Ben Zobrist's journey from tiny Eureka to Major League Baseball
EUREKA, Ill. — They dream here just like they dream in the big town.
Maybe the dreams aren't as big, but hey, if a 1932 graduate of tiny Eureka College named Ronald Reagan can become the 40th president of the United States, why can't a ballplayer dream of making it to the major leagues?
This winter, the Chicago Cubs signed Eureka native Ben Zobrist to a four-year contract to continue what has been a remarkable baseball career.
But to hear Zobrist's dad Tom tell it, calling his son's baseball career a dream come true is more than a stretch.
“We're a small town, small high school,” said Tom, senior pastor of Liberty Bible Church and its roughly 300 congregants. “There's not a ton of scouts hanging around Eureka, even if you're great, because you're not playing that high-level competition. It's just kind of neat how the doors were opened even though it wasn't a typical situation.
“He is very blessed. It was obvious that God was at work in that situation. People ask him, ‘What's it like to live your dream?' He's like, ‘I'm not living my dream. This was not my dream. I never thought it was even possible for a kid from Eureka to play major-league baseball.'”
Ben Zobrist's story is one of a small-town boy made good. In his case, it's really good. The 34-year-old jack of all trades has played in 1,190 major-league games with the Rays, Athletics and Royals, helping the Royals win the World Series last year after Oakland traded him to Kansas City in late July.
He has been too busy with faith, family and baseball to really reflect on his own story.
“I guess I reflect on it sometimes,” he said during spring training in Mesa, Arizona. “When you're here, you're just part of a group. You're just one of the guys, and I really feel like a very normal person. But we all feel like every guy in here has a story. And every person has a story about how they've gotten where they've gotten.
“It really comes down to God opening the doors for me, and I'm trying to walk through them doing the best I can. I didn't ever realize that my ceiling would be this high, that I would be able to play at the major-league level. But here I am. I've been doing it for a while now, so it's certainly a blast. It's something that I want to cherish and make the most of.”
Eureka is a peaceful town of about 5,300 residents. Located about 18 miles east of Peoria, it's a two-hour drive from Wrigley Field, down Interstate-55 and across U.S. 24.
The Woodford County courthouse building dates from 1897. Eureka College and the Reagan museum are in the heart of town, and you can head south on Main Street to neighboring Goodfield to the Busy Corner restaurant for lunch or dinner, topped off by a piece of specialty pie, touted as the “Best Homemade Pie Central Illinois has to offer,” if you have room.
Ben Zobrist played ball in Eureka, and his name and number are displayed on the back of the dugout at the local diamond. He was not drafted out of high school.
“He was always a good athlete,” Tom Zobrist said. “His high school coach mentioned a few times that he thought he could play college baseball. I was like, ‘That's great, but nobody's really talked to us about that.'”
He did get noticed by Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, where he excelled before attending Dallas Baptist University his senior year.
“I certainly have Olivet Nazarene to thank for that, Elliot Johnson the coach there,” Ben Zobrist said. “I just think there was a plan all along, and that's why I'm here. I didn't realize the ceiling that I had, and I don't think a lot of players understand what they're capable of. Some of them dream of what they're capable of, but you don't really understand until you get in the moment and you give it everything you got and see in the end where you can end up.”
It was while in college that Zobrist began carving his niche as a player who could do anything, from pitching to playing all over the diamond, something that has served him well as a pro, especially under current Cubs manager Joe Maddon, for whom Zobrist played in Tampa Bay from 2006-14.
“When he was in college and he was switched around, I don't think he was as for it as he was in pro ball,” Tom Zobrist said. “Joe has a way of saying, ‘You could be really good at this.' At the college level it was more like, ‘Hey, we want to save your arm for pitching so we're moving you to second.' He was like, ‘I was just an all-American shortstop. Why are you moving me?' It was to save his arm as a pitcher because he was a closer for them at that time.
“I told him, ‘If that's what the coach wants, go be an all-American second baseman,' and he was. I knew he was a good enough athlete that he could play just about anywhere.”
The Houston Astros made Zobrist their sixth-round draft pick in 2004 and traded him to Tampa in 2006. Maddon is glad to have him again, and the manager cited several positive characteristics he says Zobrist possesses.
“Matter-of-factness,” Maddon said. “Zo will never get caught up in the crowd. Zo will listen to you respectfully, also, but I promise you he will never come back and agree with you just for the sake of agreeing with you and not wanting to present a different concept. He will tell you exactly what he's thinking.
“His motivations are simple in the best ways. He just truly wants to win. That's it. Period. If he sees something going on that's counter to that, counterproductive to that, whether it's attitudinal or maybe somebody's not working, whatever, he will address it. He will address it in his nice, calm, spiritual way.”
“Spiritual” is not a term baseball managers toss around a lot. But that's Maddon. And that's Zobrist, who grew up in a Christian family.
“He's not just a guy who invokes the name of God because it's a catch phrase or because it's lucky for him or something,” his dad said. “It's a lifestyle for him. He lives it at home. And he's done that since he was a little kid. He made a profession of faith as a child, and he as tried to live it his whole life.”
Ben even one-upped his dad after the Royals won the World Series last year.
“It was when we were on the field after Game 5,” Tom Zobrist said. “They won it. We were on the field celebrating. He was doing interviews with ESPN. We ran across the field, and he did an interview with MLB. All this attention, and there's him and his wife and kids. My wife and I and a couple of his closest friends were there on the field. We needed to get going. We needed to get off the field.
“Before we left the field, he said, ‘Before we leave the field, I just want to pray together as a group, and I want to thank God.' I'm the preacher, and I wasn't thinking about that at that time. My human flesh was celebrating the moment. He wasn't forgetting where he came from, that God was working in his whole life, this whole situation, getting him to that point. That makes me very happy as a dad.
“Ben's not faking his relationship with God. It's real. I'm very thankful for that. I'm very proud of his accomplishments. He's done an amazing job with his career and all. I'm most proud of his testimony.”
It hasn't always been easy for Tom Zobrist and his wife, Cindi, to watch their son play major-league ball in person. After all, Tampa Bay and Oakland are a long way from Eureka. They did, however, enjoy the playoffs and World Series last year.
Now with Ben being so close, expect the Zobrists to wear a path up and down I-55.
“I have a lot of family and friends there, so it's going to be a fun time for our family,” Ben said. “It's an exciting time for the central part of the state, where I'm from. A lot of people have been really excited about the opportunity for me, and they'll be there watching a lot of times. It will be fun experience for everybody, but I'm excited to get back to my home state and try to win a championship there.”