Jim Patrick/Special To Bethune-Cookman Athletics
Earl Battey never used one of his signature catcher's mitts to help the Bethune-Cookman baseball team on the field. His discerning eye at the plate never produced a hit nor did his rifle of a right arm ever take out an opposing baserunner.
But his fingerprints are still all over the program. Battey, a four-time All-Star with the Minnesota Twins who passed away in 2003, worked as an assistant with the team from 1980 to 1982 laying the foundation for a program that's won 19 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships and is a regular fixture in the NCAA post-season.
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"Earl was a vital part of BCU," said Lynn Thompson, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics. "He elevated our program because of his work ethic and attitude. … His guidance was unbelievable. He set the stage for our program to evolve. He brought a major-league attitude to our school."
Bethune-Cookman usually helps young men and women, learn and mature into role models. It was the other way around for Battey, who was 45 years old by the time he arrived in Daytona Beach. He played in parts of 13 MLB seasons, mostly with the Twins. He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting three times. He won three Gold Gloves.
And when that was all over, he went to New York City to work as an inner-city youth ambassador, taking kids to Yankees games for 12 years.
When he and his wife Sonia moved with their five kids to Ocala in 1980, he had a plan: Go to Bethune-Cookman, get a physical education degree and teach at a local high school. So that's what he did, graduating in two and a half years after taking 34 credits a semester and commuting from the dorms in Daytona to Ocala on the weekends.
"Earl was on a mission," Thompson said. "Earl had already done his thing. Earl was in the prime of his professional career, and he wanted to prove to those kids 'This degree means more to me now.' That was amazing."
Thompson had a front-row seat. Back when the Twins held their spring training in Orlando, Battey came to Daytona and met Thompson's cousin, whom he later married. Battey would show up for dinner at Thompson's house with Tony Oliva, Rod Carew or Boog Powell.
'That's like LeBron James sitting at my dinner table, laughing and joking with us," Thompson said with a laugh.
It wasn't all fun and games. While his family got to see superstars in their living rooms, Battey also fought for social justice. The Twins were the last MLB team to integrate their spring training, with African American players and coaches staying in separate hotels and eating at different restaurants from their white teammates.
Battey spoke out, and the Twins finally integrated in 1965.
His son, Corey Battey, remembered a different side of his Dad. Earl liked to tell a story about his good friend, former Twins pitcher Mudcat Grant, whose grandson played basketball at Bethune-Cookman in the 1990s. During their playing days, there was a lawn jockey statue posted in Orlando. The statues have a connection to the Old South and the Revolutionary War. Battey and Grant hated the statues, but they let it slide in their playing days.
Retirement was another story. Battey liked to hold court and tell a story about how he and Grant got together in their later years and stole the offending lawn jockey.
Was it true? Well …
"One thing about my Dad, he had plenty of stories and they changed with the environment. You just didn't know," Corey Battey said. "He's famous for sitting down for hours and holding court for hours."
That's part of what made Earl a beloved figure. He was humble. He was focused. He was a great storyteller.
"He had layers to him," Corey Battey said. "You have the father aspect, and then you have the baseball stuff. I think what always kinda stood out to me was your dad was just your dad. And you view him in a certain way. You live with him and know the ins and outs. But what amazed me was the reaction he got from other people and how widely respected he was."
Praise for Earl Battey is easy to find. Harmon Killebrew called him one of the best catchers he ever played with. Modern analytics show Battey was one of the best defensive catchers in history. He threw out 44% of would-be base stealers in his career, with a high of 59% as a regular catcher. He hit more than a little. In 1963, he hit .285 with 26 homers and finished seventh in MVP voting.
With those kind of credentials, it was inevitable MLB would bring him back after he graduated from BCU.
Battey teamed up with Seattle Mariners scout John Ramey to work with young catchers. He worked with young Marlins catcher Charles Johnson. And the Twins called Battey to work with young catcher Lenny Webster, who struggled in his first year with the team. Corey Battey heard from Webster what a key role his father played.
"(Webster) said, "Corey, I never told you, but if it wasn't for your dad, I might not have made it in the major leagues.' He was struggling his first year or so so the Twins brought him in to work out with him. And Lenny said, 'Your dad sat down and wrote me this letter. Whatever it said in the letter, it changed his perspective. "That closed a circle with my dad because he played such a big role for so many people."
Battey's legacy to Bethune-Cookman also includes perhaps its best known player – Stanley Jefferson, the Mets' No. 1 pick (20th overall) in 1983 and the first Wildcat to make the show. Battey was Jefferson's godfather and arranged a scholarship for Jefferson to move to Daytona Beach from New York.
Corey Battey also continues the legacy through the work does with inner-city ballplayers. Corey remembers his dad wouldn't let him play for an upper-middle class Little League team that had better uniforms and facilities than his neighborhood team. This is where you live. This is where you play. That's it.
The lesson stuck with Corey Battey, who has paired with Chip Lawrence, a San Diego Padres national crosschecking scout, to give African-American high school baseball players a chance to show their stuff to historically black colleges and universities. Lawrence and Battey put on the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Showcase in Atlanta, a two-day event where players pay $100 to play in front of coaches with the hope of earning some scholarship money.
"It's a problem when I look at the ACC or SEC rosters and there's more black kids on those rosters than on an HBCU roster," Battey said.
He comes by his sense of justice honestly. Whether it's Twins fans at the annual fan caravan events or a BCU fans at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, Corey Battey says he's often reminded of his dad's positive impact on people.
"I take it as a huge compliment," he said. "You live with your dad, he teaches you valuable lessons, but any father-son relationship can be a little combative. You respect your dad, you love your dad, but people revered my dad."
At BCU, he continues to be revered.
Jim Patrick is Sports Editor at the Sacramento Bee and an avid Minnesota Twins fans.