop texting and writing a long novel on someone's wall on Facebook. Surprise someone and make someone days a little better.

-Jun