Attention Baseball Fans: Have You Heard Of This Jack?
This Jack has overcome with perseverance.
As you know, I love baseball. If you have been following the game, this year has been filled with stories of steroids, greedy players and frankly tons of articles and sportscasts that aren’t that flattering for a game I love. Well here is a feel good story about someone who overcame lots of odds to make it to the show!
Talk about journeys – how about getting drafted in the first round in 1997. Yes I said 1997 - 10 years ago. This player had a 10 year journey thru small towns, long bus trips and plenty of fast food. Actually that doesn’t sound so bad – sign me up!
Jack Cust is one homer away from having 200. Not bad except all of those homers have come in the minor leagues. I am confident he hopes he plays baseball for another 10 years and never hits the 200 milestone. He has played for 10 teams covering 1,113 games. He had a reputation as a power hitter who was weak defensively. Recently he was traded from San Diego to Oakland where the A’s had a rash of injuries to their outfielders.
In his first game for Oakland he hit a homerun. A few days later he hit another one which started a streak of homeruns in 4 straight games! Wow! In his first 10 games for the A’s he hit 7 dingers, 7 over the fence and I am sure the best thing about it for Jack is the fact that none of them were in the minor leagues.
I am sure that Billie Bean (A’s general Manager) and Oakland know what they are getting. As Jack states, “I walk, I strike out, I hit home runs.” I just hope he continues his success and stays in the majors. While I admit I am not an Oakland A’s fan, everyone knows were my love lies in baseball. I am a huge fan of a person overcoming so many obstacles and working hard to finally make their dream come true!
In the off season Jack and his family run a baseball academy in Flemington, NJ where they work with ball players at a number of different levels.
Beware, Barry Bonds! There appears to be another power hitter in the bay area!
I look forward to your thoughts and hopefully other nice stories about America’s greatest pastime.
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:39 am
In USA Today yesterday they had a list of players with the most pitches seen per plate appearance.
Guess who is number 1???
Jack Cust with 4.60 pitches per plate appearance.
Maybe we should start the Jack Cust fan club!
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am
Great story. Remember the minor league home run record set in Bull Durham by Kevin Costner? There is a certain magic about the minor leagues and the guys who spend large parts of their career on buses. I am enjoying the Frisco Roughriders, whose beautiful new ball park is just 10 minutes from my house. An added benefit is that one of my best friends from high school in Hawaii, has a son who has pitched for them the last two years. We have talked about great food and great major league ball parks - I would be interested in experiences in minor league ball parks. I have some great memories.
June 20th, 2007 at 6:39 am
A quick update on Jack.
Over the past month he has clearly cooled down. He has only 1 home run and 5 RBI’s in the past 28 games and currently has 9 home runs, 25 RBI’s and is hitting .267 for the year.
The A’s will stay with him a little longer since Mike Piazza is still out.
Good luck Jack.
Merrill
August 13th, 2007 at 7:58 am
On Friday night August 11 jack had a grand slam and drove in 7 runs! he now has 18 home runs!
Go Jack go!
January 29th, 2008 at 7:41 am
OH NO - Not Jack…………
Ex-Oriole Cust rebuts steroid accusation
Former Oriole Jack Cust had not discussed the Mitchell Report publicly since it was released in December with his name included, the result of a conversation former teammate Larry Bigbie alleges they once had in the minor leagues.
On Saturday at the Oakland Athletics’ annual FanFest, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, Cust answered questions from reporters and fans about being mentioned in connection with performance-enhancing drugs on the basis of hearsay.
“I was surprised and upset the way it came up,” the designated hitter said. Later, in a question-and-answer session with fans, Cust termed it “unfair.”
Cust told reporters that he never has used performance-enhancing substances, saying: “No. No. Not even one game.” And, he said, he does not remember having any conversations with Bigbie about steroids.
“He was a teammate of mine five years ago, and we haven’t talked since,” Cust said. “I don’t remember any conversations about [steroids]. He might have misinterpreted something I said, but I don’t remember anything.
“I read the report, and he said he had the locker next to me. I didn’t have a locker next to him. I don’t know how something like that gets misinterpreted, but I haven’t talked to him in five years. … A lot of people say the same thing, that it seems weird my name is in there when there were other cases where there was a lot more [evidence] accrued.”
September 21st, 2008 at 9:38 am
Jack Cust-OF- Athletics Sep. 20 - 1:04 am et
Jack Cust fanned twice Friday to break the AL single-season record for strikeouts.
We always knew Cust would do great things if he got his chance. Cust is up to 187 strikeouts, giving him one more than Rob Deer had for the Brewers in 1987. Despite having the AL record all to himself, Cust is third in baseball in strikeouts this season. Ryan Howard and Mark Reynolds both have 192.