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Baseball leads dreamer on long, winding road

From high school to the pros, David Dalton has played in several small towns in the hopes of reaching the majors.

By MIKE READLING

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 17, 2001

In order to follow David Dalton's baseball career, you need a map. A really good map that shows a lot of really small cities. Oh, and an index of the Frontier League and the crazy teams that play in it.

His is a story of travel, fighting through obscurity and perseverance. Lots of perseverance.

It started at Grace Christian, one of the smallest schools in Hillsborough County, playing for a program unsanctioned by the Florida High School Activities Association. It moved on to college at Liberty. And it includes the disappointment of going undrafted. From Valrico to Lynchburg, Va., to accepting the first minor league contract offered, he landed in Chillicothe, Ohio, playing for the independent Paints of the Frontier League. Though it all, Dalton has proved he can rebound from a less-than-favorable situation.

"I would definitely say I had to fight my way in," Dalton said. "Being in a small high school, going to a small college, I guess I was probably more overlooked than guys in bigger high schools and big colleges.

"I fought my way and had my opportunity, and I had a great time with it."

The question now is, at age 25, with a shot at the major leagues seemingly further and further away, has he had enough?

That's a decision Dalton said he will make at the appropriate time.

Dalton's tale begins in Valrico, where he graduated from tiny Grace Christian, a school with a reputation of fielding great baseball teams but unable to compete in district or state play because it was not an FHSAA member.

After high school, he attended Liberty, playing four years with the Flames. In 1998, he put together a good enough senior season to raise some expectations of being drafted. Fifty rounds and 1,445 picks later, he was still waiting.

Instead, Dalton settled for a phone call from Roger Hanners, the manager of the Paints. Eager to get back into baseball, Dalton drove from Lynchburg to Ohio the day after he graduated. One thing you should know about Chillicothe is it is small. Even for a guy from Valrico.

"It's a different experience," Dalton said.

Players for the Paints live with host families. Many times, those families are the team's biggest fans, and they host two or three players at a time.

His host is Diane Carnes, and he lives with a teammate in her modest house, coming and going as he pleases.

"I have my own room," Dalton said. "We have our own little TV room, and she keeps the fridge full for us. It's a real nice house."

Dalton hit .330 that first year with seven home runs and 40 RBI. It was a performance good enough to earn him an independent league player's dream -- a major league contract. Atlanta called and sent him a spring training contract.

"I got home around Christmas time and got ready for spring training in Orlando," Dalton said.

"I went there and had a good spring training; went to extended spring training and got sent to the New York-Penn League, Jamestown Jammers. After about a month and a half, I was doing pretty good, hitting .315."

That earned him a promotion to Class A Macon.

Dalton finished the season in Macon and reported again to spring training in 2000. He worked out with Double-A Greenville before being sent to Myrtle Beach, the Braves' High-A team in the South Atlantic League. That's his career took a turn for the worse.

Halfway through the season, the shortstop drifted back for a popup only to be run over by the hard-charging leftfielder. The collision put him in the hospital with a concussion. "I lost all my short term memory," Dalton said. "I didn't even remember that I played that night. It was about 4 a.m. when I woke up and finally had some clue as to where I was at."

After returning, he struggled and was released at the end of the season.

"I wasn't surprised," Dalton said. "But it was like, "Jeez, I've been released. What am I going to do now?"'

Field phone calls turned out to be his No. 1 chore. Hanners called back, as did teams from the Northern League and Texas-Louisiana League.

In the meantime, Dalton tried to be a normal 24-year old.

He got a job selling cell phones in St. Petersburg.

"I was just trying to figure out what I was going to do," Dalton said. "Hanners called back, but I didn't know if I wanted to do it or not."

He decided to give himself one more shot and return to southern Ohio.

But the numbers aren't as high as he had hoped. Through Wednesday, he was hitting .276 with nine home runs and 40 RBI.

"I came here with the idea of putting up big numbers and getting another shot at affiliated ball," Dalton said. "At this point, I'm looking at it logically. I'm 25 years old in independent ball. I've seen a lot better players than me not make it. At this point, I'm just going to play hard the rest of the season. You never know what's going to happen in baseball; what opportunities will arise.

"I'm not worried. If this is my last go-around, I can look back at everything and say I have a lot of great stories and I had a great time."

SMALL WORLDS

David Dalton has played professional baseball, but he did it the hard way. Here is a description of just how obscure his road has been.

GRACE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: A K-12 school not sanctioned by the FHSAA; enrollment of 68; located in Valrico; the Patriots field seven varsity teams, four boys and three girls.

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: Located in Lynchburg, Va.; has an enrollment of about 10,000; the Flames field a Division-I baseball team in the Big South Conference.

CHILLICOTHE PAINTS: Located in southern Ohio, the county-seat of Ross County; population of about 23,000; the Paints play some of the most unique teams in some forgettable destinations, including the Canton (Ohio) Crocodiles, London (Ontario) Werewolves, Kalamazoo (Michigan) Kangaroos, Richmond (Indiana) Roosters and Cook County (Illinois) Cheetahs.

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