[Alsfastball] Stars of the I.S.C. - - - October, 2004 - - - Ryan Thompson

[Al Doran]

Stars of the I.S.C. - - - October, 2004 - - - Ryan Thompson

(A Tribute to the Past, Present, and Emerging Stars of the I.S.C.)
Ryan Thompson - - - Maturing With the Game

Ryan Thompson remembers being a young and unsure-of-himself member of
one of Ontario fastball's most legendary teams.

Now he's the wily veteran of his teams, happy to dispense whatever
wisdom he's picked up in 10 years of senior ball experience.

“It was trial by fire," he says, recalling his 1995 debut at shortstop
with the Owen Sound Canadian Tiremen. "When I started, I was raw. I
still remember my first senior game, at the Erie tournament, and I think
I made three errors in the first two innings. I was horrendous.”

But he was willing to learn, and he did so quickly. In his first ISC
Travel League game, Thompson reached base three times
(two singles and a fielder's choice) and drove in three runs in a 6-0
win. By the end of his second season with the Tiremen, he had been
chosen to the I.S.C. All-World Tournament team at shortstop.

Thompson, 31,  recalls how he got started playing ball in his hometown
of Wiarton, Ontario, a small town to the northwest of Owen Sound.
“It’s something I always did,” he says. “I got started on an informal
level just tagging along with my father, everywhere he played. I can
remember feeling like it was the end of the world if I was ever not
allowed to go to a game.”

Along with playing, Thompson also served as batboy for his father's
teams, picking up bits of knowledge here and there. The oldest of four
brothers, he frequently persuaded his siblings to play ball with him.
“I would impose on everybody to play catch with me,” he says, smiling at
the memory.

He continued to play in Wiarton through midget, after which he hooked up
with his dad's team. “I would fill in if they were short. It just kind
of evolved into being a member of their team. I moved from there to the
intermediate team.”

Thompson stayed with the Wiarton Tom Norris Busmen, who played in a
top-flight local intermediate league, for five years. It helped his
development on one hand, but he wonders if he might have been better off
to play junior ball in nearby Owen Sound.

“I always felt an allegiance to play in my hometown," he says, "but
Lloyd Simpson and Bill Simpson always had terrific junior ball teams in
Owen Sound. If I had it to do over again, I would play for those junior
teams and get exposed to that serious tournament ball at a younger age.
That’s what I would recommend for anybody now.”

All the while he was in Wiarton, he dreamed of someday playing senior
ball with the Tiremen. In the mid-1990s, with the squad going through a
rebuilding period, he finally saw his chance.

“They were so revered that I thought I couldn’t play at that level,” he
says, “but I happened into a very good time when they had not as many
players and they were drawing from a local base."

With practices, league games and tournaments, Thompson and his teammates
found themselves playing as many as 10 times a week.
"Tom White was coaching and he was a really integral part of my
development. Tom would throw batting practice for us on a nightly basis.
We would meet at Harrison Field and we would play every night. It was
terrific, wonderful.”

The team, which evolved from the Tiremen to the Selects, grew together,
learned together and won together. But, after four years, it was time
for Thompson to test the waters elsewhere.

In 1999 he hooked up with Fingal, which was hosting that year's Canadian
senior championship tournament. The chance to play with legendary
pitcher Brad Underwood, who was coming out of retirement, was a big
factor in his decision.

The next year, Thompson was off to the New Jersey Windmillers. Money
wasn't the primary reason for going south of the border, he says.
“Although there’s more travel, it’s a more relaxed weekday schedule.
It’s a weekend gig, so to speak. You have no commitments through the
week and that was attractive. I had a small child and it just made it
easy for me to be at home.”

He also liked playing in a different set of tournaments and seeing new
places and teams.

“They’re really a lot of fun to play in," he says. "You can get tired of
playing the same teams over and over and over.”

After the Windmillers cut their Canadian players, Thompson played for
the Pickering Heat in 2001. He returned to Owen Sound on a part-time
basis in 2002, hooking up with the Crunch for intermediate games while
remaining with the Heat in senior action.

The 2003 season saw him return full-time to the Selects. He won his
first-ever Canadian championship in Owen Sound but, with the Selects
folding after the season, he was on the move again. He signed with the
FedLock Falcons out of Washington, D.C. for the 2004 campaign.
“There’s a good core group of guys with a really good sponsor," he said,
referring to team owner/manager/coach Mike Groves. "He’s a terrific
ambassador for the game and he does so many little things for the
players that you don't see.

“It’s the experience, the travel, the places you see, the things you do.
The one tournament we went to in Washington was a ball tournament but it
was also a chance to see some amazing American monuments and landmarks
and museums on Memorial Day weekend. It was a tremendous experience for
me.”

The Falcons, ranked sixth going into the ISC world tournament in Fargo,
N.D., were disbanded by Groves immediately after the tournament ended.
But Thompson had more ball to play, having also arranged to play with
the Jarvis Merchants in the Ontario senior eliminations and in the
Canadian championship tournament in Ste. Croix, N.S.
He says he joined Jarvis at the instigation of Pat Graham, a teammate
last year with the Selects who had also made the move this year to
FedLock.

“He asked me if I’d like to come along and I jumped at the chance. No
other team had asked me so I thought it was a good opportunity,” he
says. “I’m so thankful that they asked me.”

Thompson, who's also playing third base for Jarvis, is excited about
playing with the Merchants because they're a youthful squad that won two
straight national junior titles before moving up to senior ball.
"Playing with guys that are so much younger, you can’t help but feel a
little bit younger yourself," he says. “They’re all so down to earth.
They’re not cocky, they’re not arrogant, there’s no air of importance
about them. They just come out and play hard.”

Thompson, not long ago an eager young rookie, was asked how it feels to
now be a mentor and a leader.

“I can tell you, it didn’t feel good when I signed the OASA sheet," he
says, laughing. "I signed under a list of birthdates and I
had to put in 1972 after I looked at a whole bunch of 1980s and 1981s.
"But it’s nice. I certainly think that I can share some experiences and
I can share some little things I’ve picked up here and there. I’m glad
to do that. It’s just a wonderful opportunity for me. If I can offer
anything back to them, that’s wonderful.”

With all Thompson has accomplished in his career, one might wonder what
it is that keeps him motivated.

“I don’t remember what I used to do on weekends before I started playing
ball," he replies. "It’s just a case of as long as I’m still having fun
– and I’m having a great time – and I can keep going and teams are still
interested in having me play for them, I think I’ll try to keep it
going.”

By: Jonathon Jackson
<mailto:j.t.jackson at sympatico.ca>j.t.jackson at sympatico.ca


30 October 2004

Gordon Wise - - - - ISC Information Officer  <mailto:sgwise at woh.rr.com>
sgwise at woh.rr.com
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