This Will Be My Last.

Hello friends, thank you for being here. I appreciate you suffering with me through all of these blog posts that I am forced to write, and you are for some reason reading. Any how, I have actually had a lot of fun writing these blogs, and I hope you have enjoyed reading them.

This semester has been a challenge, having to try to balance all of the travel to play ball while trying to get my all of my homework done, all while I have a PS4 and MLB the Show 17 calling my name all the time. This life a college athlete is a grind man, but hey maybe I'm crazy. I am very much looking forward to being done with school, but I am sure going to miss all of the guys from the team, especially the ones I know won't be coming back. That's life I guess. I have made friendships that will be life long, even though there is a very real chance I don't ever see a lot of these guys again after our time here is done. Sad to think about.

As I write this a giant spider went crawling across my wall. Gotta love Peru write? You know what, for some crazy reason I do. I do love Peru. I have met so many incredible people since coming here, but most importantly, all of those incredible people had the opportunity and the pleasure to know me. That must be pretty special for them, and I am happy that I have been able to brighten all of the lives that have been fortunate enough to cross paths with mine. So I guess all there is left to say is, you're welcome. You're welcome for all of the laughs, you're welcome for all the memories, but most of all, you're welcome for the crazy mother f***** that they call Chet Brown. Have a good summer my friends.

Here is a herd of elephants just because.

Number 7: Almost Done

Well folks, it is getting close to that time when we pack it up and head home for the summer, but there is still great work to be done. For me, it is crunch time in the classroom. (More importantly) It is also about that time the baseball team heads off to our conference tournament, having clinched our spot this passed weekend.

This is such a special group of guys that I get to play with and call my brothers. We finish up our regular season this week, with two nonconference games against Tabor College tomorrow, and our final four conference games against Grand View on Thursday and Friday. All games will be here in Peru, and I look forward to seeing you all out there. I am beyond proud of this team for what is has accomplished so far this year, even though I believe we are even better than what we have shown. There is no getting around it, we have let a fair amount of games slip through our fingers, but we have also battled adversity and have won 29 games to date. After making some noise as an underdog, while ultimately suffering a tough elimination from the conference tournament last year, I am very excited to get back to it, this time as a team with high expectations, and maybe even considered favorites to win it. Teams know what we are about, but I truly believe that as good as we have been, we have yet to play our best ball, and something tells me we will put it all together when the lights turn on on the biggest stage.

All I want is that championship ring. Watch out Peru, your baseball team might mess around and win it all. Stay tuned.

Blog Number 6: I'm Sorry

Here is something I want to do with my life: Wear a Major League Baseball uniform. But here's the thing, I am not very good at baseball (at least not good enough to play in the MLB). My one attribute to bring to the game is my knowledge, I know more about baseball than anyone (Yes, that is a challenge to anyone willing to question it). I would love to be a coach one day, for either a college or a high school team. I believe that would be a good life. But I aim to shoot higher. The one thing I know I can do, at any level of the game, is catch bullpens. For those who might not understand the phrase "catch bullpens," it is simply catching a pitcher warming up before or during a game before going in to pitch, or catching them on the side at practice to work on pitches or mechanics, or to just stay sharp. Many catchers hate it, some don't mind it, and very few love it. It depends on the day, but a lot of the time, I enjoy catching bullpens. Hey, call me crazy. The life of a catcher is not always so rewarding. We get beat up back there. We have all the protective gear, sure, but if you're lucky, the ball finds the gear only half of the time. Again, call me crazy, but I love the grind that catchers go through, I am willing to sacrifice my body for the good of the team.

The point is this: I want to catch bullpens for a career. I want to be a professional bullpen catcher. That would be the life, man, it really would. For starters, I would be able to travel around the country with first class service. Plus, when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life, and the salary does not matter too much. Speaking of, the salary of a MLB bullpen catcher is determined by the organization, public discussion of their salaries is considered taboo around the MLB, but I have seen as little a 20k, and up towards 150k. Pay me what you want, pay for my meals and living arrangements and put me to work. Aside from whatever they get paid in salary, they also get tipped well because most of the pitchers they catch are making seven figures, or more. Not to mention the per diem they receive for each day they have a road game, which is about 200 dollars.

The biggest perk to all of this, forget the traveling and the pay, would to be able to wake up everyday, go to the ballpark, and be able to put on a big league uniform. That has been the dream since day one, and it will be the dream until my last breath, unless, you know, I get there.

5 Blogs Too Many

This will be a story of the time I went to the World Series. For no other reason than because it was the first thing that came to mind when I sat down to write this blog.

I was eight years old. My favorite baseball team, the Giants of San Francisco, were in the World Series, and ahead of the Angels three games to two. One win away from winning it all.

On the day of Game 6, my dad was going to take me down to Anaheim, which is about 45 minutes away from home, to go to the ESPN zone to play some games, have some dinner and watch the game, and then hopefully celebrate. The ESPN zone was right next to Disneyland, and about fifteen minutes away from where the game would be played. When we got into Anaheim, pops stopped to get some cash at an ATM machine. What I did not know is that he had spotted someone scalping tickets to the game, and he bought them.

When we got to the stadium, I was in disbelief. Being as young as I was, I probably did not appreciate being there as much as I would today, but the feeling was still incredible. I witnessed a great game, I witnessed history, I witnessed an incredible comeback that as a baseball player I have to tip my cap to. I was able to witness the legend of Barry Bonds, crusing his fourth and last World Series home run.


The Giants blew a 5 to 0 lead, losing the game and eventually the series, when they were so close to being champions in front of my own eyes. It was crushing. But if that did not happen, I would not have anything to write about for this blog assignment, so in a way, I am happy it happened. Thanks for reading. #10 #12 #14

4th Blog

Can I just tell you guys a story about my dog? Okay cool, thanks! So growing up, I never had a pup before, which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Older brother never got one, and older sister *hates* animals... Weird, I know. Well once I was the last of my parents offsprings living at home, I decided that this "never having a dog" idea was way too outdated. My first semester in junior college, I had a teammate who just got a gorgeous black lab puppy, and I had to have one. He told me that there were a few left, and the family was giving them for free as long as they went to good homes. Well, I couldn't think of a better home than with me. First thing I did was ask my mom, because I love and respect her. She said no. Second thing I did was text my friend saying "bring my dog to school tomorrow."

He sure did bring that dog to school, although he got there during my class. It mattered not
, I wanted to get out of there anyways. So now I have a dog, cool right? Well it did not go smoothly with the parents when I brought him home. It was unanimously agreed that he was the cutest pup any of us had ever seen, but I had to find him a new home. Sad day. I was sad, like the most sad. I thought I was going to have to give little buddy away, but after a few days of trying to find him a new home (I didn't try that hard), my dad actually found him a new place to live. Again, sad day. But here is where the day gets happy.

Dad told mom he found little guy a home, but mom says when dad was telling her this, he was getting choked up. Uh oh, dad loves the pup! Mom rolls her eyes, and says "I guess we have a dog now." Mom was not pleased, dad and I were thrilled! Happy days ahead, that was for sure. Mom took a little while to warm up to the dude, but now neither of my folks can imagine life without him, life is much better with the General (his title, not his name). Oh yes, Buster Brown (his name) is loved by all, I miss him so much while I'm away in Peru, but I know he is well taken care of! I miss this dude, my best bud! Thanks for reading, I'm sure you enjoyed yourselves.

Third Blog

My Very Second Blog

Hello again all, thanks for being here. As many of you that follow me know, I play baseball at Peru State College. This is my second season here at Peru, and I have nothing but great memories playing ball here. I would like to tell you a story that makes me look like a true badass, and I can do that because this is my blog.

It was April fools day, almost a year ago to the day that I write this, and we were playing one of our biggest rival teams in Mid America-Nazarene. It was a cold and gloomy day, and we had our hands full with their ace pitcher on the mound. I was not feeling one hundred percent, as I dealt with cold like symptoms as well as a strong headache. But there I was, catching and batting seventh in the opening game of a double-header, so I scarfed down a few Ibuprofens and hit the field. The game started out rough for us, as we surrendered five runs in the top of the first, but then we got our chance in the bottom half. The man who dragged me out to play ball out here was the same man that stepped to plate to begin our half of the first, and he promptly crushed the first pitch he saw into the gap to get us going with a leadoff double. He ended up coming around to score our first run, and after a few walks to load the bases with two outs, I step to the dish. But before I tell you what happens, I need to tell you all why this memory means so much to me.

It was the October of the previous semester,  I was at Taco Bell with my best bud, Kadyn (the man who hit the leadoff double in the game I am currently telling you about). I got a FaceTime call from my mom, who was bed side my grandpa, who had broken his hip and was in critical condition. My mom was there along with all 6 of her siblings, because they all wanted to be by his side. I spoke to my mom for a minute, and then she held the phone in front of my grandfather, who could not hold it for himself, could barely open his eyes, and could hardly speak. But he spoke to me all he could, and I will never forget the last thing he said to me before he needed to rest. "Hit a homerun, Chet-a-roo." I laughed and said, "just one? I'll do my best!" This was the last time I spoke to my grandpa, he passed the next day.

Think you know what happens next? I'm going to walk you through it anyways, it's more fun for me that way. So there I was, stepping up to the plate (with zero homeruns in my college career to this point) as the tying run, but that was the last thing I was thinking about. I was able to get ahead in the count, after laying off some not-so-close fastballs, and some pretty nasty sliders down out of the zone, although he did not have great command, I could see why the pitcher has the reputation he has, the stuff was electric. Three balls, one strike to count. Before I stepped in the box, I told myself to be patient, take a strike if I need to, he was wild, maybe he'd walk me and we'd inch closer and closer, keeping the line moving. I was happily ready to draw a walk and cut the decificit to three. But the moment he went into his delivery, in my mind I said "[forget] it." Nobody wants to walk in a run with two outs. He was going to come right after me with heat and he did. I swung, I connected, the right fielder went back, and I was just hoping it would get over his head. The right fielder ran back to the fence, and watched it sail over his head. Home run. Grand slam. Game tied. The team erupted, as we were able to erase a five-run deficit in only the first inning. I sat down to put my gear on to get ready for the next inning and I just paused for a moment, looked up towards the sky and with a few tears in my eyes said, "thank you gramps, that was for you."

Baseball is funny that way. Sometimes the days you feel you cannot play because of illness, soreness, personal issues, whatever it may be, but sometimes those are the days you have your best games. When you know you are not one hundred percent out there, but you've got to find away to fight through it and compete anyways. This was one of those days for me, as I finished with two hits off the opposing pitcher in three tries. And would you believe the one time I was retired by him, I hit a deep fly ball that would have been my second homerun of the day, and would have broken a tie ball game, but the right fielder reached over the fence and robbed me of another one. Hey, that's baseball. I'm not that tight.