Micah Bowie

Micah Bowie didn’t have to travel all the way to Iowa to find his Field of Dreams.

No, it was was right up the road.

The left-handed pitcher rom Humble worked in six organizations from the time he broke into the minors in 1994 until he made his last appearance in 2008. He started with the Braves and worked for the Cubs, Athletics, Nationals, Rockies and Astros, and was, he says with a grin, released when he had good years, released when he had bad years, released when he was hurt and released when he was healthy.

He appeared in 88 games in the big leagues over the course of six seasons — time he earned by spending parts of 14 summers in the minors, in outposts from Danville, Va., to Columbus, Ohio, to Round Rock. Oh yes, and Iowa City, Iowa.

Through most of those years, he had a plan for life after professional baseball. He wanted to teach the game to kids, passing along the best of what he had learned along the way.

“I have a PhD in doing things the wrong way,” jokes the guy with a surgically repaired left elbow, among other injuries.

So today, he’s working with kids at doing things right. He had a teacher’s nature — he’s not at all the stereotypical flaky left-hander — and he turned down a number of offers to work out a deal with an old friend, Earl Studdard, who owns North Carolina Furniture Direct in San Marcos.
What has been dubbed the North Carolina Furniture Direct Farm Club — an appropriate name for 100 acres of what not long ago was pasture — eventually will have 12 game fields and 12 practice fields, plunked down in the middle of a triangle formed by New Braunfels, San Marcos and Seguin. The Bowie Baseball Academy is housed in a 6,000-square-foot indoor facility near the front gate, and there’s work well under way on a variety of fronts.
Between the expansive grounds — which Bowie says will be the biggest baseball facility in the region — his extensive connections in the baseball world and the ideal location, the chances are pretty good that the idea will take off.
It certainly will keep him closer to home. After all that time in baseball, he shouldn’t have to be on the road all the time, after all.
Bowie Baseball Academy
Micah Bowie’s major-league stats
Micah Bowie’s minor-league stats, which include a no-hitter for Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League in 2001.

Ray Katt

Although Ray Katt’s autograph won’t be in Lone Stars of the Diamond — the veteran coach died in 1999 — we have his autograph (see photo).

One day, while rummaging through a shelf of books at a local thrift store, I found a 1956 edition of The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball. The pages were yellowed and the cover a little warped, but the price was right: $2.

I own a couple of other editions of the book, which was published through the years as a way to keep track of big-league players and their statistics as well as document the history of the major leagues. It seemed like a good addition to the collection.

And then when I got home, I opened the front cover to discover this warning, from the longtime coach at Texas Lutheran University: “Please Return to Ray Katt.” It had been part of his collection, perhaps even bought during his big-league career, which lasted from 1952-59.

Finding the signature reminded me of an interview we did in 1997, marking the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut in the major leagues.

Katt played against Robinson in the 1950s. As a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ archrivals, the New York Giants, and as a catcher, it was entirely possible that Katt wasn’t going to have had much positive to say about Robinson. But the old coach just sort of shook his head at the thought.
“He wanted to beat your butt, every way he could,” Katt recalled, with a touch of admiration. “He wanted to win more than anybody I ever saw.”
Ray Katt’s big-league statistics

The Lone Stars Project: John Miles

John Miles has a lot of he could be bitter about.

He came along during baseball’s apartheid era, when whites played in one set of leagues and African-Americans in another. And then when that wall began to crumble with the signing of Jackie Robinson in 1947, Miles and a lot of others were left outside by a sport that was slow to adapt. Those who played in the Negro Leagues after Jackie Robinson’s debut have been forgotten by most, and all but ignored by baseball historians.

But John Miles isn’t bitter. He is, in fact, one of the happier people around. He got to play baseball for years - at one point, he had his own semi-pro team in San Antonio - and after he was done with baseball, he developed a passion for golf.

His positive outlook on life rubs off wherever he goes, and he’s just as happy to talk to a half-dozen schoolchildren as he is to a room full of adults. He’s also armed with his own baseball card everywhere he goes, signing with a flourish and a smile. He’s as good an ambassador as baseball has in South Texas.

“Mule”Miles was the first ballplayer to sign Lone Stars of the Diamond, and his signature is in a unique place, as one of the few remaining Negro Leaguers from Texas.

The Lone Stars Project: Jeremy Fikac

Jeremy Fikac has the perfect reminder of his major-league debut displayed in his office: An oversized "K" sign, courtesy of the ushers at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

Fikac, an assistant baseball coach at Texas State, made his first appearance on Aug. 16, 2001, in the eighth inning of a game against the New York Mets. He struck out the first man he faced, Benny Agbayani. Then he struck out Vance Wilson. Then Jay Payton. Three batters, three Ks, all swinging.

The Padres scored twice in the bottom of the inning, Trevor Hoffman delivered three outs in the ninth, and Fikac not only had three strikeouts in his debut, but a victory.

It was soon enough for his dad, who had flown to San Diego when Fikac was called up from Triple-A, then had to wait three more days to see him get into a game.

"He says 'When are you going to pitch? It's getting expensive to stay in San Diego,'" Fikac said with a grin.

You can look up the box score and play-by-play here, and here's a link to his career stats.

Jeremy's signature is No. 2 in Lone Stars of the Diamond, so now we're off and running on our project to find as many of the Texas-born big-leaguers in the book as possible, have them sign our copy and then write about them here.

Introduction to the project

Three years ago, I co-wrote a book about the Texas-born baseball players who had made it to the major leagues. "Lone Stars of the Diamond" didn't sell very well, but it was a fun project to put together.

Since leaving the newspaper business, I haven't had much of a chance to write about baseball, and I miss it. So the other day, I came up with an idea: Find as many of the players listed in the book as possible, have them sign it, then post a story about them here. It's not exactly the Sunday Express-News, but it could be interesting. Just to give it a title, we'll call it the Lone Stars Project.

The first story is in the works, and there's a list of possibilities scribbled on a tablet in my overloaded backpack. So stay tuned, here or at Facebook, for updates. Probably not every day, but on a regular basis.