MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Ryan Sickles was ready to hang up the spikes and put the glove away. He really thought he was at that point in his life.
Then he found out baseball wasn't done with him.
Sickles, a former standout second baseman at Lake Central and South Suburban College, recently was guaranteed a roster spot with the Brockton Rox of the CanAm League (Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball), an independent league. Brockton is located just outside Boston.
Sickles, who played two seasons at Division I Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C., spent the 2006 season in Germany with the Solingen Alligators of the Top German A League. Sickles helped the team to the North Division title and later the German World Championship, where he was named the MVP of the finals after hitting .417 in the postseason. He led the league in assists as a shortstop and was in the top 10 in almost every offensive category.
"I guess (the Brockton Rox) got a video from some scouting director in Germany who knew some guys in the CanAm League and they sent my video around," Sickles said. "They checked up on me, called my coach at Gardner-Webb and he put in a good word for me."
The CanAm League, similar to the Northern League in which the Gary RailCats compete, begins play in late May. Sickles, whose goal is to be a Division I baseball coach one day, actually had a spring training invitation with the Kalamazoo Kings of the Frontier League, but since he was guaranteed a roster spot with Brockton he went with the better opportunity.
"Ideally, it was what I wanted. You don't want to go into spring training not knowing," Sickles said. "When they called and offered (a roster spot) it was like it was too good to be true."
Sickles, who played with both the Hammond Seminoles and Chiefs growing up, is currently serving as a volunteer assistant coach at South Suburban and also as an assistant coach at Hanover Central under friend and first-year coach Jim Nohos. He's also working out daily and giving lessons at Dave Griffin's in Griffith.
Sickles will report in early May for spring training with the team's first regular season game set for May 25.
"My goal has always been to play baseball in the (United) States," Sickles said. "I really never thought I'd get an offer so this is exciting. Ten years ago, even five years ago, I never would have said I'd still be playing."
