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Here’s Bacsik’s trading card, stamped with the wrong signature. It can be yours for the historically low, low price of $2.95.
Some nine months after Mike Bacsik pitched his way into the history books by dealing Barry Bonds home run No. 756, ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski profiles the former KTCK-AM intern’s efforts to make it back to the bigs. The 30-year-old Bacsik, a Duncanville boy who still shows up on The Ticket every so often, is now throwing lefty for the Columbus Clippers of the International League — a far cry from his stint with the Washington Nationals, a fact not lost on the son of a former Texas Rangers pitcher.
“I was 22 when I first reached Triple-A,” said Bacsik. “There were some veteran guys on that team who had played in the big leagues. I remember thinking, ‘Man, I’m not going to sit around here when I’m 30 years old playing Triple-A baseball. If I haven’t established myself by then, I’m not going to be here.'”
A short pause.
“So here I am,” he said, “30-years old, sitting on a bus from Toledo to Columbus, trying to make it to the big leagues.”
That doesn’t work out, there’s always a spot for him on “BaD Radio.” –Robert Wilonsky
