Baseball: Abbott eager to makes his pitch as Hoffman Estates' baseball coach

Chuck Abbott spent six years pursuing his dream of playing baseball at the highest level in front of sellout crowds.

When the dream abruptly ended for the former Schaumburg High School star he started his transition into the business world. Abbott had about as much success with his sales pitches as a lefty who hangs curveballs to Jose Abreu or Kris Bryant.

"I had a sales job for six months and I was miserable with it," said Abbott, who was the California Angels' 1996 second-round draft pick out of Austin Peay University. "I was selling copiers. Actually, I was a copier salesman, because I wasn't selling anything."

The day after Abbott was fired, he started to look at becoming a teacher and coach. Now he has realized a different dream as the new varsity baseball head coach at Hoffman Estates.

Abbott has been the Hawks varsity assistant since 2012 and will replace Todd Meador, who is stepping down at the end of his 17th season to spend more time with his family. Abbott also coached at Schaumburg at the freshman and sophomore levels from 2005-11.

"It was always something I wanted to do, but I've also been busy with my kids activities," Abbott said of two daughters who are 9 and 6 and a son who is 8. "Then when Todd said he was getting out (this year) I figured it was the next step for me and an opportunity I should take.

"I did struggle with it a little bit because I know it's a lot more responsibility. I spoke with my wife (Tina) and she said I should do it. She knows it's a lot of time where basically all spring and summer I'm booked. But I could justify it where I'm still available in the fall and winter."

Abbott once thought he would still be in the final stages of a big-league career after starring at Schaumburg and putting together a 42-game hitting streak, still the fourth-longest in NCAA history, as a shortstop at Austin Peay. Being the 55th player taken overall in the 1996 draft was an indication the Angels had similar expectations.

Abbott got as high as a couple of brief stints at Triple-A with the Angels. An elbow injury helped lead to his release from the Cleveland Indians organization in July 2001 after 17 games at Double-A Akron.

"I never really thought about what I would do if I didn't make it," said Abbott, who hit .237 in 583 minor-league games. "Not in an arrogant way, but I never thought I wasn't going to make it. When I eventually didn't make it, I was kind of lost.

"I'm sure a lot of athletes would agree with me where you identify yourself as a baseball player, and all of a sudden to just take it away, I went through an identity crisis for a while."

Abbott went back to Austin Peay to finish the final three semesters toward a health and physical education degree. The calls he thought he would get for another shot to continue his pro baseball career never came.

Getting his degree at Austin Peay was followed by his unsuccessful stint in sales.

"I didn't feel I was impacting anybody's life whatsoever," Abbott said. "After I got fired, the next day I started looking at schools to get my teacher's certificate."

Abbott went to Judson College and student-taught at Hoffman before heading back to his alma mater. He started his coaching career working with his former Schaumburg coaches, Paul Groot and Tom Mueller.

One of the biggest things Abbott has learned - especially from Meador at the varsity level - is how to translate his baseball knowledge to high school players.

What Abbott learned at Austin Peay from assistant coach Eric Snider are attributes he will instill in his players at Hoffman.

"He was by far the best coach I ever had in teaching fundamentals and attitude," Abbott said of Snider, who is now in his second year as an assistant at Louisville after 16 years at Illinois. "He taught me a ton about baseball and what it means to work hard.

"He taught me I have some skill, but you can do a lot better and push yourself even harder. I will try to tell the same thing to my players. You can do more than what you are doing.

"I'm very big on not being outworked by people and hustling. I'm a big believer in playing 100 percent, playing hard and doing all the little things right. If you do those things it's going to translate to success."

Because Abbott has experienced the other side of the game.

He laughed about his sophomore year on the Schaumburg varsity where he hit .185 and set school records for errors and strikeouts. He hit .256 as a sophomore at Austin Peay and hit above .250 just once in the minors.

"These are all things I tell kids all the time, I know what it means to struggle and I know what it means to not play well," Abbott said. "Eventually you're going to catch on and things are going to make sense. You're going to struggle and you're going to fail, but as long as you keep working, it's OK.

"It was the same thing as a sophomore at Austin Peay. I had a really good freshman year but sophomore year I struggled terribly. I could have very easily hung it up, cashed it in and said I'm done or kept working hard and see what happens."

It sounds like a solid sales pitch for Hoffman baseball under Chuck Abbott.

marty.maciaszek@gmail.com