Everywhere I Played Baseball and What It Paid

I had a total hip replacement on July 25, 2005, two weeks before my 20th birthday. I'm 41 now, and this summer I threw 147 pitches in a championship game.

A lot of people ask what pro baseball pays, mostly parents deciding how much to spend on their kid's baseball. I'd rather give you my real numbers than a guess. Here is every stop, in order, from Little League at 9 to coaching for the Savannah Bananas' Party Animals. Most of it paid very little. A few stops paid well. None of it paid what people picture.

Little League, age 9 to 12: Paradise Valley East, Phoenix

I started at 9 in Paradise Valley East Little League, near 32nd Street and Cholla. We played at Gold Dust Elementary, a school that has since been renamed. My first coaches were Tom and Paul. My mom raised me on her own from the time I was 10, and she backed me without ever pushing me.

We made All-Stars at 11, won districts and finished 4th at state. At 12 we were district runner-up, and I played in the Tournament of Champions.

Paid: nothing. It's Little League.

Travel ball, around 13: Chili Diablos and the Outlaws

Around 1998 I joined the Chili Diablos. It was the best players off my 12U majors team plus a couple of adds. I also played for the Outlaws. Our coaches were dads: Pete Crimando, Tom and Paul. Nobody was making money. Travel ball wasn't an industry yet. Pete is still coaching at Horizon, in his 25th year as a head coach there.

Paid: nothing. Nobody got paid, parents or coaches.

If you want to know how travel ball is organized today, I wrote about it in the travel ball levels guide and the sanctioning guide.

High school: Shadow Mountain, Phoenix

I went to Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix and played ball there, including fall ball. I also played football in grades 9 through 11 and wrestled my sophomore year. I turned down a Provost academic full ride to ASU to play baseball. My mom backed that call too.

Paid: nothing. I gave up a free ride to do it.

College and the summer of 2004: South Mountain CC, then Connie Mack

I had a solid freshman year at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix and got recruited by the University of Arizona. That summer I played in the 2004 Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, New Mexico, with Arizona Subia. We lost the championship to Midland, and Cameron Maybin was the tournament MVP.

Paid: nothing.

Washington State and Arizona: the hip

I've had Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease since I was 7. It's a childhood hip condition, and it caught up with me in college.

I went to Washington State and was out my sophomore year. My dad died on September 25, 2004, of cancer. My mom died on May 22, 2005, of a heart attack. She had sat with me to learn how to help me through the surgery she never got to see. I had the total hip replacement that July.

I lost both parents and got a new hip inside of ten months. I'm telling you because that year is the thread through everything else here. It's why I played as long as I did. I wasn't going to let that be the end of it. It's also, in the end, why CageList exists.

I transferred to Arizona and rehabbed my junior year. Then they told me I would not be cleared to play my senior year.

I trained after that under Mack Newton, the man who rehabbed Bo Jackson back to the majors after Bo's own hip replacement. Mack spent three months trying to get me signed by the White Sox. I was told it was the White Sox human resources people who blocked the assignment over the hip. Four pro organizations tried to sign me and none could get me cleared medically. I'm the first minor-league pitcher to pitch after a total hip replacement, and the second player after Bo Jackson to play professionally after one. Mack died in 2024. I have his logo tattooed over my surgical scar.

Paid: nothing. Unpaid college baseball.

2007 and 2008: Windy City ThunderBolts, Frontier League

My first pro stop. I went 10-2 with a 3.28 ERA in 2007, made the Frontier League All-Star team, and we won the title. I was MVP of the championship series. Baseball-Reference has the stats.

In 2008 we won it again. On August 5, 2008, I threw the first no-hitter in ThunderBolts history, against the Midwest Sliders. That year I was named the number 6 prospect in independent baseball.

Paid: $600 a month in 2007, $800 a month in 2008.

2009: Victoria Seals, Calgary Vipers, Newark Bears, then Australia

I spent most of 2009 with the Victoria Seals in the Golden Baseball League. I started the league's All-Star Game for the North on July 15 in St. George, Utah. Here is the release.

At the end of the season Victoria traded me to the Calgary Vipers and we won the championship. I won Game 2 against Edmonton, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts. After that I went to the Newark Bears for their playoffs. That winter I pitched in Australia for the Northern Districts club in Adelaide.

Paid: $1,300 a month with Victoria. In Australia it was $400 a month plus housing and a job.

2010: Diablos Rojos, Oaxaca, and back to Victoria

I played in Mexico, which was the highest level I reached. I never played in the minor leagues affiliated with MLB, and I'll say that plainly. I pitched for the Diablos Rojos in Mexico City, then for the Oaxaca Guerreros, and then I went back to Victoria for the rest of the summer.

Paid: $6,000 a month in Mexico City, and the same after the trade to Oaxaca. Back with Victoria it was $2,000 a month. Mexico paid me three times what Victoria did.

2011: Winnipeg Goldeyes, American Association

A full season in Winnipeg, wearing number 33. I went 8-4 and threw 104 innings. When they signed me, manager Rick Forney said I had "a power arm" and called me small in stature.

Paid: $2,100 a month.

2012: Bridgeport Bluefish, then the Czech Republic

My sixth season. I started it with the Bluefish in the Atlantic League and left around the middle of the season. I went straight from there to the Czech Republic. Baseball-Reference's Bullpen lists the Czech team as Technika Brno. I led the league in ERA, over about five games, so take that for what it's worth.

Paid: $2,100 a month in Bridgeport. In the Czech Republic it was 1,000 euros a month, which was a lot there, plus a free place to live.

2013: Phoenix Prospectors, Freedom league

I came home to play for the Phoenix Prospectors in the Freedom Professional Baseball League, and we won the championship. This season does not show up on Baseball-Reference. The record books miss leagues, so if you ever look me up and think a year is missing, that's why.

Paid: $300 for each game I pitched.

2016: Joplin Blasters

My last pro stop, in the American Association. I was there less than a month and made two starts.

Paid: $1,000 a month, for less than a month.

My Baseball-Reference line comes to 44-25 with a 4.55 ERA and 526 strikeouts in 548 innings. That page leaves out the 2013 title, so I count four championships: Windy City twice, Calgary, and Phoenix.

2022 and 2024: Savannah Bananas and the Party Animals

I tried out for the Savannah Bananas in 2022. It was four days. I flew in from Los Angeles with my wife and our six-month-old daughter, and I told my wife I was going to make the team. I didn't. I made enough of an impression that they brought me back as the Party Animals' pitching coach in 2024. I was not brought back for 2025.

Paid: $45,000 for the full year.

What it actually paid

Year	Stop	Pay
2007	Windy City ThunderBolts	$600 a month
2008	Windy City ThunderBolts	$800 a month
2009	Victoria Seals	$1,300 a month
Winter 2009	Northern Districts, Adelaide	$400 a month, plus housing and a job
2010	Diablos Rojos, then Oaxaca	$6,000 a month
2010	Victoria Seals (return)	$2,000 a month
2011	Winnipeg Goldeyes	$2,100 a month
2012	Bridgeport Bluefish	$2,100 a month
2012	Czech Republic	1,000 euros a month, plus a free place to live
2013	Phoenix Prospectors	$300 a game
2016	Joplin Blasters	$1,000 a month, under a month
2024	Party Animals pitching coach	$45,000 for the year

Independent ball paid hundreds a month in my early years and a couple thousand at best in the States. The one big number came from Mexico. I had a host family every season except in Mexico. Some setups were better than others, but all in all I always had good people and situations. Almost nobody gets rich at these levels. I would not tell a parent to count on baseball for the money. I'd tell them to count on it for what it teaches. If you want more of my writing on the game, read The Baseball Gods Are Real.

What comes next

Where each of these stops sits on the ladder, from rec ball to the majors, is a bigger story. I'm putting together a full guide to every level of baseball (coming soon).

If you want help with pitching, or you want to know what it takes to keep playing, here is my coaching profile on CageList.