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“We don’t shake hands anymore, it’s all hugs now,” said the Bears’ first baseball coach Bill Rowe.
It doesn’t matter when they played, for the Missouri State baseball program, they’re all one family.
“This place raised me. Coming out here and the relationship I had, and still have, with coach Guttin and Paul Evans. It was just memories I’ll never forget,” said Detroit Tiger Matt Hall.
For the first time since the 1980s the Bears have come together for an alumni game, featuring current and former MLB players.
“Howard’s obviously getting pitched around. Nobody wants to be the guy that gives up the homer here. But it’s nice to see all the guys out here having fun,” Hall said.
“Just coming back and being able to see a bunch of the guys I haven’t seen in awhile. Just getting out here on the field and throwing the leather around, and just having a great time,” said longtime Philly Ryan Howard.
For some, the game seems to have gotten harder.
“I tell you, you don’t realize how far it is when you step away from the game for three or four years. Now being on the field, I didn’t realize that throw from short was that far, and running the bases, 90 feet doesn’t seem that far until you have to run,” said former MLB pitcher Shaun Marcum.
But they all agreed on one thing; Missouri State made them the men they are today.
“It was just an honor to be able to put on a Bears uniform and come out here every day,” said Hall.
“Being here with twenty, coach G, and lump and all of those guys really helped me to develop not only as a ball player, but individually as a man as well,” Howard said.
And they truly believe that MSU baseball will just keep getting better.
“They’re continuing to grow this program, it’s heading in the right direction, and I think it’s going to be a program that’s going to be a force to be reconed with here in the future year in and year out,” said Howard.
“I’ll say it until the day I die, I think this school is one of the best in the Midwest, but one of the best baseball schools in the country,” Marcum said.
